Rover P6 2000TC - beheading

[ETCHY]

On 12/04/2025 at 14:25, N Dentressangle said:

So that's that job completed. 

Coat of paint and then Waxoyl underseal over the surface rust at the front:

Good enough for the girls we date.

All the cavities sprayed with Waxoyl and the outside recoated with waxoyl underseal - spot the drilled hole and bung. 

New bungs arrived for the jacking points this morning, so here's the finished job:

Bloody gorgeous car,
I have wood.
 

[N Dentressangle]

Jury's out on the brakes. Think it's to do with this:

https://classicroverforum.net/index.php?threads/brake-servo-booster-air-valve-spring.45204/

Anyhow, the more pressing matter is the beginnings of what the septics call 'rod knock'. Typical on the 2000 engines apparently - the big ends are a 50k mile service item. So I guess I'll be doing this:

https://roverp6.blogspot.com/2009/

Which is fine. Just got to finish off the MINI waterpump change currently occupying the garage and then I'll get the Rover in the air, sump off and see what's what.

Watch this space!

[Split_Pin]

I haven't read it all but who'd have thought a lolly stick would save you a whole world of pain and time! Great write up too. Even I could probably work through that in my wee garage, given time!

Best of luck, sure you won't need it though!

[Asimo]

On 09/04/2025 at 15:21, N Dentressangle said:

Stomil tyres. Don't try and tell me you weren't ever so tight as to buy those death rings 

I bought Stomils for my end-of-life Renault 20. They were bloody good in the snow but sounded like duff wheel bearings. Nobody died...

[SiC]

I remember on my P4 the general consensus was the Girling servo was crap and if you're not bothered about originality, put a Lockheed unit on it. 

[N Dentressangle]

So, after a slight delay whilst I replaced the MINI water pump, shown here still buried under the alternator. What a fab piece of design:

which is as boring a job as it sounds, I now have the more interesting patient in theatre, prepped and ready for heart surgery:

Wish me luck - I'm going in.

[camryv6]

22 hours ago, Asimo said:

I bought Stomils for my end-of-life Renault 20. They were bloody good in the snow but sounded like duff wheel bearings. Nobody died...

You should of had a gofund me for the tyres

[Talbot]

On 14/04/2025 at 20:18, Asimo said:

I bought Stomils for my end-of-life Renault 20. They were bloody good in the snow but sounded like duff wheel bearings. Nobody died...

Every Stomil I have ever seen has failed spectacularly.

I'm also reliably* advised that in Polish, "Sto Mil" sounds a lot like "a hundred miles" which is about as far as they stay together for.

I'd rather drive on part-worn no-name rubbish bought from the local scrapyard than a Stomil.

[Joey spud]

This P6 is just how I would want one to look well done that man.

I worked at a village garage in the 80's and the boss did recovery work for the local Police as the storage charges were a nice easy earner. One day we were called to collect a burnt out Austin 1100 from Cliffe Marshes and strangely the only things that seemed to survive the fire were the back wheels with new tyres fitted and the back lights.

So being very young and poor and desperately needing tyres the 155x12 Stomils ended up on the front of my Datsun 120A coupe and did me proud that Summer. They had quite an aggressive tread pattern too that was good for a bit of off roading.

Around our way they were known affectionately as Stoma's back in the day.

[N Dentressangle]

[Joey spud]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

Yep. Once seen never forgotten.

[N Dentressangle]

OK, started by removing the thousands of bolts around the sump, including the two big 'uns which bolt through the bell housing horizontally into it. To drop the pan you actually need to remove the clutch slave and sling it out of the way, hydraulics undisturbed and just a couple of easy 9/16" bolts. A little wrestling later and we have one filthy sump pan:

Given this oil is only 500 miles old, it's black as you like. Definitely filling with fresh once everything's clean and going back together. Those sump baffles can come out and the whole thing get a proper clean too.

First look at the crank:

Oil pickup needs to come off yet, but I can already see how choked it is:

Well that won't be helping. I have a mate with a parts washer, so I might just take him a little present 🤔

To be continued...

[N Dentressangle]

So, what's behind door #1?

Looks fine. Obviously not our culprit.

Next...

[N Dentressangle]

It's not #2 either:

[Matty]

Suspense killing. Are you going to put a set of mains and big ends in while the bottoms off?

