1972 Rover P6 2300TC - Saab B234 Turbo

[sowen]

Here's my beloved 1972 rover p6 2000tc, which I've been working on slowly for the past five years. It has been dry stored in a barn since 1980, and was in relatively good condition, except the engine was seized and in pieces. On stripping it down, there were few problems, only lack of time and space, and other projects keep on coming and going, but I'm slowly getting there. I've replaced the original engine with another 2000tc lump, but I've been tempted by the dark side into fitting a 4 litre rover v8 with a wade blower sticking out the bonnet. Here it is being mocked up on a spare v8 block.



So far I've done the majority of the welding on the sills and put a base coat of blue on most of the panels.



Some of the modifications I've done so far is fit the 4 pin 3.08 ratio diff from a 3500s, along with the front discs and calipers from the same car.



Along with fitting the new engine, I've replaced the original 4 speed box with a 5 speed from an sd1, mostly in readiness for the v8 conversion.





The exhaust is a straight through system with a y-piece ahead of the rear axle leading to twin cherrybombs either side.





Most of the work over the last winter was on converting the original 2000 spec front end to 3500 spec.



The front inner wing has been reshaped to move the brake servo into the wheel arch and the clutch master cylinder has been moved to mount upright against the heater.





I've got loads more work to do to it, but hopefully it'll be done sooner than later, even if its work-in-progress on the road.

Simon

[PhoenixCapri]

Aug 18, 2008 19:15:37 GMT sowen said:

OMFG thats awsome! ;D Love it, this ones going on the builds to watch list

[grizz]

I see a rumbling monster comming down the road.

[jikovron]

cooool that is an awesome project (my favourit car by far!!!!!!)

does the v8 just bolt straight up to the chassis mounts and clear the body

[sowen]

I bought a complete 3500s donor car, stripped it, cut the front end off and weighed the remains in. The engine mounts are in different places, so when the v8 goes in to check exhaust manifold clearances I will convert the 4 cylinder mounts to bolt in units, and the same with the v8 mounts. Hindsight I should've bought a running 3500s and done it up, but this one ticked all the boxes at the time, relatively rust free, tax exempt, manual and complete, except v5 and keys lol.

Simon

[dollywobbler]

Ooooh! <runs around in small circles>

This is gonna be rather on the tasty side.

[skodaal]

Thats what I call a real Rover! The P6s are seriously cool, just like the P4 and P5 before them and the SD1 which came after.
Proper cars deserve proper attention and this project seems to be going the right way and will end up as one angry V8'd beast!

[sowen]

My earliest memory of the rover p6 is of one that was restored in the workshop at school, and then the infamous scene in Lock Stock. I was looking for a new project while brousing the heritage centre at gaydon where I came across a cutaway example of a p6, the simple bolt together body panels, and unique suspension was enough for me, I had to have one.

All I know about this project is that it going to be blue and blown!

Simon

[popuptoaster]

my mate ran a 3500s dropped on the deck with straight though pipes on it back in the late 80's pretty heroic vehicle for a 20 odd year old back then, we all loved it.

[street]

Wicked project!
I had a P6 a few years ago, a green 2000SC, absolutely adored that car! Just used to polish it and roll around in it, happy as larry.

Love your plans, can't wait to see a big fat supercharger poking out of the bonnet!
My next project car is going to be a P6, theres so much potential for these cars

[Davenger]

I love Rover P6's
Yours is gonna be awesome

[sowen]

Small update

Due to the rain and work, I've been playing with the blower. The blower to inlet manifold adapter is roughed out now, just requires final gas flowing but the main body of the work is now done.



I've recieved a Holley 4 barrel carb from the USA and made the adapter to mount that to the top of the blower.



Again this requires final machine work to complete.

