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

[Lankytim]

Yet another update!

There was a little play in the king pins which turned out to be loose cotter pins, they come in different sizes and I suspect the incorrect ones have been fitted at some time. They’ve adjusted up but some other are on order thanks to the ever helpful P4 drivers guild 

The glass “boulder catcher” fuel filter has been reinstated using parts from the stash and some new pipework. The oil in the gearbox was also checked and topped up via a hatch in the transmission tunnel. The ‘box even has its own rather hefty dipstick! Brill! 
 

All this set the old Rover up for its biggest challenge yet. A 60 mile trip to see my Dad in Birmingham via the M6. Dad has always been a bit of a cynic “you’ll never get that thing up and running” etc so he was pleasantly surprised when it appeared on his drive, he even joined me for a spin around the block, visiting the old Rover engine factory in nearby Tyseley. My Dads father worked there after he was demobbed post WW2 up until his retirement in the 80s. Apparently he was a “Wibbler”. He removed flashing from casting although I’m not sure if my Dad is making that bit up. 
 

We went for a spin around the locale and drove past @St.Jude Rover 800 incase he was around, which he wasn’t.  Dad was dropped home and I headed back up the M6 to Stoke.

All went swimmingly with the big 6 limo running better than ever, I even took the thing through the Birmingham LEZ via the A38 tunnels- great fun!  These old Rovers absolutely own the road and it was great fun thundering up the motorway. Pulling onto the drive the engine cut out and wouldn’t restart. Investigation showed the float chamber was overflowing, flooding the engine. The float seemed to be fine so I suspect a sticky valve. It all worked fine afterwards- I’ll keep an eye on it. This distracted me from the oil slick forming under the bellhousing. It looks like the rear crank seal has finally karked it, which is a gearbox out job. This will at least allow me to change the rear block core plug which is also weeping. Not sure when I’ll get around to doing that though! The rear seal has always leaked a little but it looks like the motorway blast has finished it off. 

[St.Jude]

On 11/05/2025 at 21:36, Lankytim said:

We went for a spin around the locale and drove past @St.Jude Rover 800 incase he was around, which he wasn’t.  Dad was dropped home and I headed back up the M6 to Stoke.

Was slaving over a hot stove cooking for everyone for my moms birthday.

Won't be there near the damn thing until July really, and that'll be to move it to Malvern.

[Surface Rust]

The rear core plug on mine was leaking 12 years ago. I araldited a penny washer in it and it's only started to leak again now. 

Not a bodge if it works*

[Lankytim]

7 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

The rear core plug on mine was leaking 12 years ago. I araldited a penny washer in it and it's only started to leak again now. 

Not a bodge if it works*

That’s not a bad idea, It’ll be easy to replace properly when I take the gearbox out to fix the rear crank seal but might do as an interim repair. 
 

Talking of interim repairs….. a 5 litre bottle cunningly crafted to shape and a couple of bungee cords mean I have an oil free driveway, presumably until it’s full of oil and pours out everywhere. 
 

*no idea why the image is inverted 

[Surface Rust]

That's genius, and with the convenient spout to allow you to pour it back in the engine!

[cbowditch]

If the float in the carb is sticking and overfueling badly I recommend you change the engine oil. I had that happen on my cortina and I adjusted the float and carried on driving. After 20 miles or so, the crank locked up! The oil was so diluted with fuel that the bearings overheated.

[Lankytim]

4 hours ago, cbowditch said:

If the float in the carb is sticking and overfueling badly I recommend you change the engine oil. I had that happen on my cortina and I adjusted the float and carried on driving. After 20 miles or so, the crank locked up! The oil was so diluted with fuel that the bearings overheated.

That’s not a bad call. I did think about the oil getting diluted with petrol but as the oil pressure seems to be OK and it doesn’t have the tell tale smell of petrol I’d discounted it. If the oil has been diluted then it would explain the oil slick from the rear main seal. 

[Zelandeth]

Regarding the carb flooding over, my guess given you just cleaned out the sediment bowl, it's just been a bit of crud that got dislodged from there.  If it doesn't happen again in the near future it's most likely absolutely fine.

[Lankytim]

32 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Regarding the carb flooding over, my guess given you just cleaned out the sediment bowl, it's just been a bit of crud that got dislodged from there.  If it doesn't happen again in the near future it's most likely absolutely fine.

The glass bowl was missing so I built up a usable one from the spares stash with a new seal. Everything was thoroughly cleaned up but perhaps some debris was left behind. I’ll just monitor the situation and see what happens. 
 

Going back to the oil, I’ve always thought it looked a little thin for 20/50. I bought the cheapest oil I could find to flush the engine out after doing the head gasket and planned on putting some more expensive oil in at a later date, certainly dedicated “classic car” 20/50 is like treacle in comparison to this Triple R stuff. 

[Lankytim]

A nice sunny day out with the family at the local “Auto Extravaganza” which despite being 10 mins away and in its 11th year I’d never heard of. Anyway, the family were coaxed along and a nice time was had by all. The place was packed with interesting old motors! Star of the show for me was the 1986 Maestro city, it’s not even a CITY X which means no side repeaters, no rubbing strips on the doors, glovebox lid, etc etc. I’d never seen one before, excellent! There was also a 2 cylinder air cooled Fiat Panda too, another car I’d never seen before.  
 

