The P6b from hell...

[HertsRover]

Hello! Newbie here. I’ve been reading the excellent advice on this forum, so I thought I’d join. I’m no expert but I’m keen to learn. Anyway, my cars are three Rover P6bs (one an estate) and a P5b, plus other various six cylinder Rovers. My main project at the moment is the car from hell: A P6b with a 4.2l V8, Hotwire, and 5-speed SD1 box. That all works well. The thing that’s doing my head in is a bizarre conversion (not by me) to a serpentine belt set-up. The guy who did it is now dead (cancer) so I can’t ask him what he was thinking of. It sort of works but I hate it. It has a timing cover from I think a 3.9 Land Rover. It has a dizzy-driven oil pump, which gives fab oil pressure. But the thing I don’t like about it is 1: the water pump (the only one that fits) runs clockwise, which makes for a difficult belt route. I’ve managed to work this using an idler but it’s a right old bodge. 2: the PAS pump gets in the way of the engine stay bar, which has been removed. 3: the water pump has no outlets for the cabin heater and thermostat bypass pipe. I’ve bodged this via a T connector off the radiator hose, which just about works, but it looks terrible. 4: the pump leaves insufficient room for a fan, and as it’s designed for a viscous, makes coupling up even a fixed fan difficult.

All in all, it’s got to go. I could go back to a P6 front end but I don’t have any of the pulleys. I like the concept of a single belt, but the timing cover is just wrong. Any advice on a timing cover that has a dizzy-driven pump and a p5/6 water pump? The oil pump needs to stick out at 7 o’clock, as for the P6.