71 Rover 3500 (P6B) Now with added Jag XJ6!

[High Jetter]

Lovely cars. Keep postin'

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Glad to hear it's running well. Do you have the rubber rocker gaskets? I found them to be a worthwhile upgrade, more resilient to leaks and reusable for much longer than the cork type. 

[Bren]

On my SD1 I used the rubber gaskets and replaced the screws with allen bolts - they are easier to tighten up.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Rubber gaskets are on my list.

TL /DR: the Rover was supposed to have a lot of love and  overhaul at the end of September/start of October alas life and finances said no. And so it reliably   continued to carry on  and on  and..   Albeit I had the XJ back so it was used more sparingly, the only issue I had was it blowing the radiator cap - however I put this down to me checking and replacing  the antifreeze at the start of December and not putting the cap on correctly/tightly. Tho as ever did this as conveniently as possible  as I pulled up to the  house and tbh it's been a so-so for for all of my ownership so I can suffer the cost of a new one.  

 

 I say used sparingly but given  the modern..ish volvo XC90  suffered a total immobilize failure the day before Christmas eve the all the old unreliable  shite cars have  been covering for it since.

[High Jetter]

Weren't thoss gaskets rubber originally? Maybe I should dig out that catalogue.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Early ones were cork, later ones  rubber - I belive. 🤷‍♂️

The Rover continues to be reliable, tho I havent used it as much the last 5 or 6 weeks as I've put miles on thr Jag and Mustang instead. I felt it deserved a bit of  break after being the go to car for 18 months. Tho I've run it out once a week at least to keep everything circulating and she chugged intensive even in -4  conditions.

I used it Wednesday and it was  A1 and lovely till I repeated the door scraping  I gave the Jag 15 months ago   ironically trying to be  super careful to avoid hitting the Jag as I put the Rover in  the carport.   

Nothing horrendous, the stainless trim took a bit of a hit  but a  few  taps with a hammer and flat screwdriver  had is kinda straight. It will do for now and bits for these  are plentiful and fairly cheap. I'd also smoothly peeled the Cameron green paint off - these doors came from a red car once upon a time as that's the  original paint.  Though I'd know this since the 2nd day I owned it and peeled the waffled door cards off.   Oh and I broke a plastic clip - repairsd with a  cut down screw.

 

 Tbh I'm not totally miffed, the paint is a so-so respray done  well over a decade if not 20 years ago so I've just got to match the colour and  take my time with a rattle can.   It'll probbaly be more faff getting  a match for the paint.    You can see some lovely microblistering  that was hidden by the stainless trim strip  - along with  tons of dirt, leaves and little twigs.  The vauge plan is/was to sort out the various small bodywork issues and repaint it  next year after giving  it a through mechanical refresh this year .

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Little updates, I've used the rover a few times, it would have been more but I feel the shame of the to me huge paint scrape 🎻

 

It did however do sterling service Sunday when I took my son to a quiet private road industrial park for " an go at driving" - not the sit on my lap and wail around a deserted  halfords carpark  during the first lockdown  -  areward for good grades so far in school.  He had a go at starting it putting  it in gear and rolling it forward and stopping a few times and did it all satisfactorily, let's face it its  pass/fail thing  I di make sure to have the car pointed at a massive hedge just in case tho. The The Rover  has a comfy pretty easy upright setting position, with superb visibility and is also the slowest and lowest powered of the fleet but still has power sterring.   Grumpily I concurred he could reach the pedals and stop it  when I screamed hysterically and  so we did some circles and low speed manuvering in the biggest empty car park at the back of the estate  as he worked out you need to turn the wheel way more than a go cart  and the go pedal  a lot less! A good time was had by all and none died (mumsnet would be so dissapointed) it also reminded me that the passenger footwell is a fair bit smaller than the drivers side.  Mind I've only ever been a  passenger in this twice before for 5 minutes in total so.. 🤷‍♂️ the usual position being in the captains chair grinning or lying under it crying.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

And a segue from one British institution to another. The car that got me back into cars  for real fun..

 

So  2019 I had cash, had been through a thoroughly really shitty extended period  of my life and had some cash to burn  and a complete lack of physical ability and fitness to pursue my previous interests and hobbies.  Csrs were the answer,  if it was broke I could st least  sit in it and go brrrmmm brrrrmm.....

