Mind the Gap!!

Wheeeyoow!!  More excitement here than on (any episode of) The Bold and the Beautiful.  Apart from one of my daughters being a featured extra in a pop video and my other daughter singing on TV.  And me turning 50.

So-o-o-o, After being out of work for 5 months, and then embarking on the adventure of self-employment (going well, thanks for asking), I inclined my head, somewhat resentfully, to mainstream common sense, and decided that having TWO rolling restoration projects on the go at once was perhaps a little too foolish ambitious.

The market for P6s didn't look great, but the market for P5s looked better, so after much procrastination, I sold old Black Beauty.

A week after a rather misty-eyed farewell, I unexpectedly(?) found myself browsing the online carsales ads for old Rovers - and there, before my very eyes was a rather lovely P5 3 Litre - check the photos.  Interior, tick.  Exterior, tick.  It was advertised as a Mk3, but my investigation showed it to be the (much more desirable) Mk2c.  Black Beauty was a Mk2a, and the 'c' had some worthwhile improvements.

To cut a long story short, after detailed high-resolution photo inspection and a small amount of negotiation, and with full approval of my wife, I bought it.  Now christened "Vanilla Bean" or "VB" for short, on account of its colour.

VB arrived in Melbourne 2 days ago - I had her delivered to a specialist Rover garage (Lopiccolo Automotive in Richmond - Tony is a great guy) to have a bit of work done and for him to arrange Roadworthy.  The plan is to put her on club rego, now that Victorian club rego allows you 90 days per year driving.  Perfect.  I called in to check her out, and she looks every bit as good as the photos.  Guess how excited I am!

How about Lopiccolo Automotive's workshop!  P5 coupe, P4, P2 (I think), RR Classic and SIII Landrover - plus my P6.  How cool is that?

Anyhow, I magically found the money to buy the P5, so still have the proceeds of the sale of the black P5 to pay for work on both cars.  Currently waiting for suspension bushes for the P6, so when I collect the Roadworthied P5 (VB), I'll drop off the P6 for the re-bushing.

Then I'll just need to get the aircon on the P6 refurbed, and I think I will have two imperfect, but extremely serviceable cars.  I have done about 20,000 km in the P6 since I got it, and enjoyed most of them immensely

There was one thing though - the P6 is not designed for people of my stature (6'4" and 15 stone [100kg]), and driving it invariably left me with a locked neck or frozen vertebrae.  Good for my osteopath's cashflow, but not great for me.

W-e-l-l, I fixed that, didn't I.  It may not be beautiful, but the Toyota Supra (or similar) front seat now fitted has transformed the car for me.  Especially now that it has been professionally secured!

I can see under the rear view mirror.  The armrest is in the right place.  I can drive at least 500km without pain (not without stopping though - the fuel consumption ensures a healthy stop every 2-3 hours) - and I'm loving it.  And the sheepskin cover from the old seat more-or-less fits...

So - after the aircon, I might start looking at a few engine tweaks...

Oh YES - one other improvement, heartily recommended to any old car nut.  Get a Sat-Nav.  Mine gives me reasonable navigation, but a 100% accurate speedometer and really good hands-free on the mobile phone.  On the P6, it fits nicely out of the way on the front parcel shelf (although I did have to glue a bathroom tile to the rubber mat, so that the suckers had something to stick to - 80 cents well spent).

In case you were wondering. "Mind the Gap" was the 'gap' between the black P5 and the beige one :-)

(What's that? on) My Left Foot

Well-l-l, a few things have got in the way of my regular(ish) updates.  I changed jobs (twice), we had Christmas (twice), had our summer holiday (twice), took a few long weekends on a friends houseboat (nothing flash, but loved it), a bunch of other things - and I imported my 75 year-old Mum - whose now been here for a year.

So, all-in-all, a little hectic, but generally good.  Whilst I'm sure you find my personal life tremendously interesting - I bet all you really want to know about is how the Rovers are fairing.

So - in short, reasonably well for two quite old cars that are generally expected to perform like much newer ones.  I have had the P5 now for well over 2 years and it soldiers on stoically.  Oh - apart from the alternator AND the battery failing in a slow, declining kind of way, over about 3 months.  Then the brakes - but in more of an "Aaaarg, my brakes have failed" kind of a way.  Luckily the car in front was moving too, so no dents or injuries - just a bit of an unexpected adrenaline surfeit on my part.

