Another Brit in my stable! Mmmmm V8

[dirtydoogle 383]

73 Rover P6 series 2. 3.5 auto. 89,000 miles =)

Has a nice wee four barrel holley 8007/4160, which loves to over fuel...alot....so I shall be stripping that down and using a BFH to gently tune it.

Nice sharp white paint, it has had a bare metal respray by the looks of things and has a small amount of rust in a few doors. Easy jobs! It needs a few sealed beam units for a wof, which is all it needs. Not bad for a 37 year old car! It's far nicer to ride in than the E12, it's smoother and quieter than the E36 and rides amazingly well, far better than the E36 did. Brakes are....well....70's and British. Not too inspiring for a 4 wheel disc set up, but, not too bad either. The leather is all very nice with the exception of the drivers seat. Might throw an SD1 5 speed at her some time too. But, for now I will be tidying her up and enjoying the smooth V8....when it's in tune.

Plans for the next few weeks is a full service, go over all the wiring and rebuild the carb. Then I shall start on the rust and get some paint matched up.

What do you guys think?

[3series 0]

that red leather is mindblowing.

[tire 10]

How much did it cost?

[Braeden320 0]

Definatly Different!

[elmarco 56]

Just add biscuit brown paint and it has Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels written all over it.

[dirtydoogle 383]

that red leather is mindblowing.

It is rather haha

How much did it cost?

Owes me $2000 at the moment. that figure may be going up a bit.....

Definatly Different!

Thanks mate!

Just add biscuit brown paint and it has Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels written all over it.

I never thought about that! I think they called it tobacco brown....ugh. But, pretending to be in a Guy Richie film would tickle my fancy.

[soarer260@hotmail.com 0]

Looks rather tidy.

Would sound quite good with a nice exhaust I am sure.

Gotta love those rover 3.5 V8s..

[hotwire 352]

Looks quite a tidy P5 - Good on you

Yep gotta love the old Buick, oops I mean Rover V8 - great engine

Dunno on the "nicer than the E12" bit though -from a biased point of view certainly a bit more lively though

[dirtydoogle 383]

Looks rather tidy.

Would sound quite good with a nice exhaust I am sure.

Gotta love those rover 3.5 V8s..

I may have dropped it off at the Y pipe just to check if it sounded nice.....it did.

Looks quite a tidy P5 - Good on you

Yep gotta love the old Buick, oops I mean Rover V8 - great engine

Dunno on the "nicer than the E12" bit though -from a biased point of view certainly a bit more lively though

It is far nicer than my E12 was

Yeah, go the 215ci buick!

[westy 614]

Man the Brits used to build some sweet cars.

They really f**ked it up with that BL bullshit.

[dirtydoogle 383]

Thankfully the P6 3500 didn't have any BL input! Otherwise it would be a square sd1 falling apart all the time. The only ecent car in the BL range must have been the Dolomite Sprint, what an awesome little car!

[hotwire 352]

Man the Brits used to build some sweet cars.

They really f**ked it up with that BL bullshit.

Thankfully the P6 3500 didn't have any BL input! Otherwise it would be a square sd1 falling apart all the time. The only ecent car in the BL range must have been the Dolomite Sprint, what an awesome little car!

Gotta say - For all the faults (& there were shitloads) in the SD1's - I still had a soft spot for them. Particually the facelfit car in manual Vitesse guise

Right though - a lot of crap came out of BL

[cliffdunedin 8]

My uncle gave me his british racing green(or very similar) Rover 3.5 V8 as my first car when i was 17...i cut the springs and stuck a giant playboy bunny over most of the back window(so classy) put a coby and a 3' pipe...was slow for a v8 but man was it loud.

I would love to have one now, and the different path i would travel modifying this time

[antil33t 90]

I wish someone gave me a V8 for a first car

I'd get all the go fast bits from that era

I reckon you should dump an M60 in it.

[dirtydoogle 383]

I wish someone gave me a V8 for a first car

I'd get all the go fast bits from that era

I reckon you should dump an M60 in it.

If it was to get a different motor, I would go with a chev. But, that's not happening. I love the noise of the 3.5 and it goes nicely. It's a bit quicker than the E36 320i over taking and off the line and is sublimely comfy. what more do I need? Except a louder exhaust and a skid.

