This inspection alone cost me £250. But we have been given two reports from two different mechanics of all the different problems. I’m really keen to do this full restoration. It will be great fun, an utter challenge and an incredibly entertaining series for the channel. Thoughts?
Considering the history of the car is say you arnt doing too bad,everything is fixable....it's going to take time and money but we'll worth it Look forward to future videos
The restoration will make a great series here on RUclips. I've been wanting to do one for years but unfortuantely don't have the time or room for a classic in my life at the mo. Financially it may not make sense (renting a barn, parts, time etc.) but with the video series revenue it may make sense. It will take up a huge massive gargantuan amount of time!!! BUT if you love the look of the car then I think you should go for it. Personally I would love to watch the videos :-)
Do I see a collaboration coming up again?? Vince comes over and helps you install a PS4 in the dashboard! Maybe he can get the steering wheel to work on the Nintendo Switch?!?!
I think you take a note from Ronald Finger and Restore It and go for it. Different perspectives and the learning process are always valued in YT. Also being in Jersey adds a new perspective on acquiring parts, logistics and the different needs from a day to day perspective. Cheers Elliot - would love to see this on the main channel
The car is actually quite beautiful. It somehow manages to combine the looks of both an American muscle car and a family wagon and look really nice. Also the green on the outside is amazingly beautiful.
"It's bad, but not really bad." But hey, sounds like you're gonna go the right way about fixing it. My first vehicle was a 1978 Chevy K-5 Blazer, with turd brown paint, a Bond-O grey hood, and a bullethole. It needed a lot of work, but so many good memories came from that. I'm looking forward to seeing more on your car, mate!
Welcome to classic cars Elliott! Not long sold my 1974 VW beetle (Also MoT and tax exempt), that was in a similar condition when I bought it 4 years ago. Biggest issue I had was working on it from the drive way so the barn will be a huge help. If I could give any advise, don't always believe what you read on forums, lot of people sound like they know what they are on about but they don't, and don't go cheap with replacement parts. The original carb on my air cooled 1300 engine was knackered, what I thought was a good deal at the time cost me more in break downs and then having to replace it! Good luck with the car and look forward to future videos on it!
Elliot, I really hope you're going to restore it! You have no idea how much you'll learn, what a great series it'll be and how amazing the end result will be. Of course, the car is pretttyy bad, and it'll cost you blood, sweat and lots of tears. But I really think it'll be worth it. I once restored the first generation Fiat Panda from 1984, and have no regrets at all! I will never forget what I've learned from doing it. Cheers mate
To remove the body from the chassis, remove the bumpers (hardest part) and all of the seats and seat belts then there are only a few extra bolts holding the body on. Body can be lifted off leaving the engine and gear box in place on the chassis.
I’m excited to watch this! Any car pushing 50 pretty well needs everything in some capacity. But most stuff is a lot simpler than modern vehicles. It will definitely test you throughout the process but you’ll hold so much pride in the finished car.
Just remember car projects are much more work than it seems. I own 1 project and rust is the worst enemy. But yeah, seems like a nice car and if you feel like taking a huge project on and your skills are up for the job then go for it, the series would be fun to watch! Goodluck man whatever you do, will be watching.
Its a perfect project car if you Will work 3 month full time on it and put out video's off every week youre done with the car and have a great series! Love the looks of the car!
Definitely do the series. I would love to see a restoration of this! I love the original mini, and would love to do a restoration of one. You doing a series on this may just convince me to start looking!!
Little known fact - People used to remove the fibreglass shells from the chassis and turn them upside down and use them for hunting water Voles on the canals of Leeds back in the 70s.. the bumpers made excellent paddles by all accounts.
Learned to do up a 1920s bus with a few mates over a year of weekends. Started with basically no mechanical skills, but it's pretty easy to pick up as you go along imo. May well sink a lot of cash thought! Best of luck with it, I think it will make a great series.
Being Canadian, I know a thing or two about cold mornings. It's hotly contested as to whether idling your vehicle is harmful to the engine, not to mention that simply driving it round the block once at a slow clip is more effective. Beauty of a car, that is. Mind the money pit, don't let mechanics take you down there.
