Lankytim’s general shite related ranting, Ft mystery 2CV and P4 shittery.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

I’ve finally got a quote for the repair to the head. £635 plus VAT.  I only wanted a skim but with the valve guides etc the price has shot up. 
 

So I'm on the lookout for a replacement head. 

Given how easy the head is to remove, worth just getting it skimmed for now with a view to doing valve guides etc at a later date if it ends up smoking?

[Lankytim]

10 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Given how easy the head is to remove, worth just getting it skimmed for now with a view to doing valve guides etc at a later date if it ends up smoking?

Probably, I’ll pop in tomorrow to discuss. 

[Lankytim]

Alright, I’ve retrieved the head. After consulting with some P4 experts I’ve been told to stick it out with this head as it can be hard nowadays to find one that hasn’t gone porous, my one passing pressure tests and being in generally good shape. 
 

The valve guides have some play and are borderline so I’m just going to replace the stem seals and reassemble it. One job I’ve been able to tackle is removing the seized in temperature sender “bulb” which I could only get out by drilling a hole in the end of it, tapping the hole and pulling the bulb out with a bolt shimmed out with random nuts. It’s not much but it’s progress! 

[Lankytim]

Ok peeps, I still haven’t refitted the head but I have reassembled it with new stem seals after getting it a nice skim. Hopefully it’ll be on this week some time, I’ve been busy or it’s been raining or I literally CBA up until now 

I recently got chatting to a fella who had a P4 in for scrap and was willing to flog a few bits. It’s a 1962 110 so I was pretty intersted in its engine with its sporty “Weslake” cylinder head. I headed over on Sunday for a poke about. 
 

The interior looked very nice so a deal was struck and a set of seats were soon in the boot of the Laguna. They’re red rather than blue so it looks like I’ll be changing the interior colour scheme. I actually feel very lucky to have found these as decent seats can make or break a car like this and good trim is hard to find and retrimming prohibitably expensive. The seats cleaned up really well and apart from a couple of nicks caused by the interior of the Rover being filled with shite are in great shape. I should have enough of the trim to change everything to red but the front door cards and front carpets were missing. The car itself was pretty rotten and had been off the road since the early 90s. When it was jacked up the chassis outrigger collapsed as did the bottom of the B post as it was made of timber!  
 

I’m going back in a few weeks to liberate the engine and box and hopefully the rear diff as the 110s have a nicer ratio which gives a cruising speed of 148MPH or something. 
 

 

[Zelandeth]

Yeah, I'd definitely grab anything you can from the drivetrain.  Radiator is probably absolutely worth getting too even if just as a core to be rebuilt.

[lesapandre]

Vinyl paint should see to the trim. Works quite well.

[GeorgeB]

Mmm! Pie.

[alf892]

Worth lapping the vales in while in bits……makes it as good as you can without going spendy 

[Lankytim]

4 hours ago, alf892 said:

Worth lapping the vales in while in bits……makes it as good as you can without going spendy 

I’ve already lapped them in! If it’s cheap or free I’ll definitely be doing it. 

[Lankytim]

6 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Yeah, I'd definitely grab anything you can from the drivetrain.  Radiator is probably absolutely worth getting too even if just as a core to be rebuilt.

They’ve offered to take the engine out for me but I think I’d rather do it myself and try to save stuff like the radiator from damage. If they do it I envisage a gas axe, a hiab and a test of tensile strength for anything that’s still connected after 5 minutes work. 
 

[beko1987]

7 hours ago, Lankytim said:

I’ve already lapped them in! If it’s cheap or free I’ll definitely be doing it. 

Is that a slice of lemon flavoured lapping paste? 

[Westbay]

7 hours ago, Lankytim said:

They’ve offered to take the engine out for me but I think I’d rather do it myself and try to save stuff like the radiator from damage. If they do it I envisage a gas axe, a hiab and a test of tensile strength for anything that’s still connected after 5 minutes work. 
 

Plus you can save the nuts/bolts/fastners/brackets  as you go ! ... just in case ...

[Zelandeth]

6 hours ago, Westbay said:

Plus you can save the nuts/bolts/fastners/brackets  as you go ! ... just in case ...

