OT - Reliant Ant

[miketomcat]

12 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

@miketomcat hey I found a more practical camper idea for you

Being a mini man and a kit car man I've known about the jiffy for years and no.

Mike

[L19MUD]

Temporary house move out of the way and I have been able to have an initial play with the Ant. It turns over well but no spark, diagnosed in the end to a dodgy coil. I bit the bullet though and fitted complete electronic ignition from Accuspark into the 45D Lucas dizzy along with new lead, plugs etc. Now sparking well!

Next onto fuel, the float was stuck and the chamber empty but the fuel did not smell great and it would not run even after sorting that. Putting some fresh fuel straight down the carb resulted in it starting instantly and running really well so that is positive. I have ordered some new tank straps for my tank so will remove it and flush it then refit and fill with fresh fuel.

The brake pedal goes to the floor and the clutch pedal is seized so those are the next things to solve whilst I wait for the tank straps. Clutch slave and master are same as Series/Defender (Land Rover content!!) whilst the brake slave cylinders are reliant specific but cheap and easy to get hold off. I have not identified the brake master yet or identified if it needs changing. I will probably change as I can then be confident the clutch and brake seals are all new and won't strand me

I gave it a bit of a clean up before it went into the workshop onto the ramp - three wheels and a 4 post ramp are a pain!!

 

[Nonimouse]

There's a Reliant Fox down at 'the farm'. Runs, drives and is road legal. Red Top engine, so 40bhp and a published top speed of 80mph

[western]

This appeared on one of my Facebook groups I follow [not the ERF] but it's load, comment about the picture says it was taken at Sandbach a few years ago.  

[David Sparkes]

The link you have chosen doesn't appear to be effective; no image is displayed.

Regards.

[western]

12 minutes ago, David Sparkes said:

The link you have chosen doesn't appear to be effective; no image is displayed.

Regards.

I can see it fine in my post above. 

but just in case 

[David Sparkes]

That's good, thankyou.

Regards

[landroversforever]

The original post works for me? Might be blocked by your work or something along those lines.

[David Sparkes]

11 hours ago, landroversforever said:

The original post works for me? Might be blocked by your work or something along those lines.

Thanks for the thought, but I'm now retired so the buck stops with me 🙂
I had thought about the Mozilla Firefox PC browser blocking it, but they normally announce when they are 'helping' me from visiting an inapproprite link 🙂
I wondered if there was some way to engineer access without asking the poster, but when I tried to examine the link in 'Page Info' it did not look viable.

Omitting the leading HTTPS, the link destination reads '://scontent.fbrs4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/166970452_1821724807988645_9119371825507198847_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=FO0stuK5uLAAX-0HHDb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-1.fna&oh=2e8d75d60f0576ecf79117f1daeaa412&oe=608BE260'

I decided to 'ask the question' in case I wasn't the only one affected.

What browser are you using?  On a PC, or Tablet, or Mobile?

Regards.

[landroversforever]

45 minutes ago, David Sparkes said:

Thanks for the thought, but I'm now retired so the buck stops with me 🙂
I had thought about the Mozilla Firefox PC browser blocking it, but they normally announce when they are 'helping' me from visiting an inapproprite link 🙂
I wondered if there was some way to engineer access without asking the poster, but when I tried to examine the link in 'Page Info' it did not look viable.

Omitting the leading HTTPS, the link destination reads '://scontent.fbrs4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/166970452_1821724807988645_9119371825507198847_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=FO0stuK5uLAAX-0HHDb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-1.fna&oh=2e8d75d60f0576ecf79117f1daeaa412&oe=608BE260'

I decided to 'ask the question' in case I wasn't the only one affected.

What browser are you using?  On a PC, or Tablet, or Mobile?

Regards.

Works on Laptop (win10) and my iphone, both running up to date Chrome.

[elbekko]

Works for me in Firefox. It's just a Facebook image link. And it also works in a private window, so shouldn't be related to being signed in or not.

