New happy owner on the other side of the Channel

[dorchester]

Hello everybody!
Some of you may have read my introduction on FB groups related to P5.
Since the 27th of December last I'm now the happy owner of an arden green 1968 P5b RHD coupe VIN 845-01523B sold for the first time in the UK on the 17th of April 1968.
But why buying a P5b coupe?

My parents had bought a 213 in 1988, then a 214 Gsi in 1991. I inherited the latter in 1998 and kept it until my better half crashed it in 2015.
Then in 2015 I decided not to surrender to that fatality and to replace my deeply missed parents Rover by another one, then in 2017 by a second one and by a third one in 2019.

I clearly became a kind of Rover-holic. Hence all in all I'd got 3 Rovers: 2002 Rover 25 (missus' daily) in 2015, 1999 Rover 75 V6 2.5 in 2017 and 1994 214i cabriolet in 2019. And now 4 Rovers thanks to my recent purchase.

But why a P5b coupe?
Obviously I'd got a V6, a cabriolet and a daily hatchback, all youngtimers.
But neither oldtimer nor coupe nor V8 nor RHD.
I'm now over the moon to kill 4 birds with one stone!
Before now I'd considered either a P5 3 Liter or mainly P5b coupe as rare as hens teeth here in France (or even on the continent). It was like a Unicorn, like the Holy Grail: very scarce so highly priced.
To make a long story short after failing to buy a P5 3 Litre I made an offer to a guy who had just put an advert about his P5b coupe, after just 5 minutes of chat on a phone call. I knew I'd to catch the opportunity with the only help of 3 online pics.

The car looks rather in good condition despite its nearly 56 years. The engine bay looks decent, the underside rather clean despite slightly rusty (but MOTted) and inside and outside decent as well, with a few unavoidable niggles due to its age.
It's a very bliss to hear the V8 melody and a blessing to drive, even on the wrong side of the cabin (!).

drive.google.com/file/d/1wlhNn9l7tnE0SY_g3F2gX-fR6gSqBAVq/view?usp=drive_link

drive.google.com/file/d/19JvLtF89mzgB5f6ic-ppjErg1HZIsKUN/view?usp=drive_link

drive.google.com/file/d/1kUwJn_HxeeYHoEhb9zSD3NCNOle0nLvK/view?usp=drive_link

drive.google.com/file/d/18E7Lln_dqE3BnQoAsv1FKDSpLEL0ZlvK/view?usp=drive_link

Despite a kind of honeymoon, there are some niggles to cure or some pending questions:

- where can I find the switch to put back to zero the trip counter? despite the help of the booklet, I can't find it anywhere! Just the windscreen washer button on the left side.

- The heater isn't working (I was told by the seller) even I can hear the fans and the aperture and closure of both vertical controls.
- The radio isn't working either.
I think that's all for today folks...
Cheers!

[dorchester]

Second thoughts.
I would love to know more about the history of my P5b coupé which was formerly owned by Jonathan R. Matthews until 2021, living 8 route de Ranville 17490 Bresdon France, formerly a member of this club N° 06547, but I don't know his nickname here. In 2020 he was very interested in the topic Volvo steering box conversion and I've lots of forum pages about that question.
I've inherited lots of papers from him via 2 previous owners from 2021 to 2022 and from 2022 to last Wednesday 27th of December.

I would be deeply interested to know how I could join Jonathan and mainly to know his British plate detail to learn more about my car story before. I know she was sold for the first time in United Kingdom on the 17th of April 1968. The VIN number is: 845-01523B. I love history, and especially British one: you may have guessed from Mum's maiden name that my maternal grandad is British born: his family came from Dorchester, Dorset.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Hello, and welcome!

Your car looks beautiful, well done!

To answer your question: if you reach below the left side of the steering column, the top of the black upper of the full width front parcel tray, a couple of inches to the left of the steering column,  you should feel a small metal knob. If you push this upwards and turn it, the trip meter should rotate with it. Keep turning until it reads 000.0.

if yours is missing, it is possible that a previous owner has removed and replaced the under dash parcel tray trim without reconnecting it. 

[tarnowl]

Hi Dorchester,
It’s nice to see another P5B in France.  I am down north east of Toulouse. 

[dorchester]

Hello tarnowl I bet you're living in Tarn!

I'm living very close by, in Tarn & Garonne, East of Montauban, 70 km far from Toulouse.

And I'm a member of the AVAG which is based at Gaillac, Tarn!

[tarnowl]

Yes, I am in the Tarn and also a member of Avag, Gaillac.  I hadn’t realised that you were so close. I am at Castelnau de Montmiral. I will message you and perhaps we can meet up.

[dorchester]

Fantastic! We're both members of the same French club (AVAG)!
I hope I'll see you later in the year for a rally or a gathering.
Didn't you already see along the previous years my 1994 BRG Rover 214i cabby did you?