Im excited to see this video series keep going. Ive always been a car guy along with all the video game stuff so its awesome to see someone else thats likes the same things as me. The car is beautiful and I think once you get it fullly restored itll be a dream to drive. It looks like a super fun car. Keep it up I think this stuff could even go on the main channel if you really wanted.
you can do a ceramic coat for paint protection or a clear paint protecting wrap, i did it my skyline about a year ago and it works great, dirt wont even stick to the car and water/liquids slip right off, definitely worth it if you plan on preserving the car
I had an SE6a to restore, all was going well until three body came off. The top of the chassis was completely gone due to the felt layer used to isolate the body holding moisture and allowing rampant corrosion. Sadly that was the end of that project and the car, but that was a long timed ago and it would still be worth saving today.
If you're going to do a restoration on it, you should get a shop manual if you haven't already, it shows just about everything you need to take it all apart and put back together
yoo i love the car man! please keep us up to date on the progress as a lover of classic cars i at very interested in seeing you restore it i’ve wanted to restore a classic car all my life and have always been interested in seeing it done
You gotta hand it to people that have a fundamental understanding and passion. Like this guy knows there's money in it, but you can tell he gives a shit, and takes pride in his work and wants the best for you and your car. Lot of work, but it looks like a labour of love. Have fun with it dude!
I always loved the design of the Scimitar. But here is a reminder that although a fibreglass bodied car can still look really good after many decades, underneath it's a very different story. This beautiful vehicle certainly deserves mechanical restoration; the sale of the numberplate could even help finance it. It'd certainly be very interesting to see the car with the body off.
Go ahead, do the restoration. As i said in comment in video before - it will be a lot of pain, but it's worth it! I've just restored my car last year and i know how satisfying it is. Good luck!
A frame off restoration will be very difficult for someone without prior shop experience but I'd love to see a build series and it would be a great learning experience for you i wish you luck
id love to see this, I was hoping to see more moped repair / restorations but this would be fun. Id especially like to see how you deal with the rust as I had a tiny bit and was ready to throw in the towel
Pretty sure the Titanic is in similar state right now :) Jokes aside, I'm sure this will make a terrific restoration series :) The car design really looks fantastic!
Keep smiling and stay positive, it's easy to lose motivation with a project of this size. The rust is the main challenge try and address that first and get professional help for such a big and difficult step, after that it will feel down hill.
The car looks like a Switch Lite, if it weren't for the SCIMITAR logo I'd pick the whole thing up and stuff it in my pocket. I'd love to see how the restoration goes
I mean if its a labour of love then go for it but I think even with the number plate being worth so much it would still end up costing so much to restore and that's without the cost of a garage to rent, personally I would try and fix some of the issues to make it safe and then sell it with hopefully a profit and put the money into another car. But either way it will be a very interesting video series if you choose to go ahead with the restore :)
I just found out about an official GBA player called the Visteon Dockable Entertainment System. It is a car dvd and Gameboy advance player. Maybe it is something you could find. They are on the really rare side but that would be something that would probably fit in your collection.
This is an inspection that should be done before purchase. just saying for other noobs who might want to go the same path. And ask the specialist how much it will cost you? ^___-
If you can fix a 1990 Gameboy, you can fix a 1977 Reliant Scimitar, if you can fix a 1977 Reliant Scimitar, you can fix a Type 45 Destroyer. He was born in Jersey but he was made in the Royal Navy XD
I've seen what you can do and you'll be fine. my brother wrecked my 1992 nissan pathfinder a while back "only body damage". so I ended up buying a 2nd pathfinder with a blown engine for $500, took its body and dropped it on my chassis. And i was able to get every accessory, light and gage in the dash to work perfectly And pass California smog laws... I was like 24 or 25 years old when I did this with zero experience lol.
There used to be a Schimitar specialist garage in my home town of Kettering (Queensbury Road Garage) i remember getting my old mini mot’d and seeing a huge huge room full if schimitar spares, no idea if its still there though, they had a few outside for sale that looked awesome
its nice to see so many good comments from the younger generation, i used to date a young lady back in the day and she had one of these in dark blue, she drove it and i mean drove it. lovely cars then and nice to see the young ones seeing the beauty in older cars.