[JohnnoK]

On 4/1/2021 at 11:48 AM, David Sparkes said:

Thanks for the thought, but I'm now retired so the buck stops with me 🙂
I had thought about the Mozilla Firefox PC browser blocking it, but they normally announce when they are 'helping' me from visiting an inapproprite link 🙂
I wondered if there was some way to engineer access without asking the poster, but when I tried to examine the link in 'Page Info' it did not look viable.

Omitting the leading HTTPS, the link destination reads '://scontent.fbrs4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/166970452_1821724807988645_9119371825507198847_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=FO0stuK5uLAAX-0HHDb&_nc_ht=scontent.fbrs4-1.fna&oh=2e8d75d60f0576ecf79117f1daeaa412&oe=608BE260'

I decided to 'ask the question' in case I wasn't the only one affected.

What browser are you using?  On a PC, or Tablet, or Mobile?

Regards.

Win 7 and Firefox here, and the first pic displayed fine for me.

[western]

2nd time I saved to my laptop then uploaded it, 1st was a copied link from the Facebook page, so don't know why you couldn't see it. 

[David Sparkes]

1 hour ago, western said:

... 1st was a copied link from the Facebook page, so don't know why you couldn't see it. 

Just for additional clarity, if anyone values it, clicking the link brought up a black rectangle with a 'broken file' icon in the centre and a 'closure' X in the top right corner.

No I don't know why I couldn't see it either, but while I have access, and an ID, to Facebook I don't use it very much at all. In general I can see images other people insert in their Facebook posts, so I'm quite happy to regard this incident as a anomaly individual to my PC and software setup. Just for completeness I checked my Firefox installation, and found it up-to-date. While the 64 bit Win 10 did have some updates available, installing them has made no difference.

I did not stay silent so my 'social' conscience is clear, so I'm no longer concerned at all. Thankyou all for your responses, which show no major or common problem exists.

Regards

 

[Escape]

David, I had/have the same problem. Not only here, but also on some other threads / forums. Always with FB links. The easy workaround is to right click and chose 'view image'. Only downside is you can't go back to the previous window (i.e. the thread) afterwards. Only thing I can think of that could cause this is because FireFox opens FB in a container tab.

Filip

[L19MUD]

These posts prompted me to give a bit of an update. The Ant is nice and simple to work on, makes a Series Land Rover look complex! I have now changed all the brake slave cylinders plus master, same for the clutch and also freed off/cleaned/greased the adjusters on the brakes. This picture of the clutch and brake masters show just how simple it is in the cab

 

The chassis is in pretty good condition when you compare it to the same age Land Rover (1986) with only the center cross being corroded. This is as a result of a bad design where the bottom plate holds water. I have chopped out the plate here ready to be replaced and you can see the corrosion better

 

I have welded new metal in and sealed it all up to try and stop it happening again although this will live indoors from now on so I do not see that becoming an issue. The other rust areas were the bottoms of the mudguards, I cut out the rotten metal and welded in new (after I sorted the MIG welder issue!) Not perfect but will be presentable enough after they have some paint

 

 

I have now finished cleaning up the chassis and cab supports ready for paint plus started work on the drop sides and wheels, once paint goes on I I think I will have started to turn the corner a bit

 

 

[L19MUD]

A little more progress on the Ant. My old man has been painting the chassis so I have moved onto the repairs needed on the rear tipper frame. The bed was rusty and holed plus was hiding some other rot on the frame so I decided to cut it out, weld in new metal to the frame then fit ali chequer plate to the floor. This has meant some additional steel bracing to be added for strength but I think the overall weight will be less

 

[western]

Just see this Ant on Facebook marketplace same colour as yours. its in Salisbury. its on a W suffix reg.

