Post by David on Dec 16, 2004 9:04:18 GMT
Search thread used - 3 litre interiors.
SMELL
Both the 3 litre I previously owned, and my 3.5 Coupe, have the same problem with the interior. To use a technical term "they stink". Does this fusty smell come from the horse hair in the underlay / sound proofing, and if so has anyone successfully changed it for something that does not smell?
Steve M
...................................
That is the smell of pure class! I always thought it was the leather myself
Dan
..................................
Sounds as if the car is getting damp inside Steve. Check for ingress of water.
Peter
..................................
It only comes out of the garage half a dozen times a year, and that's normally in the dry, so I don't think it's dampness. Most other P5's smell like that, and it smells very similar to plumbers hemp, so I thought it may be horse hair used in the underfelt.
It tends to get worse as the car heats up which I suppose is the exhaust heating the floor pan a degree or two.
Will live with it, as Dan says, could be the smell of pure class!
Steve M
...................................
Steve,when I first went to look at my present P5,the first thing I noticed when I put my head Inside was the smell of leather and I was told by the seller that the car had never let In water and that was how It still smelled so nice.Maybe the last person to own your car had water Ingress In the past?The panels just under the cold air pulls are the ones that seem to get It,but your right,the car Is worth the smell!
....................................
LIGHTS
hi all,tonight my rear interior lights above rear doors,3 litre coupe,have both came on and wont turn off! ive had to remove the bulbs as a temporary measure .any ideas
Matt
.........................................
Check the doot pillar switches on the B/C post for sticking on or failing this check that the wire feeding each switch is not shorted to the bodywork
Tom
........................................
SEATS
I have a 3.5 coupe of which the seats have seen better days,I have come across a 3litre mark 3 with the same colour interior (Buckskin).
Will the front and rear seats from a mark 3 saloon fit a 3.5 coupe, if I remember correctly are not the front seats on a 3 litre thicker than the 3.5.
Chris
.................................
How bad are the seats? If it is just discolouration maybe you could recolour them. Or get some repairs done and then recolour.
I recoloured some Rover seats with a water based product called Leatherique. It cost me about £80 in all and was worth every penny.
It may be less of a headache than trying to retrofit some old seats.
www.leatherique.com/
Jack
....................................
I think you'll find the front seats of a Mark 3 3litre were carried over initially to the P5B. I know the fronts in my '68 P5B are quite thick seats. As far as the rears are concerned I'm no expert on that!
Mike
....................................
The front seats are the same on early "B"s as the Mk3 and are the same for both Saloon and Coupe. All Coupe rear seats are the same as Coupe Mk3 rear seats but rear seats of saloons, back and base, are different to saloons but again same on Mk3 on. If you want a good Buckskin rear seat I have one for sale - no split seams, good foam and colour.
Phil
.................................
While on the subject, is there a proper way to get the covers off the seats. I tried getting one off an old seat I had lying around (the base and foam seem to be in good condition) but it appeared to have been glued on as well as fastened around the edge! Is this normal?
Dan
....................................
Yes - they are glued around the edges - and the foam seems to have a built in self destruct or degrade facility whereby it crumbles or softens into a gooey mess after approx 30 years
Similar foam is used in the black padding underneath the window frames on saloons except this goes even faster. You just have to be very careful and peel it off otherwise you will end up with lumpy seats.
Phil
......................................
I did one but it took ages and I wasn't too happy with the result. Is it possible to get new seats, does anybody manufacture such things? I'm not too bothered about the covers as I'm planning to make some of these for myself.
Dan.
........................................
The seat covers are the hard bit - all you need is the foam parts which needs to be of the correct grade and cut to the right shapes and built up
Phil
........................................
Thanks for the advice on repairing and recolouring but unfortunately the saets are to far gone to be repaired and parts of the cushions have been replaced with vinyl and what's left of the leather has been badly sun affected.
Phil thanks for the "for sale" offer but I doubt that I could talk the wife in travelling half way round the world just to check out Rover seats, I personally would not see any thing wrong with that.
I have now found out that the seats that looked promising have been partly reupholstered velour, they are no longer an option.
Chris
.....................................................
RESTORING WOOD also applicable to V8 models
I am in the process of restoring the dash of my 1970 P5B and having stripped off the old varnish (some idiot had put a very dark polyurethane varnish on) I found some lovely stripe wood veneer underneath. I have seen similar wood on cars at shows but I thought mine had been finished with a different veneer. Apparently not!
