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

[Lankytim]

 

13 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

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.

These are three point belts, but are of the static type. I’d be after £60 delivered .

13 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.

Good point that I hadn’t considered, hopefully with inertia belts I should be able to lean forwards and the belt will extend to allow me to operate the parking brake. I don’t really miss not having seat belts but the wife and kids won’t go near the thing without them fitted.

It’s not even midday and I’ve already completed another job on this old crock! The drivers side front spring pan was corroded and looked in danger of allowing the spring to burst through it, fortunately I managed to score a good spare on Sunday. The job itself didn’t look too bad other than removing 12 bolts which would presumably be seized solid. The P4 Drivers Guild have a set procedure which involves lengths of threaded bar which can be used to gently release the tension on the spring to enable it to be safely removed, the spring containing more potential energy than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined and easily capable of slicing a man in half should they be mishandled. 
 

Obviously I ignored this advice and used a trolley jack under the spring to slowly lower it down to enable me to get the spring pan out, which surprisingly worked very well.

Taking the spring out revealed a couple of issues. The bump stop at the top fell off its cone and the thin spacer at the bottom of the spring had turned into bran flakes.  I’ve read that the springs on these can work harden over time and get longer giving the car a distinct nose up appearance so I might remove the spacer from the other side and see how it looks. There was no time to buy replacement parts and with the Rover being on axle stands and in the way the only option was to reassemble everything minus the bump stop and spacer 

Yesterday I’d used a knot wheel on the replacement spring pan and given it a coat of black Hammerite and it was a simple job of lining everything up and jacking it into position, using some longer bolts from the random bolt box to keep everything lined up. 
 

I’m yet to drive it but it all appears to be level and correct. I’d read that these P4s have a slightly longer spring on the drivers side to compensate for the driver which might’ve been that this spacer was. Either way I’ll have to dismantle everything to replace the bump stop mount but that can wait for another day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Surface Rust]

Ah, my mistake, I'd assumed they were lap belts so no good to me.

I'm going to go home and peer at my front spring pans now, just in case.

[Lankytim]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

Ah, my mistake, I'd assumed they were lap belts so no good to me.

I'm going to go home and peer at my front spring pans now, just in case.

No worries! They don’t seem to be a common rot spot but not unheard of.  This particular car was parked nose down on a driveway for a number of years so perhaps this caused rain water to pool inside it. I’ve seen others drill holes to let water run back out again. The other side looks fine.

[Lankytim]

Hello everyone. I took this to work last night and it was definitely on the piss a little bit, entering roundabouts made me feel like I was going to slide out the door. A tape measure showed the OSF was approximately an inch higher than the NSF. This put me in a bit of a quandary. Do I find another spacer and reinstate it to level it up or just remove the spacer on the other side to put things on an even keel?  This P4 seemed to have suffered with work hardened front springs on the front which is a common issue apparently, this puts the nose too high in relation to the rear. The best course of action seemed to be to remove the spacer on the other side and see what happens. 
 

I’ve got this job down to an hour or so and the spring pan was soon out and getting cleaned up with the knot wheel. The spacer (or whatever it’s meant to be) was corroded to an almost slate like consistency. I’m not even sure they were meant to be there as the manual shows any spacers on the top of the spring not the bottom. The good news was the spring pan itself wasn’t in bad shape, along with the bump stop which looked to be fairly new .

With everything back together a test drive showed the nose was at a more acceptable angle and the Rover now seems to sit level on the road, the handling seems nicer too! Maybe the spacers were added in the dim and distant past at the same time as new rear springs to correct the ride height then? Who knows. 

[jonathan_dyane]

Looks nice and level and not too high up front (much better than mine) top work

[lisbon_road]

Fab car and thanks for sharing your story.

Springs, I think it was common to have a longer spring on the passenger side to compensate for the camber in the road. Certainly I've seen that on the Viva, rather than the other way round.

I'd love to have one of these.

[Lankytim]

21 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Looks nice and level and not too high up front (much better than mine) top work

It’s sitting an inch or so too low I think although I think that’s preferable to having the nose up in the air like it was previously. The rear springs probably need replacing due to age but I think that would cost up to a grand so it’s not going to happen. 