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/881878329074187/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_general&referral_story_type=general&tracking={"qid"%3A"6990453498495848746"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"30564912649713507"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A30564912649713507%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A2%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A1532793469104291840%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0.00029181904964852%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A108}"}

[L19MUD]

On 7/29/2021 at 9:55 PM, western said:

Just see this Ant on Facebook marketplace same colour as yours. its in Salisbury. its on a W suffix reg.

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/881878329074187/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_general&referral_story_type=general&tracking={"qid"%3A"6990453498495848746"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"30564912649713507"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A30564912649713507%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A2%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A1532793469104291840%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0.00029181904964852%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A108}"}

Totally missed this somehow - the pictures are not working for me and the link is now not working. What was the condition and price out of interest please?

 

Also reminds me I really need to update this thread!

[western]

Looks as thought it's either been sold or removed the listing, it doesn't come up anymore. 

[L19MUD]

To finish off the work I did. 

 

Post getting the welding done we repainted the bed frame and sides then fitted a shiny new sheet of Ali

 

Work then moved back to the truck with the chassis painting getting finished along with some nice new pressed number plates. I then polished up the cab which made a big difference. We have questioned if we should have sprayed the cab really....but we never intended to go as far as we have!

At this point I had the Ant running and driving about but we had a big water leak from somewhere. It turned out to be the rad, the hoses and the water pump. All changed for new and fixed the leak. Access is not great but certainly better than on the modern stuff

 

We were then ready for an MOT...which turned out to be a hassle as so few places do 3 wheel Class 3 MOT's (and even fewer Class 4 3 wheel MOT's as I later found out). The MOT station I found insisted I provided proof of the wieght to prove it was either class 3 (below 450kg unladen) or class 4 above. Was much heavier than expected at 760kg as found out on my mates weighbridge

 

 

MOT passed with no problems despite me worrying about the brakes. It managed 59% on the service brakes with a pass being 50%, since driving about a bit they have bedded in now are are much more responsive. This took us to an almost complete position of this

 

We decided that some personalised signwriting (put over the Oldham council so as to not lose it) would be a bit of fun and had some stickers made for each of the doors

 

Overall I am really pleased with it. Drives surprisingly well although 35mph is pretty much happy cruising speed. It is still tempting to spray the cab but am now onto other projects so it will have to wait.

 

[L19MUD]

Forgot to say - last two jobs to sort are to fix the speedo and get the tipper motor rewound so that we can use it in anger!

[Stellaghost]

5 minutes ago, L19MUD said:

To finish off the work I did. 

 

Post getting the welding done we repainted the bed frame and sides then fitted a shiny new sheet of Ali

 

Work then moved back to the truck with the chassis painting getting finished along with some nice new pressed number plates. I then polished up the cab which made a big difference. We have questioned if we should have sprayed the cab really....but we never intended to go as far as we have!

At this point I had the Ant running and driving about but we had a big water leak from somewhere. It turned out to be the rad, the hoses and the water pump. All changed for new and fixed the leak. Access is not great but certainly better than on the modern stuff

 

We were then ready for an MOT...which turned out to be a hassle as so few places do 3 wheel Class 3 MOT's (and even fewer Class 4 3 wheel MOT's as I later found out). The MOT station I found insisted I provided proof of the wieght to prove it was either class 3 (below 450kg unladen) or class 4 above. Was much heavier than expected at 760kg as found out on my mates weighbridge

 

 

MOT passed with no problems despite me worrying about the brakes. It managed 59% on the service brakes with a pass being 50%, since driving about a bit they have bedded in now are are much more responsive. This took us to an almost complete position of this

 

We decided that some personalised signwriting (put over the Oldham council so as to not lose it) would be a bit of fun and had some stickers made for each of the doors

 

Overall I am really pleased with it. Drives surprisingly well although 35mph is pretty much happy cruising speed. It is still tempting to spray the cab but am now onto other projects so it will have to wait.

 

What a bloody nice job you've made of that....  class..regards Stephen 

[Bowie69]

Looks lovely, well done!

[western]

Nice job it looks cool 😎