Dicky’s Disastrous Debris - a WEDGE joins the fleet 4/8/24

[Angrydicky]

Love the advert!

Sadly it came with no history. Vek got it from down Sussex way, but the MoT history shows it spent its whole life in East Kent until two years ago, floating between Dover and Margate.

Someone was also doing some serious miles in it about 10 years ago, one year they did 9000 miles and the following year 17000! Total mileage is now 131k, so possibly a record for a Robin.

[Shep Shepherd]

Ely's! What a blast from the past 

[egg]

9 minutes ago, Shep Shepherd said:

Ely's! What a blast from the past 

If you're interested in more - I've found a website devoted to the old garages of Dover while looking up Ely's...

http://www.dovergarages.altervista.org/index.html

[Shep Shepherd]

13 minutes ago, egg said:

If you're interested in more - I've found a website devoted to the old garages of Dover while looking up Ely's...

http://www.dovergarages.altervista.org/index.html

That's excellent! The Austin dealer on Townwall Street/Woolcomber Street ultimately became the Ford dealer Thompson's of Dover. My father bought a 1988 fiesta from them in 1990 (£4595 for a Mercury Grey 1.1 Festival 2 made during Ford's 'rusty' period). It's now lost to the new St. James development. 

[plasticvandan]

There's a few hardcore owners that have done 400k in the same pig,so a way to go yet.i had one with 120k on it,and every single thing was hanging off by then!

[egg]

I just asked my Dad about Ely's as he worked in Dover a lot in the 80s/90's  - he says

Quote

Re Ely’s a man I knew called Reg Bird worked at Ely’s for decades in fact he worked for Cat Automotive [my dad's motor factor] as a Van driver, an old boy. What I remember him saying was that originally Ely’s who where involved with motor bikes operated from a premises in Snargate street in Dover that had a shop front facing the harbour basin and interestingly stretched a long way back into the chalk cliffs .

I probably met Reg as I used to occasionally help out my dad on Saturday mornings fetching parts off the shelves at Cat Automotive's branch in Elm's Vale Road.

Sorry for a bit of thread drift Dicky, but it is distantly related to the car!

[Shep Shepherd]

Cat Automotive is another blast from the past. So many Dover-based (and Deal-based, for that matter) car places are now long-gone

[Angrydicky]

24 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

There's a few hardcore owners that have done 400k in the same pig,so a way to go yet.i had one with 120k on it,and every single thing was hanging off by then!

400k! Amazing! 

This one's not too bad considering, the seats were absolutely fucked and someone had already changed the drivers seat for a Rialto one (if you remember) which had also then been worn out, the drivers door hinges are fucked and it needs a new door ideally, and the door card is also pretty knackered. Generally it wears the miles well though - it runs and drives very well indeed. I was told the engine had been rebuilt and it must have been as it's really easy to start with great compression.

[Angrydicky]

So anyway, this was the interior when I got it from Torsten. It just felt tired and desperately needed a good clean.

The drivers carpet was obviously damp and soggy, fair enough it’s a silly old fibreglass car, it obviously leaks a bit. Especially as neither door fits very well. It was also loose and sliding around where it had broken free of its poppers.

Removed the scraggy old carpet and chucked it on the radiator to dry out. Only it didn’t dry out. But the paint on the radiator started bubbling up. Can you guess what happened?

Yep, it wasn’t water but bloody brake fluid!

Normally this would be a serious expense as new master cylinders are about £170, this being the later Lockheed tandem one. However, I work for a classic car brake hydraulic specialist so I simply removed it and took it into work to look at. I had intended to just put a kit in it, but the bore was badly pitted due to shitty old fluid, so my colleague sleeved it for me. Didn’t take any pictures of this so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Built it back up with a new seal kit, put back on the car and bled it up, and it’s been perfect ever since.

I couldn’t think of a way to clean the brake fluid out of the drivers carpet and it was really worn out anyway, so I decided to brighten it up a bit with some lovely 1970s carpet I saved from the skip. Gave the dashboard a  bloody good scrub up too, it obviously hadn't been cleaned in years! Came up reasonably well.

You can see by this point I had also swapped the seats over as that old Rialto seat had almost completely collapsed and I wanted something reasonably comfortable to sit on to drive.

