(Another) barge with a mission - Rover P6 3500 V8
Discussion
Thanks for all the positive comments folks.
Today, the postman brought stickers...
I fear may have gone a little over the top in my quest for the '70s overland rally' look...
In answer to the question, I'm on the west side of the moor, near Yelverton. The Mini is currently in bits and is a bit of a long term project, but hopefully will be back on the road soon... but then I've bening saying that for ages, so don't hold your breath!
Today, the postman brought stickers...
I fear may have gone a little over the top in my quest for the '70s overland rally' look...
In answer to the question, I'm on the west side of the moor, near Yelverton. The Mini is currently in bits and is a bit of a long term project, but hopefully will be back on the road soon... but then I've bening saying that for ages, so don't hold your breath!
look forward to hearing more.Hi I will follow your journey with interest, as an aside there are easy cures for the downsides in p6 handling however it does sound as if you may need a new set of appropriate shocks, the P6 suspension and steering were at the time revolutionary and once upgraded are more than a match for modern cars, I would suggest a read of this forum to look at all the upgrades that may be beneficial to your trip http://www.classicroverforum.com/index.php
Graeme
Graeme
and furthur to above more sage advice from that other forum:
If anyone is a member of pistonheads, best they tell him to get the rad rebuilt with a three row core - Africa will be way too much for the standard set up! And let him in to the secret of the blocked coolant outlet in the carb tower.
Graeme from the Classic Rover forum
If anyone is a member of pistonheads, best they tell him to get the rad rebuilt with a three row core - Africa will be way too much for the standard set up! And let him in to the secret of the blocked coolant outlet in the carb tower.
Graeme from the Classic Rover forum
Hi folks.
Thanks for the above advice; I think you may well be right that the suspension is rather past it's best. Investigating this is on the 'to do' list, along with about 87 other jobs...
There's still so much to be done as not much work got carried out on the Rover over the weekend. Instead, it's been out and about a fair bit, covering about 100 fun, undulating Dartmoor miles in convoy with the other 2 V8s it shares garage space with. The 100 miles were completed without a hiccup, a very reassuring fact given that it's the car's first real shakedown since its been running on all cylinders again.
Here's a couple of photos from the 'Bank Holiday Burble' - a marvellous way to spend a bank holiday Monday which may even become something of a tradition...
In other news, some thought has now been given to what we actually want to do with the car in Morocco, so rather than the trip simply being 'lets go to Morocco', we now have a very vague route plan:
We have 16 days door-to-door for the road trip, so the plan is to get the ferry from the UK to Santender, drive the 600 miles across Spain to the ferryport at Algeciras, then it's about an hours crossing to Africa. As the ferry from the UK to Spain takes about 24 hours, we're looking at about 2 days to get to Morocco, and another 2 to get back. Leaving one day slack, that means we'll have about 11 days to actually go exploring.
I always like to have a bit of a goal to my roadtrips, however contrived it is, and this time we've decided to try to drive the Rover to 'Cape Bojador', in Western Sahara, for no other reason than that it's Arabic name - العيون بوجدور الساقية الحمراء - apparently translates to 'The Father of Fear'. And I've never driven to anywhere called 'The Father of Fear' before, and I kinda like it
How we get there depends on how the Rover behaves, but the general idea is to drive from the Ferry to Fez, then continue south, make an off-road crossing of the High atlas before vaguely following the 'Desert Highway' South-West across the fringes of the Sahara into Western Sahara, and on to Cape Bojador, before heading back north via Marrakesh and Casablanca. The whole loop is about 2,000 miles, which should be comfortably do-able in 11 days with plenty of time for sightseeing and gaffa-taping bits of car back on.
However, we all know what happens to the best laid plans...
Thanks for the above advice; I think you may well be right that the suspension is rather past it's best. Investigating this is on the 'to do' list, along with about 87 other jobs...
There's still so much to be done as not much work got carried out on the Rover over the weekend. Instead, it's been out and about a fair bit, covering about 100 fun, undulating Dartmoor miles in convoy with the other 2 V8s it shares garage space with. The 100 miles were completed without a hiccup, a very reassuring fact given that it's the car's first real shakedown since its been running on all cylinders again.