11 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

Fab car and thanks for sharing your story.

Springs, I think it was common to have a longer spring on the passenger side to compensate for the camber in the road. Certainly I've seen that on the Viva, rather than the other way round.

I'd love to have one of these.

I’d heard that too but apparently these are meant to have a shim on the top of the drivers spring to compensate for the driver. There were no shims present when I took the springs out though. 
 

Over on the P4 guild FB group I’ve asked about the front suspension and I’ve been told that the corroded mess in the spring pan is the bottom of the spring mount, which is a steel dish (part 31) which is bolted via a rubber cone to the top of the lower spring mount to dampen vibrations. These often rot away though which is what the corroded mess was. The lower mounts are both intact though, albeit one is slightly nibbled by corrosion around the edge so I can only think these were spacers added by a previous owner. The front definitely sits lower than it should do by an inch or so (although it’s all now level). Maybe someone knocked something up to raise the nose up an inch back in the distant past? Who knows. 

[Lankytim]

I spent most of today cutting the paint back and trying to polish it up to a reasonable finish, due to time constraints I didn’t get to do the roof but it does highlight the contrast between the tired oxidised paint and the cut and polished end result. It looks really nice…. from a few feet away. The Rover has been several different colours over the years, starting out as dark blue, then white when it was a wedding car then grey over blue, none of the paint jobs were done with much care meaning there’s white overspray on the glass, sanding marks in the doors filler in dents, wavy panels and flaking paint on some edges. It’s alright for what it is though and I can’t wait to see the rain beading off it! 

[High Jetter]

Re the rear springs, I checked my parts cats yesterday and all P4 models have the same part no. spring on each side. They do vary between models, and for some you need the chassis or 'car' no. to know which one is correct. HTH

[Lankytim]

Not much to report other than I’ve been dailying this for the last week or so and it’s all been fine (ish) occasionally on start up I get clouds of white smoke from the exhaust which might be a failing servo, I’ve also had a look at the exhaust and the silencer is starting to disintegrate so I’m on the look for a replacement. I have swapped over the Perspex speedo face for a good used one from the spares stash, the original had gone cloudy. Something small but pretty annoying when trying to look at the speedo at night! 

[Noel Tidybeard]

would it polish up with a headlight kit?

[N Dentressangle]

34 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

would it polish up with a headlight kit?

That's a good thought.

Or there are plenty of guys on Ebay who will supply a disc of perspex for very little ££.

That speedo is gorgeous, in many ways 🥰

[Lankytim]

On 14/03/2025 at 18:02, Noel Tidybeard said:

would it polish up with a headlight kit?

It might do but the haze doesn’t seem to be on the surface like it would be on a headlight, it’s like the Perspex has gone opaque all the way through. 

[Lankytim]

It turns out that 100 exhaust parts are quite hard to find. The complete system is advertised by one specialist but is a bit pricey and I only need the silencer, the rest of the system looking like it’s in good shape. A couple of other suppliers list them but are out of stock. The larger exhaust for the 110 looks to be easily obtainable but isn’t suitable for my 100. 
 

Have any other P4 owners on the forum managed to track down reasonably priced exhaust parts for their old Rover? 

[Zelandeth]

If it's just the silencer, could you get a generic stainless one and sleeve adapters to graft it on?

[Lankytim]

10 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

If it's just the silencer, could you get a generic stainless one and sleeve adapters to graft it on?

Potentially yes I could. Annoyingly I had a few random stainless silencers kicking around the garage for ages which I scrapped last year. 

[Surface Rust]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

It turns out that 100 exhaust parts are quite hard to find. The complete system is advertised by one specialist but is a bit pricey and I only need the silencer, the rest of the system looking like it’s in good shape. A couple of other suppliers list them but are out of stock. The larger exhaust for the 110 looks to be easily obtainable but isn’t suitable for my 100. 
 

Have any other P4 owners on the forum managed to track down reasonably priced exhaust parts for their old Rover? 

