Reliant garden buggy project

[rich.]

are you going to try & road register it? i really hope you are going to show it! i really like the tipper bed, what sort of weight will it tip before you have to get the shovel out??
if anyone from the mag is watching or visiting us, how about a full report/feature?

[Luxobarge]

Hi Rich - no chance of it ever going back on the road - I suppose theoretically it could if I built a body, lights etc. and got it registered somehow but I have no desire whatsoever (or time!) to do so, there's plenty of private land around here, it'll be quite happy wandering around on that for the foreseeable future.

No idea how much weight it will take - you lift the bed up by hand, and it's assisted with gas struts, so I guess I'll find out the hard way..... It'll get some use in anger later this year, we have a load of logs to move and no doubt there's be other stuff that I can use it for. For example, we're going to some neighbours this afternoon to deliver two microwaves - it's across their fields, about half a mile, so should be fun. I hope it stops raining though....

Cheers!

[3xpendable]

Absolutely love it LB, great job!

[Luxobarge]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys - I thought you'd like it, we don't often have anything quite as bonkers as that on here eh?

I drive it across the fields to the neighbouring farm a couple of times over the weekend - no problems at all, a bumpy ride but great fun. It's difficult to keep control of the throttle when going over bumps - they tend to force you to push the throttle in great bursts, and as the thing's quite lively the short burst of power tends to induce the next "jerk" and so it goes on, so occasionally you have to back right off the throttle and let everything settle down before accelerating away again. It's fine on smooth surfaces though. I have to tell you that seat is not particularly comfortable either......

It'll be put to work in anger in the garden in the next couple of weeks moving some stuff around - got to earn its keep eh?

Cheers!

[3xpendable]

Is there a spring return on the throttle pedal? I couldn't see from the pics but one trick we used to do on my racing kart if the track was bumpy or wet was we would fit a heavier return spring to the pedal which meant bumps didn't jar your foot (and hence the throttle) as much, just an idea Luxo

[Luxobarge]

Is there a spring return on the throttle pedal?

Yes there is, on the LH side under the carb. It's already reasonably strong so I'm not keen to make it stronger still, I reckon what it needs is some kind of damper on the movement - anybody got any ideas? Simple ideas please - this is not a vehicle that's going to get any proper money spent on it!

Cheers,

[JPB]

My thoughts on the throttle linkage thing: I'd make some suitable brackets, (maybe including one combined with a spacer to reduce the effects of fuel vapourisation at the carb end of the linkage, though I'm guessing that such an exposed engine would be far less susceptible to that phenomenon than is usual in "normal" Reliants), and then replace the rods with a length of cable with nipples and/or trunnions to attach to the pedal end and the carb's throttle lever.

I'd probably take the opportunity to add a hand throttle while I was at it, but only because to my mind, it's appropriate for a garden vehicle have such a thing. It would make progress smoother at low speeds though, so may have some technical merit as a form of damping.