Have now replaced the alternator with a second-hand Ford one, and the battery with a horribly expensive new one.  Oh yes, brakes... more on that later.

Another big issue was that the wipers more-or-less stopped working.

When I say more-or-less, what I mean is that they would only travel about 3 inches from rest, up the windscreen, before returning to the rest position.  Even better than that, when I switched them off, they wouldn't stop - but preferred to continue twitching, same 3 inches, somehow looking like the legs of an insect in its final moments.

Given that the wipers on a P5 rest at horizontal, a 3-inch arc is not much use in heavy rain, unless the driver is about 2 feet shorter than me.

Even if I turned off the engine and removed the key, they would return to their St Vitus-like thrashing as soon as I restarted the car.  The only way to stop them was to disconnect (then reconnect) the battery.

Seems that one of the two cables operating from the wiper motor had worked loose (stripped thread on the retaining collar), which meant the wipers were being asked to go one way, but not the other - or something like that.  I have had it fully explained to me, but the wonders of 50's designed, British car wiper systems are more sophisticated than my ability to understand them.

Needless to say, the redoubtable Edward has fixed the wipers (thanks to a similarly aged scrap Humber Snipe, and his remarkable knowledge of how these things work), although the third time I used them (working perfectly) they wouldn't actually switch off until I killed the engine.  Odd - possible electrical fault.  I have since worked out that they need to settle into their rhythm. Once they have run for about a minute, they behave perfectly.

Edward also fixed the broken front quarter-window catch - so really, the dear old 3-litre (christened Black Beauty by one of my kids) is in fine fettle and doing a good job. Engine is running beautifully as it has since Edward took a tuning fork to the valves, timing, changed plugs and leads and generally gave it some much needed love.  Gearbox still leaks and occasionally kangaroos between 1st and 2nd - which isn't too much of an issue because 1st is rarely engaged.  Apparently this is normal Borg-Warner DG gearbox behaviour. There is still a dent in the door and the need for a partial respray - plus the interior needs a fair bit of attention - BUT - such delightful patination aside, Black Beauty is a very enjoyable, modestly rapid, very characterful old motor.

Remember, although 45 years old, she has only covered about 57,000 miles since new, so is essentially a really solid old car, and I'm still enjoying it hugely.  I've done about 12,000 of those miles since Feb 2010, so a lot of the issues I have had are as much to do with suddenly starting to use a car that has been pretty dormant for decades, as anything else.

Most recent excitement was the brake failure (due to faulty re-sleeving of the master cylinder under a previous owner) - duly fixed, oh - and brand new tyres.  SUV road tyres, not the light truck tyres that were previously on.  What a difference!  No more scary lock-ups in the wet, about 15% quieter, steering significantly more direct and much lighter.  Awesome.  Engine runs beautifully smoothly.  The car is a genuinely (modestly) quick cruiser along fast, bendy, two-way roads.  And I've discovered that the faster you go, the better it handles.  Quite remarkable.  Running up to Lake Eildon, through the Black Spur and some really great country roads - it just feels in its element.  Here it is up at Eildon, next to friend's houseboat (being slipped) and her father's 70's (?) Holden Kingswood wagon.  I love how well older cars survive in Australia - remember, I grew up with the salted winter English roads eating old cars from the sills outwards.

And what about the P6 (or Green Lightening, as it has been named by the previously mentioned child)?  Well - although the shocks were fixed, Geoff (who did the job) did point out that the entire suspension system needs re-bushing - and I have to say - although my last P6 ('Vincent' - can't remember why, but that was it's name) was 20 years ago, I did think Green Lightening's suspension was a little unforgiving compared with Vincent's.

Please don't go thinking I am in the habit of humanising inanimate objects on a regular basis - it really seems to be only old cars and random items of kitchenware.  So that's alright then, isn't it?

When acquired, the P6 had a long tube (looked a bit like a vacuum-cleaner hose) running from the air intake on the breather box that feeds the twin carbs, all the way across the engine - and down behind the nearside headlamp.  I couldn't really work out why - and neither could anyone I knew.  So one evening I took it off.

As a direct result, I gained fuel consumption (from about 17 l/100km to 14 l/100km) and a huge amount of oomph.  The pipe must have been massively restricting the flow of air into the carbs.

