Sold My reliant rialto - now sold :-(

[groovylee]

so, as Schumarialto requested more info, here it is lol

 

the back story is that i was bored at work one day, and so i got to reading some of the freecycle emails that i get all the time.  normally i skim through, deleting them page by page.  this time though, i happened to spot the word 'three wheeler' and it piqued my interest.....

 

short story, three days later (and a manic organising of a trailer from a friend i'd only met once!) i went to pick up the car. for free

 

she took some dragging out from the garage, as she had been driven in there in 2009, and never touched since!  but after a couple of hours, we got her on the trailer ready to get her home:

 

 

once home i got a bit more up close and personal.  there is minor damage all over the place, but otherwise she is in relatively good nick.  all the tyres hold air, the brakes are seized on, but nothing a good mk1 eyeballing wont sort, and it needs new rear shocks.  the front sidelights/indys are shot (more on that later) and the heater didnt work.  worst of all, the battery was dry, so no chance of trying to start her.  i'll let the pics do the talking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thats all for now folks, thanks for reading!

 

Lee

[plasticvandan]

mmm apple green

[Skizzer]

Nice - always lots to like about a free car.

 

Plus at least the body was never going to be rusty.

[scruff]

"John's Motors & Son" brilliant!!

[oldcars]

Very nice, looks a clean little car. Make sure you check all the fuel lines as its been sitting for a while.

[dollywobbler]

What a cracking (literally) colour. Look forward to the ressurection tale.

[garethj]

Nice!

 

Good to see the old Skoda being put to good use

[RayMK]

Nice one.  John's Motors at Fosters Booth (near Towcester, on the A5) is still going strong.  They do the MOT on my Reliiant every year.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Fantastic. This has to be the bargain of forever on autoshite assuming it can be on the road for minimal pennies.

 

Always fancied one but know naff all about them

[tooSavvy]

Fantastic. This has to be the bargain of forever on autoshite assuming it can be on the road for minimal pennies.

 

Always fancied one but know naff all about them

 

1 1/4 S.U. ... jiggle knob and lift pin... 

 

TS

[Matt]

And I thought my ~25 vintage camera collection was a good Freecycle find! 

[groovylee]

Very nice, looks a clean little car. Make sure you check all the fuel lines as its been sitting for a while.

 

indeed, I was wondering what the little bowl thing under the passenger door was, and why there were random lengths of pipe not connected to anything..... "oh, I seeeeeee. theyre supposed to be connected to each other...."

 

lol

[groovylee]

so, anyway, to carry on with the tale...

 

I ordered a new battery from (I think) Tayna for the princely sum of <£30 ish with adaptors, and decided to throw caution to the wind, not bother with any pre flight checks, and attempt to start her with the current 9+ year old fuel in her. first step - spin her over briefly and check oil light goes out. Check.  second step - out choke and go for broke!  and bugger me - it started!  not much in the way of idling, but she bloody started!

 

so next up was the non working lights.....  when I pulled the light units out, they looked a bit, erm, furry.

 

 

and the bulb holders were toast.  not really surprising that they don't work!

 

so I removed all the knackered bits:

 

 

and added some new ideas....

 

 

to explain - to replace the lamp holders is about £40 a side for NOS items.  these will ultimately suffer the same fate.  so, I have ordered some SMD LED panels, and i'm going to fit them into the indicator and sidelight housings. the cable will then come out through the gland to some waterproof connectors, and in turn to the original wiring.  they should be much better, and the whole setup only set me back £10. full of win.

 

rear shocks have been sourced for under £20, the knackered rear ARB droplinks are going to be replaced with rosejoints (£18) and most of the other stuff looks ok.

 

next step - sort out the seized brakes.  that will happen when I go off shift for a bit, so probably after easter.  i'll update then

 

cheers again,

 

Lee

[groovylee]

Nice one.  John's Motors at Fosters Booth (near Towcester, on the A5) is still going strong.  They do the MOT on my Reliiant every year.

hmmm, this is very interesting.  I could do that from Hitchin in a little over an hour on the A5......  then it's first MOT since 2008 would be at its supplying dealer!  awesome.  I may have to do this! thanks RayMK!

[Asimo]

Lovely colour. I do like the idea of a Reliant with rose-jointed suspension.

