reliantreviver
Part of things
"It will be getting fixed up come summer..." (year undefined)
Posts: 412
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Jun 26, 2007 22:08:25 GMT
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Well thought I should post something some time, I hope you like Reliants, cause I love em! Over the past 5 years (since I was 9!) I have had some 45 cars, 35 of which have been Reliants - 24 of them 3 wheelers ;D This is my current rolling project, a 1987 Rialto GLS. When I got it, some "chav" had been to work on it, doing pathetic mods like replacing the carpets with housecarpet and building an abysmal parcel shelf, but worst of all, bolting L plates to the car (yes through the bodywork)  I have since dropped the engine, replaced the clutch and headgasket along with optimising the ports and matching the manifolds.  Giving it a literal bench test! It now breathes through a Weber 34 ICEV carb (off a landy) - exucse the oil down the side of thr rocker cover, bad seal around the cover nuts!  Now it is up and running the fun has started  First up was lowering the car, not an easy feat on a Reliant but I got there in the end (with much encouragment from Nick Keyser) The solution was to fabricate some brackets to raise the front leafspring mount upwards, and along with shortened rear hangers the car now sits about 2.5 inches lower at the rear.   The front spring was simply chopped down and reformed. Then a couple of brackets were added to drop the shock absorber axle mounts. Next was a proper set of wheels, I cleaned up a pair of Dunlop D1's   And then tinted the rear windows - don't shout at me  !   At this stage the bonnet was sprayed black and the lights taped, purely for a laugh on muckup day at school (bro's year was leaving!) This is the point where things started to go wrong!!! I welded the diff, a silly idea on paper, an even more stoopid one in practice ;D  Then one weekend my eldest bro comes back from uni and we go for a spin round an empty local carpark, getting some brilliant tail out slides and rubber chaffing action ( I shan't say burning, there aint that much power!) All good and well till he turns in hard and boots it for a doughnut, up and over she goes, lucky I didnt have me arm out the open passenger window!   And a Vid just after we had pushed the car back over!  Looks like I am in for some fiberglassing and much sanding then, when I can be bothered! I had nearly finsihed the bonnet with a hand made vent grafted in   Pic of bonnet on the car prior to rolling it!  Well thats me done for now, hope you enojoyed it! Will post up my other Reliants sooon........ |
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Current:
Reliant "750" Super Robin, Scimitar SS1s - 2 x 1300, 1 x 1600, 1 x 1800ti. 76 years off the road between them!
Also - Mitsubishi Galant Sport and Hyundai Coupe Gen3
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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1987 Reliant Rialto GLS slater
@slater
Club Retro Rides Member 78
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heh its to be expected surely! Good stuff
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Nick
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,483
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sounds like good fun, not really my sort of car, but after hearing about you rolling it, i want to get one.
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idea stolen from rattely eddie.
this weeks car count "5"
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Excellent! Love your approach. Also love the bit about house carpet and L-plates bolted right through the bodywork, those both sound like proper 'reliant owner' mods! What is it with these people!
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1974 Lancia Beta Saloon
1975 Mazda 929 Coupé
1986 Mazda 929 Wagon
1979 Mazda 929 Hardtop
1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica
1977 Toyota Carina TA14
1989 Subaru 1800 Wagon
1982 Hyundai Pony 1200TL 2-dr
1985 Hyundai Pony 1200 GL
1986 Maserati 425 Biturbo
1992 Rover 214 SEi 5-dr
2000 Rover 45 V6 Club
1994 Peugeot 205 'Junior' Diesel
1988 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel Saloon
1992 Talbot Express Autosleeper Rambler
2003 Renault Laguna SPEARS OR REAPERS
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DutyFreeSaviour
Europe
Back For More heartbreak and disappointment.....
Posts: 2,944
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;D ;D - Nice........
Old friend who loves his Minors had a couple of these, coming down Stanmore hill to pick me up, he put his on it's side and slid for ages........ got out, rolled it back onto it's wheels and drove away - to the applause of the local college lot. Funniest thing I've ever seen except in his embarrasment he forgot me!!!
Good luck with the repairs - I'm sure it'll be back in shape soon.
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Back from the dead..... kind of
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Jun 27, 2007 10:47:03 GMT
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So you are 14! and all them Reliants!   wow! I love the things BTW.  |
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 it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts |
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,420
Club RR Member Number: 52
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1987 Reliant Rialto GLS qwerty
@qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member 52
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Jun 27, 2007 11:14:25 GMT
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COOOOOOOOOOOL. Is there anyway to try and stop them rolling over so much?? (apart from adding extra wheels?
Wider rear wheels? Its the thing that really puts me off them LOL
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Jun 27, 2007 11:47:42 GMT
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I love it 8-)Them reliant engines are great little things
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Jun 27, 2007 17:56:43 GMT
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35 Reliants? Blimey. Not sure you'd like this then...
...as you've seen a Reliant with a welded diff ain't too clever :-)
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Rob M
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,915
Club RR Member Number: 41
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1987 Reliant Rialto GLS Rob M
@zeb
Club Retro Rides Member 41
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Jun 27, 2007 18:50:16 GMT
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At 14 I was sodding about with Chopper bikes!! Brilliant work! The make of car isnt relevant, your skills, ideas and the ability to put them into practice are. Keep up the good work |
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dugong
Posted a lot
One Of Us Will Live To Rue The Day We Met Each Other (Wire : 2008)
Posts: 3,292
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Jun 27, 2007 22:16:23 GMT
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A drift reliant.
That has made my day.
