Tommy's A-series Misery - Three wheels on my wagon

[plasticvandan]

I found CIF the best thing to get oily grime out of the paint on pigs. They do tend to absorb oily finger prints.

[Tommyboy12]

  On 23/03/2025 at 19:19, plasticvandan said:

I found CIF the best thing to get oily grime out of the paint on pigs. They do tend to absorb oily finger prints.

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I did this. It came out rally well!

Before

After 

Its not perfect but it looks a lot better if you ignore all the scratches

[wesacosa]

  On 21/03/2025 at 22:13, Tommyboy12 said:

 

Also the Rialto will definitely be up for sale here when it's time! 

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[plasticvandan]

Excellent! Often the best things aren't the obvious ones. I used to call these the silly boot,it is strange reliant bothered to make the saloon being the estate was by far the most popular. I think at the time they couldn't get the strength in the roof for the hatch that came out in 87, or had simply not thought it was needed and wanted to cater for those that wanted a saloon. 

They were however seemingly more stable at speed and generally felt a bit more solid+all things are relative of course!)

[Tommyboy12]

Well I tried to go to work today...

I think I might have cooked it 😅

[Tommyboy12]

I've had a lovely time sitting in the sun all day.

Turns out I popped a core plug

 

[Morris 63]

Interesting way to degrease the engine bay 

[Mally]

Back of engine/head?

I'm almost certain I once fixed a broken down passing Reliant by drilling an hole in the bulkhead and poking a long bar through to tap a new core plug in.

[Tommyboy12]

  On 04/04/2025 at 14:50, Mally said:

Back of engine/head?

I'm almost certain I once fixed a broken down passing Reliant by drilling an hole in the bulkhead and poking a long bar through to tap a new core plug in.

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It is indeed that one. Thankfully on Rialto's there's a service hatch behind the centre 'console' so a couple of screws and I'll have easy access.

I'm hoping that I haven't cooked the head gasket but I have bought one just incase

[plasticvandan]

Yes bang in with a rounded 3/4" extension was my method.

[Tommyboy12]

In a stellar show of service CHG Classics (a 3 and 4 wheel Reliant specialist) had my parts on the door step 18 hours after I ordered them!

Remove access panels 

Find I have no core plug

Clean up the hole and bang in a new one

I think Ill give my cooling system another flush...

It still runs nicely so I'm hoping that it hasn't cooked it's head gasket but I have picked up £20 kit regardless

Fingers crossed that this is a quick fix 🤞

[Zelandeth]

I assume that any of the others are a pain to get to?  I'd have been tempted to do the lot if they're not buried under the manifold or something like that.  If one has failed I'd not expect the rest to be far behind.

Or are these engines known for randomly spitting the rear one out?

[Tommyboy12]

  On 05/04/2025 at 15:37, Zelandeth said:

I assume that any of the others are a pain to get to?  I'd have been tempted to do the lot if they're not buried under the manifold or something like that.  If one has failed I'd not expect the rest to be far behind.

Or are these engines known for randomly spitting the rear one out?

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There are no others it's just a single core plug on the back of the cylinder head. The block is very simple and uses liners so no need for complex core castings and plugs.

I know they're known for rotting out. I suspect it had partially rotted out then fallen out. I am just basing this on the sheer amount of silt and crud in the engine when I jet washed it out.

[Zelandeth]

  On 05/04/2025 at 17:47, Tommyboy12 said:

There are no others it's just a single core plug on the back of the cylinder head. The block is very simple and uses liners so no need for complex core castings and plugs.

I know they're known for rotting out. I suspect it had partially rotted out then fallen out. I am just basing this on the sheer amount of silt and crud in the engine when I jet washed it out.

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Every day's a school day.  I didn't know that about the construction.  One less thing to worry about then.

Yeah, definitely looks like a few regular coolant flushes are on the cards!

[Tommyboy12]

It was not a quick fix...

I did a 20 minute drive round the town and it ran fine to begin with then slowly got hotter and hotter until I called it quits and pulled back up at home.

I did a compression test and it came back healthy (160-170psi) on all cylinders.  Thought I would check the cap and this made me sad

It also had a lot more oil than I remember putting in 😅

Anyone got any chips?

Needless to say things escalated...

Reliant engines are rather notorious for welding their heads to the studs and this one was no exception. Thankfully I have already been here before and had made a tool for such a job.

Yes it's some box with some holes badly drilled in it. Did it work? Yes. Yes it did. It basically pushes down on the head studs using the rocker studs as leverage.

However that was only half the battle. I had to fight the cylinder head off to the very end. Driving more and more wedges into it to get it moving.

Eventually it came off and I was greeted to more blocked cooling galleries which probably didn't help 

Yummy

In for a penny in for a pound so I jet washed the head and the bloke water passages and thought I'd clean the block while I was at it. Loads of water got in the bores but seeing as I'm changing the oil anyway it's not really a problem.