Green Lightening went to Edward, to have the following sorted:

• The brake fluid leak that drips onto my left foot when braking hard
• Electronic ignition fitted
• Removing the airbox and fitting air filters directly to the carburetors (I'm hoping for more gains in oomph and economy)
• Doing something about the brake squeal - when warm, the brakes squeal at an astonishingly intense level - it is enough to turn bone to powder - yet the pads are not worn through
• Fitting the correct oil filter (current one is way too big (possibly from a Range Rover) which can have an adverse affect on engines designed to run on low ail pressure)
• A full engine service (not had one done since I got the car - and have done about 10,000 km in it)
• Check brake lights - they sometimes stop working for no obvious reason

Also hoping he might be able to:

• Lower the driving seat (my head touches the roof when I drive)
• Fix the slightly intrusive vibration at about 1,000 to 1,200 revs

The big remaining projects on the P6 will then be:

• Re-engineering the air conditioning so that it (a) holds gas for more than half-an-hour's running time and (b) is actually safe
• Re-bushing the suspension
• Converting to LP gas
• Re-upholstering

Each of the first two jobs are likely to cost more than $1,000 each, so I need to plan them reasonably carefully.

I tend to use the P6 for weekdays - getting to work, visiting client sites etc, and the P5 for weekends.

So, I wrote all the P6 stuff (above) in Dec 2009 - and it is now May 2011.  It is curious to read it again and realise what has and hasn't been done.  To revisit:

• The brake fluid leak that drips onto my left foot when braking hard. Not exactly fixed - it is a bit complicated to get at the master cylinder... - so I either drive with my left foot hooked away, or I wear old shoes.
• Electronic ignition fitted - Done
• Removing the airbox and fitting air filters directly to the carburetors (I'm hoping for more gains in oomph and economy) - not done - I'd have had to spend too much, and anyway, it runs great - the long term strategic plan is to replace the heads with later ones so that I can fit a four-barrel carb - which should really spice things up a bit.
• Doing something about the brake squeal - when warm, the brakes squeal at an astonishingly intense level - it is enough to turn bone to powder - yet the pads are not worn through - coated disks with 'stuff', which worked a bit, but not much.  Have since had rear pads replaced and calipers reconditioned, which has stopped the squeal from the back, but not the front.  Have acquired reconditioned calipers and new(ish) pads for front, now saving funds to have the bushes done at the same time, to minimise labour costs...
• Fitting the correct oil filter (current one is way too big (possibly from a Range Rover) which can have an adverse affect on engines designed to run on low oil pressure)- Done
• A full engine service (not had one done since I got the car - and have done about 10,000 km in it) - Done - engine runs like a dream now
• Check brake lights - they sometimes stop working for no obvious reason- Done, faulty switch

Also hoping he might be able to:

• Lower the driving seat (my head touches the roof when I drive) - already as low as it will go - so need to acquire lower seat.
• Fix the slightly intrusive vibration at about 1,000 to 1,200 revs - not done, but later work re-routing the fuel line (so it wasn't resting on the nice hot exhaust manifold), and flushing out the carbs with diesel, seems to have eliminated the vibes...

I took the P6 interstate a couple of weeks ago - did 1,500 km (about 930 miles) over 6 days at a nice, steady, unstressed burble.  12.5 litres/100km (22.6 imperial mpg).

Still saving for suspension bushes, but using the car most days.

I've done over 10,000 km since purchase (Sept 2009)

One day, when I'm feeling brave enough, I'll publish the costs of both cars to-date.  In truth, its certainly no more expensive than leasing and running a new car - and it may actually work out cheaper over 5 years - but I won't know for sure until about mid 2014 - so keep an eye on this space :-)

Well - that's my theory, anyway...

Firming up the rear and blowing out a plug...

Well - the pictures and story are out of synch here - these are Pastor D's pictures from Walhalla and Rawson - but that was weeks ago now, and the completely stuffed suspension is now wonderfully solid again.

In fact - it feels as though the front ones are possibly a bit weak now!

Took the kids for a swim in the local lake last weekend - in the green beast.  Was a bit of a squash getting everything in (we normally go in the people mover), but we managed.

I'd been listening to what I thought was a tappet slowly loosening up, and was a bit surprised at how mush worse it was getting.  Anyhow, one refreshing paddle later (gloriously hot day, b----y freezing water), we were burbling home when I decided to unleash the horses on a long uphill.  A bit embarrassing really, I was trying to get past a Ute (Utility) - and after wellying up the hill at about 65 mph in second, I managed to squeeze past the Ute (Rover V8 gives wonderfully smooth and torquey shove-in-the-back, but it is no Ferrari) I bounced into top, more-or-less at the top of the hill and then there was a sudden bang from below the bonnet, a bit of a power loss and quite a lot of 'bad vibrations' from the drive train.