I'd looked at various kinds and types of cars including  a dalliance  with owning a 8-10 year old quattroporte  -because noise. Tho I baulked  becaus the 2 different gearboxes each had an interesting and expansive failure point.   So I meandered down the older maybe classic  route of maybe less modern and more characterful and for an ish modest budget you could get so much interesting and  broken or about to break stuff.  I fancied a Mk2 but I wanted a better ride  so migrated to an S type - there was a black one in Bristol with a red interior that looked ok in pictures but utterly dire at 50 feet and got worse the closer you got.   Natch. And then I remembered the XJ6 and   this gem turned up about 50 miles from where I lived in that there London at the time.

 

Not too shabby but also  something that hadnt been overly cared for either. The owner was a mechanic and CSR restorer who'd bought it 10 years prior, gone to town kn it mechanically and  used it as a sparing reliable daily for 10 years and out 20k on it.  The paint was bird shit crazed and it had a little (lot ) of patina going on and the seats were utterly crispy bar the drivers  but it started right up and  pretty much everything worked - bar the German clock and the us AC delco scourced front passenger electric window. I said yes gave a deposit and  it was mine min eminem....

 

I hadn't even test driven it... WCPGW..

[Low Horatio gearbox]

It looks good, really good. Till about 15 feet or so.

 

But the paint was utterly crazed, the front valance below the bumper was 30% speed holes, the rear arches were bubbling and  crusty and the scuttle below the rear window was just starting to show rust.  The interior was utterly shot, all ther but shot, crispy and  fragile if the leather didnt snap the stitching did.  Mechanically it was  great, there were invoices for parts for almost what I'd paid for it and it had been gone over and the engine rebuilt so  there was no lack of go or stop. 

 

It got used for a glorious summer and 1500 miles, to the beach, outings my sister 60 miles away and it did it all reliably and in style.   Bar cutting out coming back from the coast one really hot day, just cruising along and it went quiet and we started slowing.. imperceptibly  at first.   Shit , stop and utterly no go.. crap,  but maybe.. what if I switch tanks..  and yes a fuel pump had packed up or more accursly would pack up after  half an hours use, 30 seconds and we were on our way home. 

[HMC]

Fab-u- lous! 

 

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

So I decided I'd do some restoration remove rust repaint and  try and sort the interior and at the start of Dec I stripped it all down and  it went off to the painters.

I could have fudged  it and thown rust converter on but I wanted to keep it a while so doing it properly was the way apparantly. The rust wasn't bad but would have been an issue sooner rather than later, tho structurally it was good.

 

The interior went of to a work neighbour  of a friend who did  top quality work. The ide I'd get it back in Feb march  thow the bits I could back on and the trimmer would get it in May and I'd have it back in August August September  (oh 2020  how little we knew)

 

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Anyway 2020 happened.

 

I'd got it back at the end of March, I started putting  it together and suddenly had all the time in the world...

So I started fixing the broken  front passenger window , putting the lights back in and  getting ready for the trimmer to do hit thing. He having had all of the stripped interior since January so he could get a head start on it.   In th4 end it got to him the 1st week of June.  So no real disaster - he said 8 weeks and by then he had had 6 months yo get his act together. Now he had issues in his personal life and it didnt help I decide to move back to the home country in the meantime either - let's restore  a CSR and move 200 miles dusty g s lockdown 🤦🏻‍♂️

But Septemberand no car,  the  the end of September and no car then the end of Octopber and finally at the end of November  I got the call it was done!  Yay, sod it its lat but I've sold my house now and I'll take it. It looked great, but the windows didnt work or the stero.. but thr lights and important stuff did.. fuck it.   Despite a near year slumber being started only momentsrliky to shunt jt about it roared into life and just about made it to the nearest petrol station for the journy to my sisters garage till I'd sorted my new house out, so I didnt pay as much attention as I should have.

The majority of it was good, seats, stitching and materials. Tho the wrong furflex had been used and when i finally got a chance in May last year  it had a fair few defects, minor missing trim bits and generally had a feel of nkt being carefully finished but slung together.  A faf and not the end of the world but really fucking annoying to need to fix a professional's work or pay someone to and also needing to find odd random parts and fittings -so much for supplying carfully labled jars of screws, nuts and fittings.

