Rover P6 V8 Hot Start on Carbs - Faster Than Some Fuel-injected Cars!

Starting my Rover P6 (a 3500S) from hot. I have to say, I've owned fuel-injected vehicles that have started slower and less enthusiastically than this! Very impressed by it's manners and it's eagerness to get going - especially when you consider that it's still on the original carburettors.

Really suprises some people as many assume that carbs are just finikity, unreliable and difficult to live with - yes, if poorly looked after or in bad condition generally then they will be - but they're not hard to get right.

It does, however, have an electric fuel pump and electronic ignition, which no doubt help - but even from cold it's docile and quickly settles down after a few minutes.

Of course, at the end of the day, overall, fuel injection is always superior - but carbs have their place and have a real period charm - Provided you've got a good set that don't leave you pulling your hair out all the time!.......

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Rover
• P6
• 3500S
• V8
• 215ci
• 3.5
• engine
• start
• fuel
• injection
• carburettors
• carbureted
• SU
• HS6
• EFI
• cold
• hot
• rev
• startup
• retro
• classic
• car
• redline
• buick
• starter
• motor
• spin
• up
• turn
• over

[ricochetVendetta]

have you considered sticking it on lpg

[LashoutUK]

@ricochetVendetta I've no intention to for this one - just looking to restore it and get it on the road, for the mean time. It has the 5 speed LT77 box though as opposed to the original 4 speed, so it's not that bad at all on fuel anyway! Not a fantastically heavy car and the engine doesn't really have to work that hard to push it around, so it's not as crippling as you may expect - better than my Jeep at any rate!

[arglwyddanfradwrus]

@ImRatherTall Oh heck yes! A badly installed system can be deadly in the event of a fire.

[ImRatherTall]

@arglwyddanfradwrus oh right. he paid quite abit for his but it was done by a trusted technician, but he hear drumours of being careful where you go because people will sting you for shoddy work

[arglwyddanfradwrus]

@ImRatherTall I'm glad to hear that. I was more meaning the reliability over time (maintenance), quality of install in fitting the LPG system etc.

[ImRatherTall]

@arglwyddanfradwrus

my cousin had his Ford van converted to a LPG runner. He had one of those american Ford vans (the big ones) with a 5L V8 which returned decent economy for the size of engine it had. He had no problems on long runs etc

[stev1212]

Jesus christ! That was fast! my 4 pot kseries with 25.000 on it takes about 3 seconds to start!

[MrGarner76]

spot on!

[tonyurmate]

I owned a p6 last year,When I was stoped at lights id rev it up and i loved the way it would twist when id rev it,had to sell it because I lost my job which made me very sad,but now ive started my new business and I know the guy that has my old car and im buying it back soon,alls well that ends well.

[arglwyddanfradwrus]

@LashoutUK @ricochetVendetta Personally, though I've no experience of LPG powered cars and am only going from what others have told me and what I've seen mentioned in various mags, websites, etc, I've recently become very sceptical of LPG conversions' long-term reliability.