The Ute driver must have had a bit of a giggle when I pulled over to the hard shoulder.  Kids weren't so happy at the prospect of being stranded in the bush on a 29'C day...

Looking under the bonnet the problem was quickly apparent.  The rearmost right hand plug lead and plug were dangling free.

I realised that the loose tappet had in fact been a loosening plug - mustn't have been fully tightened last time it was put back in - so it had gradually worked its way loose and finally had succumbed to the laws of physics and shot out after the strenuous exertions of hurtling up hill at high engine speed in second gear.

The plug thread looked fine, so all I needed to do was screw it back in and we'd be on our way.  The only problem was that the plug, and the engine, were very, very hot.  And anyone who knows the P6B engine bay, will know that the right hand rear spark plug is impossible to reach without touching the engine - the access space is very tight.

Oh - and I didn't have a plug spanner.  Tried improvising with a plastic funnel and a squee-gee, with fairly predictable results.

S-o-o-o drove home fairly gently, sounding a bit like a badly tuned helicopter crossed with an unsilenced Harley, with fairly embarrassed kids.

Later, when the engine had cooled and I'd found a plug spanner, I put it back in.  That was a few weeks ago now, and there have been no ill side-effects, it seems.

Funny thing happened the other day - drove the P5 to work (still needs an Alternator recondition, so charging the battery every 3 days) and saw a similar car parked in the street near the office!

Had to take a photo, so here are the two of them, just on the very edge of the Melbourne City Business District (CBD.

The other car (the front one) is either a series II like mine, or a series III.  It has individual front seats (mine is a bench) - is also an automatic like mine.  It (like mine) is in original 'survivor' condition and fully registered for daily use.

Magic Carpets and Dirt Roads

So-ooo, Carbs back on the 3500 and it is running beautifully - burbling away at about 120kph (70mph) in a wooshy, shove-in-your-back kind of a way - but it does have a bit of a shake.  Don't know yet if it engine, transmission shaft (unlikely to be gearbox after the rebuild) or wheels.

The 3-litre has had its diff seal replaced (took less than an hour on the local friendly garage man's hoist), so my weekly crawling under-the-car-to-top-up-the-diff nightmare is over.  he showed me the seal afterwards - it was hardened to bakelite fragility, so hardly surprising it went.

Just took her out for an hour with my youngest daughter - great run, smooth as anything.  Don't think I've driven a 10-year-old car that runs as smoothly as the P5 - let alone a 45-year-old.

We went up into the hills and stopped for a coffee at the small town(?) of Sassafras (Dandenong ranges).

I know on paper the car is a slow old thing, but most of the time I find myself quite frustrated by the cars in front of me - so it can't be that bad.

I have driven her on dirt roads - and she copes with them well.  It isn't something I normally do though.  Rovers are tough cars and Australia's roads would have allowed them to prove it.  This road is just a side road in Sassafras.

Speaking of dirt roads though...

Perhaps I should rewind a bit.  Last weekend I went on 'camp' with about 30 other guys from Church. Mens camp, it was called - so minimal cerebral activity, plenty of carbs and protein and almost no vegetables (there was a tin of beetroot, but I don't think it got opened).

Anyhow, the 'camp' was up country in a small town called Rawson.  Plenty of 4-wheel drive opportunities and an on-site paintball complex.  Awesome.  Rawson is (sort of) between Mount Baw Baw (mountain resort) and Walhalla (remote but once thriving gold town) - look it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walhalla,_Victoria .

Managed to get the 3500 back from carburetor surgery just in time - which is good, as Rawson is about 2 hours from my house and not near a train station.  Picked up friend Allan and off we went.  Burble burble down the freeway.  It really is a magnificent car to drive.

Takes about 8 minutes to fill the petrol tank though because I have to fill at the slowest possible speed - otherwise the filler just cuts out (why IS that?) .

Anyhow, the last 30-odd km runs north from the highway and is an engaging, sweeping, two-way road with an indifferent (but sealed) surface.  Green Lightening took it in her stride and delivered us both, smiling and happy, in good time to settle in to our luxury(?) accommodation. [Hey - this is a budget church do, right?  4 to a room and about 5 on the sofas in the common room.]

