Kitten kapers

[dollywobbler]

On 10/30/2019 at 7:32 AM, bunglebus said:

I do like a Kitten/Fox/Rebel - what's the front suspension setup?

Double wishbone with coils, rack and pinion steering (nicked from a Herald I think) so tiny, tiny turning diameter. There's a lot to like with these if you can live with the crudeness.

[Mrcento]

I'd love one of these. Lime green and would fit my spare Fiat 1.1 to it.

[doug]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Double wishbone with coils, rack and pinion steering (nicked from a Herald I think) so tiny, tiny turning diameter. There's a lot to like with these if you can live with the crudeness.

Thank DW, I didnt answer as I didnt have a clue!

[rwd]

Steve79    Kittisaki   Kitten + ZZR1100

 

 

[MiniMort]

There's two Reliant Kitten Estates that I sometimes see round Nuneaton, one yellow, the other a sort of Trabant esque brown colour. 

Is it true that these things get about 50mpg? If so thats as good as any modern motor

[doug]

First real day to get in about the kitten. The engine is seized as a seized thing. I have been soaking it in penetrating oil all week and rocking the car back and forward in top gear hoping to free it off. A mate suggested modifying a spark plug to take an air line and connect it up to the compressor. So took the rocker cover off to see what cylinders valves were closed. Good job I did as the rockers were a mess.

So head off and engine out. The starter was seized as well and the engine mounts perished. On a happier note the chassis and everything else seems to be in good condition and all bolts came out no bother. 

Tomorrow I will try to free the engine off (again). What if I unbolt the conrods from the crank and try and move the pistons up the bores? Worth a try?

[Mr Pastry]

Just a note of caution.  Its a wet liner engine.  If you are going to try and move the pistons with the head off you should clamp the liners in place first. 

[Mally]

They have wet liners, you knock them in from the top, so tapping down is ok, but if you remove the big end caps with the head off and try to knock upwards you may well damage the con rod, crankshaft journal,  and/or loosen a liner. 

I'd keep soaking the rings for a good while before attempting anything. 

Then I'd probably take the flywheel off, put the bolts back in and try to lever the crank round on the bolt heads. It may turn as you undo the flywheel.

I have some con rods, but very little else.

Can't see the compressor down a plug hole doing anything really, but if there's a lot of oil in there it may help to spread the oil about. 

There will be more crap in the sump too I imagine.

 

[doug]

Mally, I took the sump off and it looked ok in there, well ok for a 40 year old motor. I will try your flywheel off method tomorrow. Thanks.

[plasticvandan]

I've had four kittens, from memory the rack is an upside down lhd escort rack.balljoints unique to the kitten,tho metro ones have been modified in the past to fit.fantastic handling,like a rwd mini.much unavailable new now of course but enough stuff out there to keep you going.chap in the kitten register has had one from nearly new and done over 400,000 miles in it

[doug]

Got the engine freed off. But joy was short lived. It turns out it was not the pistons stuck in the bores. It was the oil pump that was seized. So when I eventually got the engine moving it sheared the teeth of the oil pump drive and the gear teeth on the cam. So I now need a replacement cam, oil pump drive gear and a pump. Anybody got any lying around?

 

 

 

[Eddie Honda]

The red estate LTF pictured above, actually had a Piper fast road cam in it. I only found this out after I sold it when the subsequent owner had problems after setting the valve clearances to standard spec. He sifted through the wad of paperwork that came with it and found the receipt.

It did go very well! ?

[Mally]

Don't know how much a standard cam is, but Rebels Racing cost £175!

Your best hope is another engine to cobble 2 together.

I'll check my loft tomorrow see exactly what I have, but don't hold your breath.

[Mally]

I have, rocker shaft and push rods, rocker cover, 4 pistons, con rods and liners (well used), Crankshaft.

 None of which is any use, sorry.

[doug]

Thanks Mally, I am waiting on a guy phoning me back about a complete engine he has for sale so fingers crossed. Thanks for taking the time to look for me.

[doug]

Was at the NEC at the weekend and got talking to the guy on the Reliant owners stand. Turns out he sells Reliant spares as well. He had a cam and oil pump drive shaft for £30 for the 2. A bargain, so a big thankyou to  CHG Classics Ltd, the parts arrived today. 

I went straight from the NEC to sunny(ish) Methil  in Fife to collect another engine as well. So a busy weekend.

Took the sump off engine number 2 and there is no play at all in the big ends. But the sump oil pickup pipe mesh was falling to bits (same as engine number 1) Stripped the oil pump to find it was full of gloop. So cleaned that up. Took the block drain plug out to find it was blocked up with corrosion that looked like sand, not pretty. I think/hope I have cleared it out. 

So tonights plan is to put a battery on it to see if the starter will turn.....then to see if it will turn the engine....then to see if the engine has compression...sparks? fuel pump working?

Will it fire up? Place bets now. Inside info says I will fall at the fisrt task.

 

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

the embedded google images picture is broken for me

id recommend uploading pictures directly to the autoshite server, that way they are independent of any external hosting website/service etc

 

on the engine stuff I bet @dollywobbler is having deja vu right now! 

[doug]

Sorry LBF I am not much good with this computer malarky stuff.

Well starter motor turns

starter motor turned engine

we have compression

we have sparks.

Squirted fuel into carbs and fuck me did it not only start!!!!!!!! Breifly,but enough to fill the garage with smoke. And it sounds awesome with no pipe.

It was one of those rare times that everything just went right. 

I was going to clean up the chassis before putting the engine in but want to get it mobile ASAP now. 

[Eddie Honda]

7 hours ago, doug said:

so a big thankyou to  CHG Classics Ltd

James is sound as a pound.

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, doug said:

I was going to clean up the chassis before putting the engine in but want to get it mobile ASAP now. 

get it mobile

[doug]

Well after a load of grief eventually got the Kitten on the road. Only been 4 miles in it as it needs a wee bit fine tuning.

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[cort16]

looking good!

[doug]

Oh the fame! Now waiting on fitting 3rd engine as engine no2 kept overheating.

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[bunglebus]

Not fixable? Surely it can only overheat if the cooling system isn't up to the task so water pump, rad etc? 

[doug]

I have replaced the pump, thermostat, temp sensor, flushed the block and rad repeatedly. Changed over the cylinder head from engine number 1 after giving it a light skim and a new gasket. All torque up and bled as per Fifers Reliant Tips. When I replaced  the head  I noticed the top of the block had slight damage as if someone had previously used a screwdriver to lever the head off and also one liner looked a bit low. So thinking this might be the problem. I will fit the rad from no3 engine first to see if it helps but I am not holding up much hope.

 

[BlankFrank]

Was it overheating according to the gauge only? It would be worth checking the temp of the hoses + rad using a dedicated temp gauge (infrared one or a multimeter- probe one, etc) to find out if the actual coolant/water is really getting above 95c - 105c (not sure of exact max running temp for these engines so i've used a ballpark figure).

 

Edit: Ah okidoke

[doug]

I though it was the gauge/sensor originally. But as I got braver and took it longer distances it was definitely boiling up and loosing water.  

[wesacosa]

maybe a silly question but did you change the radiator cap? Could be spitting out the water if the pressure cap is not holding

Fab car by the way.  I would love one

[doug]

I did change it over for another used one. I have thought  about buying a new one just to rule it out. I will swop the rad  over from number 3 engine first and see how I get on.

[bobdisk]

@doug How are you getting on with the Kitten?  I have found one and am thinking about buying it.