The Choke Issue-Update on Rover PB5 Coupé

Having recently snapped my choke cable, I fitted a new one before giving the carburettor a careful tune-up. (My Rover runs a Weber carburettor conversion, so it’s a little different from the factory setup.)

The result? It now starts at the touch of a button and runs beautifully, quiet, smooth, and pulling as strongly as ever. It’s amazing what a little TLC can do. If only the same applied to the driver.

I also tracked down the mysterious battery drain. The culprit turned out to be the reading light mounted in the headrest, quietly helping itself to electricity while I wasn’t looking. Detective work worthy of Sherlock Holmes… or perhaps Inspector Clouseau.

The current summer heatwave has taken some of the fun out of daytime motoring, so I’ve confined my drives to the cooler evenings. The Rover has acres of glass, which is lovely for admiring the scenery but less wonderful when it’s 34°C (almost 95°F). Even with every window wide open and no air conditioning, it’s rather like sitting inside a very elegant brick oven.

While giving the Rover a brake service, we discovered the rear leaf spring bushes had deteriorated and were due for replacement. It’s been nearly ten years since I last renewed both the springs and bushes, and given the suspension's design, they do lead a fairly hard life.

If those bushes fail completely, the rear axle can twist under load, something you definitely don’t want happening at speed.

It’s not an especially complicated job for a competent home mechanic, but the leaf springs are under tremendous tension. Treat them with respect. They don’t negotiate, and they always win.

Having replaced both rear leaf springs, bushes, and shock absorbers myself in the past, I decided this time to hand the job over to a good friend and fellow Rover enthusiast, rather than spend an entire day slowly roasting underneath the car.

Richard knows the P5B inside out. His knowledge is second to none. His Rover career began back in 1969 with a five-year apprenticeship. He left Rover in 1983 to work for the renowned H.R. Owen, maintaining Rolls-Royce and Jaguar before finishing his career working with the Metropolitan Police Force in their maintenance workshops.

Officially, Richard has now retired after working with Rover, but his love for cars still sees him helping out his car-enthusiast friends.

 I'd call that a fifty-year education into doing things the right way. That’s how I met him, and if it wasn’t for Richard, I doubt I’d still own this Rover today.

He’s always at the end of the phone with sensible advice, calm reassurance, or that one obscure special tool that apparently exists only in his workshop.

His own collection is enough to make any classic car enthusiast weak at the knees:

•         Three Pathfinder models, a ’54, ’55 and ’56

•         A 1956 MG Magnette ZA

•         Rover P5 Saloon

•         Rover P5 Convertible (very rare)

•         Vanden Plas

•         Rover P5 Pickup

•         Triumph Stag

Those are just the hobby cars.

For everyday transport, he drives a Jaaaaaaag…

Some people collect stamps. Richard collects garages.

The new bushes were fitted without drama, and while he was underneath, Richard gave the whole car a thorough inspection. Happily, everything else is shipshape underneath, which is always reassuring.

Now all I need is for the temperature to drop about 20 degrees so I can take the Rover out this evening and remind it why we went to all this trouble in the first place.

Philip (The Rascal) Editor

(Many thanks to Richard for sharing a few of his photos)