The usual problem had occurred of a leaking windscreen and the harsh effects of time causing the veneer to fall of the edges so I decided to do the job properly (for once) and track down the correct veneer. I read James Taylor’s book ‘Rover P5 and P5B The Complete Story’ from cover to cover and the only reference to the wood interior is in chapter 4 ‘MkII Saloons, 1962-1965’ on page 80 where it says ‘On the fascia and around the door windows, heavily varnished African cherrywood had replaced the walnut used in earlier 3-litres,………’
I spoke with a friend of a friend who writes for Woodworker magazine and he had never heard of African cherrywood and the nearest he could match the wood was to Honduras Mahogany. I then did some research on the ‘net and found African Cherry is also known as ‘Makore’. I visited a wood veneer specialist in Suffolk and explained the above. They had never heard of African cherry either but recognised it under its alternative name of Makore. He showed me a sample and although it is vaguely similar, they suggested that it looks more like a wood called ‘Sapele’ which is a more commonly used wood and would have been far cheaper (although still looks good). I am wondering if perhaps, sometime after 1965, Rover again changed the dashboard venerr to ‘Sapele’ in order to reduce costs or possibly due to availability (or lack of it) of the African cherry/Makore.
Anyone know the answer? It would be interesting to ask James Taylor where he got his information on the wood used and whether we could check it anywhere. Anyone know how I could contact Mr Taylor?
If I can solve this little mystery I might write an article for Take Five on the restoration process.
Alan
......................................
His address is in the mag - the veneers on my P5 are slightly different in grain and raw colour to those on my P5B but there is not much in it. I thought they were sapele mahogony until I read the book
Phil
......................................
It might interest to know that sapele is widely used in interior door manufacture and hence might be available via any manufacturer. Sapele seems a pretty good match to the original.
Gary
.....................................
Try this place www.kw-veneers.com I wandered past their factory in east london one day and thought they might come in handy, just had a look for them on the web and looks like they wiill supply small quantities
Will
....................................
When we refinish pianos, we always stain and grain fill the bare wood before respraying with laquer. The sun will bleach it lighter unless the wood is kept out of the rays. My 72 P5b looks like sapele.
Humphrey
.....................................
I found two sites last night which bring up samples on the screen .You can match the grain and by adjusting the brightness you can get almost an exact match.The addresses are as follows: www.wood-worker.com/woods and www.woodworking.org/index.html and click on woodsampler for a list ,select and a sample comes up opn the screen.Allan you will find that it also gives Baku,Douka,andUkola as alternative names for African Cherry.see you soon
Tom.
......................................
The sales literature for my old P5 stated that the dashboard veneer was "African Cherry."
Gordon
.......................................
Try PW Cooper on 01270-251432. They can do a superb job of refurbishing these veneers, They do Aston Martins, Bentleys, Rolls royces, Jaguars etc.
Adrian
.......................................
It is in James Taylor's book "The Post War Rovers P4 & P5". Mk1 & Mk1A Walnut, Mk2- African Cherrywood and replaced by African Walnut from P5B series B('68/'69)- i.e. series C, D. Hope this helps.
Glyn
........................................
TEXTTEXT
SMELL
Both the 3 litre I previously owned, and my 3.5 Coupe, have the same problem with the interior. To use a technical term "they stink". Does this fusty smell come from the horse hair in the underlay / sound proofing, and if so has anyone successfully changed it for something that does not smell?
Steve M
...................................
That is the smell of pure class! I always thought it was the leather myself
Dan
..................................
Sounds as if the car is getting damp inside Steve. Check for ingress of water.
Peter
..................................
It only comes out of the garage half a dozen times a year, and that's normally in the dry, so I don't think it's dampness. Most other P5's smell like that, and it smells very similar to plumbers hemp, so I thought it may be horse hair used in the underfelt.
It tends to get worse as the car heats up which I suppose is the exhaust heating the floor pan a degree or two.
Will live with it, as Dan says, could be the smell of pure class!
Steve M
...................................
Steve,when I first went to look at my present P5,the first thing I noticed when I put my head Inside was the smell of leather and I was told by the seller that the car had never let In water and that was how It still smelled so nice.Maybe the last person to own your car had water Ingress In the past?The panels just under the cold air pulls are the ones that seem to get It,but your right,the car Is worth the smell!
....................................
LIGHTS
hi all,tonight my rear interior lights above rear doors,3 litre coupe,have both came on and wont turn off! ive had to remove the bulbs as a temporary measure .any ideas
Matt
.........................................
Check the doot pillar switches on the B/C post for sticking on or failing this check that the wire feeding each switch is not shorted to the bodywork
Tom
........................................
SEATS
I have a 3.5 coupe of which the seats have seen better days,I have come across a 3litre mark 3 with the same colour interior (Buckskin).
Will the front and rear seats from a mark 3 saloon fit a 3.5 coupe, if I remember correctly are not the front seats on a 3 litre thicker than the 3.5.
Chris
.................................
How bad are the seats? If it is just discolouration maybe you could recolour them. Or get some repairs done and then recolour.
I recoloured some Rover seats with a water based product called Leatherique. It cost me about £80 in all and was worth every penny.
It may be less of a headache than trying to retrofit some old seats.
www.leatherique.com/
Jack
....................................
I think you'll find the front seats of a Mark 3 3litre were carried over initially to the P5B. I know the fronts in my '68 P5B are quite thick seats. As far as the rears are concerned I'm no expert on that!
Mike
....................................
