project Sharleys Reliant Robin 1993 LX

[sharley17194]

Looking Good Tom!!!! Mines had a clean.....

Think mines looking less like its been in a river....

 

[MJK 24]

Slow down! 😂

 

[sharley17194]

1 hour ago, MJK 24 said:

Slow down! 😂

 

I have litterally just sent that to @Tommyboy12

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 11/01/2021 at 08:30, sharley17194 said:

I took the rad off today, wasn't too hard in the end i just ground the nuts off under the front wheel and removed it complete with the frame!

I think this needs replacing!!

 

free-flow lite-weight racing radiator 🤣

[sharley17194]

I had to pull the update last night so here goes again! Took alot of time this week with work and family so time was limited, I did however make great progress. Managed to refit manifold with new studs, exhaust and alternator. I had a quick fiddle with the wiring which of course highlighted more issues....another parts order goes in but it really does feel like we might make it!

 

[Tommyboy12]

On 1/17/2021 at 7:00 AM, MJK 24 said:

Slow down! 😂

 

You wouldnt believe how many times I have been sent this in the last 48 hours! The benefits of owning a blue Reliant that looks just as rough as this one I guess??

[sharley17194]

4 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

You wouldnt believe how many times I have been sent this in the last 48 hours! The benefits of owning a blue Reliant that looks just as rough as this one I guess??

I guess its got to have some kind of benefit....i'm struggling to see many lol!

[Tommyboy12]

I spent the weekend (when I wasn't being falsely accused of being pulled by plod) trying to fix my handbrake.

One of the MOT fails was that it appeared to be hitting the stop on the mechanism and not being good enough.

What it turned out to be was that someone had replaced a clevis pin on the bottom of the handbrake handle with a bolt, which was fouling the body. Luckily I had a spare clevis pin from a Mini that fit.

I then promptly pulled the handbrake a few times and the handbrake suddenly went loose. Turns out the cable sleeve had pulled through its mount on the axle bracket. A quick fix with a slotted washer and a few tack welds and the handbrake is golden.

Re-test is booked in for Wednesday!

Also this angle on a slightly inclined driveway is definitely not dubious...

[sharley17194]

11 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I spent the weekend (when I wasn't being falsely accused of being pulled by plod) trying to fix my handbrake.

One of the MOT fails was that it appeared to be hitting the stop on the mechanism and not being good enough.

What it turned out to be was that someone had replaced a clevis pin on the bottom of the handbrake handle with a bolt, which was fouling the body. Luckily I had a spare clevis pin from a Mini that fit.

I then promptly pulled the handbrake a few times and the handbrake suddenly went loose. Turns out the cable sleeve had pulled through its mount on the axle bracket. A quick fix with a slotted washer and a few tack welds and the handbrake is golden.

Re-test is booked in for Wednesday!

Also this angle on a slightly inclined driveway is definitely not dubious...

should have just rolled it on its side.

[sharley17194]

 

[Tommyboy12]

Dont get too disheartened by the Robin. Youll enjoy it when its done. Mine has been a good steer (considering theres only one wheel to steer with!)

[Tommyboy12]

Bit of an update on the blue one while the white one still undergoes surgery!

While the car has been working and running it's had a few issues and there's some broken things that I've wanted to address. Firstly the stereo, while my bargain £8 from eBay stereo has worked well it was only pumping sound out of one of the speakers. Took it upon myself to investigate and after determining that there was indeed wiring running to the speaker the plug for the stereo had pushed the pin out for the speaker so it wasn't working (who'd have guessed my £8 stereo had shonky build quality). Plugged in and working perfectly!

Speaking of broken electrics, Reliant clocks have a habit of dying. Both Reliants I have owned the clock hasn't worked and apparently it's really common. So I swapped it out for a posh £5 rev counter off fb marketplace! Now I know exactly how much the engine is screaming at me.

Also the oil pressure light didn't turn on. This one has concerned me slightly but a new pressure switch which I had laying around from a Mini engine rebuild and it is now Illuminating! The good news is it also goes out when you start the car! Again, Reliants have a habit of flickering oil pressure lights at idle but I am lucky in that mine is not!

It's also been running a bit rough at low speed. I self diagnosed this as ignition related as the plugs are a lovely brown colour. The points were dirty and corroded so I've done a full ignition service and replaced leads, cap, rotor arm and points. Now it runs lovely! Access is a little tight to the dizzy and it's easier to do the cap and leads from the drivers engine hatch in the footwell.

While I was under the car doing the pressure switch I spotted a couple of grease nipples for the kingpin. I gave them a couple of pumps of grease each until it was just popping out the seal. Turns out that was a mistake... Reliant designed the kingpin to have dust covers INSIDE the brake drum. So if you overfill the king pin with grease it fills your brake drum full of grease too! That was a bit scary when I reached the junction at the end of the road! Because I'm a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to this car I immediately turned around and put the car on the drive and whipped the drum and shoes off and stuck them in a washing up bowl with a load of brake cleaner. After a good scrub the shoes got a bake in the oven. 20 minutes at 200C. The kitchen smelt lovely after that... Back together now and the brakes are even better than before!