Here it is in all its glory:



Basically I'm using an injection manifold, firstly because it already has a flat top to it, and secondly it was just sitting there in my stash of spares. The original trumpet base has been shortened to allow clearance for the fuel rail if I decide to use injection, and then there is a 10mm aluminium plate bolted to the top of that which the 40mm adapter on the bottom of the blower will bolt to. The 40mm aluminium block has been machined to correct the orientation of the outlet of the blower to the ports on the injection manifold. On top of the blower a 20mm aluminium plate hase been machined to mount the Holley 600cfm 4 barrel I have. The intention is to fit a Hilborn style scoop on top of this setup to finish it off. Now I've got the blower in boltable state, I've bought some bling pulleys from the USA:



There is a 33 tooth pulley for the crank and a 40 tooth pulley to drive the blower. This should give a relatively low and reliable boost for running in the engine. I can now look into making the adapter to mount the crank pulley, and then I can start work on fabricating the drive snout.

The car will soon be moving into a double garage so I can complete the welding and paint job ready to get it roadworthy and over the winter months. I'm just hoping that the sun stays shining this weekend so I can dig the car out of the garage and do some work on it.

Simon

[blackpopracing]

A word of caution on fitting the crank drive gear, you need to get another keyway machined into the crank snout, failure to do this will result in a snapped crank snout as a single keyway cannot handle the extra load put on it by the blower belt.
I know of several people with broken cranks that did not do this!

[sowen]

Cheers for that, its all these little ideas that I haven't thought about and no-one ever seems to say or write in the books. Do you mean the end of the crank physically breaking off or just shearing the key? The base engine is a relatively stock early 3.9, but I will be looking for a crossbolt 4.0 or 4.6 at some point, which will have everything done to it. It is a p6 pulley that i've got with the six bolt holes that I was going to use to mount the pulley. Is getting a second keyway machined a very specialised job beyond most engineering workshops?

Simon

[mustang427]

That is going to be a killer street machine when its done.Where did you get the Wade blower? What sort of bhp are you hoping for when finished?

[charnock]

how much will that stick out the bonnet with the scoop? how much boost will the rover v8 handle? briliant project:)

[sowen]

I'm aiming for a low boost of around 4-5 psi to start with, possibly around the 300bhp mark, give or take 25 or so. I want it to be a useable driver to start with, but nothing is set in stone yet, it could still become a gasser style hot rod. To be honest I don't think the rear diff can handle too much power, so with the spare rear axle I have, the plan will be to fit a jaguar lsd unit utilising all the original hub carriers and de dion tube. The top of the blower should be about bonnet level where it will poke through, going by holding a tape measure in roughly the right place. By my guess, the top of the scoop will be just below my eye level, but we'll have to wait and see.

Simon

[ray900tap]

this is an awesome project ;D ;D,
I was thinking along the same lines with the diff etc, but I think when I get to it I'll go with a later jag axle and have out board disc's instead, this is due to every time the MOT comes up I have to pull the standard rear brakes to bits to get them to work pain in the with or without a ramp!!
only problem this planned set up is I want to keep the standard pcd....

[blackpopracing]

Aug 23, 2008 9:56:38 GMT sowen said:

Cheers for that, its all these little ideas that I haven't thought about and no-one ever seems to say or write in the books. Do you mean the end of the crank physically breaking off or just shearing the key? The base engine is a relatively stock early 3.9, but I will be looking for a crossbolt 4.0 or 4.6 at some point, which will have everything done to it. It is a p6 pulley that i've got with the six bolt holes that I was going to use to mount the pulley. Is getting a second keyway machined a very specialised job beyond most engineering workshops?
Simon

I think the machining is pretty simple, not sure of exactly what happens when they snap, but it results in new engines!
I'd guess it shears the woodruff key out of the original keyway, ruining the crank snout? I'll ask around for the exact damage.

[sowen]

On the v8 owners forum someone had the key break in the crank pulley, but I think they were reving over 6-7000rpm on a burnout. To be honest with the straight through exhaust and lack of sound deadening I will rarely take it over the 5k mark. Its mostly for cruising, but there's no harm in building it to the max is there!

Simon