[Jay 735i 0]

Very, very nice car... with all the re-badged Honda and head gasket eating K-Series nonsense, it's all too easy to forget that Rover were once a premium brand and were very technologically advanced for their time.

No need for anyone to make 'Buick, oops Rover' noises either, the B of the P5B actually stood for Buick. They made no bones about the engine's origins.

[hotwire 352]

No need for anyone to make 'Buick, oops Rover' noises either, the B of the P5B actually stood for Buick. They made no bones about the engine's origins.

You learn something every day. Wasn't actually taking the micky either.

Also, just realised - I called the P6 a P5

[sp8s 1]

You do know that the Layland P76 has the same motor with a slightly bigger block at 4.4 litre. Same motor just bigger block, longer piston travel so slightly wider block.

[Jay 735i 0]

You learn something every day. Wasn't actually taking the micky either.

Also, just realised - I called the P6 a P5

Sorry, didn't think you were taking the mickey, just that I've heard a few people say similar things without realising that Rover were actually pretty public about where the engine came from.

The Leyland P76 engine was indeed based on the Rover/Buick engine, but surprisingly few parts are directly interchangeable. Rover also tried developing a diesel version, but block wasn't strong enough. Also there were rumours that under BL control, the bean-counters wanted to put it into the new XJ that was being developed at the time, but the Jaguar engineers specifically designed their new car in a way that it wouldn't fit (for snobbery reasons). Lots of history with that engine...

[antil33t 90]

When I was waiting for 3 hours at repco for dad to come tow me home, I saw one of these drive in and leave... sounded amazing.

[Jono51 58]

nice car, had one the same colour and trim years ago, when I was stuck in my british cars for a while, like hotwire I had a soft spot for the SD1, but mainly the SD1 Vitesse, not to be confused with the honda/rover vitesse

different world when these hum at 8000RPM

somewhere I've got an image for my Rover V8 starlet conversion i did

great little motors, just replace all that horrible lucas stuff!

Edited June 27, 2010 by Jono51

[dirtydoogle 383]

Only Lucas left on her is the dizzy and coil. For now...

No, the B never officialy stood for buick as far as all my piles of classic trivia and magazines tell me, rather it reffered to the second generation "body". As the p6 3500 never was named a B, yet it had the Buick donk. Grouse little motorcar none theless. I love it alot. Have whipped the carb out, found a split O-ring on the fuel pipe from the primary to secondary float and have replaced the needle and seats on both sides, runs smooth and a brazilian now.

[hotwire 352]

Only Lucas left on her is the dizzy and coil. For now...

WRONG! Has it been rewired? Switches, flasher units, lights, alternator, starter, etc etc.

I cut my teeth on this Lucas stuff - was all ok in this era.

Tended to go off track with later electronics though - Range Rover comes to mind - until of course BMW took them over for a while<_<

Edited June 28, 2010 by hotwire

[Jay 735i 0]

No, the B never officialy stood for buick as far as all my piles of classic trivia and magazines tell me, rather it reffered to the second generation "body".

If that is true, you've got a hell of a lot of internet to correct. Not to mention Top Gear, a few P5 owners clubs, Wiki etc...

[dirtydoogle 383]

If that is true, you've got a hell of a lot of internet to correct. Not to mention Top Gear, a few P5 owners clubs, Wiki etc...

Touche, I'll stand corrected then and discard my silly magazines, either way I don't mind, I have a P6B finally and that tickles my fancy.

Hotwire, the lights have been redone, albeit the flasher unit, which, being lucas is shagged. The alternator has been reco'd ofcourse....because that happens with a lucas item. So nothing worrying is left thank goodness. Strangely the only mechanical probelms so far have been due to a poorly rebuilt holley....and the only electrics that are sad are the lucas oil pressure sender and the flasher unit [about to be replaced]. It doesn't even have the scungy lucas fusebox! The switches have all held up great and work as switches tend to work....which is a bonus, they have held up better than my E12 had, so has the interior and mechanicals. So, not too bad for an NZ built British car then?