Rover P4 (110) restoration - how far do I go?

Thats what would worry me too. You may find that if the chassis is as you describe, it may distort when "rolled" and rhen your welding would simply serve to fix it in the distorted state!

Guess it depends what you want to do with the car once it's sorted: personally I'm not an enthusiast for the "absolutely pristine restoration which never gets driven above 40MPH or taken out if there's a cloud in the sky" approach - my preference is for the 'working classic' that may have the odd scratch, chip or rust-bubble here and there but which does 10,000 miles a year and shows the world that {$insert marque here} still exists and is still capable of being used.

At least with a Rover 110 you have the advantage that engine-parts are still easily available from the various Land-Rover suppliers. A while back I saw a Rover 110 which had been fitted with a V8 and 5-speed box out of a dead SD1. It was apparently much too fast for its brakes, though still fun for surprising Mondeo-drivers in the outside lane of the M40.

The reference to rust around the front of the chassis worries me for two reasons: if it's bad there, it will probably be worse in the areas they usually rot, further back; and if you're not an experienced welder, you may find it difficult to get a strong repair that preserves the geometry.

It sounds as though you may be a bit short of space to work. Rolling a car takes a lot of room - realistically you need 12ft width at least, and more if you intend to use an engine crane to do the tilting. I'd also be very worried about the security of the body to the chassis, especially given the condition of the outriggers. If you strip lots off, you've got to store it somewhere, and that, too, takes plenty of room.

Are you a member of the P4 Drivers guild?

There might be a member near you who could have a look at it with you and give you another view on what to do with it. So much else has probably suffered during all that standing, and you might as well discover it now as item-by-item. Clutch? Brakes?

Logic screams "scrap it and buy a better one" - there are several in this month's "Overdrive" magazine from a few hundred to a few thousands of pounds which are almost certainly a better bet if you ever want to drive one. But if logic mattered, I wouldn't have a garage full of MGs "waiting attention", and I'd be making more effort to dissuade my son from buying.... a P4.

-- Kevin Poole

**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. snipped-for-privacy@mainbeam.co.uk)*** B270NZ, SA1838, TC8512, GHD96825, GAN3/48519, GAN4/63840, GHD5/315760 GHD5/324616 Tiltbed car transporter trailer hire - £25/ day. Near Derby. May even tow it for you.

In article , Autolycus writes

I'm reminded vaguely of someone I knew of who lent a car trailer to a friend, and as I recall the spare wheel became detached while in motion and severely damaged another vehicle.

All the details are vague now but I know that the upshot was that the *owner* of the trailer was held responsible for the incident, and whatever insurance he had didn't cover him. He was sued for around 20k IIRC, and had to sell his beloved classic to help pay for it...

If you are a novice, then (3) looks risky. If you distort the chassis or the body taking it off, you are going to have a devil of a job putting it back. With the weight of a P4 and the amount of chassis rust to tackle, I would hesitate try (2) and move the direction that gravity pulls at, because if a weak point of the chassis moves under the stresses and then you repair it, the car isn't going to have the right geometry after you put it back on its wheels.

The other thing to consider is that you claim to be a novice. If you try (2) or (3) and make a mistake that you can't correct, there is a possibility that you are stuck with a damaged car on your driveway. But if you are trying (1) and it gets too much for you, at least the car can be towed or trailered to someone else to sort it out for you (at a price).

So although it isn't going to be a long term solution, I would recommend that you go with (1) to get the car on the road and checked by an MOT station.

Then you have a structurally sound chassis, and a novice that has learned from experience and gained confidence. You will also have some idea from driving it whether you like the P4 enough to keep it for a long time. (I have had 2 P4s and liked them enough, but when the offer of a P5 came along I sold the P4 to buy the P5, which I thought was a nicer car altogether). If you decide that you do intend to keep the P4, then that is the time to think about (3) - you have already done most of the work underneath, so you don't need to consider (2) by then.

Hope that helps. Jim

You are not going to like what I'm going to say, but I'm saying this as both someone who has run a P4 and as someone who has been around the restoration of cars for more years than I care to remember...

The above option is your best course of action, option two is totally out of the question, the car is far to heavy and the stress placed onto an already weak non structural body will result in distortion that will be well beyond yours and many other peoples ability to sort out. As for removing the body, nothing is impossible, BUT you are going to have to make sure that the body is structurally sound first, which brings us back to option 1, as a lot of work will probable need to be done first. Now to the sting in the tail, the chassis, if this is badly corroded then the body might well have to come off to repair the chassis - but this work is quite frankly beyond a novice unless you are a skilled welder used to welding in a different field of work.

I suppose what I'm saying is, IMO a full restoration of a P4 is not really for a novice. Sorry