I didn't stop to take pictures of the route - was having way too much fun driving - but here is the car at rest - having arrived.  Weather forecast was not great - cold and damp - but spirits were high.

The next day we had quite a bit of free time.  Those of a particular nature went paint-balling.  Others went off to do a bit of tame 4-wheel driving on the bush tracks.  Some went to Walhalla for a look around.  I wasn't sure what to do (other than NOT paint-balling) so I took myself to Walhalla (15 mins on even windier roads - great fun) and had a look round.  The shock of having to drink instant coffee at breakfast had been significant, so I consoled myself with the real thing.  Took a few photos - and here are some of them:

It was unfolding to be just a really peaceful day with me doing things I like doing and having a great chill.   It was literally a Godsent break from the ups and downs of work etc.

 Soon got bored of  being peaceful and unstressed, so had a bit of a look at the map and decided to drive to Mount Baw Baw, which is about 30 km the other direction from Rawson, on a dirt road.

Now this is a logging track, so there is plenty of room for two large semi-trailer trucks to pass each other - but is still a dirt road.  And 28 km long.  In my typically philosophical and patient manner, I decided to take it quickly to iron out the bumps.

Pictures in sequence are of a burnt out swathe of forest about half way there (from the big fires last year), then where I turned round at Mt Baw Baw because it said I had to put chains on, and another shot of the burnt forest.

So 50-odd km on dirt roads at between 40 and 100kph.  in a 35-year-old car?  But it IS a Rover - what could possibly go wrong?

 Well nothing, surely...

Not exactly.  Couldn't really tell on the dirt, but once I was back on the sealed road, it became really obvious that I no longer had functioning rear shock-absorbers.

And I have no-one to blame but myself.  Curiously, whereas before the car used to do a sort of hip-shrug when I braked at speed, now it doesn't.  This and one or two other things about the way it cornered unevenly, lends me to think that in fact one of my shock absorbers may have already been either gone, or on the way there.

Left and right bends are now consistent.  Trouble is, they are consistent in a rather floaty kind of way.  And speed bumps set up a trampolining motion like you would not believe.  Have a very reasonable quote to fit a 'good' pair of second hand shocks, but currently no money as a result of the battery-alternator-gearbox-radiator and carburetor expenditure over the past 5 weeks.

On Sunday - with a bit more free time, Pastor D and friend L and I drove to Walhalla again, with L providing a useful ballast to compensate for my undamped springs.  Dave had heroically risen at about 6 am and driven the 60 km round trip to bring back a coffee plunger and real coffee - so a trip in Green Lightening was the least I could do in return. L has a vast store of local knowledge which made the return to Walhalla really interesting.  Beautiful spot and a really interesting history - I'll definitely go back.

Quick reference note for the non-car nerds amongst you - Rover classified it's various post war generations of car in sequence as P1, P2, P3 etc, where 'P' stood for 'Post War' and the number was the sequence of appearance. 

Here in succession are the P2, P3 and P4 (I used to have a P4 in the late 80s / early 90s)

   

My black car is a P5 (the 5th model since the war) and my dark green car is a P6.  Leyland bought Rover during the gestation of the planned P8, which morphed into the SD1 - not quite so logical, I guess... 

There is a fair bit to do to both cars - in summary:

• P6 rear shockers
  
• P6 Heater unit needs reconditioning so it is not on all the time
• P6 Plastic tabs that are siliconed over the vents to stop knees cooking need to be removed (once the heater unit has been fixed)
  
• P6 Aircon needs regassing (once the heater unit has been fixed - no point in having the aircon and the heater on at the same time)
  
• P6 Need to identify the shake/wobble and fix
• P5 needs a new Alternator (the battery is fine, but the alternator is stuffed
• P5 Wipers need fixing (may be related) they only go half way up the screen
• P5 gearbox needs a recon (if poss, I will replace the BW DG with a BW type 35 or 65 (easier to maintain and keep leaks to a minimum - and likley to cost abut $1,500 less to do)
• P5 A whole heap of paint / bodywork (dented driver's door) and upholstery - all of which can wait (at least she photographs well!)
  
