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Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:34 pm
by RobHomewood
Ive lost the original thread which was talking about the difficulties of getting the freewheel cable to go through the tube in the gearbox. My P2's freewheel was disconnected when I got it and I have been trying off and on to get the freewheel reconnected. The problem was the same in that the cable hit an obstruction about where the ferrule from the rear terminates and I couldnt get any futher, any which way. Prompted by the thread I looked at the problem again. I could get a cable through from rear to front but not the right way. So my wheeze was to push the spare cable through from the rear, join it to the proper cable from the front and pull the joint through. Simple yes? The joining 2 cables end to end without increasing the diameter was the down fall of this idea until I had a wakeful night and arrived at a cunning plan. As you know ideas during the night often do not survive the light of day but I gave it a go. What I did was to grind down the ends of the cables slightly to reduce the diameter. I then carefully opened up the tag part of a treasury tag (thin soft metal) which was a similar diameter and tapped it down onto the cable ends and then superglued the 2 ends into the joining piece. I was well aware that the join might give way under stress and leave even more of a problem in the gearbox but thankfully and even though I had to really put some welly into pulling I did gradually get the joint through. I then broke off the join and fitted the clamping nipple. I saw that Rover had introduced an additional distance piece in 1947 and as I could find one of those I used a spare nipple with the screw removed instead.
The best part is that when I started her up the freewheel worked straight off after what may have been up to 45 years of disuse! I am now really enjoying clutchless gear changing and the feel of the old girl fully functioning.
The only issues so far are a) a reluctance to return to fixed wheel when asked (think this is resistance on the cable which will ease when copious amounts of oil work through and b) the cutting out of the engine when coasting around bends in top gear. In fixed gear this would normally restart pretty well instantly but of course in freewheel there is no drive to the engine so it cannot bump start. But not the freewheel's fault.
Happy motoring!

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:03 pm
by luli
Congratulations! remember that in the "Free" position the cable is under tension and each time you engage reverse you release it, and then re-introduce it.

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:36 am
by TonyG
Rob,

Just wondering why your car cuts outs on the over run? If you have a Startex system I suppose that might be the reason but surely Rover would have considered the issue of restarting while in Freewheel and you certainly wouldn’t want the starter engaging while in gear. Or is it that your car is reluctant to tick over?

I’ve got freewheel on both my cars and only tried it on the Tourer once- back in 1976! The car was in a poor old state back then with brakes and steering all over the place. Finding the car coasting, with no help to control the speed from the engine, was alarming to an 18 year old still struggling with a crash gearbox. I’ve never tried it again, but I feel I should so I’m very interested to read your experience. When Luli came for a ride in the car he asked why I didn’t use it as it made the gear changes so easy. I’m inspired by your post to give it a go and, now that that I have another 44 years of driving experience since the last time, I’m sure I can cope with the handling!

Tony.

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:55 pm
by RobHomewood
Hi Tony
Thanks for your reply. Its early days yet with the Freewheel but I am enjoying having fettled it at last. I have not seen the promised inprovement in fuel consumption but the last trip got me up to a record 19mpg - about 7% better- but on better roads than the last fixed wheel check (narrow country lanes of which we have a lot round here).
I haven't fathomed yet what the cutting out is about. The tickover seems a bit unreliable - I set it at a reasonable speed and then later when its warmed up it either wont drop back or slows too much. Could be the throttle sticking somewhere but I cant find it. There may be some hesitancy in picking up the revs from tickover too. I need some thinking time on this
Rob

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:30 pm
by luli
Give it a try, Tony! it is such a nice feature, almost unique to Rover. And Rob, use a vacuum gauge to monitor the tick over inlet manifold vacuum. Sometimes a leak somewhere can be the source of the problem.
https://wp.me/pXLKy-1ri

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:02 pm
by RobHomewood
Thanks Luli
You are right I should check for a leak but I cant hear any hissing.....
And Tony I look forward to hearing how you get on with the Freewheel. If you dont like it you can always just leave it in Fixed wheel
Rob

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:37 pm
by GOY189
I too have experienced cutting out at roundabouts in the Kitcher when in Freewheel and it seems to be down to the idle speed. Its usually easy enough to dip the clutch and press the starter to continue almost seamlessly

Mike

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:00 pm
by RobHomewood
Hi Luli
Just a bit of feedback - I dont want to hog the Message board but I did test the manifold vacuum as you sugegsted and once the engine had warmed up to about 75 degrees the gauge gave between 18 and 19 ins Hg (about 0,625 bar). This shows the engine economy as towards the good end of the scale but the reading was still bordeline between good and bad engine condition, whatever that means. I have tinkered with the tickover speed and the idling screws and will try it out shortly
Rob
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Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:36 pm
by BillMcCreath
Hello Robb,

I have this situation sometimes of the engine cutting out on my 1940 14 dhc, when freewheeling. I press starter when still freewheeling then press gas pedal and pull out hand throttle slightly to increase idle speed, so it does not happen again. Cutting out when freewheeling down to engine set to to slow an idle or not tuned correctly to tick over smoothly.
Someone mentioned Startix, but that was dropped after 1936 models.

Regards

Bill

Re: Freewheel cable etc

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 7:58 am
by luli
The idle vacuum also depends on the ignition timing (distributor micrometer). Have you tried to optimize it?