Reliant garden buggy project
Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 5:43 pm
Hi chaps,
OK at last I've finished this project and as promised, some pictures.
It's the chassis, running gear and engine/gearbox from a circa 1954 Reliant Regal. This was the first passenger car Reliant made, and has torsion bar front suspension and a proper steering wheel - previously all their vehicles were small commercial vans with handlebars and girder front forks. It has a 750cc side-valve engine which is a development (!) of the Austin 7 engine - Austin stopped making the 7 engine after the war, which left Reliant with no engine supplier, so they bought the rights to it, developed it an continued to use them up until around 1962 I believe. I know this car is pre-1958, as this was when they changed to 12V electrics, and mine is 6V.
It was in an appalling state when I found it, almost literally turning back into the elements and sinking into the ground with rust. I did a "quick and nasty" job on it, getting most of the rust off and slapping coats of "Farm" brand undercoat and top coat on - Landrover Green is the colour. The bottom 1.5" of the chassis was rusted away, so I welded on new sides at the bottom and the whole lower surface of the chassis - it was broken in two and flexing alarmingly when I got it!
The tipper deck tips (as you can see) courtesy of some redundant VW golf gas struts - great fun getting that bit to work.
The engine wasn't seized too badly, it was missing a few bits, mainly the dynamo regulator - I got a solid state one from "Dynamoregulators.co.uk" which does what it says on the tin. Also had to buy a 6V battery and a few other bits.
The seat bench is a bit of 2 x 8 I had lying around, and the seat is off an old office chair a mate rescued from a skip. The tipper deck sides are made from old reclaimed bits of 1930's floorboards that I sanded and varnished. The dashboard is made from thin pieces of solid oak, with an ally sheet inserted for the warning lights and switches. It only has ignition and a 21W headlamp (and a fuel guage) - electrics don't come much more simple than that! One warning light is the dynamo charge light (glows red when not charging) and the other is an oil pressure light - the engine came with a variable sender, and I found that it was the same thread as a Morris Minor "switch" sender, so I used one of those.
I couldn't resist buying the horn....
I told you, it's as mad as a box of frogs isn't it?
OK at last I've finished this project and as promised, some pictures.
It's the chassis, running gear and engine/gearbox from a circa 1954 Reliant Regal. This was the first passenger car Reliant made, and has torsion bar front suspension and a proper steering wheel - previously all their vehicles were small commercial vans with handlebars and girder front forks. It has a 750cc side-valve engine which is a development (!) of the Austin 7 engine - Austin stopped making the 7 engine after the war, which left Reliant with no engine supplier, so they bought the rights to it, developed it an continued to use them up until around 1962 I believe. I know this car is pre-1958, as this was when they changed to 12V electrics, and mine is 6V.
It was in an appalling state when I found it, almost literally turning back into the elements and sinking into the ground with rust. I did a "quick and nasty" job on it, getting most of the rust off and slapping coats of "Farm" brand undercoat and top coat on - Landrover Green is the colour. The bottom 1.5" of the chassis was rusted away, so I welded on new sides at the bottom and the whole lower surface of the chassis - it was broken in two and flexing alarmingly when I got it!
The tipper deck tips (as you can see) courtesy of some redundant VW golf gas struts - great fun getting that bit to work.
The engine wasn't seized too badly, it was missing a few bits, mainly the dynamo regulator - I got a solid state one from "Dynamoregulators.co.uk" which does what it says on the tin. Also had to buy a 6V battery and a few other bits.
The seat bench is a bit of 2 x 8 I had lying around, and the seat is off an old office chair a mate rescued from a skip. The tipper deck sides are made from old reclaimed bits of 1930's floorboards that I sanded and varnished. The dashboard is made from thin pieces of solid oak, with an ally sheet inserted for the warning lights and switches. It only has ignition and a 21W headlamp (and a fuel guage) - electrics don't come much more simple than that! One warning light is the dynamo charge light (glows red when not charging) and the other is an oil pressure light - the engine came with a variable sender, and I found that it was the same thread as a Morris Minor "switch" sender, so I used one of those.
I couldn't resist buying the horn....
I told you, it's as mad as a box of frogs isn't it?