| 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:07 am | |
| Hi everyone, Some of you may have seen various threads in various places (and in one of this year's ROC National magazines) about my Rialto SE. My Rialto SE is my very first 3 wheeler that I have ever had and (believe it or not) I have never set foot in a 3 wheeler until T.E.L.B.O.Y. gave me a lift in his mk3 Robin in February 2010. Anyway, I will try and summarise what I did to my Rialto SE. How I got it on 10th April 2010My Rialto SE as it was advertised and how I got it on 10th April 2010 (I looked at it on 5th April 2010) from Dressmaker (ex ROC member) in Southampton:- I got the car for £200 (it sounds cheap now) with tax and test, but it's clutch and thrust bearing needed to be replaced immediately. Thankfully, thier local garage and MOT station (L D Stanley) was only about 200 yards away from their house. I got the clutch and thrust bearing from sparesman and got L D Stanley to fit them. About 6 hours later, the car was ready and I set off on the 100 mile trip home from Southampton. About 500 yards into the journey, the gauges, wipers and indicators fuse blew and it started to rain ! Thankfully, there was a Shell garage as that fuse went, so I quickly pulled in and found some spare fuses in the ash tray. I quickly changed that fuse and got the car home. As the engine warmed up, I noticed a slight knocking noise (it been there ever since) but it didn't sound like anything nasty. I did pull into Fleet services on the M3 just to quickly check the car. At the time, I thought that it was low on oil and quickly got some 10W40 semi-synthetic (I now know not to use that stuff), topped it up and continued my journey home. During that journey, I had passed a couple of trailers with a few mk4/5/6 Regals on them whilst I was on the M3. I pulled into one of the local shops fairly near to me to get a few things then tried to restart it and couldn't. I soon realised that I needed to put my foot down to the floor to start it and rev out the hot petrol before it will run properly (I didn't know that at the time). I got it home without any problems. This summarises how the car was:- - No radio - No interior light lens nor bulb - No rear boot light - Door cards painted in some horrible dark red nail varnish - Slightly broken radiator grille - Driver's window didn't wind up properly - Carburetter breather routed incorrectly (it took me a while to find that one out) and float valve sticking. Other carburetter, head gasket and engine faults became apparent later on. - Horrible sunburnt red mk1 Robin carpets - Fractured rear tailgate locking plate (on the bumper) that eventually broke - Front passenger's seat not attached to anything - All of it's seats covered in blue fabric to hide the tatty driver's seat and the stained rear bench seat. - Headlining slightly torn above the rear tailgate (that's still there but it's not really noticeable. - Clock adjusted knob broken. - Mk1 Robin speedo installed (I left that as it is) - Rear of gearbox dripping gear oil - O/S rear tail/stop light intermittently working (I cleaned that up with PlusGas and that's worked ever since) The plastic fish on the rear tail gate and the green sunstrip on the windscreen were later removed. | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:10 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:45 am | |
| I had replaced it's rear gearbox oil seal and renewed it's propshaft bolts in October 2010 and that had stopped the gearbox oil leak. Cylinder head gasket replacement and cylinder head "rebuild"
December 2010, January 2011After a few months of finding out why my Rialto SE wasn't running properly, I did the following before I decided that it's cylinder head gasket and valves needed to be replaced (in no particular order):- - Replaced carburetter float needle valve (the engine oil did stink of fuel at the time and replaced that immediately) - Replaced carburetter float - Replaced carburetter main jet assembly (it was spraying fuel on the drip tray ! I can't remember when I replaced it) - Replaced fuel hoses (I could only get 1/4" SAE J30 R6 at the time) as the other ones had perished and were leaking - Replaced both fuel filters - Replaced distributor cap, points, condenser, rotor arm and HT leads - Changed the engine oil at least twice) - Cleaned out overflow bowl - Replaced air filter and spark plugs - Replaced valve stem seals So I decided to get the car into the garage and started to work on it. Engine bay how it was before I started to work on it:- More details are on this thread http://www.reliantworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?25117-My-Rialto-Mini-Engine-Rebuild-(hope-it-s-just-valves)-Starts&highlight= That was a start of a learning process for me, not helped by the very cold weather at the time. I got it up and running again (I think) January/February 2011. | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:48 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:50 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:52 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:56 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:58 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:02 am | |
| 750 tappet adjusted fitted to the rocker shaft (the original 850 broke and I could only get a 750 one at the time):- ....replaced with the correct 850 tappet adjuster:- | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:04 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:06 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:09 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:10 am | |
| Starter motor's battery live terminal as it was:- ....and insulated with self-amalgamating tape:- | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:11 am | |
| Nice looking air filter fitted:- | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:14 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:16 am | |
| Driver's engine cover replacedOld engine cover where two of it's screwholes become too large and the engine cover its self was cracked:- Engine cover from eBay fitted:- | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:19 am | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Rialto SE road test. :) Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:30 am | |
| I've just driven the same 12 mile route (mixture of smooth and fairly rough roads up to 60 mph) as I did with my Rialto 2 and my Rialto SE didn't have any ignition related problems either. | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Replaced washer jet, fitted new radio and speakers Sun Apr 28, 2013 12:27 am | |
| Hi everyone, A quick minor update. I have replaced the washer jet after I broke the old one after I unblocked it with compressed air and refitted my Rialto's new radio. I also used RTV silicone sealer to stop the windscreen wiper's wheel box and washer jet from leaking water into the car. Anyway, I'll let the pics do the talking. New twin washer jet from Car Builder Solutions:- New (£25 unbranded) radio from Amazon:- New Roadmobile RMS620 speakers (that replaced the Roadmobile RMS630 ones as they took up too much boot space):- | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Mon Jan 06, 2014 4:06 am | |
| Since 27th April 2013 I have ended up replacing it's A frame last September to get it through it's MOT as the old one had snapped on it's rear tube next to the N/S mount.
I also plan to fit a front mudgaurd to it as it's never had one since I bought it and new wiper spindle bushes (as soon as they arrive) as the current ones leak on both of my Rialtos. | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:24 pm | |
| Fitted new wiper spindle bushes (yesterday) Old outer wiper spindle bush and new PU seal to replace it (left hand side of photo):- Old inner wiper spindle bush and new hard rubber suspension bush (yellow) to replace it:- Outer wiper spindle bush fitted to the car (I've also fitted the inner one, but that's hidden from view):- I also freed up it's wiper wheel box with DP60 (penetrating lubricant) and spray grease as it was full of muck. | |
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phade
Posts : 475 Join date : 2011-08-19 Location : Kent / South East London
| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:41 am | |
| Update: It appears that there is still a minor leak on the wiper spindle. I guess the next thing to try is a 16mm O ring between the two wiper spindle bushes to see if that leak will stop. | |
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| Subject: Re: 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) | |
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| 1989 Rialto SE Hatch - my very first Reliant (and I've still got it) | |
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