[bub2006]

Bloody he'll. Any reliant 3 wheeler is good going if it's free

[Andrew353w]

hmmm, this is very interesting.  I could do that from Hitchin in a little over an hour on the A5......  then it's first MOT since 2008 would be at its supplying dealer!  awesome.  I may have to do this! thanks RayMK!

 

I don't know if this will help, but in my Reliant Robin days I struck up a beneficial business relationship with Datoo Motors, of Welwyn Garden City, which is not too far from you. Those garages that still repair Relaints seem very enthusiastic about them, and Datoo Motors was no exception! Their number is 01707 327131. Might be useful.....

[groovylee]

cheers mate, noted

 

Lee

[outlaw118]

That is utterly vile.

 

 

And, of course, that, as you will know, is a good thing.

 

Top marks!

[PiperCub]

Folk can take the piss all they like but I think it's great, and for free too. Never worked on one but assume they are pretty simple affairs to fix up?

 

The back looks a useful size (& shape) for humping around junk locally too.

 

(Side note, I used Tayna for batteries, found they give a good service and cheap)

[wuvvum]

The way Reliant prices are going these days, you've done bloody well to score that as a freebie.  I must own a Rialto before they all disappear, if only to lay the ghost of the dreadful Regal to rest.

[Junkman]

That's a Robin Reliant.

Yar calling it RONG.

[xtriple]

Bloody awesome!

[groovylee]

That's a Robin Reliant.

Yar calling it RONG.

OH NOES! totally forgot that lol

 

righto, as pennance, i'm off to paint it yellow and add the customary TITCO signwriting.......

 

[oldcars]

indeed, I was wondering what the little bowl thing under the passenger door was, and why there were random lengths of pipe not connected to anything..... "oh, I seeeeeee. theyre supposed to be connected to each other...."

 

lol

That's the overflow system from the carb. Same on mine when i picked it up, all perished and taped together  . All fixed now im happy to say.

[groovylee]

so, sorry for the long wait for any updates. been busy with holidays to welsh wales and stuff. oh, and wrecking the diff on my ranger, but thats another story....

 

anyway, Rialto.  the front indicator/sidelight units were rotted to shite as you know. I finally got around to fixing them up a bit in my man cave:

 

 

and they even light up!

 

 

so thats one job done.  next was to sort out the slightly crusty rear shocks. that went pretty easily, as did the rosejoints for the ARB droplink replacement:

 

next up was the front wheel. the brakes were a right mess, so a lot of that will be replaced, but the good news is that it all seems fairly tight.  the front shock/spring looks proper crusty, so i'll tart that up for the MOT man a bit.

 

lastly, was the replacement fuel hoses.  that went pretty well too, so i was feeling euphoric when it started!  and died. and refused to start.  threw some fuel in it, but no dice. took the fuel pipe off the carb, cranked the engine. nothing comes out. great!

 

i removed the manky looking inline filter and replaced it with a length of fuel hose as a temp measure, but still no fuel. gave up.

 

so the ebay shopping list so far is:

 

fuel pump (metal topped one to replace the placcy topped one thats in there)

front brake shoes

front wheel cylinders

fuel t piece (forgot to mention i broke that lol)

fuses (blew a few cocking about with the lights haha)

rear indicator bulbs

electronic flasher relay (flashes too fast due to LED panels)

 

i need to replace the diff on the ranger on my next day off, so this will have to wait for a bit.  still hoping to have it ready for shitefest though!

 

Lee

[plasticvandan]

im assuming you have checked the filter by the tank?

[groovylee]

yarp, thats the one i replaced with straight pipe.  i do have a filter to slap on it, and will do so before the new pump is fitted.  from what i can gather, replacing the plastic topped pump is a good idea anyway...

 

Lee

[plasticvandan]

yes they are shite,and the outlets snap off! did you kep the overflow bowl under the wing? there is a breather hole on one of the pipes,that needs to be kept clear,i found out when i fitted new hose once and covered the hole,and it stopped running!

[groovylee]

cool, at least i've done the right thing then, cheers!  yeah, i kept the overflow bowl thing, as i had about 3 miles of decent hose to play with lol.  i did notice that hole, and i took a guess that it must need leaving open to atmosphere, again good to know i did right

 

i'll get some more pics up when im near some decent internet.....