Reliant Regal Engine Stood In Workshop for 8 Years

[@tarmacdemon]

Ah brings back fond memories going Camping me my wife 5 kids pulling a trailer full of camping gear in Reliant Reagal 700 super van . Early Eighties did many a mile in my little van and carried all sorts of stuff . A cracking little work horse . Thanks for the memories Martin .

[@retrorestore]

Good stuff

[@4418CARLOU]

I had one with windows in the van area. Drove everywhere in it on my motorbike licence.

[@petermoore4056]

Don't worry about the bendix on the starter motor not disengaging, once the engine is turning faster than the starter, it will disengage because the engine will wind it backwards.

[@markmawson1]

The bendix on the starter will disengage off the flywheel once the engine starts, the flywheel flings it back.

[@vijayantgovender2045]

Thank you Martin love watching your car repairs watching from South Africa

[@cleeveofford1720]

Lovely job mate. I had two super Van's one was the 21E which apparently meant 21 extras, never did find them. Flipped one over on the way home near Brentwood, all in bits but started first time, copper wouldn't let me drive it home, so had to thumb it lugging my toolbox, which we all carried back then. Brilliant little motors, ideal to keep you warm and dry as you were legal if you had a full bike licence. Love em.

[@retrorestore]

Nice one!

[@gwaponobby]

@ 01:41 Love that gearstick and knob. No messing about there.

[@DiecastPowderCoating]

Thanks Martin, great to see you back on the mechanicals again. This is why I always tell people you're my mentor. I certainly learn a lot from you. Take care, Jeff

[@retrorestore]

Thanks Jeff👍

[@garyclifton2180]

​@@retrorestore nice to see you tinkering again Martin maybe a compression test when you get it going maybe new rings then put this lovely car to bed

[@darrenmeears3912]

Nice to see your back in the cabin Martin your a natural teacher 👌👍🏻

[@retrorestore]

Thanks 👍

[@timw4926]

Lovely demonstration video Martin. Can't wait to the next video...

[@retrorestore]

Thanks 👍

[@nickmonkey284]

Great video Martin and looking forward to part two

[@retrorestore]

Thanks 👍

[@PeterFalconII]

e coil has 12 volts positive on both sides... 12 volt chassis means the running parts are connected to the battery negative.

[@retrorestore]

No it doesn't, it's polarised.

[@PeterFalconII]

@@retrorestore the only way that something with 12v on both pins will work is if the shell is on 0V. your reading the negative pin and the positive pin on both sides of a coil as 12Vdc thus 0Vdc difference. so your inputting 0V into the coil. some coils use the outer shell as the (earth) and then have a 12VDC input on the side thus a 12V drop across the coil. your engine is wired 12 Chassis so you have 12v on the case 12 volts on the 12v input and in the video your reading 12V on the negative lead as well. you cant get a spark with 0V input. sorry but check the coil please. put 12v on and you should get a spark when you short the HT output near the 0V input. yes I am a 48 year old mechanic. who has worked many times on 12V ignition coils.

[@retrorestore]

@Peter Wilson you have to forgive me, your initial message wasn't very clear, you have to understand that I get so many comments where people just guess stuff and if you would have explained yourself and your experience in the first message, I would have been a bit more responsive e with my reply. I have a new electronic distributor, coil, plugs that I have just dug out of my store that I bought years ago so in the next vid, I will be fitting these. Thanks for your comment.

[@derbyjohn972]

Cracking one Martin fantastic job 👍🏻👍🏻

[@paulstir]

Love the rawness, car engine in a cabin on a table and Martin is about to fire it up 😁 thanks for sharing bud

[@retrorestore]

Thanks for watching, glad you liked the video

[@x66Hawk66x]

Finally glad to see some activity relating to the Regal. I subscribed to you because of the Regal, and found I like allot of your content.

[@retrorestore]

Thanks for watching, glad you liked the video

[@johnmichaelphilipguy-gibbe795]

Lovely to see you working on the reliant engine, hopefully next video, it will run, lovely jubbly

[@retrorestore]

I hope so too!

[@normsmowers4758]

Great stuff love a tinkering video

[@billywhizz98]

Another great video Martin nice to see the Trotters van being restored

[@retrorestore]

Many thanks!

[@PhoneVidoes]

You need to plug in your OBD2 reader and get the fault code out of it 😁

[@stevo4649]

thankyou Martin,,looking forward to part 2,hope you are all keeping well..👍👌

[@retrorestore]

All good bud.

[@georgestewart1325]

Love these type of videos. You tease look forward to you firing it up.

[@davestatham812]

Fantastic, great to see ya back in the shed, that reliant engine looks well clean for the age of it, cant wait to see it start, cracking video Martin, 👍🏻❤

[@retrorestore]

Thanks Dave👍

[@jaggass]

I like the IV drip style fuel supply. Can't wait to hear the Reliant engine run again.

[@grumpyold-git4286]

Great vlog Martin keep going it will start "He who dares wins "

[@liljoeii6091]

Thank you for the video

[@haydenuk02]

Top work. Looking forward to seeing if it will run on the next one. Thanks for the video take care

[@retrorestore]

Thanks 👍

[@stephencatterson9320]

Good to see you

[@mark7218]

Another great video, look forward to part 2

[@retrorestore]

Thanks 👍

[@STTC]

Absolutely love these tinkering videos Martin

[@retrorestore]

Cheers Steve

[@Phil-1969]

My old triumph Hearld was positive earth , always had to remember to wire the radio straight to the battery

[@alandykes2519]

Fantastic Martin enjoyed that i was willing it on to start but sadly no go but am sure you will get it going have got every faith in you 👍👍👍👍

[@coryn1980]

Great video Martin I miss simple engines back in the day 👍

[@retrorestore]

Same here

[@tonycamplin8607]

The firing order is definitely 1342, I think that the rotor arm turns anticlockwise. Brake cleaning spray is the best starter.

[@retrorestore]

No its clockwise on these 600 engines Tony.

[@tonycamplin8607]

@@retrorestore Ok , I only said thought!

[@garywalker3818]

good blog martin hop next time you will get it going Gary from Crewe👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@retrorestore]

Absolutely

[@michaelmason5459]

Hi woke up middle of night, thinking about spark,I had a H A viva 50yrs ago had two problems, Garage found low tension leads on coil were wrong way round set for negative earth alters electric Flow to coil causing some extra resistance. Second Mine started perfect but when key turns back to run position I had problems, on start position full battery power goes to coil by-passing the ballast resistor, when key turns back to run position power is diverted through ballast resistor at lower voltage to coil,that's when mine had problems with a faulty ballast resistor which was breaking down. Easy check if resistor on coil terminal remove it and wire straight to coil, if inline resistor just put new wire from battery to coil terminal to bypass it. You probably know this already fiddling with car over the year. Thanks for getting the old brain cells working. Mick🙂

[@retrorestore]

Yes Mick, No resistor in circuit. Its a simple way to start these engines. I suspect something in the distributor as there was no sparking when I opened the points manually.

[@tonycamplin8607]

They never had ballast resistors fitted on those older engines.

[@michaelmason5459]

Hi Tony yep Martin said no resistor in circuit, I was wondering if one was retrofitted by past owners over the years and could have caused the fault. Cheers Mick.

[@queenslander954]

You’re primed it ready for the video.. so of course it’ll start.

[@retrorestore]

You got that wrong, it didn't start. Don't be so cynical

[@Alandixon88]

Good video. Looking forward to more

[@MalteseMafia]

Great video 👍 keep them coming. Hopefully will not smoke now it has the correct oil level.

[@chrisfrob]

I'd say you were 9/10ths of the way there. Hope you can finally get it started.

[@petegibbins9073]

Hey Martin go easy on that easystart if too much is used it doesn’t compress in the cylinders and makes the engine difficult to turn so gives the impression of a lazy starter or flat battery. Obviously in this case that wasn’t the cause of not starting can’t wait for next video great stuff.

[@procta2343]

how tiny that little engine! Great to see you back at it again! Might be worth looking at getting a Diesel battery for testing, Just with it having more juice. I have fitted Diesel batteries to petrol engine cars in the past, and it throws those over like a bat out of hell.

[@leed3802]

You have the ignition coil wired wrong, positive of the coil needs to connect to the distributor and the negative to negative on the battery

[@retrorestore]

Its a positive earth vehicle.

[@leed3802]

@@retrorestore yes that’s why the positive on the ignition coil goes to the distributor

[@retrorestore]

@@leed3802 I'm sure I wired it as per the manual, i'll need to check.

[@glennmoreland6457]

Notice how the starter picked up speed when you took plug No.4 out Martin...? Compression low on 1, 2 & 3 ☹🇬🇧

[@danielclift1]

firing is 1342 and rotor arm turns clockwise on a 600 all later engines 700 upwards turn anti clockwise number 1 on the dizzy cap would be top right looking down on it so the one closet to number 1 spark plug

[@retrorestore]

Yes, That is correct Dan.

[@JimF500]

Those starter motors are a bit more rough and aggressive than the later pre engaged type.. I wonder how are the bearings/bush on that dynamo, though it may not have much effect on it turning over.

[@danielclift1]

also it does not matter what way you hook up the battery running the engine like this as its more for the dynamo and wiring in the van so you can run ground to negative dizzy to negative of coil then positive from coil to positive on battery starter cable to positive of battery to crank and assuming coil ect are actually good it should spark and run and that battery sounds weak these engines normally crank over a lot faster remember your drawing power away from the spark to power starter motor hope this helps ?

[@michaelmason5459]

Hi Why not drop Del Boy or Rodney a line, they minght a spare distributor knocking around.

[@davesmith6734]

Hi Martin you will probably need a ballast resistor as you have the coil connected direct to the battery when you turn over the voltage will drop off to the coil, try fitting coil to another battery. 👍😁

[@retrorestore]

Thanks for the tip!

[@tonycamplin8607]

They never used them.

[@DavidAlexander-p6n]

would it be possible for you to powder coat the block of your reliant engine, keep up the good work.

[@retrorestore]

I'd leave it its original cast silver David

[@tonycamplin8607]

Why would you want to do that?

[@gafrers]

Greatly detailed. Weird question: Do you know the external dimensions (LxHxW) of this or the bigger Reliant engines?

[@retrorestore]

No, sorry

[@gafrers]

@@retrorestore Thanks for answering

[@kernow..exp.]

Hi Martin greetings from Cornwall

[@retrorestore]

Hello there!

[@stevebandit1964]

Hopefully with the Summer just around the corner you'll be getting the ' Plastic Pig ' and the little Yammy RS completed mate .. 🌞😎

[@retrorestore]

That's the plan!

[@garyphillips7993]

Hi Martin, nice to see you back on the Reliant 👍 Couple of observations, the fuel line wasn’t connected after the carb swap, not that it made any difference as you had no spark lol Either the battery is weak or the starter is faulty as it was turning over very slow when all the plugs were in. You can convert a negative earth to positive earth - highly recommended as it helps the fight against corrosion 😉 👍

[@retrorestore]

Yes, As I said in the video, I disconnected the fuel line as there was a fuel leak. I was just hoping for the engine to pop with the fuel in the carb bowl but as I found no spark, that was the issue.

[@garyphillips7993]

@@retrorestore Sorry, I didn’t hear that part Oops 😬

[@phonotd]

It never ceases to amaze me the vast amount of low charge, or dead, batteries there are out there in "will it start?" video land. 😂 🤣

[@retrorestore]

I did fully charge it but its the only spare battery I had, what would you do in that situation?

[@phonotd]

@retrorestore personally, I always have a new fully charged battery on hand and failing that I'd use my Li-ion jump starter pack. I wasn't criticising, by the way, just laughing at the way most will it start videos go.

[@richardwest7092]

do you not need a neutral to the engine block to complete the circuit for the coil and points?? dont no much about positive earth systems? great stuff as always

[@retrorestore]

No need

[@themarinerkommer4371]

umm just letting you know the timing is around the wrong way it is 1342 but its in an anticlockwise direction from no:1, so number 1 and number 4 was right but not 2 and 3 swap them around and it should run. id say the condenser would be your issue you got power to the coil, if its not condenser which it most likely is then chuck another coil on and it should start and yes the battery is not a very good healthy one and that starter is a early inertia starter where the throw of power in the motor throws out the starter gear and when the engine fires up the gear should sit back where the clutch the gear has a small spring on the shaft and if it weak the gear wont throw back when started, but cleaning the shaft where the gear slides should also make it easier to return.

[@retrorestore]

I'll check the engine rotation. There was a directional arrow on the rotor arm that I followed. I do think its the condenser too, we'll soon find out.

[@retrorestore]

Just checked and the rotation is correct. Clockwise as I said.

[@laurencewaters]

Are you the guy that does air drying videos with the missis.

[@retrorestore]

Air frying, yes Laurence, I am.

[@SuperGarfitz]

Workshop needs a full clear out and clean up.

[@retrorestore]

Yes it does.

[@Andy-sh9eq]

How can you tell the air filter is spotless by looking at the carb side the dirt is trapped by the outside of the filter

[@retrorestore]

because I know it had a brand new mesh one fitted by the chap that maintained it over 8 years ago and its not run since then.

[@MARKLOCKWOOD2012]

air,fuel,spark. old engines your dealing with magnito’s under the rotar cap look for corrosion hook up a battery move the armature see it sparks. little sand paper clean the points up. pull the plugs add engine oil stuffs dry check the plugs one at a time use some painters tape to say it’s been checked. spark plugs can be cleaned of carbon and a tooth brush.being it sat can loose spark most times new spark plug wires. but you also have to do compression check low yes but can come back after you run it up to temp. definitely drop the oil pan any residual from years needs flushed that way the oil and the engine has fresh stuff circulating. hoses water pump leaks little tlc should go. new radiator or flush the old one use dis tilled demineralized water/antifreeze 50/50 mix make sure the cooling fan works you’ll need a engine test stand use an old mower fuel tank or a small out board motor jerry can with fuel filter. can run on two stroke mix thinned out just get it going let the oil burn off switch regular gas/or petrol two stroke lubricates valves n rings may have to do a valve job if any carbon is built up will have be cleaned re installed so they’ll seat n seal.

[@menditman2004]

Good video I like the cars and bikes videos 🙂👍

[@retrorestore]

Thanks Luke👍

[@TheMrWoodsman]

The prop shaft was turning, is it in gear Martin?

[@retrorestore]

No its just a bit of drag.

[@Phil-1969]

Was it the coil in the end

[@retrorestore]

I think its the condenser

[@fru1t1]

👍👍👍

[@Andy-sh9eq]

Take it out of gear and it will turn over better....

[@michaelmason5459]

Hi Martin you need the vacum pipe fitting from bottom of carb to the oil filer cap on rocker box cover or it will suck air and not tick over correctly week mixture, may be one of reasons engine was smoking fumes comming out of top of engine and not being burnt through engine. Cheers Mick.

[@retrorestore]

It is not in gear, its just a bit of drag.

[@Jasonhughes258]

First again 💪

[@GadgetGazza12]

😂

[@johnobiro5202]

Did you have the fuel connected there Martin. I couldn’t see it. I love tinkering with the old stuff. 👍

[@retrorestore]

I disconnected the fuel line as I said in the video as the carb was leaking. I was hoping to get the engine to pop with the fuel in the float bowl.