What PCD are those D1s? Are they fairly cheap? I want to source some for a mates Rialto, it's his b'day in September and I might just stash them in my lockup for the time being....
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Jun 27, 2007 22:55:02 GMT
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Most excellent work old boy. Was looking smart too before its boo-boo. Get back to its best mate, you're on to a winner.
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thats cool. it looked really quite good being that low. |
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reliantreviver
Part of things
"It will be getting fixed up come summer..." (year undefined)
Posts: 412
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Jun 28, 2007 16:08:25 GMT
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xbo11ox - Oh yes, "Arnolds" have a habit of being rather frugal and spending little more than pocket change on their Reliants when some matchsticks, tin foil, meccano and superglue will create a perfectly good repair! qwerty - Lowering makes a world of difference to the handeling, then yes, harder springs, wider wheels and better shocks are all you can really do. Weight distribution also plays a large part in not roling over! Me with my lardy ass in the passenger seat didnt help matters when it rolled (that and normally the power would spin the free inner wheel and it would hit terra firma quickly again, not with a locked diff!) Zeb- I'm 15 (16 this Nov) and have delved into other areas, first car was a mini city, soon became a stock racer for competing in the juniors at Standlake! I had an Eagle jeep briefly, and have had 4 Porsches (2x 924's 2x 944's) But alas, Reliant's are an addiction Mischab18a- Any mini wheels will fit with the correct spacing, my Robin van runs (or did when it was together, and will when it is again!)Mamba's with 2.5 inches of spacing (1.25 each side)  |
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Current:
Reliant "750" Super Robin, Scimitar SS1s - 2 x 1300, 1 x 1600, 1 x 1800ti. 76 years off the road between them!
Also - Mitsubishi Galant Sport and Hyundai Coupe Gen3
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Mr K
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,993
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Jun 28, 2007 17:27:30 GMT
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can you get the seats further back? unfortunatly I'm too lazy to make lowering brakets like yours, and dumping the axle on top of the leafs gave me all sorts of hand brake issues (more than the ones i already have) so i given in - for now, will phone some people about getting springs reset when its on the road... so yours currently winning the lowest relaint competition (at the rear anyway)
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reliantreviver
Part of things
"It will be getting fixed up come summer..." (year undefined)
Posts: 412
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Jun 28, 2007 17:56:32 GMT
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I'm tempted to remove the wooden blocks between the axle and chassis on the yellow Robin van that's used as a shed out back, would of thought it would decamber the springs if left with the amount of weight it has in the back!
I will probably move the seats back slightly, will be cutting out and fiberglassing flats in where the rear footwells should be.
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Current:
Reliant "750" Super Robin, Scimitar SS1s - 2 x 1300, 1 x 1600, 1 x 1800ti. 76 years off the road between them!
Also - Mitsubishi Galant Sport and Hyundai Coupe Gen3
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Mr K
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,993
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Jun 28, 2007 18:18:26 GMT
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I'm tempted to remove the wooden blocks between the axle and chassis on the yellow Robin van that's used as a shed out back, would of thought it would decamber the springs if left with the amount of weight it has in the back! I will probably move the seats back slightly, will be cutting out and fiberglassing flats in where the rear footwells should be. I found a thing about some guys decambering springs for escorts or somthing, it told you exactly what to do; put two bits of metal a certain distance apaprt with the spring between them, measured from the centre of the leaf, on each side, and then beat the hell out of it with a big hammer untill its 2.25" lower than stock, then repeat for the next spring, then repeat again for the final leaf but only take it to 2" lower to maintain the progresiveness of the spring or somthing like that I tried it on a old leaf spring nad I couldnt get it to do anything expept propel a club hammer back at my face at great speed as to be expected.... alot of beating later and it was still the same arch. I think a kitten would need the ends inverting like:  as they would be too long if you flatterned htem out. aparently leda reset springs using a press..... I would like to know more about this; maybe its time to buy a fly press; but as I said, I dout it would work. found the link: www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=84076 |
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Last Edit: Jun 28, 2007 18:18:55 GMT by Mr K
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reliantreviver
Part of things
"It will be getting fixed up come summer..." (year undefined)
Posts: 412
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Sorry, haven't been poste don RR for rather too long! I will start another thread with a couple of my rather more involved cars sometime. Though the Rialto is now sold, this is how it looked in its final form: The plastic bumper caps had to go in the end, became cracked and it looks better without IMO. Also got round to finishing off the bonnet. Shame I had to sell it, wanted to respray it tangerine, but as always never enough time is there!     Think I shall crack on with my Robin van next, then the Sabre, then the kitten, then............  |
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Current:
Reliant "750" Super Robin, Scimitar SS1s - 2 x 1300, 1 x 1600, 1 x 1800ti. 76 years off the road between them!
Also - Mitsubishi Galant Sport and Hyundai Coupe Gen3
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Lovely collection Robin van, love it! |
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts |
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Nice work reviver! RESTECP
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1974 Lancia Beta Saloon
1975 Mazda 929 Coupé
1986 Mazda 929 Wagon
1979 Mazda 929 Hardtop
1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica
1977 Toyota Carina TA14
1989 Subaru 1800 Wagon
1982 Hyundai Pony 1200TL 2-dr
1985 Hyundai Pony 1200 GL
1986 Maserati 425 Biturbo
1992 Rover 214 SEi 5-dr
2000 Rover 45 V6 Club
1994 Peugeot 205 'Junior' Diesel
1988 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel Saloon
1992 Talbot Express Autosleeper Rambler
2003 Renault Laguna SPEARS OR REAPERS
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! 
wow!