Worthwhile in this case as at least on mine they all seemed to be really good quality so worth reusing!

Don't forget the stalk for the overdrive.  Probably one of the most satisfying vehicle controls to use I've ever had.

Edited February 25 by Zelandeth
Corrected autocorrect...

[Surface Rust]

Those seats are a fantastic score, mine are knackered and let the car down but the cost to retrim is huge.

Are you sure the 110 has a different diff ratio to the 100? I thought it was only the 95 that had taller ratio as it didn't get overdrive.

[Zelandeth]

Oh, also if you do end up essentially converting the engine to 110 spec - do try a run without the silencer on the air cleaner.  I ended up very conflicted about putting it back on mine (after leaving it off while I was going some fault finding and it was in the way).  Totally out of character with the car, but the noise it made was absolutely awesome...a proper howl that I'd normally associate with things like highly tuned Jaguars of a similar era.

Probably explains why I saw single digit economy figures on that tank of fuel...

[Lankytim]

6 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Worthwhile in this case as at least on mine they all seemed to be really good quality so worth reusing!

Don't forget the stalk for the overdrive.  Probably one of the most satisfying vehicle controls to use I've ever had.

It’s already got overdrive but I might pinch the stalk anyway. 

3 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Those seats are a fantastic score, mine are knackered and let the car down but the cost to retrim is huge.

Are you sure the 110 has a different diff ratio to the 100? I thought it was only the 95 that had taller ratio as it didn't get overdrive.

I was told the 110 has a taller diff but I might be confusing it with the non overdrive 95. I’m sure the 110 has the same diff as the P5 3 litre and they’re good for high speed cruising but I’ll have to double check. The 110 speedo goes up to 120MPH so they were planning on some sort of motorway bashing of one sort or another. 

In other news, we have a runner! I slung it all back together today and  after a lot of cranking it fired up. The tappets are very noisy though and obviously need setting. There’s no leaks but I really need to go on a test drive to make sure it’s actually working OK and no oil and water is getting where it shouldn’t be, of course there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be fixed but you never know.

The temp gauge went up to 75 but seems to be stuck there. Not sure what’s going on with that but I’ll leave it to cool down overnight and have another look.  

[GeorgeB]

Phwoar, crumpet!

[Lankytim]

Right, I’ve got it running pretty well by ear but it deffo needs a bit of fettling. The rockers weren’t assembled in the order they came out so one was super noisy while another was holding an inlet valve open. With then adjusted up the big 6 absolutely purred. A quick run around the block showed the Rover was transformed. Loads of power, the head gasket was probably pretty ill from the start. 

I’ll have to set it up properly when I get the chance, the new interior has been cluttering the house up so I decided to made use of the nice weather and fit it. The old interior was removed and the floors vacuumed up. A little rust was found in the floors next to the A pillar on the passenger side but they all seem to go a little there and a small patch should sort it. 
 

The interior was soon in, after a bit of messing about with the front seat runners. The Rover must’ve had a bench seat at some point and the runners had been fitted in the wrong place. The red rear carpets were fitted, along with a light green transmission tunnel carpet and black front floor carpets, a real “bitsa” but it does look miles better than before.  
 

I’m going to take it to work tonight, an 8 mile or so run each way. Fingers crossed it keeps its water in this time! 

 

 

[Zelandeth]

I don't think the red and blue looks bad together personally!

These engines are ridiculously smooth though when running well.

Who says you need fuel injection, ECUs, electronic ignition and that nonsense for a smooth idle?

The valve train in this got a little quieter once I'd adjusted the tappets, but even before yes there was a bit of noise, but even that had a sort of "well oiled machine" quality to it.  Phone microphone did make it sound rattlier than in person though.

Just remembered - if your gear change feels overly stiff, it's worth disassembling, cleaning and greasing the little ball pivot gizmo under the dash - that made a substantial difference to mine as the original grease had long since turned to plastic.

[lesapandre]

Are those vinyl or leather seats - they have certainly lasted well? Looks lovely. 

If there is creasing damage it may be possible to 'pop' it back by applying a bit of heat. Likewise I think you can get carpet dye to get them all the same colour if wanted.  Doorcards will take vinyl paint.

