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Feb 24, 2015 22:25:19 GMT
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You always love your first car, and always remember it sometimes to be better than it was. When I was 14 I rescued a P6 V8 from a local scrapyard for £50. It was a wreck and I didn't impress the neighbours or my parents when I had it delivered and dumped on the garden. I got it running, and learnt a hell of a lot but the rust was terminal and it had to go. Since then, I've always loved the P6 and had a couple..but hardly ever driven one on the road. They've always been projects. All that was going to change. I decided I needed something cool to drive this summer, shows, the gathering etc so I began the hunt. Several cars were viewed but were wrecks or miss-described and I started to think I wasn't going to find anything. The I found this -  "Colonel Mustard" as he's been named is a 1971 Rover P6 V8. Bought yesterday from Doncaster it's a solid but slightly tatty rolling restoration. Interior wise it needs a courtesy light and bulb, and a new drivers floor carpet. The body is good, shines up well and has had a recent blow over in a slightly lighter shade than the Almond it should be. The base unit is solid but I'll need some new rear door skins and a passenger front wing in the coming months. Mechanically is what lets the car down a bit. The gearbox (although recently reconditioned) cannot decide what gear it wants to be in, and the kickdown operates all the time and it's really frustrating. This needs looking at soon. The speedo does not work, although I think this is just the angle drive so an easy fix. Lastly, there is a horrible grinding noise from the NSF on right hand turns...this I'll investigate first! So...this thread will be about the maintenance and repairs of Colonel Mustard, and the eventual modification when it's to a decent usable standard. |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,927
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Feb 24, 2015 22:44:56 GMT
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That looks nice, considering you got it from Donny.
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Feb 24, 2015 22:46:20 GMT
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So...I bought the car 24 hours ago, have I done anything? You bet I have! A main beam light was out so this was replaced...easy job and it looks the part now with all 4 lit up! The same goes for the old split wiper blades that were too short. 2 minutes later and some nice new blades were fitted. All these jobs are small but help with using the car everyday. likewise all the levels were checked and topped up...with the only one needing anything being the radiator...more on that later.... I performed a stall test to make sure the overall gearbox condition was good an it was, so the main suspect was then the kickdown cable. I disconnected it, took the car for a little run and it was awesome! Smoother and more responsive than before but obviously no kickdown. I've adjusted the cable (slackened it) as much as possible and it was much better, still not perfect but 100 times better than before. The last job was the grinding from the NSF. I checked the wheel bearings and they had some play...I've nipped them up but ordered some new ones as they were a bit dodgy. The real issue was the bottom ball joint. It's absolutely borked and needs replacement ASAP. I decided to call it a night and went home...and this is where it all went wrong. Cruising up the bypass I commented to my other half that it was smooth/comfy/quiet and warm etc in the car, when suddenly the heater started blowing cold. The temperature was creeping up...this was not looking good. Luckily I was not far from home so limped back and had a look. I was pretty sure the radiator was ruined/blocked as it had cold spots and was leaking like hell...so today I removed it for replacement. this is what I found -  I think it's fair to say it's had it. The bottom hose also looked knackered so I need one of those too. Struggling to find a radiator at the moment but I'm sure I'll find one. So that's this weeks job..get it replaced and working again and strip/rebuild the suspension. |
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mantamutilator79
Part of things
I love the smell of kerosene in the morning….
Posts: 160
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Feb 24, 2015 23:59:41 GMT
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Hi Phil,
Bit of a suggestion here for you. I was looking for a replacement P6 radiator for my project and was quoted anything from £250 - £540!!! Even a re-core was up in the £200s. The reason I wanted the P6 style rad is that I wanted the internal expansion tank, having never liked the external plastic bottle on the SD1s.
I spent a bit of time researching and found an alloy rad for a Nissan S13(?) which was a perfect fit, for the sum of £123 delivered within 3 days!! I found this on Fleabay and was a bit dubious at first, but it really is a lovely bit of kit, keeps the engine cool and at a brilliant price.
Best of luck with your project,
Regards,
Pete
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I spent a bit of time researching and found an alloy rad for a Nissan S13(?) Hi Pete, that could be a good option....was yours Auto or Manual as mine has the auto box cooler pipes connected to the rad? |
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Feb 25, 2015 18:09:22 GMT
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Fantastic cars I've had 3500s in monza red and 15 years ago had a lunar grey 3500 auto, my uncle still owns it since I sold it to him, he has a p5 coupe we had as our wedding car ten years ago,, as said superb cars and I'm liking yours!
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Fraud owners club member
1999 Jaguar s type
1993 ford escort
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Feb 25, 2015 19:03:21 GMT
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I spent a bit of time researching and found an alloy rad for a Nissan S13(?) Hi Pete, that could be a good option....was yours Auto or Manual as mine has the auto box cooler pipes connected to the rad? You could run a seperate trans cooler. Ran a few Yank motors years ago with the cooler bypassed/missing and they were absolutely fine. Probably better to have one though. |
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold  86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold |
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mantamutilator79
Part of things
I love the smell of kerosene in the morning….
Posts: 160
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Feb 25, 2015 23:17:16 GMT
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I spent a bit of time researching and found an alloy rad for a Nissan S13(?) Hi Pete, that could be a good option....was yours Auto or Manual as mine has the auto box cooler pipes connected to the rad? Hi again, Mine was for a manual transmission, but you can easily use a seperate cooler for the auto trans. It was also for an S14, not the 13 model. I also found the details from the company advertising on FleaBay, 2fast2cool2 - NISSAN 200SX S14 S14A S15 95-02 SUPER COOL TWIN CORE ALUMINIUM ALLOY RADIATORHope this helps in your quest, Pete |
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Feb 26, 2015 10:36:52 GMT
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Oh yes...!!!!!!!
I have a real soft spot for the P6 especially in V8 flavour having owned one of those (JPM 458N where are you?!) a few years back...
You look to have got a real gem there and, although it sounds like a few things need attending to it'll be a beauty once everything it ship-shape.
I bet you'll enjoy it as it is for now though eh...?!
Please do keep us posted on this every step of the way...!!!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Right, so I finally found a nice P6 V8 Auto radiator...cleaned it out and fitted it. Unfortunately in my haste to remove the old one I had damaged one of the Auto box cooler pipes so had to get this replaced.
It's all back together now, and running well. It's running a hell of a lot cooler than it did and I can't decide if it's got an air lock as the cooling system seems very pressurised, but this is something I'll work out in time.
Another interesting discovery was that the propshaft wasn't properly bolted on, onlt 2 bolts had nut's, the other 2 were just floating around slowly grinding their way through my torque tube. Sorted now though.
Hopefully I can put some miles on the car over the next week or so, highlight any other little niggles and then carry on!
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