[N Dentressangle]

How about #3?

Winner winner chicken dinner? There's definitely some copper showing and light score all the way around, but I've seen far, far worse.

Let's see what #4 has for us...

[N Dentressangle]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

Suspense killing. Are you going to put a set of mains and big ends in while the bottoms off?

Absolutely. No sense not doing so.

[Matty]

2 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Absolutely. No sense not doing so.

Careful. It's becoming a keeper this. Once you've fumbled about in the nether regions you've to marry em. It's the law.

[N Dentressangle]

and here's #4 at the bottom of the pic:

So looks like #3 was the guilty party, presumably having picked up some filth at some stage.

[Stinkwheel]

As Meatloaf once sang - "One out of four aint bad" 

I'm sure it was something like that anyway

[N Dentressangle]

4 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

As Meatloaf once sang - "One out of four aint bad" 

I'm sure it was something like that anyway

Pretty much.

Good to have caught it at this stage. The crank will be fine without a grind I reckon, and the bores look really good too.

Plus a really good clean of everything will keep everything sorted in future.

[SiC]

Number 3 doesn't even look that tragic. I've seen worse on engines with no knocking!

[N Dentressangle]

20 minutes ago, SiC said:

Number 3 doesn't even look that tragic. I've seen worse on engines with no knocking!

Me too. But it was definitely there. Needs sorting anyway.

See what the mains are like tomorrow, but that's a very different noise in my experience.

[N Dentressangle]

aaaand we're back from a week's holiday, so time to dig into the mains.

1, 4 & 5 were OK with nothing to be seen.

2 & 3 on the other hand:

so I've ordered a set of standard mains and big ends (at enormous expense) and will try and get them fitted later in the week.

Also ordered a bottle of assembly lube and the relevant seals and gaskets. There's no sump gasket on these engines  so picked up some Reinzosil gasket sealant too.

[SiC]

What do you think caused it? 

If the sump pickup was blocked, surely it'd been all the mains?

[N Dentressangle]

22 minutes ago, SiC said:

What do you think caused it? 

If the sump pickup was blocked, surely it'd been all the mains?

The pick up was partially blocked but was still allowing flow, so I think it was probably simply contaminated oil. The bottom of the sump was absolutely filthy - no big chunks, but the kind of silt you seem to find in engines that have sat doing nothing for a long time.

Bear in mind that I changed the oil only 500 miles ago, and this was the inside of the sump:

and you can see the 1/4" of crap on the bottom, and how black the oil is.

Same thing all disassembled, cleaned and back together:

and the engine was still holding just under 50psi at idle, don't forget:

They do say that bottom end bearings are a 50k mile service item on the 2000 and 2200.

[N Dentressangle]

So, time for an update.

New big ends and mains fitted, everything back together. Oil pressure is now a solid 50psi at all times, and I've put 80 miles of running in on the bearings already.

HOWEVER the noise is still there! It's worse when cold, and gets quieter warm. No worse under load.

Hmmm. It's the top end, isn't it? Time for a strip down and inspect:

Got the feeler gauges out, found a 38mm socket to fit on the bottom pulley nut and started taking some measurements.

Inlet valve clearance should be 8-10 thou, and exhaust should be 13-15 thou. Engine is stone cold, as it should be. Here's what the feeler gauge of truth revealed:

I'm surprised it ran as well as it did, tbh. 3 of the 4 exhaust valves have seriously bad recession by the looks of it - fairly common on these motors, and the inlets are a bit tight too.

I reckon that diagnoses our noise, although there's some wear on the cam too:

Plan now is to pull the head and take it up to Mark Gray in Willenhall for him to do this:

https://shop.roverp6cars.com/CHURCHILL-HEAD/CAM-SHIM-TOOL

Sound sensible?

[N Dentressangle]

Did a compression test too, just to add to the picture:

1 - 145

2 - 135

3 - 150

4 - 140

So nothing too awful there.

[High Jetter]

I remember from working in parts in a Jag/Rover/Triumph dealership the boxes we had with various sizes of shims. The mechanics used to moan about doing these, so I'd say that's £150 very well spent.

[SiC]

I was surprised that those bearings were sufficiently worn to cause knocking