The Rover didn’t drive very well, clutch judder and slip means the rear crank seal is more urgent than ever but it got us there and home without incident. I seem to have got my head around the carb though, a nice fella on Facebook sent me images of the workshop manual and I’ve been able to set the idle speed and adjust the jets etc. it seems to run and pull pretty well now. 
 

Here’s a selection of cars I snapped, there was far too many to photograph. A very good show and hopefully I’ll be back next year. 

[High Jetter]

Nice pics! I think the radio in the City would have been an option. Love the white FWD Triumph and that odd-looking Leyland truck.

[chodweaver]

Landcrabs!

TWO Landcrabs!!

ETA

While I'd love to have seen them in the metal, with just the pics, i can continue to imagine that they're the size of small planets...

[Lankytim]

28 minutes ago, chodweaver said:

Landcrabs!

TWO Landcrabs!!

ETA

While I'd love to have seen them in the metal, with just the pics, i can continue to imagine that they're the size of small planets...
 

The Austin 3 litre? They are pretty large. I’ve seen this one driving around and like all big cars from that era they seem to shrink when compared to modern cars. Still a lot of presence to it though. 

[Lankytim]

Hi everyone. Not much of an update as I’ve been busy with work and other random stuff.

The Laguna continues to provide sterling service,  including taking myself and the family all around Wales on holiday, before we left a nice present arrived in the post- the original number plates for the P4! I’d got in touch with a previous owner who’d had the 100 back in the early 80s and still had the plates hanging in his garage. He very kindly volunteered to post them to me and after we returned from Wales I fitted the rear one. Definitely an improvement on the undersized modern item that was fitted before. 

Despite the 2.6 engine in the Rover performing perfectly (leaks aside) I bought an engine from a Rover 3 litre mk3 because it was cheap, and seized.

The engine complete with auto box was collected from Manchester and was soon back home in Stoke and getting taken apart. It freed off with a crowbar on the starter ring  pretty easily. The gearbox was taken off and the engine was stripped to a short block, parts like the box and the power steering pump and specially adapted dynamo it bolts on to will be sold on as I don’t need them. The engine looks to be in good shape internally with no scoring in the bores , no lip in the bores and no sideways movement in the pistons. The engine can be converted to manual using a Rover 80 flywheel and seems to be quite a common conversion in P4 circles. Unfortunately 4 of the 6 spark plugs snapped off in the head and will need be removed somehow, I might get the engineering shop that skims the head to have a shot at that job.  As the engine came from a mk3 3 litre it has a fancy “Weslake” head which helps the flow of gases into the engine and looks really cool, although mine needs a really good clean up! 
 

The whole 3 litre engine conversion malarkey will be a bit of a back burner project for the time being but the engine will look great with the alloy castings cleaned up and the block nicely painted and the increase in BHP and torque should come in handy. 
 

The MOT on the 2CV expires next month, time flies when you’re enjoying yourself! The crossbox in the exhaust was blowing on the last MOT although the tester couldn’t find the leak. It’s steadily got worse so I bought a replacement from ECAS near Stafford, parked outside was a very nice Traction Avant which I thought was worth taking a pic of. They’re glorious cars when viewed up close. 
 

Anyway, that’s all for the time being. 

[High Jetter]

Nice pl8s, M8.

[Lankytim]

A bit of elbow grease and the head cleans up pretty nicely! Not too corroded either. 

[Surface Rust]

Enjoy fitting the crossbow in the 2cv, I found it was a complete bastard of a job in my Acadiane trying to get all the joints to seal.  Those new clamps you've got do help pull it all together!

I think the exhaust manifold bore for the Westlake heads is larger so check your downpipe before trying to fit. I imagine the 3.0 will make it quite rapid!

[Lankytim]

Soooo, I was sat in the barbers waiting my turn for a trim and browsing Facebook marketplace….

Anyway, long story short, it just kinda happened  even though I’m meant to be reducing the fleet, not increasing it. It was local and cheap and I’ve never had one before…

It’s a late 2004 diesel connoisseur. The previous owner was selling as he’d spent a load at the last MOT  on brakes and stuff and a pre MOT check had shown it needed even more spending on it, rear brake pipes corroded, front wishbones, drop links, tyres and a small rust hole on the drivers sill. Nothing too bad. 
 

It’s pretty straight and only has 69k on the clock. It’s a nice looking thing but probably won’t be staying as it just doesn’t seem as good as the Laguna. I know they’re a couple of generations apart but the 75 really does feel like something from the 90s….. which of course it is.

What really lets the 75 down is the interior. Everything feels loose and flappy, fabric on the door cards falling off, poor quality plastics, droopy headliner, boot floor and trim collapsing, it feels like a clapped out Kia rather than a premium product. The spec seems pretty poor too, I thought this trim level was near the top but it has cloth manually adjustable seats. I’m guessing Project Drive is behind this general crappyness but it could be remedied with a nice new leather interior from an earlier 75 in cream or something. Dark blue bodywork and a cream interior…. Yum!

But of course that isn’t going to happen because I’m reducing the fleet… aren’t I?