Ended up paying silly money for a pair of the correct seats on eBay. But to be fair they were in bloody nice nick when they showed up, so in they went. The original Reliant design for fitting the seats to their frames is an awful press clip thing that’s almost impossible to do in the car. I drilled the pins and turned them into clevis pins with R clips so they can easily be removed in seconds.

The back seat was not bad but absolutely filthy. Used the VAX to clean it and it came up well. There was a massive fag burn in the base which my mum repaired using a small square of material cut from under the base. Looks much better now.

Everyone in the family loves this car, it’s definitely a keeper as it’s so much fun!

[Angrydicky]

It’s times like this I really curse Reliant’s designers for making things so inaccessible in the engine bay!

This Robin has obviously had a history of overheating as someone had removed the thermostat. Let’s look at the problems:

Missing heater and bypassed coolant pipes

Missing thermostat (fixed)

Leaking bottom hose (fixed)

Corroded and clogged radiator (soon to be fixed)

Leak from water pump gasket (soon to be fixed)

I took a deep breath and splashed out on a new aluminium radiator for it, which should be here tomorrow, along with a new gasket for the water pump. The old gasket was damaged which I think was the source of the leak that was coming from there. The water pump is actually not very old! 

I replaced the bottom hose a few weeks ago, the old one was mega porous. The cheapest I could find was a new remanufactured one from CHG Reliant at £17 or thereabouts. It was a nice fit to be fair, so I’ve ordered the rad from him as well.

Joe Mason Reliant Spares (the other main supplier) has complete heater “kits” on the shelf, we just need to establish which of the three potential types my car had originally. Hopefully a picture of the empty space where it once sat will be enough!

As for the Royale, that’s been a bit of a nightmare.

First issue was this plug in the side of the engine block that needed to come out to complete the injection type cooling system. It was a steel threaded plug with a typically German Allen head. Obviously I rounded it off straight away. Made the decision to strip down the engine to get access to weld a bolt on.

So after a couple of hours work:

You can see the little bastard down there above the oil pressure sender!

I finally had some access so welded a bolt into the Allen key slot. Also warmed it up with a blow lamp. 

No joy. The bolt simply twisted with the big breaker bar on it.

I then had another look round the garage and found a new steel wheel nut that looked like it might do the job. Lopped the head off the bolt, put this over the top, cranked the wire speed up on the welder (already on max power) and went for it.

A 19mm impact socket on the big breaker bar and it finally shifted! 

We eventually managed to get it running (albeit not very well) and I drove it out of the space on the driveway where it’s been sat for two years! 

Unfortunately, soon after that it refused to start with no spark. The wiring is a mess where we fitted the new wiring loom. Dad and I have come to the end of our tether with it, it requires the services of an auto electrician to set it up properly. One is coming to look at it next week, a chap sent by a car dealer to have a look at a fault with my sisters car last year. He expressed interest in the Royale then and sounded quite enthusiastic when I spoke to him on the phone earlier, so I’ll give him a chance first.

I suppose I shouldn’t feel that bad about seeking professional advice just to finish it off. Dad and I got a long way just on our own. It was an ambitious project.

Bread and cheese for me for the next few months then!

I will continue with the front end metalwork tomorrow in the meantime. Got this corner ground down and a couple of skims of filler on it. 

I also painted inside the headlight area with some random metallic maroon left over from my 2CV, and got the headlight all connected up and working again. Cleaned up all the corroded wiring while I was at it.

Fortunately, the other side doesn’t look as bad. Shame it’s marooned with that corner next to the fence with the adjoining property.

In Rover news, it’s been collected by Les at BL Transverse who is going to attempt to fix it. I lost some money on that one but I decided to cut my losses with it. Its just one of those things, you can’t win them all. I’m happier now I haven’t got the stress of it hanging over me.

In fact, I’ve bought a few expensive lemons in recent years! I always buy cars with the heart, that’s the problem ?

 

[cort1977]

What a fleet, love the royale.

Think the fabric on the reliant seats is from Ford isn't it?

[Bren]

Royale. Fab.

[Angrydicky]

23 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

What a fleet, love the royale.

Think the fabric on the reliant seats is from Ford isn't it?

No idea. Maybe? Most things are either Ford or BL parts bin, so it’s entirely possible!

[phil_lihp]

Great, now I want a Reliant Robin.

[Angrydicky]

1 minute ago, phil_lihp said:

Great, now I want a Reliant Robin.

Thoroughly recommended, unless you’re over 6ft or 40” chest! In which case you probably won’t fit ?

[bunglebus]

On 7/21/2020 at 10:32 PM, Angrydicky said:

Knowing nothing about 3 pin plugs other than having a massive appeal for their very British  eccentricity, could you explain some of the gubbins on the dash? I can see what I presume are owner fitted switches, but what's the thing that looks like the lid of a coffee cup below the head unit?

These really appeal to me, I do love oddball cars

[Angrydicky]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Knowing nothing about 3 pin plugs other than having a massive appeal for their very British  eccentricity, could you explain some of the gubbins on the dash? I can see what I presume are owner fitted switches, but what's the thing that looks like the lid of a coffee cup below the head unit?

These really appeal to me, I do love oddball cars

Heater vent! Although obviously there's nothing connected to the back of it currently.

[Shite Ron]

9 hours ago, cort1977 said:

What a fleet, love the royale.

Think the fabric on the reliant seats is from Ford isn't it?

It does look like mk4 Escort XR3i seat material.

The Royale is fantastic, I love seeing progress on this.

[ProgRocker]

9 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Think the fabric on the reliant seats is from Ford isn't it?

I just noticed that too. Used on Ghia spec Escorts and Orions in the late 1980s, Fiesta Ghia too. 

Happy to hear that the Royale is coming along. 

[Amishtat]

10 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

Thoroughly recommended, unless you’re over 6ft or 40” chest! In which case you probably won’t fit ?

I'm 6' 3" and I used to fit in mine alright.. You've reminded me of something though. I was smoking outside a pub in Ipswich a few years ago when the visiting darts team came out and started to clamber into a goose turd green B reg Rialto. All five of them. Burly chaps too, as I recall.. There was a girl having a fag a few feet from me and neither of us could look the other in the eye for fear of getting the giggles. When the poor car finally scraped out of the car park and off up Caldwell Hall Road the middle passenger on the back seat had his boots straddling the gear lever.. 

[plasticvandan]

Dicky,yours would have had the 2 speed box heater with seperate plastic inline heater valve,however,these are shite as the motors seize up from being inside the air duct,the older flat type is more durable.I would email CHG classics (James Holland) and ask him for a price on a heater kit,as he should be much cheaper than Mr Mason (obvs,I know them both very well) He also has the largest stock of new and nos reliant parts in the country,and us actually a dedicated enthusiast himself.

[Angrydicky]

22 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

Dicky,yours would have had the 2 speed box heater with seperate plastic inline heater valve,however,these are shite as the motors seize up from being inside the air duct,the older flat type is more durable.I would email CHG classics (James Holland) and ask him for a price on a heater kit,as he should be much cheaper than Mr Mason (obvs,I know them both very well) He also has the largest stock of new and nos reliant parts in the country,and us actually a dedicated enthusiast himself.

Nice one, I’ll give him a call when the time comes. I should have mentioned it when I ordered the radiator from James the other day, but I decided I’d spent enough for the moment! Joe wanted £100 for a heater kit.

[Angrydicky]

@plasticvandan would cutting a hole in this fibreglass panel behind the rad to aid cooling be advantageous? The air flow to the rad is pathetic really.

[Angrydicky]

[Angrydicky]

Engine bay. Note the bits of wood screwed over the heater ducts (what a bodge)

Engine looks lovely and clean inside which is good news.

 

[plasticvandan]

No I wouldn't cut any holes,the duct should work fine if the rad is clean and the block is flushed out,they silt up around the back.taking the stat out is a bad thing to do on one as the coolant won't flow properly around the rear of the engine,likewise the heater adds useful extra cooling capacity. 

[Angrydicky]

Just stuck a hosepipe into the waterways in the engine and it ran clear straight away, no sign of any gunk although difficult to get it round the back of the engine!

Yeah I agree about the thermostat. It was running too cool when I got it and I suspected it had been removed. I was right. I bought a new one and fitted it. 

To be fair, with the new thermostat it’s held a good temperature in the middle of the gauge for 6 months or so, but now the weather is hotter it’s struggling. Last thing I want is the head gasket to blow so I want to get this cooling system sorted out.

[Angrydicky]

Where was I...?

Oh yes, so I replaced the rad with the new ally one, fresh coolant and a new bottom hose and water pump gasket (the pump was new but the gasket damaged) cured the leaks. I made a new gasket out of rubberised cork which is really good stuff.