Only fiber glass body cars I'm familiar with is the Corvette (I'm in America so those are likely the most popular ones here) and the 1982 c3 I owned along with ones built prior are keen to falling to bird cage rust that isn't visible from the outside and only makes itself known when it gets really bad or you are under looking at the firewall. (Bird cage is what the frame of the c2 and 3 is called) considering England is a bit more wet than the northeast united states if that car has a similar system I'd watch for that
DON'T take it all apart at once. You will NOT remember how it goes back together. Do one job at a time, do that job perfectly, don't cut corners, and some of this welding work you won't be able to do yourself. These guys are honest and gave you a good realistic sense of things. Speaking from experience with a much simpler car, doing this bit by bit and focusing on small goals is what will get it done.
I don't know what the classic car scene is like over there and if this car restored has much value but honestly the fiberglass body has been taken real nice care of would be a nice car for a more modernized chassis build and power train
Not gonna lie, it's in about as good a shape as my daily driver. I'm about to pull it into my garage and will be completely rebuilding it by next year.
the chassis is what you would expect to find on a 70,s scimitar it is not that bad but body off and restore it well worth doing a bit of work but worth it
You will need to make up a cradle to support the body panels when lifting off otherwise you will bend and break the body in expensive ways. You can make them from wood cheaper or metal box tube for strength. Rear axle, the seals blow out when the air pressure hole in the axle tube gets blocked up, the heat pressurises the air trapped in there and blows the seals off. Its NOT a difficult job but you will need a decent slide hammer to pull the whole halfshaft out and if its the original axle arrangement those nuts and fittings are going to be eaten a bit by rust and grime. Axle gaskets on the diff a doddle and a fools economy not to, if the sump gasket is the original one that is prob at its end of life by now. Body off is quite involved jacking wise, you will need to raise it up quite a bit so some high jack stands, thick baulks of wood (old railway sleeper cut into sections is awesome) and a high lift jack pref two or get a hoist and lift it that way. Flexi's, aim for a set of competition braided if poss, they have good anti ballooning properties and designed to take a lot of road abuse. I would recommend changing the various link and void bushes from black rubber to PTFE, firstly as they tighten the suspension up magnificently, secondly they don't degrade. The inhibitor switch for the overdrive an easy fix and again PTFE up that gearbox and engine mounts, gasket is a nause but its part of the game with a classic car. The two round tubey looking bits of the chassis is one of your jacking points (aka the wheel changing jacking point if memory serves me right) but it relies on the whole section for strength so putting a jack under that would be disastrous. Radiator sump plate simple matter of cutting out the whole plate and have a complete new section welded in. With that off you can then get into the inner front chassis rails with rust preventative and a coating. Be cost efficient in the long run to just have 4 new shock sets then you know its good, same with brake discs, pads are cheap and overhaul kits for caliper's not that expensive then you know you have a good set all round. If one wheel bearing on front has started to loosen off and its tightening torque is out of whack, do both m8, its common when you change one bad one, that itself forces all the bad vibration into the other old one which will fail sooner than you would like. Gonna be honest wiv you, I thought this would be tons worse than it is, yes the seatbelt/roof hoop is a nause big time but apart from one small scab on the chassis and some easy work on the rest you actually got a good deal there m8. Speak to Joe Mason of Reliantspares, he is one pukka chap and never takes mickey on prices :)
I have only ever done one nut and bolt resto, that of my poor ickle Triumph Dolomite 1850HL that got wrecked by my idiot brother, what a beauty she was with something like 400 wax coats on her pristine burgundy skin. It is very hard work and you will find problems that become big problems but with the expertise out there its always worth asking around and getting a good selection of answers. The body and chassis are really the only true Reliant parts, everything else by and large came of something Ford or British Leyland and spares for both are out there. Reach out to RUclips Classic Britain (Sheldon) as he seems to be an early restorer albeit on Rover P6's.
This inspection alone cost me £250. But we have been given two reports from two different mechanics of all the different problems. I’m really keen to do this full restoration. It will be great fun, an utter challenge and an incredibly entertaining series for the channel. Thoughts?