New head gasket and cleaned head back on

It's a very laborious torque tightening sequence on these heads. There's 15 head studs to be tightened to a mere 25lb. But they ideally need doing in stages. Some do it in 5lb increments but I do not have the patience for that so I did 10, 18, 25lb. You cant access all of them from one place and you need different length extensions depending on the stud due to other stuff being in the way. So begins a circus of moving from bonnet to passenger seat to drivers seat with various lengths of extension.

Then back on with the rocker assembly, rocker cover, carb, and dizzy. Start and run it for 30 seconds then leave it to cool. This seals a ring of sealant that runs round the head gasket.

Tomorrow I'll be stripping the carb and rocker assembly back off to retorque the studs. You're then meant to do that again at 500 miles.

However! It runs again!

I just hope it doesn't continue to mix oil and water. If it does then it's likely a liner has corroded through the liner seal and coolant is leaking into the sump directly. Or less likely it's  corroded through an oil gallery in the side of the block. That usually puts oil in the cooling system rather than the other way around but if either of those things happen I'm acquiring a new engine.

I said to myself last time I was never doing a reliant head gasket again. But here we are!

[Matty]

  11 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It was not a quick fix...

I did a 20 minute drive round the town and it ran fine to begin with then slowly got hotter and hotter until I called it quits and pulled back up at home.

I did a compression test and it came back healthy (160-170psi) on all cylinders.  Thought I would check the cap and this made me sad

It also had a lot more oil than I remember putting in 😅

Anyone got any chips?

Needless to say things escalated...

Reliant engines are rather notorious for welding their heads to the studs and this one was no exception. Thankfully I have already been here before and had made a tool for such a job.

Yes it's some box with some holes badly drilled in it. Did it work? Yes. Yes it did. It basically pushes down on the head studs using the rocker studs as leverage.

However that was only half the battle. I had to fight the cylinder head off to the very end. Driving more and more wedges into it to get it moving.

Eventually it came off and I was greeted to more blocked cooling galleries which probably didn't help 

Yummy

In for a penny in for a pound so I jet washed the head and the bloke water passages and thought I'd clean the block while I was at it. Loads of water got in the bores but seeing as I'm changing the oil anyway it's not really a problem.

New head gasket and cleaned head back on

It's a very laborious torque tightening sequence on these heads. There's 15 head studs to be tightened to a mere 25lb. But they ideally need doing in stages. Some do it in 5lb increments but I do not have the patience for that so I did 10, 18, 25lb. You cant access all of them from one place and you need different length extensions depending on the stud due to other stuff being in the way. So begins a circus of moving from bonnet to passenger seat to drivers seat with various lengths of extension.

Then back on with the rocker assembly, rocker cover, carb, and dizzy. Start and run it for 30 seconds then leave it to cool. This seals a ring of sealant that runs round the head gasket.

Tomorrow I'll be stripping the carb and rocker assembly back off to retorque the studs. You're then meant to do that again at 500 miles.

However! It runs again!

I just hope it doesn't continue to mix oil and water. If it does then it's likely a liner has corroded through the liner seal and coolant is leaking into the sump directly. Or less likely it's  corroded through an oil gallery in the side of the block. That usually puts oil in the cooling system rather than the other way around but if either of those things happen I'm acquiring a new engine.

I said to myself last time I was never doing a reliant head gasket again. But here we are!

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On the other hand. Considering what you and Sharley have planned, far better it throws all its toys out the cot now close to home. Then you can do the necessary and be fighting fit for the big trip.

[Tommyboy12]

I do agree. I would rather it did it now than in July!

[plasticvandan]

My worst pig head gasket took 4 days to get the head off,with the tool.was stuck on one corroded stud all the way.i tended to open the holes up a bit in the head somit wouldn't happen again. So pleased you will be retorquing in the morning, an old reliant whizz told me to do it about five times with five hot and cold cycles,no driving,the amount it expands,contracts and how much more turn you get on the nuts is un real, leaving it 500 miles is a recipe to fail.absolute arse getting the rockers and setting the valves each time though!

We are now at the stage where age has caused a few to corrode through the oil ways, I suspect in your case it may just be old age with the gasket,your mayo content isn't anywhere near what I've had to spoon out of a rocker before 😂

 

[Zelandeth]

Given how much crap is in there I wonder if a new radiator might just be worth it as a preventative measure - it's unlikely to be at all healthy if there's been that much crap floating around in there.

[plasticvandan]

Pretty sure it's been out recently

[Tommyboy12]

This is a new to me radiator already but I do plan to flush it out in situ again before I refit everything.

I guess I'll retorque it a few more times before 500 miles. I will be honest I didn't spend a huge amount of time setting valve gaps. I just check it actually had one and moved on to the next. Not much point doing much more for 30 seconds of running