Rear Suspension

The rear suspension on a P3 is unique to Rover, they decided to do away with a full chassis and stopped the chassis at the front of the rear springs. The rear shackle is fastened to a cross tube bolted to the body shell via brackets fastened to the inner wings. They have reinforced basically an earlier body shell that had a full chassis, and the brackets fastened to the body end up with 5 layers of steel so it's a massive rust trap. To do a proper repair the rear springs have to come off. To give access I removed the rear wings and as can be seen they are going to need a repair to the flange. This led to more jobs! The fuel filler tube had corroded through where it passes through the inner wing. I repaired it with copper tube silver soldered together and then sweated into the body. As the fuel tank was now open, I decided to remove it, which gives me even more access. The springs have a massive set on them and they need to be compressed to get them off and on. To that end I made a spring clamp as per the dimensions in the service buletins.

Once the spring was out of the way I could unbolt the cross tube ready for overhaul. Next the mounting plate was removed, I made 2 new ones using the old one as patterns. The inner arch and the inner boot floor were then repaired. The shackles were removed and the cross tube cleaned up and new metalastik bushes installed. Many of the bolts were replaced as they were badly waisted.