A throttle in the hand is worth two in the bush

It arrived in really good condition, 3 bolts to hook it up to the bulkhead. Even after washing gunk off of it- it smells like an old tractor.

Heres where it comes out behind the exhaust:

I ended up getting the cut off linkage from merry old England:

Heres how long it needs to be:
NOTE: for my wife that says to get rid of the crap in the garage- I kept this piece of axle off of a power wheels for 5 years just for this. It was its destiny.

And... completed.

Safety note: Check your linkages and make sure they open and close fully. At first mine would not fully close thus revving the piss out of the engine. Then after a couple of adjustments to the stock bellcrank with the clockspring, it worked good.

inner armor 1

Finally got around to cleaning the floors up so they could be herculined.
Herculiners good stuff- I had it before and it lasted the 3 years that I had the bronco w/o any complaints. Just clean clean clean before applying.
The previous owner glued outdoor carpet down and the glue is a mess to take up.



The surfaces must be scratched up with a scotch brite pad, but even better with sandpaper or the wire disc. Then I clean them with xylene.

The floorboards got 2+ coats. They have a lightly rough texture that keeps you from slipping but not sandpaperish.

inner armor

just apply heat

It's 98 degrees but feels like 102. Not much is going to happen today.

Perfect timing

In order to diminish the large sooty deposit from coming out the olde tailpipe everytime the gas was tapped, I decided to try to time the vehicles.. well.. timing.
The timing light showed the slot on the crank pulley pointing straight up at high noon at idle. The timing marker starts at roughly 2:00 position. So after loosening the three bolts...oops..catch that? After tightening the three bolts and loosening the timing adjustment bolt I shocked the myself on the loose sparkplug wire. After that the timing was turned to 6 degrees. The engine sounded ok idling, but with the rochester, it stumbled on slight acceleration. At TDC the engine idled weakly and when shut off it dieseled. I ended up moving the timing mark back to roughly 10 degrees (about 1:00 position).
I might have to move it around a bit, but it sounds good. Defenitely not spec, but it will change next time the valves are adjusted and new points put in.

hand throttle

Quick update:
Doors are dry now, they sound more like modern car doors closing than a soda can.
My hand throttle came in pretty quick from the UK, It smells like an old tractor. oily-hayish smell.
It came with a short bell crank like the one on the rover. Will have to take off the old one to see the differences. After the herculiner goes in it can get installed.

sound deadening

Heres my favorite sound deadener: About $90 for a gallon kit with chip brush and 2 rollers.

The stuff goes on easily, drips everywhere, but cleans up with xylene.
Wear disposable gloves, cover everything you don't want black. Most importantly is to stir the can everytime you look at it.

After the second coat dried a bit the door closing went from a clunggggg to a clung sound.
The only residual sound after closing the door is the spring in the handle humming


The floorboards are next. I'm going to buy an extra quart to do the inside of the top too.

Mucho progress update

the culprit:

It's the 4th of July! Happy 234th birthday! 234 years of being a black eye to England and I'm celebrating by fixing a Rover. In Texas. Go figure.

A couple of days ago I installed a new washer fluid container and pump, not stock- but for $13 i can't complain. I found out that when it squirts on the passenger side the window leaks. Gotta fix that.

I found a yellow warning light at a parts store that fit in the dash hole perfectly that got hooked up to 'ignition on' circuit. Looks good, works good.

I FINALLY put the new skirted thermostat in- been running it without.
I cleaned the crud out of it and found the skirt from the previous thermostat still stuck in there. The 3 piece thermostat housing that rover used is -again- over engineered weighing in at 47 lbs of cast iron.
The hole from the front of the engine block goes into the housing for the thermostat that also has an opening on the side to the bypass hose that is supposed to keep the cylinder head from cracking, then another top piece adapts it to the radiator hose. Kinda looks like a moonshine still.

I "won" a hand throttle off of fleabay, can't wait to get it installed.

insurance, inspection and its road worthy!