I love this car also I was first keep up with the vids man
I'm ready too see your growth on this project. Plus the car is super cool
I'm not even a "car guy" and I would watch every episode. Your videos are always super interesting. ✌️
Considering the history of the car is say you arnt doing too bad,everything is fixable....it's going to take time and money but we'll worth it
Look forward to future videos
i think that would be pretty awesome. maybe get guests in to help with parts of the restoration?
The restoration will make a great series here on RUclips. I've been wanting to do one for years but unfortuantely don't have the time or room for a classic in my life at the mo. Financially it may not make sense (renting a barn, parts, time etc.) but with the video series revenue it may make sense. It will take up a huge massive gargantuan amount of time!!! BUT if you love the look of the car then I think you should go for it. Personally I would love to watch the videos :-)
Thanks Vince 👌🏼
Do I see a collaboration coming up again?? Vince comes over and helps you install a PS4 in the dashboard! Maybe he can get the steering wheel to work on the Nintendo Switch?!?!
Hi Vince! I've watched your channel since your few first vidios, surprised to see you here in the comments!
Don't let it all scare you off. Just get the safety bits done so you can drive it and enjoy it then do the other stuff in bits over time.
You and elliot should do the series together, That would make it even better for both your RUclips channels ☺ keep up the brilliant work elliot
I think you take a note from Ronald Finger and Restore It and go for it. Different perspectives and the learning process are always valued in YT. Also being in Jersey adds a new perspective on acquiring parts, logistics and the different needs from a day to day perspective. Cheers Elliot - would love to see this on the main channel
The car is actually quite beautiful. It somehow manages to combine the looks of both an American muscle car and a family wagon and look really nice. Also the green on the outside is amazingly beautiful.
"How bad is the car?"
"Not bad, I mean its bad but its not really really bad"
It will be interesting seeing you go down the spiraling rabbit hole that is owning and working on a classic car.
buts it still fun
Love the Scimitar but that Figaro at 3:30 looks equally beautiful!
"It's bad, but not really bad." But hey, sounds like you're gonna go the right way about fixing it. My first vehicle was a 1978 Chevy K-5 Blazer, with turd brown paint, a Bond-O grey hood, and a bullethole. It needed a lot of work, but so many good memories came from that. I'm looking forward to seeing more on your car, mate!
Welcome to classic cars Elliott!
Not long sold my 1974 VW beetle (Also MoT and tax exempt), that was in a similar condition when I bought it 4 years ago. Biggest issue I had was working on it from the drive way so the barn will be a huge help.
If I could give any advise, don't always believe what you read on forums, lot of people sound like they know what they are on about but they don't, and don't go cheap with replacement parts.
The original carb on my air cooled 1300 engine was knackered, what I thought was a good deal at the time cost me more in break downs and then having to replace it!
Good luck with the car and look forward to future videos on it!
Elliot, I really hope you're going to restore it! You have no idea how much you'll learn, what a great series it'll be and how amazing the end result will be. Of course, the car is pretttyy bad, and it'll cost you blood, sweat and lots of tears. But I really think it'll be worth it. I once restored the first generation Fiat Panda from 1984, and have no regrets at all! I will never forget what I've learned from doing it. Cheers mate
I would totally watch a series on this. I had never heard of this car and would love to see a complete restoration!
Perfect color for someone who loves gameboys! Good luck with restoration project!
To remove the body from the chassis, remove the bumpers (hardest part) and all of the seats and seat belts then there are only a few extra bolts holding the body on. Body can be lifted off leaving the engine and gear box in place on the chassis.
I’m excited to watch this! Any car pushing 50 pretty well needs everything in some capacity. But most stuff is a lot simpler than modern vehicles. It will definitely test you throughout the process but you’ll hold so much pride in the finished car.
Just remember car projects are much more work than it seems. I own 1 project and rust is the worst enemy. But yeah, seems like a nice car and if you feel like taking a huge project on and your skills are up for the job then go for it, the series would be fun to watch! Goodluck man whatever you do, will be watching.
