1974 Reliant Scimitar X30XE : Scimega

[DWDarkWheels]

Boys and Girls! I know you like pictures, so pictures first……























How did I get here?
20 years ago I started on a road that led to builds of several kitcars.
I’ve been away from car projects for maybe 5 years, with house renovations, and ultimately we moved house 6 months ago to a place with a bit of space around it.

The car dabbling bug hadn’t gone away but I needed a break, and so did my wallet.

So after being enthused by what I saw going on here on Retro-rides, a few months ago an idea came together. Of all the cars that have tempted me, in recent months, the Reliant Scimitar is the one that took hold.
I do like an underdog, and that makes them usually cheap (no scene-tax), and the cla££ic enthusiasts don’t get bent out of shape over outright authenticity. It’s RWD, V6, retro, it’s British plastic just like all those kitcar projects. What's not to love?

So I started to keep a watch out for one, but being in Northern Ireland it was going to take a while. Yes, I could come to the UK mainland, but that trip would likely cost more than the car.

So a couple of weeks I took a punt and put a Wanted ad on Gumtree. Within 5 hours I had a response, and went to view it. It was a lot more complete than I expected. It even started and ran.
A deal was done. Actually what the guy wanted for it seemed such good value, I wasn’t going to embarrass myself bartering over a few quid. With some help I brought it home yesterday evening.

So rather than viewing all your Retro-Rides projects from afar in the comfort of my chair, I’m happy to now be able to contribute to the Retro cause!!

So I’ve had a quick look around it tonight and it seems surprisingly intact underneath, as far as I can see…..which could all change of course once I start poking properly. The worst piece of chassis is the front outrigger under the driver’s footwell. The rest of what I can see seems sound so far. Bodywork is GRP, and has some star-crazing from light impacts front and back. There is also evidence of a repair above the driver’s front wheel-arch – there is extra GRP matting on the underside.
The interior is mostly intact and complete. The dash has been taken apart for the plank that was intended to replace the brittle and broken instrument panel, but all the switches and gauges seem to be there in the back seats.
Rear seats are in good order, front seats don’t look original to me, and for now I’ve no idea what they are, but they’ve been trimmed to be a very good match to the rest of the lovely brrrraaaaahhhnn interior. Door cards are a bit misshapen, but the covering should be fine on another bit of board, but there’s a long way to go before I need to worry about that.

First thing will be a good proper look at the mechanicals which might mean I go for body removal to make a proper job of it.
And I’ll stop now, because I’m already close to writing more about this car than working on it, which I said I wasn’t going to do :-)

Darryl

[nickbrad]

Bring it on, there can never be too many of these as far as I'm concerned

[75nut]

Love it

[cabbage]

really love the interior colour :-)

[5charlie46]

cool project, those front seats look really cool and really familiar but I can't place my finger on what they are out of...

[beejay]

Looks like a good project Are you keeping the auto box?

[DWDarkWheels]

So I got my first good inspection of the car over the weekend.
I jacked it up and had a good old poke with hammer and screwdriver and for a 37 year old car, I'm impressed with how solid it is.
The worst part is the driver's side front cross-member.



There's a small hole on the passenger's side too, and the rear cross-member might not be great. But so far, so good. I'll know better when the body comes off.
So other small jobs were removing front lights, and bits and bobs to prepare for removing the body.
I still want to run the engine to check oil pressure before I disconnect anything more major. The battery is on charge, so I'll see about trying that during the week.

Also, inspired by Mamba's Se5a 'Kato' build, I tried offering up a 17" MX-5 wheel just for fun.

[DWDarkWheels]

Hi Beejay,

I could go either way with the 'box. Part of me wants to use as much of what's there already.
But when I get it stripped to the rolling chassis I might investigate what it would take to go to manual.

Darryl

[Mamba]

Hi mate!! Thanks, I never thought i'd inspire anyone to do similar re wheels.

