1972 Rover P6 2300TC - Saab B234 Turbo

I've got a few odd small jobs ticked off my list now. The engine had been difficult to start ever since I fitted it 6 years ago, so I pulled the cap off, and found the points had worn down so there was no gap, I'm amazed it actually run . With the bonnet up, I replaced the dodgy old facet fuel pump with a new one, and now it coughs almost immediately, although it still needs a full service and tune-up. I also made a blanking plate to fit over the old engine driven fuel pump hole:



I've also welded up the jacking holes on the passenger side sill, and sprayed both up in satin black, although the garage seemed to suddenly be full of dust just as I started so they need rubbing down and spraying again



I also plan to pull the engine out soon so that I can trial fit the v8 making any modifications that are required then respray the engine bay. At the same time I want to do a better job of relocating the gearlever to clear the handbrake lever. I got my tape measure out and measured the difference in length between my spare 4 speed box and spare 5 speed box from the bellhousing to the gearlever. The gearlever sat 2.5 inches further back on the 5 speed, so I had a look at my spare remote to see if it could be shortened:



I dismantled it:



Then cut a chunk out of the centre and put the two pieces back together:





I clamped the two halves onto a block of wood:



Then welded back together:



As I haven't welded much aluminium before it was a little messy, and I wanted to check it had welded properly so I ground down the excess:



The section I removed had one of the spring mounts on it so I put the spring back on to see where I needed a new mount put:



I made a new boss to mount the second spring retainer out of weld, filed it down so it matched the other mount then drilled and tapped to fit the screws:





Not bad for a second attempt at welding ally I think ;D . The selector shaft will be shortened when the engine is removed so I know I get it it the right length for the gearlever to sit upright when fitted.

Very Nice work, what did you use to weld the ally with,

I keep forgetting to check this thread, but when I do i'm incredibly impressed. The remote shifter work is brilliant, can't believe it was MiG welded might have to give it a go. What size welder have you got?

Matt

Yeah I was sceptical at first but at £25 or whatever it was off ebay for a disposeable bottle and mini roll of wire I thought why not give it a go. It is tricky because the aluminium doesn't exactly change colour, and if you get it too hot, it just runs away from you . I found that having the gun close to the work piece, the wire had a habit of fusing with the tip and coiling up inside the welder around the rollers, but if held about 3/4" to 1" away doesn't seem to be a problem. I think it works so well that I want to find something else to practice on now

The first time I tried it I ruined about five tips where the ally fused into the end, then coiled up inside on the rollers umpteen more times on this:





I made it as I originally wanted fuel injection, with the possibility of twin turbo's, but the lure of a supecharger was too much, and I've now been put off injection in preference for carbs ;D

I realised that holding the tip 3/4" to 1" away stopped the wire melting to the tip, which stopped the wire 'birds nesting' inside, so it became a success. Building up the boss for the spring took ages, as I had to let it cool a little after a few passes so it woldn't collapse on me, but paid off in the end as it drilled nicely, with only a few minor imperfections.

I would have a TIG, but limited space and the fact that I would only need it for a handful of jobs means I can't justify it, so giving the ally MIG a go was a worthwhile experiment. It means that I can now do minor mods to inlet manifolds and other cast ally parts which I would never have been able to consider before

Here's the welder and the setting is was on to do the aluminium:



The power was on max, and the wire feed between 8 and 9 depending on whether I was trying to get penetration or building up material.

That's not a bad shout

I'm waiting on another sd1 gearbox remote to come through the post so that I can finish the shortened one off with the lever from it, to make 100% doubly sure there will be no clearance issues and no further modifications required to fit it. Once that's done, I could take a few more pictures and prepare a write up of some sort to go in there.

Back to the car, since I fitting the lower brace bar to the differential, I've been thinking about the poor ground clearance underneath it, as it only sat about 3 inches off the ground about 2 foot ahead of the axle centreline, hmm, not really ideal with what I've got in mind. Not to mention I won't be able to drive it in the garden without grounding out . As a temporary measure I've fitted a pair of standard rear springs to push the back end up. Now I have 4 1/2 inches clearance under the front of the diff brace bar, and both bumpers are at the same height. The sill at the front measures 5 1/2 inches to the floor, and 7 inches to the floor at the rear ahead of the back axle. This has however caused a slight problem in that the rear is really soft now. It looks like I may need to get another pair of custom springs suitably uprated to cater for the added weight on the rear now, but for now I'll just have to have fun with the jelly suspension ;D

the r380 gear box is a much stronger box the 380 denotes the no of knetons meters the box can take

the lt77 s and lt77 s where fitted to the 2.5 diesel and petrol landys the r380 later on and the lt85 (five speed) and lt 95 (4 speed with over drive) fitted to the v8s the 77 85 and 95 no being the distance between the lay shatf and main shaft the 85 and 95 being the most bullet proof boxes layland ever made

ps great build keep up the work

Here's a few shots of the rear of the engine bay before I started trimming

Drivers side:



Passenger side:



Top of tunnel:



It has become apparent that the main issue is the starter and clutch slave cylinder areas on the bellhousing, so a little trimming and I had this:



Now the block sat back, the gearbox mounts lined up with the holes in the tunnel and bolted up . I dug put a spare pair of heads and have roughly bolted them down. The drivers side head is resting on the clutch master cylinder mounting bracket, not too much of a problem, as I can relocate the mount to the rear side of the bracket, and the starter looks like it may clear the lower suspension arm chassis mount . With the heads on, the next job will be to trim back the towers below the steering box and idler for the exhaust manifolds, which again will not require as much work as I'd originally anticipated

With the heads on the engine, I thought it rude not to get and old inlet manifold and lay the blower, carb and scoop on top ;D





Somehow, it all sits lower than what I thought it would, and the engine can still come down more as it's still catching on the 2000 engine mounts. I also have a shallow pancake filter which will fit, so that I can put a hoodscoop on and take the car out and not worry about light fingers around it when parked up in public places and the old bill taking a dislike to the scoop poking through the bonnet while I'm out and about

I just had a little sex wee.
That looks brilliant!