It now runs well and the gauge sits slap bang in the middle.

The mot ran out on the 2nd August so dad and I went round it to fix all the faults. One foglight and one headlight weren’t working. Dodgy wiring and corroded connections. Cut off a scotchlock and soldered it properly. The exhaust was also blowing where the mid section meets the backbox- it’s an aftermarket big bore exhaust and someone had made a mess of fitting it - not only had they not pushed the two parts of the exhaust together fully, but they’d used a hanger that was too short and cut a hole in the rear valance for the tailpipe to go. I had to use lots of heat to get the two parts separated, then cleaned it all up, welded a short extension onto the backbox so the strap would reach and out it all back together. It’s still loud, but at least it’s not blowing.

There are only three Class 3 testing stations in Southend. One of which I recognised as being lenient as I’ve bought a couple of ropey cars that were tested by them. Phoned them and they said “oh our class 3 tester is working at another garage this week, try them instead”. So I did. He didn’t seem especially pleased when we dropped it off but was all smiles when we collected it, saying how good it was, and he could see we’d done a lot of work on it to a high standard. Just one verbal advisory for the front tyre getting low.

Flushed with an official clean bill of health, I decided to tidy it up by repainting the scruffy alloys. I’m very lazy with painting and don’t really like doing it, especially as these are quite fiddly things. Still, it was a lovely summer day and there were only two of them, so I sat in the garden and rubbed them down, masked them up and painted them using BMC Island Blue (same colour as my A35 and the only blue aerosol I could find) and lacquer. Came out pretty well really! I polished up the bare aluminium bits. It’s not perfect because they are quite badly kerbed but do look much better.

The next thing was the tyres. The rears were very old and the front was almost on the limit. Had three new Falkens fitted at the local place, about £50 each or something fitted. They had to order them in specially and it took a couple of days for them to arrive.

It was funny seeing the man going behind their stack of new tyres which had just been delivered, all of which were for modern cars with ridiculously big tyres (it didn’t look like there was much there less than 18”) and fishing out these three little 10” tiddlers!

With the new tyres on I was confident enough to push it straight into daily use.

Robin mirrors are super rare and £50 a pop secondhand from Reliant specialists. When they get broken typical tight arse Reliant owners won’t pay for proper replacements so they fit any old shit. I don’t know what the ones on it were from (Peugeot 205 maybe?) but they were so floppy I couldn’t see a thing in them.

Managed to get a drivers one for a whopping £35 a while ago. Been biding my time since. A Robin got posted breaking for spares on the Reliant fb page. I asked for a price for the passenger mirror and heater and he said £10 and £20 respectively. I dibbed them straight away and thought I’d have the other mirror too for that money. I asked him for a price for the window winders too as I’ve got one broken one. One of his ones was broken and one had been repaired but he kindly chucked them in. I sent him a parcel label and this turned up at work today.

I popped the passenger mirror on after freeing it off. Much better!

The heater came from a G reg Robin LX and I’m pretty sure it’s the correct one based on what plasticvandan was saying. I think I’ve got all the trunking now, and I’ve got plenty of heater hose so all I need to be able to reinstate it is a cable, a valve and the four rubber grommets where the trunking goes through the bulkhead.

Does anyone know if the valve is screwed to the inner wing (if so where?) or if it just floats in the pipe?

The heater isn’t in amazing condition (it came from a scrap car) the motor assembly has taken a wallop and the fan blades are catching on the box. Looks easy enough to pull it back to where it should be. The matrix looks pretty good though and I’ll flush it through before fitting it. No idea if the motor works but fingers crossed!

My dad tuned it up and got it running much better. It starts brilliantly now and has great compression. Lovely little engine so what Torsten was told about it having been rebuilt I’m sure was true. It seems to be doing it good to be having regular use too.

[bunglebus]

That's a lovely pair of alloys.

I'm somewhat amazed that someone has fitted a big bore exhaust to one of these but each to their own...

[Angrydicky]

30 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

That's a lovely pair of alloys.

I'm somewhat amazed that someone has fitted a big bore exhaust to one of these but each to their own...

Well, big bore is a slight exaggeration but it's about 2", so twice the size of the original peashooter or thereabouts!

I don't know how much quieter an original exhaust would be. I reckon it would make a big difference. Dad saw one come past the house a few weeks ago and said the exhaust was much quieter than mine.