Under bonnet blanket on Rover P5b

The under bonnet blanket on my Rover was missing,these keep the heat from the engine from damaging the paint on the bonnet.
I made a blanket from fire resistant wadding between black cotton sheet. The cotton was treated with a mixture of Borax and Boracic acid to make it fireproof. The sheet was held in place with thin steel wire. It tucks under the bonnet supports.

Cleaning fouled spark plugs.

Some people say there is nothing in a spark plug to wear out.That might be true but they do eventually get covered in a layer that can short them out so that they don't spark.This gives a misfire at best or stops the engine at worst.These plugs I removed from my V8 engined P5b Rover. The choke mechanism was faulty and the engine was running on a mixture that was too rich.

 Using a combination of a solvent and oven cleaner it is possible to make the plugs almost as good as new.This avoids using a grit blaster (which most of us don't  have) and avoids any grit or sand being left behind to damage the engine.

No wire brushing or need for machinery and fancy chemicals. Details are on a spark plug cleaning page.

Curing the thirst of the V8 in the Rover P5b

The tick over or idle of the Rover had been lumpy for some time and setting the carbs didn't seem to help. I went through the ignition replacing and repairing but no real difference.
The fuel consumption was pretty horrendous and the car would tick over albeit it a bit more lumpy even when cold without choke.
I pulled out the starter valves.these act as a choke on HIF6 carbs letting through a rich mixture. One was pretty worn but on one carb the O ring had broken up completely. I replaced both and although I still have to reset the carbs the V8 now idles slowly without trying to cut out or foul its plugs.