Here's a couple of photos from the 'Bank Holiday Burble' - a marvellous way to spend a bank holiday Monday which may even become something of a tradition...
In other news, some thought has now been given to what we actually want to do with the car in Morocco, so rather than the trip simply being 'lets go to Morocco', we now have a very vague route plan:
We have 16 days door-to-door for the road trip, so the plan is to get the ferry from the UK to Santender, drive the 600 miles across Spain to the ferryport at Algeciras, then it's about an hours crossing to Africa. As the ferry from the UK to Spain takes about 24 hours, we're looking at about 2 days to get to Morocco, and another 2 to get back. Leaving one day slack, that means we'll have about 11 days to actually go exploring.
I always like to have a bit of a goal to my roadtrips, however contrived it is, and this time we've decided to try to drive the Rover to 'Cape Bojador', in Western Sahara, for no other reason than that it's Arabic name - العيون بوجدور الساقية الحمراء - apparently translates to 'The Father of Fear'. And I've never driven to anywhere called 'The Father of Fear' before, and I kinda like it
How we get there depends on how the Rover behaves, but the general idea is to drive from the Ferry to Fez, then continue south, make an off-road crossing of the High atlas before vaguely following the 'Desert Highway' South-West across the fringes of the Sahara into Western Sahara, and on to Cape Bojador, before heading back north via Marrakesh and Casablanca. The whole loop is about 2,000 miles, which should be comfortably do-able in 11 days with plenty of time for sightseeing and gaffa-taping bits of car back on.
However, we all know what happens to the best laid plans...
Lovely trip you've got planned - bookmarked! Regarding suspension, as a great one-stop upgrade I would recommend changing the rear springs to take baggage and varying terrain, and they also reduce body roll. Visit www.rover-classics.com, those ones are variable rate. And unless I were confident the points and distributor workings were running flawlessly there's a £30 electronic module you can replace the points with. Just make sure you've the right dizzy base plate (round, not triangular shaped) for it. Hope it all goes off very well and that you have a grand adventure...
Tor
Tor
Hi,
Thanks for the leads regarding the springs and distributor. I'm pretty sure the points have been replaced fairly recently (the car came with the 'old' points in a fairly new-looking box) so we may cross our fingers regarding them. New springs are a good call though, as certainly from what people are saying, the excessive amount of body roll suggests it's past it's best. I was expecting replacement springs to cost more than they do on that website too.
I have a quick question for anyone with 1975 Rover P6 knowledge by the way: My car has no rear seatbelts, and as there's now 4 of us going on the trip, we'd like to fit some before we leave. Should a 1975 P6 have mounting points for the belts factory fitted, or are we going to have to get creative with a welder? I had a very quick poke around yesterday but couldn't find any mountings, but I've missed things before...
I'd certainly recommend it; for a completely 'different' travel experience there's very little to touch it. Despite only having about 8hp, the rickshaws are fun to drive, topping out at about 40mph (which is more than enough in rural India) and are entertainingly nimble, shockingly badly built, and very easy to fix. Travelling around India in one is a pretty intense experience due to the sheer density of humanity there and the extreme curiosity which is generated every time you stop your tuk-tuk in a random village.
The chaps who organize the Rickshaw Run are now doing similar events in South America and SE Asia too, using the local versions of the rickshaw, which may be worth a look if these destinations appeal more. Whichever event appeals most, I've only two words for you:
Do it!
Thanks for the leads regarding the springs and distributor. I'm pretty sure the points have been replaced fairly recently (the car came with the 'old' points in a fairly new-looking box) so we may cross our fingers regarding them. New springs are a good call though, as certainly from what people are saying, the excessive amount of body roll suggests it's past it's best. I was expecting replacement springs to cost more than they do on that website too.
I have a quick question for anyone with 1975 Rover P6 knowledge by the way: My car has no rear seatbelts, and as there's now 4 of us going on the trip, we'd like to fit some before we leave. Should a 1975 P6 have mounting points for the belts factory fitted, or are we going to have to get creative with a welder? I had a very quick poke around yesterday but couldn't find any mountings, but I've missed things before...
kwak said:
Great to read the stories here and on the website. You got me aching to join the next rickshaw run. I presume you recommend it?
