Adoom's 1975 Reliant Scimitar.

[Adoom]

@dmulally twisted my arm... not very hard. But this is mine now.
I had to build a lean-to for it to live in because my garage is full.

Needs and engine and gearbox. I figured a 175kw Holden 3.6 Alloytec with a 6spd manual should be the business. Damo had a V6 Ecotec in it previously so I assumed there was a fairly good chance it will fit.

These engines have issues with the breathers blocking up if you don't change the oil when you are supposed to. The breather is hilariously tiny and so are passages in the baffles in the cam cover, so it's REAL EASY for it to block up. Then the heads start filling with gunge that causes issues with oiling and timing chain wear. The engine I got has this issue so it may be stuffed... but it was cheap. soooo.

I got a gearbox from an importer in Auckland as well as a used aftermarket Exedy one piece flywheel and clutch(OEM is a dual mass flywheel).

I'll have to run an aftermarket ECU. I looked into using the factory ECU but as far as I can tell, you cannot easily get it to work without also having the matching body ECU.

A brake light lens is broken but they are available from UK. The "SCIMITAR" badge letters and the emblems are missing. Damo thought he had the letters, so maybe they will turn up. If not, they are also available from UK.

 

The door is apart because I was trying to get the electric windows to work. ELECTRIC WINDOWS!!! Turns out it was a bad earth under the bonnet. Being a fibreglass body, everything had it's own earth wire and they all run back to the same spot under the bonnet. I also fixed the horns, just chucked them in the ultrasonic cleaner and they started working again.

 

 

NEWS FLASH, the engine didn't fit. But I did some sump surgery and now it does.

 

Only a oil level sensor is in the front portion, so no need to move the pick up pipe.
I'll make up the missing capacity in the rear section.

There is a big bracket for the alternator and some coolant pipes on the right side that I'll need to relocate to center the engine.
The alternator may need mount backwards out the front of the engine. Otherwise, it seems to fit without issue.
Oh and FUCK ME, the front pulley is on TIGHT! You have to pull from the center hub because the outer is rubber mounted. My big puller would not fit so I got a smaller 100mm one. It was not happy. I don't expect it to be able to remove that pulley more than 3 or 4 times before the threads are destroyed. I left it off because I'll need to inspect the timing chain at some point.

 

 

[Adoom]

The Scimitar has swapped places with the Starlet  into the garage because I wanted to roll around underneath and gravel floor makes that suck.

The chassis looks good, couldn't find anything but minor surface rust. YAY!

The car is an auto but a manual pedal box came with it.

It was gross, so I stripped off the hideous green paint and rust in the sand blaster. Also tried one of the smaller nozzles on the gun. 300% more effective! Wish I'd thought of it ages ago.

Paint it black.

Made a template from the pedal box for the clutch master cylinder hole. The auto/manual pedal box is basically identical, but on the auto, one of the side plates is not there. The auto one does have the clutch hole too, there's just no studs.

Then drilled the extra hole. The fibreglass is about 10mm thick here!

I'll epoxy paint the whole area here to amalgamate any worn... fraying fibreglass.

I had to remove the remote brake servo to get the drill in. I'm going to assume the remote servo wasn't doing much because the diaphragm part was half full of brake fluid. I sand blasted all the oxidation off the aluminium anyway.

AFAIK, the early scimitar used the same size master cylinders for the brake and clutch. So I can probably use the old brake master for the clutch master, assuming it's rebuildable and find an appropriately sized dual circuit brake master(YES, it was SINGLE CIRCUIT BRAKES!) to go in it's place. Possibly using the remote servo on the front circuit(if it can be rebuilt that is).  

[Adoom]

There is a bolt together structure forward of the chassis rails to support the 'nose' of the body and provide mounting points for the bumper.

It had some damage from a front end impact. I dunno if that predates @dmulally 's ownership. Some of the structure was bent and rusty. The loom was also earthed on part of it, but that part didn't seem to be bolted to anything and just floating. I decided to take it out.

WELL... I guess some rats were using this as a dining room for a while...
Some of the fibreglass was also damaged and sorry if it was you Damo, but OMG it was not patched together very well and is failing. Who ever laid the glass mat probably also scrunches toilet paper rather than folding. There's delamination and big flappy bits of mat sticking up all over the show. I assume it was done by feel, upside down, because of poor access. I think I'll cut/grind/sand it out and have a go myself.

 

 

[Adoom]

Spent some time getting the engine where it needed to be. Back corner of one head wanted to be in the same place as the footwell/bulkhead.

 

The small amount of intrusion.

Flipped the gearbox xmember backwards and it got close enough to work with a couple extra holes.
I'll modify it a bit more to lift the box a little. As well as needing extra captive nuts in the chassis.

 

Gear linkage didn't come with the box, they sell it separately, it also sits way too far back, so I need to make one. Or maybe adapt one from a K11 for the lolz

 

[Adoom]

Got some factory engine mount rubbers and made some mounts.

I'll weld the top and bottom of the reinforcing plates next time the engine is out.
 

[Adoom]

Got some more gas for the welder and finished off welding on the reinforcing plates.

Not sure of the easiest way to remove the gussets from the old engine mounts, I can't get in any closer with the grinder without cutting stuff I want to keep.

I'm not even going to try remove the giant 10mm flatbar @dmulally welded to the top of the chassis rail. I think, I'd regret it if I tried.

[Jaffar]

I have stuffed one of these motors into one of Stuttgart,s products.

Looks like a VE Commodore oil pan would work without any mods. Also you can narrow the alternator installation with a bit of judicial cutting of the mounting frame. You will also find that the latter 135 amp alternator fits that frame and is smaller.

Lastly, I have used a stand alone ecu and although the installation is not straight forward it will unlock more power.