You could do similar a hell of alot cheaper than the route I took. This willinvariably involve wheel spacers/adapters. you could keep the same std PCD 4x114.3 and space out a variety of wheels or alternativel go for the wheel adaptor that changes from 4x114.3 to 5x114.3 which means much more wheels could be available. It's all just down to what you can beat out of the bank manager!! ;D ;D
You could probably get an OE good set of wheels. The fronts will be the biggest headache as in truth there's little room for anything more than 7 wide and even then a small spacer will have to be fitted to stop them rubbing on the inner wheel arch, of course it all depends on the offset.

Re: outrigger. that should be easily either fixed or even replaced. This too can be done with the body still in. The worst place for rot on these tends to be the outriggers, rear crossmember and then the sills. If you drop the tank you'll be able to fully inspect the rear crossmember. If this is ok then it's likely that the rest of the chassis is ok.

Personally, if yours is up and running I would advise against taking the body off unless of course your idea is a complete boby off restoration/modification. It is a ridiculous amount of work that should be avoided if at all possible IMHO.

Re the gearbox, if you do want to go down that route give us a shout. I have an overdrive 4 speed with good linkage just removed from Kato. I don't know what state that gearbox is in but I do have another still in the SE6 that is also the overdrive box but has a new clutch. The linkage would need replaced on that one though.

[Mamba]

Oops!! i meant to put Driftworks' link up. Take a look at the spacers and at the wheels too. There are a couple of wheels that fit offset wise in 15 + 16". it's a good starting point.

[enginewizard1969]

like watching the scimitar threads keeps me in touch with mine keep you the good work by the way love the wheels

[AtomicRooster]

Ooh this is just right

[DWDarkWheels]

Thanks Mamba, I hadn't realised adaptor/spacers could be an option. I wanted to put on some wheels that had some dish. But the more I look at that pic of the MX-5 wheel, the more I like it.

I'll have to do some measuring and look into adaptors sharpish 'cos I have those MX-5 wheels on eBay at the moment. It's starting to look like a shame not to use them. Especially as they're 5 x 114.3.

Body-off I think I'll do anyway. I'll prefer putting rebuilt suspension and brakes into a chassis that I know I've given the works.
The challenge of the build is what it's about for me

[Mamba]

Body-off I think I'll do anyway. I'll prefer putting rebuilt suspension and brakes into a chassis that I know I've given the works.
The challenge of the build is what it's about for me [/quote]

From the sounds of things you know what you're at that way anyhow. We must be alike in one aspect at least ....... gluttons for punishment to undertake that sort of work!! ;D ;D ;D

[chairchild]

How about getting your discs, drums,and hubs redriled to 5 studs? Whack in some studs from behind, and voilla! If you're lucky, you may be able to leave the original stud holes alone, to make swapping back easy. Easiest way to see if it's even possible, is just take a tape measure, and a sharpie pen to the drum Those wheels really suit the scim!

[DWDarkWheels]

Mamba : Yeah, sometimes you think "I must be mad."
I've finished abandoned kitcars before, and some of them weren't well developed. So between taking them apart to start to get it right, and the fabrication of mechanical and trim bits made some of them rather long-winded.
On the face of it, stripping a properly engineered Scimitar and rebuilding it to be as fresh a possible looks like a breeze. Famous last words, eh? Now I've really set myself up for some trouble.

Chairchild. Sorry I didn't get back to you on your PM. Ta for the offer of parts. Luckily enough the car is pretty complete. All the parts are there, and the 4th lamp was in the boot

I did some measuring of wheels last night and for the MX-5 wheels to work (ET55) would take 60mm of spacers to sit them where I'd like them. Does such a thing even exist
I think Mamba's gonna be pretty bang-on with his slightly wider alloys at ET5.

[task]

Those wheels look awesome on the Scimitar

Looks like this could turn out to be a interesting build

[Mamba]

Aug 2, 2011 11:50:48 GMT DWDarkWheels said:

Mamba : Yeah, sometimes you think "I must be mad."
I've finished abandoned kitcars before, and some of them weren't well developed. So between taking them apart to start to get it right, and the fabrication of mechanical and trim bits made some of them rather long-winded.
On the face of it, stripping a properly engineered Scimitar and rebuilding it to be as fresh a possible looks like a breeze. Famous last words, eh? Now I've really set myself up for some trouble.