• One more for the P6 - when I am brave enough I need to look under the lambskin seat covers to see what needs fixing - but I am not yet - still recovering from lifting the covers on the P5
• Oh - and if I can rip out whatever stops the petrol going in at a normal flow speed, I will do that too - my old P6 in the UK was sometimes a bit awkward, but never this bad

D took a heap more pictures in Wallhalla (the sun was shining on Sunday) so expect these in the next posting

Bronchial Carboritis

So-o-o, just when I thought the alternator, battery, gearbox and radiator would be just about it, the car stops working again ☹.

I had an early morning osteopath appointment (oddly enough, my osteopath is technically the heir to some ruined Castle in England’s N East, but that is another story altogether – and one he himself has little interest in).

I drove the P6 (Green Lightening) the 4 minutes and 50 seconds it takes to get there – which with the warm-up period I gave it meant that it was almost warm when I switched it off.  It also seemed to be misfiring a bit, but it is 20 years since I drive a V8 regularly – and I thought it might just be a damp weather misfire.

When I came to restart it, it was still rough – almost got home when the Osteo’s assistant rang me to tell me I had left something there, so I turned round and went back – by the time I got there, the misfire was serious and she would not idle.

Picked up my stuff, got back in car, tried to start – but she would not fire at all.  The wonderful new battery and reconditioned alternator seemed to be doing their job beautifully – spinning the lump as fast as anything – but absolutely NOT firing.

I had meetings that morning, so had to leave the car, walk home, collect bag and catch the train to the city.  Came back mid afternoon, renewed my acquaintance with the trusty RACV recovery service and dumped the car at the family garage we use.  Initial suspicions were of bad petrol, but this turned out to be wrong.  The cabs are squirting way too much fuel into the chambers for them to cope with once the engine is warm.

The carb man is busy, so it will be at least a week.  Good job I don’t grind my teeth.

Paul (at the garage) was kind enough to let me hoist up the P5 to check the diff oil level, before I pressed it into service to get me to the airport the next day.  It was over full.  Arg.  Seems that because I have to jack up the car from the side to fill the diff at home – and because subsequently I am filling the diff at a fairly serious list to the starboard, the level is all wrong.  Could actually be that I bust the seal by over filling it.  Arg again.        

Remember, the battery and alternator on the P5 also seem to be terminally rooted, so starting to get to the airport was a bit of an adventure.  I am currently on the plane returning home and don’t yet know if it will start to get me home.  Thankful that the starting-handle works very efficiently.  I’ll let you know what happens.

(Several hours later) It did start (phew!) and I managed to pick up the kids as I was supposed to, so domestic harmony has ben preserved.

I wil get the electrics and diff leak fixed, it is just a question of funds...

Iron Fist in a Green Velvet Glove

Well - I picked up 'Green Lightening' (named by my 9-year-old) from the transmission shop on Friday (3 days ago)

All (and I do mean all) is forgiven.  What a great ride.

Turns out I have the Borg-Warner type 65 gearbox, instead of the more common type 35 - which is a good thing.

She just wooshes along, emitting a fairly throaty V8 growl from its twin pipes.  Noticed a slightly disturbing lack of response from the brakes when I started out today - but only once - I'll check the level shortly.  Also had to top up the power steering by a small amount (the manual says to check it every 1,000 miles anyway).

Second gear is a real stormer, good for at least 70 mph (112kph) which dispatches hills, slower cars and pretty much anything with disdain and aplomb.  I love it.

Now I have to work out the heating (possibly stuck in the on position) and the aircon (which at least needs regassing) and I will have a very usable car.  I had forgotten how little room there is for passenger's legs in the back, especially when the driver is a well-proportioned 6'4".

Can't be many 4-door 2-seater grand tourers can there?  Only the Brits eh?

A new life for the Marina

Well, I did say I was thinking of replacing the Marina with a car with working air conditioning - and I said it had to be a Leyland product to preserve the integrity of the title of this blog.  Well pat me on the back, I nearly managed.  Introducing my new 1974 Rover 3500.  (The aircon is all there, but needs regassing)

Consequently the time has come for the trusty Marina to move on.   My previously mentioned experience of driving the Marina (vinyl seats and all) in 48'C+ for several hours will be etched on my memory for some time yet.

I have sold the her to a lady in Sydney whose first car was one, and wants something to complement her Mini. 

The online advert pictures came up well, so I have included a few here.

So - my 'new' car - had "to keep me both looking and feeling cool through out the next few months.  It also really needed to be a Leyland - given that the Rover P5 was made a few years before Leyland subsumed Rover.  After all, I can't go renaming my blog just like that - what would all you avid readers do if I undertook such an impulsive rebranding exercise?"