The front seats are the same on early "B"s as the Mk3 and are the same for both Saloon and Coupe. All Coupe rear seats are the same as Coupe Mk3 rear seats but rear seats of saloons, back and base, are different to saloons but again same on Mk3 on. If you want a good Buckskin rear seat I have one for sale - no split seams, good foam and colour.
Phil
.................................
While on the subject, is there a proper way to get the covers off the seats. I tried getting one off an old seat I had lying around (the base and foam seem to be in good condition) but it appeared to have been glued on as well as fastened around the edge! Is this normal?
Dan
....................................
Yes - they are glued around the edges - and the foam seems to have a built in self destruct or degrade facility whereby it crumbles or softens into a gooey mess after approx 30 years
Similar foam is used in the black padding underneath the window frames on saloons except this goes even faster. You just have to be very careful and peel it off otherwise you will end up with lumpy seats.
Phil
......................................
I did one but it took ages and I wasn't too happy with the result. Is it possible to get new seats, does anybody manufacture such things? I'm not too bothered about the covers as I'm planning to make some of these for myself.
Dan.
........................................
The seat covers are the hard bit - all you need is the foam parts which needs to be of the correct grade and cut to the right shapes and built up
Phil
........................................
Thanks for the advice on repairing and recolouring but unfortunately the saets are to far gone to be repaired and parts of the cushions have been replaced with vinyl and what's left of the leather has been badly sun affected.
Phil thanks for the "for sale" offer but I doubt that I could talk the wife in travelling half way round the world just to check out Rover seats, I personally would not see any thing wrong with that.
I have now found out that the seats that looked promising have been partly reupholstered velour, they are no longer an option.
Chris
.....................................................
RESTORING WOOD also applicable to V8 models
I am in the process of restoring the dash of my 1970 P5B and having stripped off the old varnish (some idiot had put a very dark polyurethane varnish on) I found some lovely stripe wood veneer underneath. I have seen similar wood on cars at shows but I thought mine had been finished with a different veneer. Apparently not!
The usual problem had occurred of a leaking windscreen and the harsh effects of time causing the veneer to fall of the edges so I decided to do the job properly (for once) and track down the correct veneer. I read James Taylor’s book ‘Rover P5 and P5B The Complete Story’ from cover to cover and the only reference to the wood interior is in chapter 4 ‘MkII Saloons, 1962-1965’ on page 80 where it says ‘On the fascia and around the door windows, heavily varnished African cherrywood had replaced the walnut used in earlier 3-litres,………’
I spoke with a friend of a friend who writes for Woodworker magazine and he had never heard of African cherrywood and the nearest he could match the wood was to Honduras Mahogany. I then did some research on the ‘net and found African Cherry is also known as ‘Makore’. I visited a wood veneer specialist in Suffolk and explained the above. They had never heard of African cherry either but recognised it under its alternative name of Makore. He showed me a sample and although it is vaguely similar, they suggested that it looks more like a wood called ‘Sapele’ which is a more commonly used wood and would have been far cheaper (although still looks good). I am wondering if perhaps, sometime after 1965, Rover again changed the dashboard venerr to ‘Sapele’ in order to reduce costs or possibly due to availability (or lack of it) of the African cherry/Makore.
Anyone know the answer? It would be interesting to ask James Taylor where he got his information on the wood used and whether we could check it anywhere. Anyone know how I could contact Mr Taylor?
If I can solve this little mystery I might write an article for Take Five on the restoration process.
Alan
......................................
His address is in the mag - the veneers on my P5 are slightly different in grain and raw colour to those on my P5B but there is not much in it. I thought they were sapele mahogony until I read the book
Phil
......................................
It might interest to know that sapele is widely used in interior door manufacture and hence might be available via any manufacturer. Sapele seems a pretty good match to the original.
Gary
.....................................
Try this place www.kw-veneers.com I wandered past their factory in east london one day and thought they might come in handy, just had a look for them on the web and looks like they wiill supply small quantities
Will
....................................
When we refinish pianos, we always stain and grain fill the bare wood before respraying with laquer. The sun will bleach it lighter unless the wood is kept out of the rays. My 72 P5b looks like sapele.
Humphrey
.....................................
I found two sites last night which bring up samples on the screen .You can match the grain and by adjusting the brightness you can get almost an exact match.The addresses are as follows: www.wood-worker.com/woods and www.woodworking.org/index.html and click on woodsampler for a list ,select and a sample comes up opn the screen.Allan you will find that it also gives Baku,Douka,andUkola as alternative names for African Cherry.see you soon
Tom.
......................................
The sales literature for my old P5 stated that the dashboard veneer was "African Cherry."
Gordon
.......................................
Try PW Cooper on 01270-251432. They can do a superb job of refurbishing these veneers, They do Aston Martins, Bentleys, Rolls royces, Jaguars etc.
Adrian
.......................................
It is in James Taylor's book "The Post War Rovers P4 & P5". Mk1 & Mk1A Walnut, Mk2- African Cherrywood and replaced by African Walnut from P5B series B('68/'69)- i.e. series C, D. Hope this helps.
Glyn
........................................
TEXTTEXT