Found this channel today and what a GEM it is. Subscribed after watching the VW GTI episode. Can’t wait to binge more episodes and watch future uploads.
Oh yes, The "resin rocket". learned to drive in one of these on a bike license. My engine had to come out. Being a inexperienced 17 year old, what to do. Disconnect every thing. Two ropes, one through the bonnet and one through the gearstick hole . Lower the engine onto the ground. Then two people lift the front of the car and wheel it away from the engine. Isn't that strange that after 50 years I can remember it like yesterday. I am now a subscriber.
Brilliant man love watching and learning thank you very ❤👀👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Had one in 72 on my bike licence. I managed to rip the drivers door off on the garage doorframe while leaning in the footwell, adjusting the carb and knocking it into gear! Also drove back from silverstone with a mate holding the cyl head coreplug in with a screwdriver after a rebuild, didnt realise you had to punch the centre to expand it....i eventually learned.
Brilliant vid, Al, and very creative mechanics! You’re also racing towards 10k subscribers, so it proves that you’re giving us what we want! No issue with it being a two-parter, Rome wasn’t built in a Day! Really looking forward to the next one Keep ‘em comin’ JCHK
Old school....like you Al. was rebuilding old tractor engines (Perkins P6) at 14 back in the late 70's. Good to see you sharing the old tricks of the trade.Cannot wait for part 2👍
Great video you remind me of an old fitter I trained with during my apprenticeship back in 1986 he was old school brilliant tradesman. Not many around anymore.keep up the good work
Really enjoying this video Al 👌no problem being a two parter , as others have said great to watch a proper tradesman at work and not an ecu in sight, takes me back to my apprenticeship days 🙏🙏
Just found your channel, love old cars 😊 was trying to figure out who you sounded like as your voice sounds familiar, then I realised if Jack Sparrow was fixing cars and not a pirate, you'd be him 😊 subbed
If you look at the top of the cylinder head when you unscrew the rocker assembly. And remove it You will see some of the fixes holes in the block have threads at the start this is for getting a full threaded bolt and screw them evenly and the cylinder head will pull up has you screw them down. You must have full thread bolt's. Please I think you are a top guy. Kind regards David
I had one of these in 1972 I drove it on my motor cycle licence had a bench seat in the back so i could take passengers I bought for £250 it was very reliable and fun going round corners and easy to repair with fibre glass when i reversed into a garden wall ,then sold it for £300 .
Used to be quite a few Reliants round here in north Dorset, a lady in East Stour had a hippy flowered one, an old gent down towards Marnhull had a couple, Vans in Gillingham have an Ant pickup and there was an ancient old girl in Mere who had a very sweet T reg MK3 Robin and of course my ol' beastie a van conversion MK2 Robin still in car hospital over in Wincanton. I've tuned mine up, leccy dizzy, high spec leads, plugs, race coil, inlet manifold dremel'd out, yellow top engine got 96mph screaming the nuts out of her on Zeals runway.
Al, I just want to thank you for the heads up on the Innotek penetrating oil. I’ve bought some for doing the brakes and shocks on my old Bedford CF camper. Every bolt, hose and union came undone without a fuss. Brilliant stuff!
I knew a bloke who wanted to take the head off of a Reliant Rebel, same problem of corroded studs locked onto the alloy head. 'Loosen the nuts and turn it over so the compression lifts the head' he was advised. Long story short, he ended up driving to work for a week with no head nuts fitted...and still the head did not lift!
I'd love to drive a Reliant Regal Supervan for fun along Blackpool promenade today, but an ordinary one, not one that is yellow with Del Trotter logos.
Awesome mate , my uncle had three of them as he only had a motorbike license, there brilliant little machines . It looks like one used in Mr bean programs 😅 . If anyone can get it going, you can . 🇬🇧👍🇬🇧👍
@@mrjed6912 I did say that Electric Motors don't sieze - up readily. You switch the Drive to an Electric Motor. Which means (to me) that you don't have a petrol engine to maintain.
There’s only one sure fire way I’ve found to unseize a stuck Reliant engine, you’ve basically got to unbolt the big end bearing and press out the piston while it’s seized inside the liner, best way to do that is with a hydraulic press. Then use the press again to press out the piston once you’ve cleaned off some of the rust from the liner. If your lucky it might just need new rings, or worst case a new set of pistons and liners
Lol , I’m in Edinburgh evening news .in 1990, s due to my reliant Robin going up in flames on the road next to the commonwealth swimming pool .fire ,😮they go up fast.
I clean lots of old things like coins up with coke and vinegar but if it's the bubbles that works you could try vinegar and bi carb powder because it bubbles like crazy and they are both great for cleaning 👍💚💛❤️
Great video. I had similar problems getting the head off but didn't have the facilities for dropping the engine. I ended up making a head puller for each side of the block which eventually did the trick!
Fairy washing up liquid was the nut cracker or paraffin out of the wash bath in my day Loving this salvage squad repair is this the new slot where the camper van project has left A lot of these got repowered by reliable Datsun lumps If Datsun stole the fibreglass idea I wonder how many would still be in preservation today
My first "car" was a Supervan III, I had a motorcycle licence at 17 and then winter came.. so it seemed like a good idea. They are bloody good little engines, and very reliable. Bit of a pig to drive at any speed or distance. I did 350 miles in it one day and I'd never want to do that again! Needless to say after I passed my car test I never drove a three wheeler again... but I'd love a Bond Bug, trouble is I don't think I'd fit nicely in one now.
I hated my 1973 Supervan 3, visability was dreadful, had to undo the fixed seat belt to be able to see out back the drivers window, also more water ending inside than outside, it was like driving a 3 wheel full bathtub. until i discovered you have to stick on a plastic gutter to divert the rain from the doors. No synchro on 1st gear so like everyone else start in 2nd, burning out the clutch. Best Reliant i had was a 1990 Mk2 Robin estate, windows all around
Easy to fix ,half an hour and you remove the engine so drop it onto a scateboard and push it out ,do not steam clean the engine or you will be wiping fog from the windows for weeks
More often it is the cam followers seized preventing the engine turning. Try pulling the plugs and removing the rocker shaft, soak down the pushrod holes then try turn it over. You may need to lever each off the cam with a crow foot bar to get them moving then tap them back down from above until the penetrating oil frees them off.
my Dad had an evil device for freeing stuck motors, basically a big tin bath that he filled with and oil or solvent he could find the the bath was supported above 3 or 4 parafin stoves and left to boil till the engine freed up. DO NOT do this inside and there was still the occasional sledge hammer and shaped log needed along with various incantations which I was not supposed to know as kid.