I did some measuring of wheels last night and for the MX-5 wheels to work (ET55) would take 60mm of spacers to sit them where I'd like them. Does such a thing even exist
I think Mamba's gonna be pretty bang-on with his slightly wider alloys at ET5.

YEP!! YOU KNOW YOU'VE DEFINITELY DROPPED YERSELF IN IT NOW!!

Redrilling may be an option but i've no experience of that particular path. Spacers/adaptors are easier but as with anything easier they cost quite a bit. ET55 will be a bit mad, it's kinda accepted practise that spacers should be limited to no more than 50mm and made from good T6 alloy.
There are alot of other alloys about 5x114.3 are very common as are 5x120. You could always beg, borrow or steal some of the multifit ones thin spacers and see what would fit on the hubs/drums to see what's possible. I'm going to have to go down the same route for the SE6 but the biggest issue is the ET. Most FWD come in around ET45, by my reckoning, especially at the front, with 25mm spacers/adaptors you'd probably (not certain) be looking at little more than ET35.
However, the main problem is adaptors seem to be available in very little width whereas spacers come in all sizes and not to mention are generally cheaper too.
This is virgin territory from the looks of things for Scimitars so this is going to be alot of work for you mate.

[DWDarkWheels]

So, most of last week was spent researching wheels. Original wheels on Scimitars are around ET0 offset . Anything of that offset these days is mostly for drifting, so not much to suit a Scimitar there, and they could be a bit pricey.

Researching OEM options, the smallest offset you'll find on a modern production car is BMW 5-series at ET20. These are in 5x120 PCD: the Scimitar is 4 X 114.3. However a 25mm spacer/ adapter will both set the wheel nicely in the arch and deal with matching up the differing PCDs. So my maths suggests anyway.

That opens up options for many styles of wheel. But there's something quaintly retro about these 15" OEM BMW wheels that appeals.



Hands-on work didn't get far this week, except for the lengthy job of getting bumpers off the car. (Note to self : buy industrial consignment of WD40.)

I tried starting the car to check compression and oil pressure, but within 5 minutes of moving the van up to connect jump-leads, I :
crushed 2 fingers when the van door closed on them;
realised oil had leaked on the drive from another task earlier in the day;
tried to hose it off, only to have the hose nozzle come off the hose, spraying water right in my face;
swore loudly and repeatedly, then saw my very polite and well-to-do neighbour watering her plants, within ear-shot.

....and the car wouldn't start anyway.

[DWDarkWheels]

It's been a long time since my last post. I only get to work on the Scimitar at the weekend, and the past couple of weekends we've been trying to catch the last of the 'summer'.

Anyhoooo..

Activities have mostly been investigating a lack of oil pressure : like 0psi at idle. I took off the sump and found enough sludge to submerge the oil strainer. Cleaning it out I found some debris.



Some folks over on Scimweb recommended taking a look at the big-end bearings and main bearing while I had the sump off.

I only looked at one main bearing and it looked something like the below, but with more copper on show, plus there was more shiny debris in the channel.



I put it back together seeing as I had the new oil and filter. What a phaff of a job it is to put the sump on while the engine is in the car. The front crossmember gets in the way. Cue much frustration and swearing.

Anyway, I got in on eventually, lashed in some flush oil and fitted a filter, started it up, and still no pressure.

So I've no confidence in this engine, and am looking to convert to another suitable RWD package. To be honest, I'm not that disheartened as the car so was cheap that a good engine would only have been a bonus. It's an automatic gearbox too, which wasn't my first choice, swaying me to conversion
too.

So while I consider my options I stripped the interior a bit further in readiness to remove the body.



It's the first time in 37 years this has seen the light of day, and makes me wonder about who stuck it there years ago.