I have started the snagging  list the stereo and windows work in the front now!   But I side tracked myself with other projects and  it went into a garage for  some cam gasket leaks and a light referee and then got sidelined with  other stuff and it hasn't got the love and attention it needed, hopefully till now.-

[Low Horatio gearbox]

The interior after..

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Tho I foresee a fair bit of this in the future..

 

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

She does however look smart in the sun

[Mrs6C]

Marvellous! The early XJ6 and Daimler Sovereigns are great-looking cars, especially in SWB form. They are lovely to drive as well.

[Noel Tidybeard]

'ello Arfur

[High Jetter]

Yes, the original XJ was a stunning leap forward, I loved working in the parts dept of the local dealer. 

[2flags]

I do love an early Xj. That dash and the row of switches jsut screams class in my opinion. 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

They are indeed a rather wonderfull drive, mine is far from the best but is in good order and  it shames a lot of modern cars in ride quality.

 

I've dug out the wing badges to put on, I chickened out before as the rubber glue I had refused to set to my satisfaction and I pulled them off fearing one or both dropping off. They are bloody expensive and I am trying to keep as much original trim as possible.

 

So sans mustang its time has come. Stuff to do.. in no particular order.

Wing badges back on -  glue/adhesive needs sourcing. 

Find and buy replacement rear window chrome trim -  thr original one hadnt fitted well since the window went back in and the week before Christmas I tweaked it to sit better whichbit did, right till j hit 55mph on the dual carriageway  to Cardiff for a festive light show jaut before new years eve. There was the usualmrelentless surge of acceleration and then a light springy sound and it was gone 😒

Source a glovebox handle - one of the many parts lost* by the trimmer.  Also find somone to drill and fit it to the glovebox.

Get the rear speakers and rear windows working again. As the rear doorcard need  a lot of re bodging to fit this is slightly  less of a ball ache

Go through the parts catalogue and find the 20 or so missing imperial screws for the sun visor, RV mirror, console etc to replace the random incorrect or plain missing ones.

Try to restock the now sagged and drooping headlining to the roofcard... again. There is some residual stickiness left  but km jot sure my idea of steaming and pressing it with an iron and a folded towel will  work. 

Repair the rear passenger doorcappong the trimmer broke and repaired*

Cut holes in the floor insulation and carpets for the carpet fixing plugs, as they are lumpy and slide about. again fixing a non finished item from da bestust trimmer.

Give the entire interior a go over and snag /rectify fitment issued and  whatnot.

Find a longer screw for the manual choke/aed body - a vaccum  leak here has been the root cause of its recent unblemished reliability record. Some threads are stripped and abolt/screw about a 16/the of an inch will do.  Again parts catalogue  and just finding out what size and threads it has will help,  to be fair the manual choke conversion is a cludge of fastners, bits of bent steel plate, plastic, a bit of cast alumini and a fair amount of hope.

Actually fit the new gearbox spring mount rubbers that I've had for 3 years.

There is space in the garage to have at it now and get it acceptable - on the other had I have actually driven it 3k miles in the last 18 months so it has been used as an real functional car!

[Low Horatio gearbox]

So Thursday  afternoon I put the XJ in the garage and actually did some  preliminary stuff.

Both sun visors no longer flap around,  some visible screws are matching and shiney, the rear door capping has been  cleaned up and readied for repair and the lock and door mechanism given a once over - it likes to not lock from the outside. Downside was a screw head had its head snapped off for the capping -slotted hidden type you slide the capping onto.  A faff but as its hidden j can fix it without having to worry too much.

 

The bigger issue was standing back and noticing a small dark puddle that had formed under the rear of the passneger wheel well,it looked like really runny roof tar... odd. Now it could be a rear window scuttle drain, the fuel tank overflow or.. something else given it's not watery based feel and smell.    The rear fuel lines and pumps had been replaced last year - I'd intended to do it myself but  it hadnt happend that way. 😒  and it had leaked 

The tank to pump line had a slow leak and run down the inside of the rear lower wing to the lowest point of the rear wing/wheel well and leaked out. Looks to have been doing it for a good few months but unless you were standing back a good 6 or so feet and looking far into the rear of the wheel well youd not  notice.  I digress  I presumed it would be a loose fitting but it takes a lot of disassembly to get to.. bumper corner off and  a dozen or so fastners to remove the  panel and yes less than a 1/4 turn loose. I've cleaned it up and wiped it down so I can physically see if its leaking before I spend an hour or two putting all of it back on.