Word of advice, make sure you take notes of where everything came from and what bolts it goes back on with. I learned that lesson the hard way 😅
Awesome idea you should 100% go with the restoration, one of the best channels on RUclips! I’m so excited for this to start!!
Will be an interesting and worthwhile project to do and will result in a lovely motor.
Looking forward to a complete restoration hopefully. Absolute beauty of a car.
Its a perfect project car if you Will work 3 month full time on it and put out video's off every week youre done with the car and have a great series! Love the looks of the car!
Definitely do the series. I would love to see a restoration of this!
I love the original mini, and would love to do a restoration of one. You doing a series on this may just convince me to start looking!!
Little known fact - People used to remove the fibreglass shells from the chassis and turn them upside down and use them for hunting water Voles on the canals of Leeds back in the 70s.. the bumpers made excellent paddles by all accounts.
I love the reliant scimitar, I’d really like to see more of this
Learned to do up a 1920s bus with a few mates over a year of weekends. Started with basically no mechanical skills, but it's pretty easy to pick up as you go along imo. May well sink a lot of cash thought! Best of luck with it, I think it will make a great series.
As a big fan of classic car restorations (especially the show 'Car S.O.S.'), this is incredibly exciting.
I can't wait to see this restoration! Even with all the issues, this is a quite lovely car, mate.
Being Canadian, I know a thing or two about cold mornings. It's hotly contested as to whether idling your vehicle is harmful to the engine, not to mention that simply driving it round the block once at a slow clip is more effective. Beauty of a car, that is. Mind the money pit, don't let mechanics take you down there.
I think this would make for a phenomenal series. If you can do it financially, I’d say go for it!!
Im excited to see this video series keep going. Ive always been a car guy along with all the video game stuff so its awesome to see someone else thats likes the same things as me. The car is beautiful and I think once you get it fullly restored itll be a dream to drive. It looks like a super fun car. Keep it up I think this stuff could even go on the main channel if you really wanted.
Thanks for sharing another update on the car! It’s a beauty. Hope to see more updates soon :)
Gotta meet the guy that bought J69. Absolute Madlad
Eliot: omg...
Mechanic: yea I know...
I am so excited to see this continue. Hope you see it out.
If you made that 12 month series that would be HUGE PLAYS my dude.
Gorgeous car, excited to watch the transformation ✌️
you can do a ceramic coat for paint protection or a clear paint protecting wrap, i did it my skyline about a year ago and it works great, dirt wont even stick to the car and water/liquids slip right off, definitely worth it if you plan on preserving the car
I would be interested in a restoration vlog. Ronald finger has a good one for inspiration.
Good luck man !
I'd love to see this beauty restored to her former glory!
I had an SE6a to restore, all was going well until three body came off. The top of the chassis was completely gone due to the felt layer used to isolate the body holding moisture and allowing rampant corrosion.
Sadly that was the end of that project and the car, but that was a long timed ago and it would still be worth saving today.
If you're going to do a restoration on it, you should get a shop manual if you haven't already, it shows just about everything you need to take it all apart and put back together
Oh boy, your scimitar looks great, hope you get it to mint condition and keep it as a relic, goodluck!
yoo i love the car man! please keep us up to date on the progress as a lover of classic cars i at very interested in seeing you restore it i’ve wanted to restore a classic car all my life and have always been interested in seeing it done
I had similar problems with my 1952 Austin Somerset when I first bought it. it took a while to sort - and fund!
You gotta hand it to people that have a fundamental understanding and passion. Like this guy knows there's money in it, but you can tell he gives a shit, and takes pride in his work and wants the best for you and your car. Lot of work, but it looks like a labour of love. Have fun with it dude!
Interesting restoration I reckon. Wheeler Dealers got nothing on you
I always loved the design of the Scimitar. But here is a reminder that although a fibreglass bodied car can still look really good after many decades, underneath it's a very different story. This beautiful vehicle certainly deserves mechanical restoration; the sale of the numberplate could even help finance it. It'd certainly be very interesting to see the car with the body off.
Great to see you're making more videos on the reliant!
Elliot make another channel for the restoration alone !!! It would be magnificent to see that diamond became new again !!! ^_^
Go ahead, do the restoration. As i said in comment in video before - it will be a lot of pain, but it's worth it! I've just restored my car last year and i know how satisfying it is. Good luck!
