A freebie 1974 Reliant scimitar. Rims.

Same Getrag/ZF boxes as the 330d gearboxes. GS6-53DZ is the one, and is the big brother of the GS6-37DZ. The ratios are a smidge better in the Jag version though (mainly first which is 4.68 vs 5.08 in the BMW). Plenty of people putting 1000nm through them without too much trouble.

Not sure if there was a 5-speed version of the diesel box. If there is it'll probably be the same 5-speed as the E39 530d/pre-facelift E46 330d.

The petrol versions will probably be the GS6-37BZ. 'BZ' are the petrol gearboxes and 'DZ' the diesel variants. Petrol version tend to have more sensible ratios (although direct drive does tend to be 5th on all of them).

One of the few benefits of 30 years of barn storage, much less UV damage to the Interior than most.

Next, I started the under bonnet area.

Don’t look too bad at first glance does it?


Ooh check out the gen-you-wyne retro battery that’s still got its screw-in terminals! What’s that all over it? Oh…


Had a bit more of a look under things. There’s a LOT of what appears to be cherry stones. And this chap 🫤


Then WHATTHEFUCKINGHELLISTHAT!


you know it’s grim when I even I get the fisting gloves out.


Investigating further, it turns out it was once a rat…




Who had made himself quite at home it seems.


This was proper next level ick under here though. It seems to have been home to numerous rodents for many years. The joys of storing cars on working farms I guess.


I used a scraper as a mini-shovel, and this was just from the areas I could easily access. That’s a 10L bucket and it ended up between half and 3/4 full.


Interesting catch can setup 😂


Another free hammer!


I managed to remove the radiator upper baffle panel carefully so I could tip all the accumulated cr4p off the top of it straight into the bucket rather than emptying it through the engine bay and on the floor.

I then undid a couple more bolts and the hoses and pulled the rad out. Might have seen better days too…


I found the fusebox lid though…


Much more scraping-


And I got to what I was actually aiming for, the crank bolt. I was fully expecting it to be seized solid after 30 years standing with suspected hgf. So imagine my surprise when it turned over smoothly and easily with no lumpiness or noises. I did 4 full turns without so much as a sticking valve!


All very unexpected.
It’s still coming out though 😂

Great project, good to see you still can get a classic car for cheap. Will be a weapon with that V8!

I need to get some jeyes fluid, that’s the one for de-ratting. Mostly cos it’s the only thing that smells strong enough to lose the rat smell 😂

Yeah, various bits are chewed. Oddly mostly only the aftermarket additions though. Tbh, the wiring loom obviously wasn’t in a good way before the rats moved in , there’s choc blocks and new terminals everywhere where repairs have been effected when in use, and it’s all quite hard and brittle. It deffo needs a full rewire even before I consider the changes that will need to be made as part of motor swap.

Not exactly hard or expensive on a car like this though.

Is it worth starting the motor up, so you can sell it more easily?

It was another rat, that had then been mostly eaten by other rats. That’s the spine at the top and the skull bent round under it.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that’s how they made it bigger. The chassis is just a bit longer, the rear axle wider, and I believe they made the front A-arms longer to widen the front.

The who middlebridge scimitar thing and the story afterwards with Graham walker is the typical story of not letting something die that definitely needs to. Although the chassis is competent, by that period it really needed to be IRS to sell to the market it was aiming for, the engine was massively underpowered and outdated, and the styling very dated too. Couple that with cars that that held little residual value as previously discussed, and it was fated to end up exactly as anyone with any business acumen would predict. I mean TVR barely managed to hold it together through the eighties, so scimitars had no chance.

I’ve seen a lot worse go again, that’s for sure.
I know it needs chassis welding so it’ll be a body off job, but if you’re not trying to cut corners and avoid that, it’s actually the easiest way to do a lot of things on these.

Next I did another jet washing session after more of the orangey stuff.


It’s come up a lot better allowing me to work on it without getting covered in quite literal cr4p, but every time I remove some bits I end up uncovering even more hidden away, so there’s a few more goes yet.

The big ol nest under here is mostly cleared out now though.


As mentioned, when you start looking closely the wiring is well past it too.
It’s got this-


But the rats seemed to take offence to having something else with sharp teeth in their space and did this to its wiring.


The fusebox does not look good.


And various wires and insulation have been nibbled. So at the very least the engine bay section of the loom needs to go in the bin.




I think a modern fusebox relocated inside and all new wiring is on the cards.

Next I decided to remove the headers as they needed to go with the exhaust to be sold.
Obviously these are pretty hard to get to with the engine setback. You know when you’re 3 bolts in and you’ve already made a special tool it’s not going to be a fun job.


But mucho swearing and contortionism later, success!


And a surprisingly big gap down the side of the engine.


The other side had some ‘interesting’ solutions to broken head castings-


Basically a tab brazed to a bolt to hook over behind the broken bit and try to prevent it blowing. Still, it made it easier to remove!


A bit less room down this side, the steering is there but also the engine bay side isnt cut back as much. I still think there will be ample engine room though.