While I was down there I noticed a  jangling loose exhaust clamp on thr rear passneger side I need to replace-its rusted and cutting it off and replacing it is easier than just fighting rust  to tighten it back up. And also the drivers side box is  hanging dow a angled 3 or so plus inches so it will need  straightening back up - amazed it hasn't caught considering g how low the car is anyway.

Progres for sure, annoying to find  stuff that needs rectifying as it was done by an professional .

[Low Horatio gearbox]

A lack of productivity I am blaming kn the Easter holidays and parenting duties.

However, the leak seems to have been cured, the rusty C clamp replaced and the rear  lower wing nearly bolted back in.   Next up to square away the rear silencers but thats for another day and jacking it up and axle stands  as access is  suitably crap - if I'm feeling fruity I'll have a go at the rear gearbox mount  as I've had the rubbers for that for nearly 4 years 😇

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, Low Horatio gearbox said:

I've had the rubbers for that for nearly 4 years 😇

I have some older rubbers. In a packet

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Life and shit.. getting in the way.

 

Rear bumper is installed and squared  up so the car is drivable again  and no leaks, so a win.  

Next along was adjusting the front  wheels alignment as there id noticed  some feathering appearing on the outer shoulders of the tyres.  Adjusted it out half a turn on one tracked hould do.

Finally getting around to  the dastardly drivers side back box drooping.

 

 

Not a major issue but acces is  shit and I was too lazy to Jack the car up and do it "properly" however its nkw a lot nearer and less likely to catch on speedbumps. 

Much better. 

 

 

A gripe as this was unnecessary. It was messy to look at before.. but you had to get under to see it- it was otherwise tucked up tidy. This got fixed*   and admittedly looked tidy.. till it decided to droop down after 100 miles.  Annoying as like a few other jobs done as a favour I didnt asked for it to be done at all.

Next up is sorting the carbs. The choke debacle has given a few weak idle and running issues. Starting  was a faff but I'd adjusted the carbs so it's not a  total flood all the time and it starts near as easy as it always did  but it's not quite right. A service kit and  some time  overhauling them wont hurt.

 

On the plus side I've found the wing leper badges and seals and the new interior lights to fit as well so it will be nice to tick off soem smal but important details to start tidying up and finish what was started a long time ago.

 

 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

And an update... I upgraded my phone and tablet and promptly forgot  my log in details as well as life getting massively in the way and also being meh about cars.

I have not however been too lazy.. kinda.

The Rover continues to be a functional car requiring minimal checking and fluids topping up. It's only blot being t some inner drivers side tyre wear thst crept up on me. The main jiggle was needing two 15/16ths or 24mm  to adjust. Itw due to go in the garage for some well earned and overdue love next week. Certainly it saved the day when the qgF forgot her mot was uo and she took my modern to work.

 

As for the jag. After the  tanke leak and exhaust jangle  I was ready for the poor starting and rough running issue. Except.. I wasn't.  Contunuesd window down good weather motoring  in June  still left me hearing odd jingly type noises still.  Back under and copious shoving of 4he exhaust and anything made no real difference left me stumped.. till I looked at the radius arm mount..  ahhh

 

The jacking point was also crysty.. and had been repaired before th the rust wasn't horrendous. I can only guess that it was jacked up on the radius arm kount at soem point in the last 3-4 years and this crunched it and aided the demise of it.

 

It had been repaired and plated before ad I could have bodged it ut I cut it all out and  put on3 repair panel in insert of stitching together previous repairs.

 NaNaturally had given the FIL his welder back a week before discoveri gthis so i had to wheedli 5i back and get on with it.  It was not horrendous a job but whe I lined it up - carful to make sure the original slot welds lined upp.. they didn't so thr mount had to come off again and be rewelded for about 4mm of my error.  Hence no pics of the  job in progress as I was fucked off a tad. I still need to order 3 imperial screw/bolts to put the outer jacking playe/locator back on but it's done and no jingly noises of slowly flexing and tearing metal and rust hitting the ground. Granted it took me nearly 8nweeks if fitting it in with life, school 4uns and getting the enthusiasm  up for it.