Thanks! I think it will be great entertainment too.
A frame off restoration will be very difficult for someone without prior shop experience but I'd love to see a build series and it would be a great learning experience for you i wish you luck
please do a series on it, it would be brilliant!
I would love to see a series on restoring that beaut.
I am looking forward to watch the videos my self dont get disheartened with it elliot as it will all be worth it in the end
I hope one day to see this car completely fixed in all its glory
id love to see this, I was hoping to see more moped repair / restorations but this would be fun. Id especially like to see how you deal with the rust as I had a tiny bit and was ready to throw in the towel
Pretty sure the Titanic is in similar state right now :) Jokes aside, I'm sure this will make a terrific restoration series :) The car design really looks fantastic!
would love to see a series based on refurbishing the car! :)
Keep smiling and stay positive, it's easy to lose motivation with a project of this size. The rust is the main challenge try and address that first and get professional help for such a big and difficult step, after that it will feel down hill.
The car looks like a Switch Lite, if it weren't for the SCIMITAR logo I'd pick the whole thing up and stuff it in my pocket. I'd love to see how the restoration goes
Take it apart! Redo the whole thing! That would be awesome, what a beaut!
Keep on with this it’s well worth doing!
I mean if its a labour of love then go for it but I think even with the number plate being worth so much it would still end up costing so much to restore and that's without the cost of a garage to rent, personally I would try and fix some of the issues to make it safe and then sell it with hopefully a profit and put the money into another car. But either way it will be a very interesting video series if you choose to go ahead with the restore :)
absolute beauty
Go on Elliot we wanna see ya tackle that car as it could become the 2nd most famous car on ya island lol
This is pretty interesting, its not something like repairing a gameboy that you can do in a few minutes and its hard to break down things hahaha
Cant wait for the full restoration :)
I just found out about an official GBA player called the Visteon Dockable Entertainment System. It is a car dvd and Gameboy advance player. Maybe it is something you could find. They are on the really rare side but that would be something that would probably fit in your collection.
This is an inspection that should be done before purchase. just saying for other noobs who might want to go the same path. And ask the specialist how much it will cost you? ^___-
Oh this is gonna be a greaaat project
If you can fix a 1990 Gameboy, you can fix a 1977 Reliant Scimitar, if you can fix a 1977 Reliant Scimitar, you can fix a Type 45 Destroyer. He was born in Jersey but he was made in the Royal Navy XD
If you’re looking to get into restoring old motors, I really reccomend you learn to weld and learn as much as you can :)
I didn’t see any spiders, so that’s a plus ;)
I've seen what you can do and you'll be fine. my brother wrecked my 1992 nissan pathfinder a while back "only body damage". so I ended up buying a 2nd pathfinder with a blown engine for $500, took its body and dropped it on my chassis. And i was able to get every accessory, light and gage in the dash to work perfectly And pass California smog laws... I was like 24 or 25 years old when I did this with zero experience lol.
Looking forward to this series
Great car, good luck man!
the colour reminds me of peter gabriel's "car" album cover
Yes make a car repair series
Feels like back in the days people buying short ICQ numbers. 5 or 6 digit icq number with many repeats was worth real money.
I would absolutely watch this
So the retro future is becoming a car channel WHEN?
This is a wicked car, I hope you can restore it- either or off camera.
Very excited to see this finished (I hope)
I can see a nice big powdercoating bill coming up!
There used to be a Schimitar specialist garage in my home town of Kettering (Queensbury Road Garage) i remember getting my old mini mot’d and seeing a huge huge room full if schimitar spares, no idea if its still there though, they had a few outside for sale that looked awesome
It's still there, manufacturing parts and keeping them alive still
This is getting interesting
love that thing
Heavy Restore Project for 2021. I'd say yes, take it apart with us!
its nice to see so many good comments from the younger generation, i used to date a young lady back in the day and she had one of these in dark blue, she drove it and i mean drove it. lovely cars then and nice to see the young ones seeing the beauty in older cars.