I might have a brand new silencer and tailpipe in the shed. I bought a full system many years ago from Wadhams (seemed pretty cheap from memory) and I've only had to replace the downpipe. I hopefully won't need the silencer as mine is stainless. 

I can have a look at the weekend.

[Surface Rust]

Actually I had a look and Wadhams will sell you just the silencer:

https://www.jrwadhams.co.uk/product/rear-silencer-6-60-75-80-90-95-100-html/

Doesn't seem too pricey?

[bangernomics]

The guys in rochdale will make you ine to fit. For the life of me I can’t remember their name but they custom made a tailpipe for my last hymer so it didn’t coat the back wheel in clag. Greenwoods? @Mally will know.

[Mally]

1 hour ago, bangernomics said:

The guys in rochdale will make you ine to fit. For the life of me I can’t remember their name but they custom made a tailpipe for my last hymer so it didn’t coat the back wheel in clag. Greenwoods? @Mally will know.

Greenwoods, now listed as TG Silencers Rochdale.

Old fella used to love making special bits. Left the run of the mill stuff to the others. He'll be gone now but seems they are still the same.

Did my Robin Hood when the silencer kept falling off.  Fixed it for free the third time it happened and it never broke again.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Potentially yes I could. Annoyingly I had a few random stainless silencers kicking around the garage for ages which I scrapped last year. 

Doh!

[Lankytim]

15 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Actually I had a look and Wadhams will sell you just the silencer:

https://www.jrwadhams.co.uk/product/rear-silencer-6-60-75-80-90-95-100-html/

Doesn't seem too pricey?

Comes up at £157 for the silencer which I thought was a bit on the pricey side. I was buying one for £75 but turns out the fella doesn’t have them in stock.

15 hours ago, bangernomics said:

The guys in rochdale will make you ine to fit. For the life of me I can’t remember their name but they custom made a tailpipe for my last hymer so it didn’t coat the back wheel in clag. Greenwoods? @Mally will know.

Cheers, I’ll have to look them up.

 

[Lankytim]

On 19/03/2025 at 19:20, Surface Rust said:

I might have a brand new silencer and tailpipe in the shed. I bought a full system many years ago from Wadhams (seemed pretty cheap from memory) and I've only had to replace the downpipe. I hopefully won't need the silencer as mine is stainless. 

I can have a look at the weekend.

Did you get chance to look in your shed? 

[Surface Rust]

10 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Did you get chance to look in your shed? 

Will check today. 

[Lankytim]

Less P4 news this week, other than adjusting the throttle so it’s getting 95% movement instead of the 50% odd it was previously getting. It feels like a bloody rocket ship now, totally different car. The throttle is operated via levers and rods and seems pretty worn out so when it’s adjusted correctly it sort of overthrows and jams up, I seem to have found the sweet spot where it’s able to open the throttle valve a decent amount and not lock itself up. I think some parts will need replacing to restore 100% operation but the difference so far is like night and day. 
 

LAGUNA NEWS.

The tyres on the old ‘Goona were down to 1.6mm and needed urgent replacement. I’m thinking of moving this glorious old crock on in a few months so thought a set of used wheels would be the best bet, seeing as it’s currently sat on Juke alloys which while they fit fine just bug me a little as they’re not the proper Renault items. Tracking 5x114.3 Renault wheels down for a half decent price seems to be quite difficult until I found a set with newish tyres at a Renault breakers fairly close by on EBay. I fired off a best offer but didn’t hear anything back. In the meantime I found a set of Laguna alloys with unused tyres locally and enquired about those too, again hearing nothing back. The first guy accepted my offer so I went to collect these wheels yesterday, while I was picking those up the second guy also reappeared and a deal was done so I now have a spare set of wheels! This set of rims have all weather tyres on so might do as winter tyres, or I might clean them up and move them on. I’m not sure yet.

In the meantime I’ve got a set of Juke alloys I need to liquidate. These seem to sell individually as spares on eBay, unless anyone here fancies them? 

[Lankytim]

Time for a minor update,

(Spare) LAGUNA WHEELS- cleaned with neat TFR and elbow grease. They’ve come up really nice but will probably get sold on as I don’t really have much use for them. 

