37th time lucky: Not everything is shit

[Crackers]

Awesome. We need to try and arrange a gathering of the various AS P6s, although I think we're all a fair trek away from each other.

[High Jetter]

Well bought!

[Jim Bell]

Blue is the colour,

P6 is the game,

We're cheering on together,

Coz modern cars are cars are lame,

We'll cheer you on through sun and rain,

Coz Barret is your name. 

[Spottedlaurel]

11 hours ago, barrett said:

It's pretty rough, but it's a running, driving, solid P6...........

But does it slow down or stop? Remember Junkman's obession with brakes on these.

You can now drive around pretending you're Ron Gash in "Public Eye", he seemed to favour P6s (just took delivery of a new one in this week's episode).

 

[mitsisigma01]

Barrett and Crackers ain't far away, a p6 should just about make it

[Jim Bell]

The Gaffers version was a bit more lived in, but right up my street, style wise. 

 

[barrett]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

But does it slow down or stop? Remember Junkman's obession with brakes on these.

I do! This has excellent brakes - a new servo and a reservoir full of fluid. It would have been a deal breaker otherwise.

I've had various cleaning products drop through my door today, so I'm going to have a crack at improving the upholstery in a minute.

I never thought I'd be spending a bank holiday weekend conditioning the leather of my Rover, though I'm sure @Jon saw this coming years ago. This is also the first year I haven't voted Labour in my life - could these things all be linked?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Some Labour party data analyst will find that post on Google and spend many sleepless nights trying to re-work their Mondeo Man strategy to recapture P6 Man, and this will somehow cause them to lose eight London constituencies. 

I've been really keen on the idea of getting another one, but not another V8. I want an early 2000, with the beautiful G-Plan minimalist dash. The four pots are probably better cars, really. 

[Jon]

10 hours ago, barrett said:

I do! This has excellent brakes - a new servo and a reservoir full of fluid. It would have been a deal breaker otherwise.

I've had various cleaning products drop through my door today, so I'm going to have a crack at improving the upholstery in a minute.

I never thought I'd be spending a bank holiday weekend conditioning the leather of my Rover, though I'm sure @Jon saw this coming years ago. This is also the first year I haven't voted Labour in my life - could these things all be linked?

Frankly, I can't believe you've stooped to the depths of buying a later P6 without the 'radio' strip speedometer and chrome grille.

2014 @barrett is turning in his grave!

Lovely motor, though.

[barrett]

Fear not, as a lowly 2000 SC this one still has the medium wave radio dash!

[barrett]

Hey @Conrad D. Conelrad tell me about wipers, please. Mine stopped working this morning. Easy/difficult to remove the motor and linkage to clean it up etc? Or shall I just live with the fact that it has no wipers.

The 'brake' light has started flickering every so often, but the brakes are still superb and I'm not sure if it's only connected to the handbrake or also acts as a brake fluid warning.

Other than that (and an exhaust blow) I'm still enjoying it - I've been using it as my daily car since I got it and it's really nice to drive

[Talbot]

On 5/28/2021 at 9:35 PM, barrett said:

the price started with a '1'

How many digits tho?

[Crackers]

1 hour ago, barrett said:

The 'brake' light has started flickering every so often, but the brakes are still superb and I'm not sure if it's only connected to the handbrake or also acts as a brake fluid warning.

Yes, there is a switch on the fluid reservoir cap. They fail -  the float sinks, which mine has done - causing the light to come on permanently despite the level being OK. Pull off one of the connectors (can't remember which one) and it'll go off. 

A new cap is surprisingly expensive but I believe it's possible to replace the float on its own, something which I might try in future. 

[barrett]

38 minutes ago, Talbot said:

How many digits tho?

Probably too many for a car with no wipers and an exhaust blow...