 

 

 That left  the shit running.  Annoying as it's never had a starting  or idle issue till now and I could hear a definite vaccum leak and feared the simple but horrendously  expensive manual choke was to blame. Again.  I mean it all looked ok and when warmed up was fine  tho below 1k revs it was pants. Meh.. inspection light out and a screwdriver.. its prodding time.   Everything seems OK..  some of the  csrb overflow lines need replacing but they  were not leaky (yay something else to replace)   however there is a "T" shaped vacuum  line that links the carbs to the choke.. it looked OK but wasn't the best of fits.. pulling apart and .. yeah.. found it... rock hard and the culprit for sure.

 

That section replaced and what I could see and get to tightened..  yep. Started on the button from cold with no choke and  ran fine.

I

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Due to glorious  late summer weather the weekends job of the gearbox mount spring rubber replacements was sacked off again (its only been 4 years) .

It's s not a complicated job but a faff - your working against 2 reasonably hefty springs, but I just couldn't be arsed with  pti g it on jack stands and dicking with 2 Jack's and wooden blocks for 2 hours.   The mount is far from terrible- it makes a  springy judder noise but only if you really pin hard turning  sharp out of a junction... wich as a refined and gentlemanly Jag driver i would never do.      And with the sun shining and such it seemed better use to give it a half decent wash on Sunday and go for a spin . 

 I did do a fluid check and everything was good bar the oil was a little low and dirty and a bit petrol smelling, wich given the vaccum leak and choke cable issue isn't surprising.  I had no filter for it tho, but as it had an oil change 1600 miles ago and I'll get a fresh filter and do it again in 1500 miles. The oil was a bit thin but no sparkles thank fuck, and a  mere 8 litres of Valvoline Vr 1 20w50 later  its ready for a few trip runs to clear out a lod of accumulated crap in the garage.

 

Beauty shots care of my son.

[Matty]

Stunning 😍 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

7 hours ago, Matty said:

Stunning 😍 

Ta!

 

 

Activities continued this evening.. and fuck me was it hot in the garage.  

I have dug out the wing leaper badges and given them a go at gluing them back on - results tommorrow! 

And them had a go at the new interior lights (only had them 2 years )  Fitting was pretty easy  and it's better than previous but it highlights the awful  furflex job and a fucking dumb join too.  However they are in and work. Kinda..  they won't shut off. So  the bulbs are  out for now. But it looks way smarter.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

So.... the rubber glue I'd hoped would work.. kinda did and mostly didn't.  

I suspect it was a bit to warm for it to cure properly.  However I did find the new rubber gaskets for the badges while I was rummaging  this morning  so if I could get them to stick it would look better anyway. With nice flat ones not raggedy 52 year old ones.  Super fun in the oven like garage again - it's not welding tho !

 

Before, denuded of badging,.How ill people know its a Jhaaaaag.  

 

 

and after

 

Exterior wise its just getting  the  bootlid to fit better.

Fitting thesmalll chrome trim around the rear number plate -  a matter of finding the plastic 'T' shaped clips

And purchasing the now missing but purely cosmetic rear window chrome trim - likely to be last as  they are pricey.

 

As it is it's going to get shuffled out of the garage next week and the Rover can get some good love.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Today is Rover day. It was supposed to be Tuesday but lack of mojo and such 🤷‍♂️

Naturally it rained as I shuffled cars about, so I sulked as I'd only washed the Jag 2 weeks ago.  Car swapped and Rover in the garage for soem long overdue work. And here let me wax lyrical about the P6 and it's ease of    disassembly and assembly everything is logical and   not an utter basterd to get apart. The only thing I struggled with was getting  the dash top off, mainly as  it was just  a tight fit.

 

Anyway sans bonnet and screen

 

The reason for  this was that id noticed some nasty flakes of rust at the bottom of the A pillar on both sides. Quite big chunks.  At some point the Rover had been  gone  dicked around with and I would guess the screen and lower screen seal  /demist vent rubber had been  badly fitted.

 

Going by the  speed holes yes- a crud trap, lashing of sealant and  water holding foam all met in a joyous celebration of rust.

 

The passengers side was worse

 

and while it wasnt brilliant it could have ben far worse and there was enough of the  structure left for me to  put in small patches and rebuild it.

 

a judicuous clean up and  smaki g