[dorchester]

Just to let you know a funny find.
As you may know I've made a 600 mls journey to drive home my lovely coupe.
The weather was rather bad, cloudy and rainy and roads muddy and wet but the handling was faultless, even in roundabout where the cabin is majestically leaning! And never tyres had any slippy reaction in the worst position.
Guess what?
The front left tyre had been fitted inside out by a numpty!
And it's not the end of the story: both front Michelin XVS-P radial 185 80 15 look slightly outdated...

DOT is "HM TK A6F X 489 <" that is made in Stoke-on-Trent the 48th week of 1999!!!

drive.google.com/file/d/1M46h1YQTKYItt4tD3gCdDqhHD5t05mf5/view?usp=drive_link

May I enter the Guinness book?

[dorchester]

Is anybody able to provide a sketch with name of the main elements which are under the bonnet?
I've got the whole collection of manuals (4661 and the like) but none gives an overview of the whole lot!
It would be much easier to learn because I'm overwhelmed with lots of parts I can't precisely identify when I'm leaning under the bonnet...
Thanks.

[dorchester]

At last I've got Charlie from my mechanic's. Phew! I'm over the moon despite a heavy bill: 2200€ (£1,880) for a 40 hour job with some stuff I couldn't find myself or imagine necessary.
Delighted anyway by the result of the very long list of to do jobs.
The car gives now definitely a faster response and has a slightly better torque: my good man told me that the advance was a rather faulty before. Now it's -5° for RON 98. and the distributor at last is well fitted and working (and it was a very long shot). I'm happy to keep the old point system when plenty of mates have chosen to fit an electronic ignition. I love to retain the authenticity even it might be hazardous.
Mike Oldsworth's Motorola radio is well Bluetooth connected to my Android phone and the heater knob at last is connected as well to the under bonnet mechanism. The stem was very hard to find out but nothing is impossible to my genius.
All fluids were swapped, heating hoses entirely changed for good new ones. All filters (oil, air & petrol) swapped for new ones.
Passenger front door slightly corrected and much easier to shut even it's not 100% perfect. Wheel well adjusted.
Just remains the idle speed which looks still a tad too low even the tachometer reads 850 revs but I guess it's optimistic. Hence sometimes the engine stalls for a smidgen. I'll have that corrected. Maybe the carbs adjustment had been done for the previous faulty advance. That might explain. But my good man isn't that keen to put his hands and his brains in the SU. He prefers the Weber ones by a long chalk. He pretends the SU carbs are devilish to adjust and pretty tricky. We'll see. I've ordered two good books by Des Hammill about SU carbs and Rover V8 engine.
Now my turn to do lots of cosmetics inside and outside. I'll tell you.

[MK IA Norway Viking]

It seems you have a P5B coupe = 2 carburettors.

A matter often overlooked when tuning carburettors is BALANCING them, so that both cylinder banks get fuel at just the SAME time.

Your man is likely to have gear for balancing the carburettors, and it could be well worth the expense to have them balanced since he is not comfortable with SU.

Having RPM 850 at idle sounds too high to me; I should think correct setting is 650 RPM. If this means you engine is stalling there is something wrong with the engine tuning, most likely in the carburettors since you have addressed the ignition already.

REMEMBER that the tachometer is NOT reliable, so you ought to have your man FIRST check the RPM at idle and compare this with your tachometer.

When balancing the carburettors take off both dashpots and observe if the level of fuel is just below the top of the nozzle on BOTH carburettors.


If it is not, to adjust the level of the floater regulating intake of fuel to the carburettor, so that the level of petrol is equally high up in the nozzle on both carburettors. 

[dorchester]

Thank you. I'll have a chat with him ASAP.
But the big problem is he knows very well the Weber carbs but told me he hasn't the gear for SU ones. And he wouldn't touch the SU unless he changes his mind...

[dorchester]

Here is a bit of Charlie story.

It was sold to its first owner living in the isle of Wight on the 17th of April 1968 even it wore a 1969 plate I was fortunate to find out at the rear under the French one: WDL832G.
Despite the 1969 plate the VIN number is obviously a 1968 one: 84501523B.
I've got a peculiar sticker on the rear window which was of a short-lived club created by the garage Adrian Bailey in Water lane, Leeds which lasted from approx. 1985 to 1995 as I was told. Nowdays the same garage solds Bedford lorries.
The last V5C in the Mainland was registred on the 18th of August 1989.
Tax expiry date is 1st of February 1990, hence it crossed the Channel for France between those dates. And the evidence is that it has still the yellow mainbeam lights and the yellow fog lights which were mandatory in France up to 1993.
I'm now in touch with its last British owner who sold it in 2021, but in the 1990-2010 gap among others it was owned by the husband of the president of the Charente Maritime departement (French). The last British owner told me he bought it partially in boxes and made the incredible job to get it right along several years until 2017.
Even in 2019 in Jarnac (Charente) the car and its owners won the first prize in a 'concours d'elegance'!
Then it was successively sold twice in 2021 then in 2022 to two Frenchies who didn't do any good to the car until I bought it on the 27th of December 2023 600 mls far from home.

But sure I would be so delighted and so grateful if somebody can tell me more of its British life between 1968 and 1989.