I also cut up an old IKEA rug for floor mats because the drivers footwell had no carpet!

 

[Tommyboy12]

Bonus shot of the internals of my £8 stereo...

[sharley17194]

Sadly this week the unthinkable happened. We have been served notice on our units. Having to clear out a fair few cars and parts...including this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-Reliant-Robin-/324520155297?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

 

[High Jetter]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully someone on here will pm you

[Tommyboy12]

Mine will still be around so we may end up doing the intended road trip in just mine!

[Tommyboy12]

Bit of a change of plans. Peter and Paul have been reunited for a short while! While @sharley17194 finds a new unit I'm helping out with some wiring and stuff to finish off the white one. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. Famous last words...

There's also a Class 3 MOT station near me which is useful because they're pretty rare so once I have done the wiring I shall stick it in for a ticket.

 

[sharley17194]

Massive thanks to @Tommyboy12 for this! its nice to keep them together even if its only for a few weeks. 

Looking forward to a Robin adventure!!!

[Tommyboy12]

Found out why most of the lights weren't working...

The 8 pin switch is for the hazards. This is a £45 switch new so definitely worth trying to save! The one with the slider is for the headlights. All the lights now function!

Also found out why @sharley17194 couldn't get it to hold water! I had to flush the block out too. Reliants are an alloy block so collect limescale and crud in the block. Particularly round the back cylinder (no. 4) due to low flow. Reliant must have known this as ghere's a drain to undo and when I did the cooling system didn't drain from being bunged up! Had to get creative with a screwdriver and a coat hanger to clear the sediment out. If you ever buy a Reliant make sure you drain the block and clear the sediment! The bung is below the manifolds near the bell housing.

[sharley17194]

@Tommyboy12 - looking good and great work!!

Massive thank you, cant wait to finally drive a Robin

[Tommyboy12]

A tune up for the white one today ready for an MOT on Monday! 😬 It was way too lean and way too much advance. Sounded like a bag of spanners rattling round with the amount of knock going on. It also wouldn't run off choke.

After some dizzy and carb fettling it's running ok and back together ready for the MOT!

I've left @sharley17194 a few surprises... Good luck finding them 😉

 

[somewhatfoolish]

On 4/6/2021 at 8:19 AM, Tommyboy12 said:

[Tommyboy12]

Paul has passed!

[Tommyboy12]

Peter (the blue reliant) has been running like a dog. I made the stupid mistake of driving a 3 wheel car on a 320 mile round trip a few weeks ago and it barely made it to my destination and didn't make it home. Since then I've been chasing a misfire and rough running.

Anyone that knows the reliant engine knows spark plug no.2 is behind the dizzy and can't be removed without taking the dizzy out. I did a compression test on 1, 3 and 4 as I was being lazy and a blow between cylinders didn't require taking #2 out. All fine. 150-160psi across the board.

New cap, rotor arm and leads. No difference.

Replaced the points with an electronic dizzy and a new coil. No difference.

Then I thought sod it I'm taking the plugs out and replacing them. Maybe one is cracked. Well cracked isn't the word I would use for plug #2...

Basically I don't think this plug has been changed in a very long time. Might not come across in the pictures but there was no gap at all from the build up.

Also 3 plugs were the wrong temperature...

[plasticvandan]

Given a set of plugs is a tenner I do wonder why they weren't changed,also have to disagree about having to take the dizzy out as I certainly never used to,do need certain tools to get in there but it can be done.dont blame the car it wasn't it's fault

[Tommyboy12]

19 hours ago, plasticvandan said:

Given a set of plugs is a tenner I do wonder why they weren't changed,also have to disagree about having to take the dizzy out as I certainly never used to,do need certain tools to get in there but it can be done.dont blame the car it wasn't it's fault

I know if you have 16mm plugs you can take it out without doing so but 21mm plugs are pretty difficult to remove without taking out the dizzy. It's only a little bolt as I'm sure you know and the timing won't be upset too much!

I don't blame the car I blame the lazy previous owners!

[sharley17194]

On 4/23/2021 at 2:02 PM, Tommyboy12 said:

I know if you have 16mm plugs you can take it out without doing so but 21mm plugs are pretty difficult to remove without taking out the dizzy. It's only a little bolt as I'm sure you know and the timing won't be upset too much!

I don't blame the car I blame the lazy previous owners!

id have given it a wipe and popped it back lol

 

[sharley17194]

Over the weekend Tom and I managed to do the long awaited road trip around the dales.  I will pull together a brief video explaining the story and a few short clips i took from the trip. 

Sadly last night both cars have gone off to new homes so its onto the next chapter!!

 

[Tommyboy12]

Come now Simon. There's more rude place names to share

[sharley17194]

I have just loaded the final instalment of the Reliant Robin journey, its a great ending to what was a turbulent journey!

Now onto the next: