Do you still have the ami?

That Citroen must be the most ugly car in the world lol!

Great get together, getting to see the steam train and passenger cars was a treat. Thanks Doug

I have skills but no lathe - no room - in a flat - so manmy thanks f0or sharing

Somebody was organised ☕ still some mince pies left. A Good New Year to you all.

At 6 months old ! ..... Odd because Citreon know how to make suspension .. Is it a £2k quadcycle with £6K profit ? ( when an Ice car is £11k = £5K car + £6k profit ?)

I'll tell you this much. A 750 cc Relient Robin is wayyyyy faster off the line than a Mk3 2Ltr GT Cortina! I got roasted that night, my friend thought it was hysterical.

Are there any plans available for that chassis ?

The 850 sounds better

Dick Harvie was 'the' man when it came to building Reliant engines for racing.

The 750 was always a much sweeter,free-er revving engine than the 850,certsinly in my experience in the road cars fitted with them

I'd narrow this down to crank balancing. It doesn't need to be light, it just needs to be balanced correctly. Head porting is another thing, and cam lobes of course. 8,5K red line doesn't need a special crank, nor a particularly light one. Old Japanese fours tickled 12K stock, so this should do the same with proper tune. Having more balanced mass gives you more torque, as does the elongated throw. At those revs, mass of the piston is the most important value. Before you start building the new engine, first you need to determine why exactly the old one broke. Did it go lean, did the valves float, did the rods give up (too heavy piston), oiling issue, cavitating oil pump, not enough bearing clearance, not enough piston ring clearance, cooling issue, cavitating water pump etc. This helps avoiding the same mistakes on the new engine, not only for more power, but more lifespan.

doing a teardown of the broken engine and is it fixable?

5.44 Stabbing the throttle(s) Ayrton Senna style 👏👏👏👏👏

Can I ask what gear box are you using?

Reminds me of Wesley Pectin's car. Knot to 60 in five seconds. Zazoo , Whoosh. She's a beast she is.

The 850 may be a little slower for now I feel sure before it’s all you will have it better and faster in no time. Nice run Doug 😎🏁

The 750cc was noticeably quicker but is it possible possible to tune the 850 to any greater effect?

👍

Was there any noticeable difference in torque? Good fun just the same 😁

I believe Rebels racing can get you 64hp out the 848cc. And if you fit it with Fiat Cinquecento SPI, maybe 70hp.

What a fabulous little car that is. Also, the late David Baker once reminded me that there was no shame in winning your class by default, which I accepted with a smile :-)

Thank you for sharing this ,I am going to attempt the wife’s tomorrow,should have it done by Easter 😮

Hello, A bit off topic... I'm from Austria and I'm very interested in the vehicle. According to Stellantis, the Citroen Ami will be introduced in Austria in the first half of 2025. I've already seen most of the videos about the Rocks-e and Ami and various ideas for modification are buzzing around in my head. If you don't mind I'd like to get your opinion on some of them. 1, in the old 2CV, the sheet metal in the interior was taped with car felt for insulation (many campers do this on their self-conversions) this could also be done quite inexpensively on the plastic roof of the "trunk lining" and possibly on the floor shell. This would close some cold bridges and dampen the vehicle's noise as well as reduce the moisture somewhat. 2, a plastic plate could also be attached to the underbody so that a double floor is created under the footwell, this could also be insulated, which in turn reduces noise, cold and moisture rising from the ground. 3, it seems to me that there is space in the engine compartment on the passengers side for an additional battery that could power another heater, heated seat cushions... and various USB devices. You could charge these with a charger that "takes" the power directly from the charging input and thus charges the additional battery with each charge. With the appropriate capacity, you could possibly also recharge the drive batteries via the power connections on the engine while driving with a B2B charger. Points 1 and 2 would be quite cost-effective changes with little weight added. Point 3 is admittedly not very cheap, but would replace a 2 KW power station that many people seem to carry in the passenger footwell anyway. I would be delighted if you would think through my ideas and give me some feedback. Best wishes Reinhard

Found you by accident - fascinating vlog - reminded me of Burt Munro... Can I ask a question...? The rocker arms of the inboard front suspension don't look strong enough to my eye. Have you had any bending/breaking issues. (I'm in the process of designing a similar layout.)

Nice job fella !

1.52 correct colour ✅

The compression figures of my Reliant engine were originally as high as 220psi. It’s a modified “yellow top, E”, 850 which had the block skimmed as well as the head. Hans Kirima, the proprietor of Rebel Racers did some work on it and was a bit concerned to find that the piston crowns sat .006” above the block face at TDC. I have to use a thick head gasket to avoid the pistons hitting the cylinder head. I worked out that the compression ratio was 13:1. I later fitted a slightly lower compression head. Your video reminds me that I must get it refreshed; it’s not been used for some years now since I fitted a completely different engine to my Liége.

Hi Doug, cool vids 👍. It's a pity that you don't publish any more Citroen Ami videos. Do you still have it? Perhaps you could make a video about the condition of the battery after using it over the year in Scotland. 🙏

And what's more. it's as 'green' as you can get seeing as how it's made of recycled parts.

Super job, looking forward to some dull footage from Kames - no doubt you'll have driven it more gently having learned a lesson blowing up the last one! Funny how having spare units can be a blessing and a curse - if you hadn't had that engine in the Hamblin you'd have diagnosed the distributor problem and had the first one running.

Get a chest harness for your camera/phone to give two handed operation. Love these old racing cars. My friend Ed Glaister races an old Popular with non cross flow engine, which as pit crew I helped to swap overnight when a so called pro driver blew it up at Goodwood revival

A lot of unexpected effort but a good result in the end. I was a bit surprised the valve clearance is only 6 thou on those engines. Older Presto taps seem to keep an edge forever. Enjoy the festive period, you need a break, thank you.

Good work Doug, looks like you will see another race day at the track again before long.

It does look like it needs it & good to do it while its new... ... I have used Waxoyl , with a sprayer can you pump up , works best in hot weather. & Dinitrol in aerosol cans ( which spray more per can than you expect) ..but both wash off if exposed to wheel spray. Dinitrol foams up as you spay inside box sections which seems good. ...

What body is fitted to the red Austin 7 ?

This is what it is all about affordable racing and as fast as many big heavy modern cars .Terrapin is a rare gem. I am 99% sure these cars were originally designed/ built by Allan Stanifourth. His Race and Rally car book is a "Must read" for any driver/car builder. Doug appears to be an expert on both driving and looking after this car.

This is what having fun in a car is all about. Not doing 0 to 60 in 2 seconds with 1000Hp and 200 + mph top speeds and not forgetting all the electronics to convince the owners they are great drivers when at the Ring!! Great little car. Very similar to my old Lotus 7.

I love classic cars I race classic cars I spend many hours of my life in my shed repairing my classic cars. I spend a small fortune trying to keep them going and always looking for another few BHP. I hate modern cars but have to admit electronics aside they seem to put up with a lot of abuse and silly high revs for many thousands of miles.

oof! hope it goes well for you.

Tim for the Jeffrey V10 upgrade Doug, ho ho ho, festive tidings, Jon

Hello Doug. Can you please tell me what kind of carburator you have on this engine. I'mlooking for one for my DNC.

Hi Doug, not having much luck with these engines ? Eating up spares. Hope you get sorted over the winter, ready for next year👍

Have you seen 60s diesels has one of these with only 800miles for sale on his channel…..

crank and matched assembly, balanced and polished. sounds pricey. first time viewer, subscribed. that's some shed.

That’s some bad racing luck. But it’s all part of the game. Good luck getting your spare inspected and find all the parts you need. 🏁

That's unfortunate, given that it was otherwise sounding good. Will you still get to run in that class with the 850? Hopefully the casing end hasn't suffered too badly and you can source another crank. It'll be interesting to see what you find when you get to opening the 750 up.

What modifications have you made to your engine and did you make your own gear remote?

Did you cut the sprocket yourself to make them removable?

Hello Doug, off topic question here. What distributer and ignition is the best for a Reliant Racing engine? The original distributor I had was fitted with electronic ignition rather than points and it completely died from the engine heat and the car no longer drove, I then fitted an off-brand distributor from China which fits a Reliant engine, now I realised that the timing on it changes on its own, therefore my engine would idle differently each day and sometimes it would or wouldn't have power. Any distributor recommendations? Thanks, Adam