Practically Classics Forum

That switch is a heated rear screen switch for a Reliant Robin/Kitten/Fox. The fan switch on these doesn't have a light, just a fan symbol... Its the lower right hand one in the picture. Also used on early Metros and later (up to 1995 Reliant Rialto's and Robin mark 2's The later ones are 2-position though as the fans were 2-speed.

I've probably got a fair few of these, including some new and boxed, of the various different sorts too (same shape) lurking in my spares collection if you get stuck. As you've found, careful disassembly and cleaning works wonders. One of the few things I've found that WD-40 is actually any use for!!!!

As far as I know the only difficult version of these switches to get hold of is the hazard switch. When these do turn up they can be eye-wateringly expensive!!




John

Yep, I'm aware that it's actually a rear window demister switch. The main purpose it's being used for is to give me an actually useful windscreen demister, so the symbology seemed close enough. Wanted an illuminated switch so it made sense. I'm hoping to have a cool air blower at some point too, so will use a fan switch once I track one down for that. That's why I was being careful to leave space for another one to the right.

Currently there is no way to get any cool air into the cabin at all aside from the windows - and the heater never fully shuts off, hence my re-engineering things a bit.

Zel,
My compressor has a very similar switch unit to yours ... that pull-up red knob .. but how do you get it off (without breaking it!).

My compressor came with a ridiculously short cable which means an extension trailing around most of the time .. I'd like to take the original cable off and replace it with a longer one so I can store the unit under the bench but still have it plugged in .. I know I could put another socket under the bench closer to the compressor! I mounted all the sockets in the garage fairly high up the wall to make them accessible and away from car doors, etc before I knew how stingy the manufacturers would be with power cables ..

But I can't see anyway into the switch box .. not that doesn't involve a lump hammer anyway!!

gazza82 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 1:00 pm

Zel,

IMG-20200421-174341.jpg

My compressor has a very similar switch unit to yours ... that pull-up red knob .. but how do you get it off (without breaking it!).

The knob doesn't need to come off, it just presses on a plunger underneath it. Remove the one screw in the middle of the lid then the whole assembly should come off with the knob still attached.

Zelandeth wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 3:11 pm

gazza82 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 1:00 pm

Zel,

IMG-20200421-174341.jpg

My compressor has a very similar switch unit to yours ... that pull-up red knob .. but how do you get it off (without breaking it!).

The knob doesn't need to come off, it just presses on a plunger underneath it. Remove the one screw in the middle of the lid then the whole assembly should come off with the knob still attached.

I should have been braver!! Many thanks!!

gazza82 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 4:34 pm

I should have been braver!! Many thanks!!

It probably would have had me scratching my head for a while if the old Danfoss refrigeration pressure switches weren't put together the same way...so I went in armed with useful prior knowledge.

There's a name from the past .. Danfoss had an office in Perivale near where I worked .. and my manager married someone who worked from them there. I think they moved to an office on the A40 near Denham.

Thanks for the tip!

Gardening ate up most of this afternoon but managed to grab an hour in the garage just before dinner.

First task was to get a new set of taps ordered to try to get the hub sorted, hopefully the new set won't be made of cheese like the original set.

Bit of general box ticking was then done.

[] Sealed off the air outlet on the engine cowling for the heater which is now unused. I figure reserving as much air for engine cooling can't be a bad thing.

Just went for a bit of duct tape which is clamped down by a hose clip. Crude but it should do the job. I'll look at a more elegant solution down the road at some point.



I will pull the tubing that runs between the two halves of the cowling off as well next time the transmission cover is out.

[] I've pulled the current shunt off the negative battery terminal as I've decided that the digital ammeter that goes with it isn't staying with the car. It was handy when I was initially checking out whether the charging system was behaving though.

[] Nearside door tie fixing. This issue goes all the way back to when I first got KPL, in that the threads were so mangled in the door tie that I couldn't get the retaining nut on. As a result the tie rod was held onto the dash support bar with a bunch of cable ties.



Not pretty. It also made the door sticky to close sometimes.

Today I finally got around to pulling it apart, cleaning the threads up (I didn't have a tap and die set when I originally put this together), cleaning and re-greasing the assembly itself, and then bolted it in place properly.



Much better.

While I was working on the door in general I took the opportunity to also dig all the old grease out of the whole lower door runner and regrease it. What was in there had basically taken on the consistency of toffee. Chipping it all out took a good twenty minutes or so, but was worth it as the door now slides almost acceptably. Greasing the latches has resulted in being able to actually close the door with the handle rather than having to open the window and grab the top of the door. Still needs a good slam, but it's a definite improvement. I think "passable" is about the best you can hope for with Invacar doors!

Zelandeth wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:18 pm

Very quick evening update.

New number plates are now on.





The ones which came with the car were truly wrecked.



The front one looks only scruffy at a glance... though the flash shows how awful a condition it too was in.



Just need to get some proper fasteners for the front one to tidy that up.

Small job in the grand scheme of things but it's nice to have it ticked off.

Can I ask where you got your plates from? I have come in search of answers as I have been recommended https://www.number1plates.com/plate-typ ... er-plates/ by a friend but haven't seen any of their stuff in person..

tobias1981 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:16 am

Can I ask where you got your plates from? I have come in search of answers as I have been recommended https://www.number1plates.com/plate-typ ... er-plates/ by a friend but haven't seen any of their stuff in person..

They came from Tipper's Vintage Plates. Really quick service and the plates are nicely made. I'll be going back to them when I pick up new plates for the van and Jag at some point in the future.