[Fabergé Greggs]

This thread needs interior pics  @barrett

[barrett]

5 hours ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

This thread needs interior pics  @barrett

All I have is this snap which I took as a 'before' shot prior to applying a load of expensive leather treatment shiz to the seats. As the result was ZERO improvement I didn't bother with an 'after'... in fairness it probably needs more than one application and I guess there's nothing I can do about the discolouration.

and it looks like this from the driver's seat. Yes, the wheel is seriously on the piss, and full of cracks

I took the dash apart and cleaned up all the contacts on the wiper switch (about 10 wires for some reason), plus the contacts on the motor and luzzed some spray grease into what I could see of the mechanism but it's made zero difference. Getthing the wiper motor out looks like a bit of a ballache so I might just hand it over to whatever garage I get to look at the exhaust blow. Annoyingly I probably need to do this sooner rather than later if I actually want to use it because, whilst not having any wipers isn't the end of the world, it's quite annoying.

Oh, V5 for the BMW arrived today so I'll tax that mutha tomorrow and press it into service next week. This puts me in the bizarre situation of owning four usable cars, which I think is a first.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

12 hours ago, barrett said:

Hey @Conrad D. Conelrad tell me about wipers, please. Mine stopped working this morning. Easy/difficult to remove the motor and linkage to clean it up etc? Or shall I just live with the fact that it has no wipers.

The 'brake' light has started flickering every so often, but the brakes are still superb and I'm not sure if it's only connected to the handbrake or also acts as a brake fluid warning.

Other than that (and an exhaust blow) I'm still enjoying it - I've been using it as my daily car since I got it and it's really nice to drive

Brake light is triggered by the reservoir level, the handbrake being on, and, on the V8, pad wear. Don't believe this was on the 2000 though. Take the bulb out. 

28 minutes ago, barrett said:

Getthing the wiper motor out looks like a bit of a ballache

Nah, the scuttle is held on with four screws and can be removed without taking the bonnet off. Then the wiper motor is right there. 

[Amishtat]

10 hours ago, barrett said:

All I have is this snap which I took as a 'before' shot prior to applying a load of expensive leather treatment shiz to the seats. As the result was ZERO improvement I didn't bother with an 'after'... in fairness it probably needs more than one application and I guess there's nothing I can do about the discolouration.

and it looks like this from the driver's seat. Yes, the wheel is seriously on the piss, and full of cracks

I took the dash apart and cleaned up all the contacts on the wiper switch (about 10 wires for some reason), plus the contacts on the motor and luzzed some spray grease into what I could see of the mechanism but it's made zero difference. Getthing the wiper motor out looks like a bit of a ballache so I might just hand it over to whatever garage I get to look at the exhaust blow. Annoyingly I probably need to do this sooner rather than later if I actually want to use it because, whilst not having any wipers isn't the end of the world, it's quite annoying.

Oh, V5 for the BMW arrived today so I'll tax that mutha tomorrow and press it into service next week. This puts me in the bizarre situation of owning four usable cars, which I think is a first.

Don't know whether it'll help in this case, but I obtained favourable results from a tub of hide food from a tack shop. Plaster the stuff on like you're buttering bread, wait a while to let it sink in then buff with a clean cloth. Took my 164 seats from biscuity to buttery and with change from a tenner if I remember right. Might need more than one go, mine did. 

[Crackers]

15 hours ago, barrett said:

As the result was ZERO improvement I didn't bother with an 'after'...

This doesn't fill me with hope, my seats are in need of some love too and I was hoping I might get a bit of an improvement with some leather resto stuff...

[somewhatfoolish]

16 hours ago, barrett said:

All I have is this snap which I took as a 'before' shot prior to applying a load of expensive leather treatment shiz to the seats. As the result was ZERO improvement I didn't bother with an 'after'... in fairness it probably needs more than one application and I guess there's nothing I can do about the discolouration.

and it looks like this from the driver's seat. Yes, the wheel is seriously on the piss, and full of cracks

Gliptone do a range of cleaning shiz that won't bollox the dead cow and all their products make your motor carriage smell like a motor carriage should; of leather. That said your driver's seat does look quite 'distressed'. Definitely worth another go cleaning it though.

[Cord Fourteener]

Yes just get it as clean without damaging it further and it will look shiny but used, like an old sofa.

Kintsugi, I think the Japanese call it.

[barrett]

wabi-sabi, surely?