ROVER-  I’ve been dailying this and going on day trips to national trust properties without any real issue other than stuff I already knew about. A new exhaust silencer was sourced locally and to my amazement was dead easy to fit. The exhaust now has a wonderful burble and I don’t gas myself on the commute to work. The throttle linkage started to jam itself up again, making throttle operation very jerky. The manual was consulted and I found that it was miles out of adjustment. With pushrods adjusted and return springs fettled the throttle movement is now much more controllable.  
 

The tappets have been very noisy since I set them “visually” (i.e incorrectly) when I did the head gasket and I finally got my head around the feeler gauges and got to work. The feelers were a bit corroded and needed a clean before I could read the various thicknesses. Setting these tappets is an absolute piece of cake and I soon had the rocker cover back on and was treated to a distinct lack of clatter from the engine. Brill! To celebrate we took the 100 to a local car show today at Apedale country park where the Rover got a few positive comments from fellow car nuts. A fun day out! 

[Lankytim]

Quick update again!

The 2CV was meant to be back on the road at the start of the month but this coincided with the Laguna tax (£345) and a big water bill so I’m going to wait until next month. It’s still started up and moved in and out of the garage regularly to keep everything working. I forget what an awesome little car it is sometimes. The exhaust needs replacing as the crossbox is blowing and it’s not worth trying to separate the other parts of the system as they’ll all be corroded together. I’m eyeing up stainless systems which pop up cheaply from time to time.

The Rover has been happily roving around and eating petrol like it’s going out of fashion. The fella across the road who has a similar 100 had a tow bar which he didn’t want but was still fitted and the other day I had a spare 30 mins to remove it. It turns out it’s not a 30 minute job and I had to be very careful not to chip his immaculate paint while I was spannering away with my head deep in his spare wheel flap. After removing the bumper first the bumper iron mounts need to be unbolted, the OS were easy to get to via a removable panel in the boot floor but the NS is behind the petrol filler pipe. I didn’t want to dismantle the pipework or remove the tank on his lovely 1962 car and was on the verge of giving up but after 3 hours or so the tow bar was off and the Rover reassembled. Phew!

Fitting it to mine was just as involved but less stressful as pulling a car to bits isn’t as nerve wracking if it’s your own. I decided to remove the filler as pipe to get access to the NS bumper mounts and found the rubber filler elbow had perished and the breather pipe had pretty much disinterested. I had noticed a distinct petrol smell when the tank was full so this was probably the source of any leaks. The bumper was soon on and a new elbow ordered from Wadhams on eBay, in a frivolous  moment I also ordered the filler pipe rubber grommet thing which cost £12 but you only live once so what the hell. Annoyingly they didn’t combine postage so I was charged £11 for a small postage bag and they haven’t replied to messages querying it. It’s my fault for not noticing at the time I guess. The main thing is I’ve now got a tow bar to play with and there’s no petrol smell anymore. Brill! 

The electrics still need connecting up for the tow bar which I’ll get around to in time. I’m wondering if this P4 will be good for A framing collection missions, we will see! In the mean time there’s a small trailer full of crap for the local tip which needs dealing with. 
 

[jonathan_dyane]

I have towbar envy!

[Keymaster]

3 hours ago, Lankytim said:

I’m wondering if this P4 will be good for A framing collection missions

Yes!!!!!!

[Lankytim]

Sunday was meant to be shed tidying day but I soon got bored of that and the call of the P4 was too much. The OSF wheel seems to have a little too much camber and is scrubbing the inside of the tyre a little. Investigation showed the top link outer bush was shot. I had a few spare in my box of random P4 stuff so set about taking things apart to replace it. The inner bush didn’t have any play plus is a bit more awkward to get to so was left alone. One thing that did have some play was the king pin, I’ll have to investigate to see how much is acceptable . It’s all back together now but I’m yet to take It for a test drive to see if it’s made any difference to the camber of the wheel. I think it could do with tracking but it’s pointless if there’s play in suspension links/king pins etc.