1963 Rover P4 110

[Hooli]

1992? new fangled rubber tosh!

[Eddie Honda]

Local garage charged me £18 a tyre to fit/balance/dispose.

Good god! HI-FLY! My local tyre man has tried to flog me those. I politely declined. I've no idea what they are like though.

He skinned me €20 a tyre the other month. He's not too grumpy about fitting my tyres as I've asked him before about supplying the tyres I want (Vredestein) and he can't.

[SiC]

Local garage charged me £18 a tyre to fit/balance/dispose.

Good god! HI-FLY! My local tyre man has tried to flog me those. I politely declined. I've no idea what they are like though.

He skinned me €20 a tyre the other month. He's not too grumpy about fitting my tyres as I've asked him before about supplying the tyres I want (Vredestein) and he can't.

Apparently identical to Ovation. I'm a tyre snob and don't go for cheap Chinese stuff.

But apart from those, this is the other option

Screenshot_20230322-191355.png (943.62 KiB) Viewed 432 times

Feck that. Maybe if this was a classic Aston Martin, Ferrari or even Jaguar. But it's a lumbering P4.

The chap that has a Ford Windsor V8 in his P4, that does 0-60 in under 4s, uses these. He's getting 10.8s on the quarter mile with them. So not absolute shit.

Either way, they're going to be far better than what is on there.

[DodgeRover]

I've got an Inkling that Windsor may not be standard anymore...

[fried onions]

The only problem you might have with these tyres is the speedometer and mileometer over-reading. Then again, Avon Turbospeeds weren't as 'tall' as other cross ply tyres. Nothing seems to generate more misinformed bollocks in motoring circles than crossply tyres. Providing you aren't driving like a maniac, and actually understand wet road surfaces reduce grip, there is really hardly any discernible difference between cross ply and radial tyres. Although light cars do not have the benefit of weight on the wheels and benefit more from radials.
I have driven many thousands of miles on cross ply tyres in all weather, and on the rare occasion they did break away, I could feel it coming and was able to correct the car with no drama.

[DodgeRover]

Bargain at that price each by the way SiC, I just looked up 185r15C thinking they would have been a cheap full profile alternative and the cheapest was about £70!
I've run hiflys on something and they weren't terrible enough to be memorable.

[SiC]

The only problem you might have with these tyres is the speedometer and mileometer over-reading. Then again, Avon Turbospeeds weren't as 'tall' as other cross ply tyres. Nothing seems to generate more misinformed bollocks in motoring circles than crossply tyres. Providing you aren't driving like a maniac, and actually understand wet road surfaces reduce grip, there is really hardly any discernible difference between cross ply and radial tyres. Although light cars do not have the benefit of weight on the wheels and benefit more from radials.
I have driven many thousands of miles on cross ply tyres in all weather, and on the rare occasion they did break away, I could feel it coming and was able to correct the car with no drama.

What is make/model is the solid state state dynamo regulator you use? DVR3?

My electro mechanical regulator isn't in the best shape, needs resetting and I'd prefer to go solid state anyway.

[SiC]

Took the day off work yesterday to get a whole lot of bits and pieces sorted on the Rover.

The choke warning light came back to life on its own.


Bled the brakes. Not easy when you're on your own (wife at work). So used a clamp to hold the brake pedal in probably not the official Rover workshop manual way. Nice rock solid pedal now that gives a fair bit of confidence.

Handbrake holds with three clicks. Strong enough to stall the engine at fast idle when on axle stands. Don't want to fiddle with it as it is more than good enough.


Fixed a fair bit of wiring. Mostly broken crimps. Brake warning light still doesn't work though annoyingly. Bulb is fine in the dash so must be a wiring issue.





Emptied the Wipac fuel bowl of sediment. Filled back up again once I hit the reserve switch on the tank! Is there supposed to be a filter in this?


Cleaned the Carb out. Full of brake fluid at the bottom from the previous duff servo. No wonder it was smoking so much. Leaned the mixture out a full turn.


Inspected the brakes. In extremely good condition. Discs look almost brand new with no lip. Rear cylinders are dry (thankfully!) and drum looks almost unworn. However the shoes probably need replacing at some point in the future. Good enough for the few miles I'll be doing in it though.








Reattached the fuel pump mounting bracket. Also tightened up the electrical connection nuts. So loose I'm surprised it worked. Squished the spade connectors with pilers to improve their bite.



Battery terminals were loose. Battery looks the wrong size too as the hold down clamps don't touch. What is the recommended size? Dynamo regulator needs some love as over charging.


Removed the rusty bumpers ready for painting. Fiddlier than it should have been due to someone previously welding part of the bumper irons together.




Fixed the washer pump. Missing a bit of plastic between the motor and the pump. So I used a piece of heat shrink to make the connection. Works well!



Dynamo charge warning light not working was simply the bulb holder had fallen off the dash. Also fixed some suspect previous repairs on the panel lamps. In touching the dash, naturally it generated new problems with the light switch appears to have started playing up.


The dash has two screws holding it on at the top and a hinge at the bottom for it to open. Very nifty!



Hopefully I'm now ready for a test drive and a short run out to build confidence.

[PhilA]

Yeah, the pump should have a fine brass mesh filter.

More of a rock catcher, really

[SiC]

Crikey! I knew the P4 and especially disc equipped P4 had good brakes but these rival modern cars for their stopping power!

Took the old girl for a quick run on our road outside our house and nearly ended through the windscreen when I gave them a prod.

Engine running okay. Feels a bit stumbly but that might be because it wasn't up to temperature and I'd already put the choke in. Accelerator pedal linkage might need some love as the idle speed is different every time you let off the pedal.

I would have liked to gone further but I remembered that I took the bumper off with the number plate yesterday. Not that many other drivers on the road seem to worry about that...

Also with the nicer weather it appears to be dickhead central on the roads today. Three close calls in my modern car with people pulling out in front of me, bad overtaking (even though I was at the speed limit) and impatience (someone drove on a grass verge at speed to get around me waiting to turn right). Right now I hear an organ donor screaming away in the distance on their motorbike.

So maybe tomorrow evening when the roads are quieter.