Exactly.

After quite an exercise of analysing what I wanted / needed and could afford, followed by a lengthy search and a bit of analysis of current prices, the impact of the recession etc, I settled on a Rover 3500 P6.  Bought it sight unseen too, with the aid of pictures and a large slice of trust.

It was be put on a covered truck and shipped down to me from Brisbane. So - still a Leyland car AND a Rover to boot. Saves car club fees :-)

I managed to drop the Marina off and collect the P6 on the same day, so was quite pleased with that.

Unfortunately, the P6 had no petrol, so I stopped to fill it up.  Takes a long time too, because of the shape of the filler neck and the shape of ULP nozzles.

Then the car wouldn't start - flat battery.  Called RACV and they told me the battery was flat.  Ah well.  Waited an hour for the battery man who fitted the new battery and then told me the alternator stuffed.

Ah well, again.  The drive home was great, and other than battery, completely incedent free.  I deposited the car at the garage for its roadworthy (like a UK MOT test, but it is a state government responsibility, so it has to be done when a car moves interstate) - and also asked them to fix the alternator.

On Friday, I took it for inspection - she passed and I was able to register her.  Phew!

On Sunday (we were busy on Saturday) I went for a blast in the hills.  Was awesome, although towards the end I noticed a bit of a shriek (when I turned off the stereo) and wondered if the fan belt was slipping.

It has been almost 20 years since I let my old 3500S go and I was not going to let a bit of a shriek spoil my multi-faceted trip down memory lane.

Perhaps I should have...

I drove the car to work on Monday and as I got to the centre of the city, I started having some problems with the automatic transmission.  I was having to pull it right back to 2nd and sometimes 1st just to get the car to move away from the lights - oh and the shrieking was getting worse.

It was raining and I wanted to check out what was happening, so I parked in the multi-story.  I was locking the car (parked on a slight slope) when I noticed the steadily expanding puddle of automatic transmission fluid seeping its way towards the car next to me...

I took a deep breath, decided there was nothing I could immediately do about it and went into the office, nervously trying to calculate the parking fee if I had to leave it there overnight.

I rang the nice transmission people at Fluiddrive in Box Hill (they had been recommended by the Rover club) and agreed with them to bring the car in.  WOrked for an hour or so and then went back to the car, checked the transmission fluid level (which oddly enough looked fine) and set off for Box Hill.

I did loose transmission twice, but once I'd given it a rest, it came back.  Frank, form Fluiddrive shot out of his office like a sprinter when I drove in - but that was because they had just finished a P6 V8 this morning, and he thought the car was coming back.  Encouraged by the fact that he actually recognised the model by ear, I explained the problem.

He hoisted the car up and confirmed I had a serious leak - then suggested we should take the car out to see what else might be amiss.  He also commented on the fact that the car had had the engine rebuilt. (Even more encouraging.)

About 8 minutes later, amidst clouds of toffee-smelling smoke, he gently informed me that the problem was more serious than a simple gasket leak.

We waited a while and limped back (another 2 stops).

A day later, the transmission is out and stripped.  The problem seems to have been water.  The transmission fluid is cooled by a heat exchanger that sits in the main radiator.  It seems that this has corroded, and because the water in the radiator is at a higher pressure than the transmission fluid, water enters the gearbox and subsequently corrodes everything within reach.

So not just a $1,500 gearbox overhaul, but a $300 to $400 radiator rebuild as well :-(

Not quite how I envisaged my first week with the car - but wear and tear should be expected in something this age (1974 - so 35 years old).

With the battery, alternator reconditioning, gearbox overhaul and radiator rebuild, we are looking at an outlay of about $2,500 (Australian) since I picked the car up.  If we add purchase, transporting the car form Brisbane (about 2,000km) and registration costs, I have hit $6,800 already!!!!

Cheap for a great car, but a fair bit more than I planned for, or prepared my better half for.  I guess I'll be catching the train to work for a few months to redress the balance.  Ah well once more.

On a very slightly more uplifting note, it seems that the rapid differential leak on the other Rover (the P5 only needs about $20 in parts and a bit of labour to fix. 

Here is a picture of the diff.  The shiny nut is the filler nut - topping it up is an exercise in fighting claustrophobia AND extreme gymnastics.  I'll be glad when I can get it fixed finally.  (Just need to find the time to drop it off.)