Oof that's alot of work but would be great to see it repaired
This will be a major time sink. What have you gotten yourself into? :-P
Only fiber glass body cars I'm familiar with is the Corvette (I'm in America so those are likely the most popular ones here) and the 1982 c3 I owned along with ones built prior are keen to falling to bird cage rust that isn't visible from the outside and only makes itself known when it gets really bad or you are under looking at the firewall. (Bird cage is what the frame of the c2 and 3 is called) considering England is a bit more wet than the northeast united states if that car has a similar system I'd watch for that
DON'T take it all apart at once. You will NOT remember how it goes back together. Do one job at a time, do that job perfectly, don't cut corners, and some of this welding work you won't be able to do yourself. These guys are honest and gave you a good realistic sense of things. Speaking from experience with a much simpler car, doing this bit by bit and focusing on small goals is what will get it done.
when you sandblast this car you will see that the damage is 10 times worse
I don't know what the classic car scene is like over there and if this car restored has much value but honestly the fiberglass body has been taken real nice care of would be a nice car for a more modernized chassis build and power train
stunning
Not gonna lie, it's in about as good a shape as my daily driver. I'm about to pull it into my garage and will be completely rebuilding it by next year.
Nice leaks
Love the car vids!
the chassis is what you would expect to find on a 70,s scimitar it is not that bad but body off and restore it well worth doing a bit of work but worth it
_Emperor Palpatine voice:_ DO IT
It's be a way fun project if you have the time.
You will need to make up a cradle to support the body panels when lifting off otherwise you will bend and break the body in expensive ways. You can make them from wood cheaper or metal box tube for strength. Rear axle, the seals blow out when the air pressure hole in the axle tube gets blocked up, the heat pressurises the air trapped in there and blows the seals off. Its NOT a difficult job but you will need a decent slide hammer to pull the whole halfshaft out and if its the original axle arrangement those nuts and fittings are going to be eaten a bit by rust and grime. Axle gaskets on the diff a doddle and a fools economy not to, if the sump gasket is the original one that is prob at its end of life by now.
Body off is quite involved jacking wise, you will need to raise it up quite a bit so some high jack stands, thick baulks of wood (old railway sleeper cut into sections is awesome) and a high lift jack pref two or get a hoist and lift it that way.
Flexi's, aim for a set of competition braided if poss, they have good anti ballooning properties and designed to take a lot of road abuse. I would recommend changing the various link and void bushes from black rubber to PTFE, firstly as they tighten the suspension up magnificently, secondly they don't degrade. The inhibitor switch for the overdrive an easy fix and again PTFE up that gearbox and engine mounts, gasket is a nause but its part of the game with a classic car. The two round tubey looking bits of the chassis is one of your jacking points (aka the wheel changing jacking point if memory serves me right) but it relies on the whole section for strength so putting a jack under that would be disastrous. Radiator sump plate simple matter of cutting out the whole plate and have a complete new section welded in. With that off you can then get into the inner front chassis rails with rust preventative and a coating.
Be cost efficient in the long run to just have 4 new shock sets then you know its good, same with brake discs, pads are cheap and overhaul kits for caliper's not that expensive then you know you have a good set all round. If one wheel bearing on front has started to loosen off and its tightening torque is out of whack, do both m8, its common when you change one bad one, that itself forces all the bad vibration into the other old one which will fail sooner than you would like.
Gonna be honest wiv you, I thought this would be tons worse than it is, yes the seatbelt/roof hoop is a nause big time but apart from one small scab on the chassis and some easy work on the rest you actually got a good deal there m8. Speak to Joe Mason of Reliantspares, he is one pukka chap and never takes mickey on prices :)
I have only ever done one nut and bolt resto, that of my poor ickle Triumph Dolomite 1850HL that got wrecked by my idiot brother, what a beauty she was with something like 400 wax coats on her pristine burgundy skin. It is very hard work and you will find problems that become big problems but with the expertise out there its always worth asking around and getting a good selection of answers. The body and chassis are really the only true Reliant parts, everything else by and large came of something Ford or British Leyland and spares for both are out there. Reach out to RUclips Classic Britain (Sheldon) as he seems to be an early restorer albeit on Rover P6's.
You are a hero. Thank you.