[Lankytim]

4 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Are those vinyl or leather seats - they have certainly lasted well? Looks lovely. 

If there is creasing damage it may be possible to 'pop' it back by applying a bit of heat. Likewise I think you can get carpet dye to get them all the same colour if wanted.  Doorcards will take vinyl paint.

I think they’re vinyl and have been recovered by the looks of it, originally they’d have been leather.  The car they came from was a stalled resto and it looks like they started restoring the car with the interior rather than the bodywork! 
 

[Lankytim]

On 27/02/2025 at 17:06, Zelandeth said:

I don't think the red and blue looks bad together personally!

These engines are ridiculously smooth though when running well.

Who says you need fuel injection, ECUs, electronic ignition and that nonsense for a smooth idle?

The valve train in this got a little quieter once I'd adjusted the tappets, but even before yes there was a bit of noise, but even that had a sort of "well oiled machine" quality to it.  Phone microphone did make it sound rattlier than in person though.

Just remembered - if your gear change feels overly stiff, it's worth disassembling, cleaning and greasing the little ball pivot gizmo under the dash - that made a substantial difference to mine as the original grease had long since turned to plastic.

Everything has been set “by ear” so will need fine adjustment, although I’ve no idea where my strobe light is. I don’t know how to use feeler gauges either, the ones in the Rovers toolkit are wafer thin, how do I found out what 0.10 thou is? Amazed I’ve got to this stage in life and not figured out feeler gauges yet!

 

I actually took this thing to work last night, it’s first real run out. No issues, no smoke or bangs. Amazing! It has much more power than before and has that amazing 6 cylinder warble. Bliss! It’s also much quieter than I remembered too, although the new(er) carpets must help with that. 

[captain_70s]

The feeler gauges should be marked/labelled, although if not embossed they've probably worn off.

[Mr Pastry]

31 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

how do I found out what 0.10 thou is?

Do you mean 0.1 thou or 0.010"?  I suspect the latter, i.e. 10 thou.   As said they should be marked, but for reference/comparison, an Evri parcel shop receipt is about 4 thou, a typical cereal packet card about 15 thou, picture postcards vary between 10 and 15 thou. HTH.

[Lankytim]

6 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

Do you mean 0.1 thou or 0.010"?  I suspect the latter, i.e. 10 thou.   As said they should be marked, but for reference/comparison, an Evri parcel shop receipt is about 4 thou, a typical cereal packet card about 15 thou, picture postcards vary between 10 and 15 thou. HTH.

I don’t know what I mean tbh 

[Lankytim]

Short update, I went back to the guy breaking the P4 110 and retrieved some more trim, spare lights and a few other bits and pieces. The front grille looked good but unfortunately the chrome was too tarnished to revive. The plastic Rover badge was saveable and was removed and after painting with nail varnish fitted to my existing grille which had lost its badge at some time. The chrome surround responded well to some polishing and looks pretty nice, a couple of the vertical bars are a little bent but have more or less straightened up. I wanted to swap the bars from the donor car to mine too but it appears to be from a different manufacturer and won’t fit! I’ve had three grilles now and they’ve all been slightly different in one way or another, annoying! 
 

A couple of parts I salvaged but probably won’t fit are the front seat belts. They’re  old style static belts and are manufactured by Irvin who made parachutes during WW2. They’re a nice looking bit of kit but I’d rather fit modern inertia belts. I’ve cleaned them up and will probably try to sell them at some point as they’re probably right up someone’s street. 

[Surface Rust]

Nice work with the nail varnish, hopefully you got the evidence tidied away before your other half found out.

The belts are lovely - how much were you thinking of selling them for? One of my old heaps has none and can't have a three point belt.

[Zelandeth]

Something to consider before you go for three point belts: Will you still be able to reach the handbrake when belted in.

From my normal driving position that was going to be a hard no, which pretty much derailed that idea before it even started.

[High Jetter]

Belting belts! Must be worth a bob or 2.

[Westbay]

12 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Something to consider before you go for three point belts: Will you still be able to reach the handbrake when belted in.

From my normal driving position that was going to be a hard no, which pretty much derailed that idea before it even started.

" They’re a nice looking bit of kit but I’d rather fit modern inertia belts."