I used some Wakesons stuff as recommended by @vulgalour in his Lanchester thread. I think in fairness it did make it a bit less crispy and more supple, it's just I was hoping for a slightly more dramatic transformation. I'll give it a few more applications when I can be bothered, I sort of gave up before doing the back seat properly anyway so need another run at it

[barrett]

I needed to buy some fags earlier, so I jumped in my car and went to the shop and then just carried on all the way to the office where I'd dumped the Rover. Took the scuttle off and managed to disconnect the wiper motor, got it out and took it apart as much as I could. Everything seemed okay - I was sort of expecting it to be full of nasty solidified grease that was stopping it moving, but all the various moving parts seemed to be moving correctly, the grease was golden and thin. I cleaned up all the electrical bits on the motor itself and tried running it without the wiper mechanism connected in case that was too much resistance for it, but still absolutely nothing. Put it all back togther and only had one nut left over, so a minor success, but I have no way to or idea how to test electrical currents and shit to see if it's getting power, so I think I've reached the limit of what I can do with it. A job for a Real Man.

Then I shifted some cars round and came home in the newly taxed BMW. Holy shit. I'm either gonna kill myself, or lose my license if I keep using this thing. It's an auto but it's got what I call 'squirt mode' - manual gear selection where it will hold it in gear all the way to the redline. Fucking hell compared to all my other old shit it's way too fast. Coming off a roundabout and flooring it in third is quite addictive. I may or may not have have managed to go, er, 40mph above the speed limit without even trying a couple of times which I think is probably the fastest I've actually driven. It just feels totally composed and normal at really high speeds and you can easily not realise how quickly you're travelling until you look at the dials. suspension is definitely more solid than I'm used to, and the seats are quite hard, but I think it makes up for it in effortless crusing ability. I'm going to have to keep a very close check on myself when I'm driving it I think.

[High Jetter]

It's addictive, don't you agree?

[vulgalour]

With the Wakesons stuff it doesn't feel like it does much on the first application, you have to just keep applying it and eventually it stops soaking in, then the leather feels better.  Don't be afraid to use an absolute crapload of it the first couple of applications, slather it on like you're a Scot trying not to combust on a sunny Blackpool beach and it'll be about right.  If it doesn't soak in you can just wipe it off anyway.  Half a dozen applications down and the leather will start feeling something like reasonable, and the more you stick on there the better it gets, it can just take a few days because of soaking in/drying time.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Re: The wipers. You did check there was power coming to the motor, yes? Because even if the fuse itself is okay, the fuse boxes in the series 2 cars is notoriously terrible. When I sold my V8 the new owner drove it on main beam for a couple of hours and the fuse box literally melted. In my ownership I had to bend a few of the contacts in the fuse box because the plastic had changed shape enough to break the connection. 

[garethj]

8 hours ago, barrett said:

but I have no way to or idea how to test electrical currents and shit to see if it's getting power, so I think I've reached the limit of what I can do with it. A job for a Real Man.

Worth buying a cheapo digital voltmeter that you can prod onto the contact and see if there’s power.  Put the negative wire onto a clean earth part, something that’s not painted.

[barrett]

I don't do electricity. I can't stress this enough - it's like maths to me, a total mystery. I have literally zero understanding of the mechanics of it. Even 'simple' things are completely confounding to me - like with maths. People find it hard to understand just how little comprehension I have of these two subjects. My brain isn't wired that way (ho ho).

I did look at the fuse box, and replaced the wiper fuse just in case, and it all ostensibly looked okay in there, but I guess I'd need to remove the whole thing to check all the contacts?

Having pulled the motor apart I am now pretty sure it is an electrical problem rather than a mechanical one despite the symptoms. I'll get somebody who understands sparks to come and test the various bits and see if they can narrow it down.

[Three Speed]

If you wanted to bring that old Rover round here some time I could poke it with my voltmeter and maybe introduce you to the basics of electrickery. 

[barrett]

7 minutes ago, Three Speed said:

If you wanted to bring that old Rover round here some time I could poke it with my voltmeter and maybe introduce you to the basics of electrickery. 

I might take you up on that one evening this week if you're around? But honestly, don't expect anything you tell me to stick...