Hi Kwak, you've just reminded me, I really should get the Rickshaw Run trip report finished and up on the website! Sorry about that... I'd certainly recommend it; for a completely 'different' travel experience there's very little to touch it. Despite only having about 8hp, the rickshaws are fun to drive, topping out at about 40mph (which is more than enough in rural India) and are entertainingly nimble, shockingly badly built, and very easy to fix. Travelling around India in one is a pretty intense experience due to the sheer density of humanity there and the extreme curiosity which is generated every time you stop your tuk-tuk in a random village.
The chaps who organize the Rickshaw Run are now doing similar events in South America and SE Asia too, using the local versions of the rickshaw, which may be worth a look if these destinations appeal more. Whichever event appeals most, I've only two words for you:
Do it!
fivetenben said:
Should a 1975 P6 have mounting points for the belts factory fitted, or are we going to have to get creative with a welder? I had a very quick poke around yesterday but couldn't find any mountings, but I've missed things before...
I'm 99 pct sure when I say yes it's all there. Not sure if it's threaded holes but certainly apertures for bolts and nuts. Apparently XJ6 belts/buckles are a good straight fit. Rear seatbacks have two securing screws, one visible when you pull out the squab, the other behind some vinyl by the door aperture. Lift the seatback out and peel back the matting and you should see a lower belt mounting point on the side and one for the buckle under the armrest. Under the parcel shelf is the top point. Re. the comment on suspension failure: Two vital and easy points to check are 1) the rear top link mounting points in the boot. Lift up the rubber mats on the sides (NS is covered by the upright spare wheel) and inspect for rot. 2) You should really check the thickness of metal in the suspension elbows directly underneath the wheel hubs, where they bolt to the rear of the trailing arms. Easy to do esp. if replacing springs, as you can benefit from undoing that join. Rusted-out elbows have been known to give there, with interesting results at speed... As long as those are known to be in order, and you have springs you feel confident with (and that the myriad bushes are serviceable), I can't see what else would cause it to fail.
You're not going to do mega-miles on that journey, so a set of spare usable points should do well. I'm not very experienced with running points on the V8 but it's common knowledge that they get twice the workout that a four-cylinder does and will wear faster. On a 1975 engine, which should have a vaguely circular baseplate in the distributor, the £30 electronic Accuspark module (eBay) should go straight in. The rest is simple wiring, and making sure the module gets a healthy 12V.
jbi said:
Is barge the right word?
It's the same length as a ford focus saloon and 6 inches narrower.
Otherwise, a very nice example of British automotive history
I know what you mean - it's almost like an 80% scale barge, rather than a full size one It's the same length as a ford focus saloon and 6 inches narrower.
Otherwise, a very nice example of British automotive history
. I chose the thread title more because it followed on from my last readers' cars thread ('a barge with a mission', about a Jag XJ6) rather than for it being the last word in descriptive accuracy; however from the driving seat the car sill feels very barge-like, being a softly sprung V8 auto with copious amounts of body roll...Torketil!
Thank you so much for your invaluable reply - I'll have a hunt for the mounting points and check the suspension over next week, when work finally leaves me alone. And you're correct in your observation that despite heading to Africa, it's actually a relatively short trip, not that much over 3,000 miles with probably about 10% of that off tarmac - hence there shouldn't be much need to over-prepare the car too much...
So... today I built a roof tent.
I won't add reams of nitty-gritty about why and how, as this is Piston heads, not practical camping; however if you're interested in that side of things, the lowdown's all here: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/05/15/not-an-eco-home...
In other trip news, we have recently noticed that our planned departure date is now less than 4 weeks away, so we'd probably better get some ferries booked. That task is currently penciled in for sometime this evening, after a BBQ...
I won't add reams of nitty-gritty about why and how, as this is Piston heads, not practical camping; however if you're interested in that side of things, the lowdown's all here: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/05/15/not-an-eco-home...
In other trip news, we have recently noticed that our planned departure date is now less than 4 weeks away, so we'd probably better get some ferries booked. That task is currently penciled in for sometime this evening, after a BBQ...
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