1953 Rover P4 75
November 2018 - Dash restoration and throttle linkage
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Dash restoration
The dash was stripped, sand blasted and painted with the same epoxy primer and gloss black single stage urethane used on the body and other components. A couple wet standing intervals were done between coats of black to achieve a clean mirror like finish. All the original controls and indicators were saved; most were cleaned and reinstalled at this point. I haven't decided on the fuel reserve switch since the fuel tank has not been repaired and reinstalled yet. The cloudy yellow gauge dials were replaced with nice reproductions from JR Wadhams in the UK. The original P4 temperature gauge used a capillary sensor on the engine, but the Toyota 22R has an electric temperature sender so I plan to use an electric Lucas gauge like the one used for the fuel gauge for the temperature gauge. Also, the 22R alternator is capable of producing more than 30 amps so it could destroy the stock 30A Lucas ammeter. I used a single 5 milliOhm 5W resistor in parallel to the ammeter to bypass about half of the surge in battery charging current from flowing through the ammeter.
I stripped and put new striped Walnut veneer on the glove box doors. I also deleted the glove box lock since I don't have the key for it and it wasn't really that appealing of a feature anyway.
Throttle linkage
The original gas pedal on the P4 was long gone when I first got it. What the previous owner had in place was an unsightly short fat pedal that did not look era appropriate instead of a long slim pedal. I did locate some folks who had the original pedal available but I didn't want to pay up for an crusty 65 year old pedal. I found that a 1952-54 Ford pedal is very close in appearance to the Rover P4 pedal so I bought one for 20 bucks and installed it without much effort. The 2 bottom mount holes need to be drilled slightly larger so the bolts align to the 2 original mount holes on the floor.
I ordered a Weber 99006.105 universal carburetor linkage kit normally intended for a twin Weber DCOE to complete the linkage from the original P4 linkage on the firewall to the Weber 32/36 on the Toyota 22R. I fabricated out of steel a custom "Y" bracket that bolts up to 2 existing holes on the intake manifold that were unused otherwise. The A43D transmission throttle position cable attaches to an arm on the linkage. The linkage essentially implements a bell crank mechanism to convert the vertical motion of the arm on the firewall to a horizontal motion needed to rotate the throttle arm on the Weber 32/36. The original P4 linkage had a very similar bell crank implementation.