anyone into reliant 3 wheelers? +bike engine Q

[steveo3002]

I was wondering...if I was to find a ropey early 3 wheeler , same style as a del boy supervan , are later parts interchangable?

worst case...would a older body swap onto a newer chassis

and do the later engines /axles /important bits swap between the 2

[WillCarter]

Drop a line to these guys www.graysofthrapston.co.uk they have been dealing with Reliant's for decades and have all sorts from a couple of years old to some much older ones. They'll be able to answer all your questions.

[composimmonite]

Most parts are now getting difficult to source.
The Regal chassis rotted away when young so dread to think how bad they could be now. Mine required a body off to do all the work when it was 8 years old - and it still broke elsewhere. The metal is so thin it tended to rip / crack as well as rot though.
The later Rialto chassis is galv'd from new and although not a direct replacement they are a good basis to adapt to Regal spec.
The engines are interchangable between 600, 700, 750 & 850. I THINK gearboxes off later models will fit or can easilly be adapted to earlier models.
Rear axles ratios are different - Regals have 13" wheels whereas Robin have 10", Kitten 10" and Fox 12". Not sure about Rialto or later Robin version.
I like them and had had 3 x Regal Supervan III (Dell boy type) in 1970's. I've also had a Kitten, Fox and Salamander (Ford powered, Kitten based "thing").
All great fun but as I say spares now a serious problem.

Paul H

[rupertw]

The Reliant models vary quite a lot. The Regals are completely different to a Rialto and very few parts if any will be directly interchangeable. I know that people put later 850cc Reliant engines into Regals. I think the later Reliants had the bodys slightly offset to aid stability, so I am not sure how easy it would be to switch them directly, although it would certainly be possible.

[<Type desired username here>]

Seem to be a suspiciously high amount of these on ebay at the moment!

[steveo3002]

seen a few bike engined pigs on youtube

any ideas how folk connect up the gearbox in such a convo?

such as this

[rupertw]

I suggest you go over to www.r3w.co.uk
There is currently a thread running there about engine conversions, and there is plenty of other info about Reliants.

[steveo3002]

already joined ...all i can see is a fiat convo