A new Kitty in my life

Popshot

Popshot

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I got myself a Reliant Kitten project which to all intents and purposes is a Robin with a wheel at each corner. It's my second Kitten with my first being a Rover V8 twin turbo drag car and this part done project being a CBR1000F engined tool. There's plenty left to do on it but it has a solid chassis which now has to handle around 135hp rather than the 40hp it had when Reliant made it. This will likely weigh sub half a tonne when done so north of 270 hp/tonne. I've always wanted a bike engined car for that 10500 RPM red line and sequential shifting. The prop is already done but major jobs still to do include the shifter, electric reverse, wiring (I have the bike loom as a start point), brake plumbing (it has discs all round) and interior. The fat looking tyres are in fact only 175. It;s just that the car is so small they look wide.


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Top Gear modded that Robin to tip over easier. You generally had to make a bit more effort to roll them than that. A full compliment of wheels is much better though.
 
Popshot said:
my first being a Rover V8 twin turbo
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A most excellent engine!
I used to work in a shop specializing in Morgan restoration and repair -
The cars with the Americanized propane powered Buick / Rover V-8's were great fun to drive ;)
They were just normally aspirated, and so light, it was hard not to break the tires loose, if you shifted quick - I can't imagine them turbocharged!
 
The shape makes me think VW Golf a little.
Will this be a car that you have to go through an IVA for, or does it just register as an engine change??
 
Popshot said:
the chassis is unmodified
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I'm wanting to understand -
The Robin, as originally manufactured, had 3 wheels.
You've modified it to now have 4, which obviously makes it a safer and better handling car, but that's beside the point.
So, was it that you just added a front subframe, and because you did nothing to the original frame but add the front end,
they'll just call it an engine swap, and register it without a problem ?
I'm impressed :D
 
undertoad said:
I'm wanting to understand -
The Robin, as originally manufactured, had 3 wheels.
You've modified it to now have 4, which obviously makes it a safer and better handling car, but that's beside the point.
So, was it that you just added a front subframe, and because you did nothing to the original frame but add the front end,
they'll just call it an engine swap, and register it without a problem ?
I'm impressed :D
Click to expand...
No, the Robin, Regal etc. Had 3 wheels.
The Reliant Kitten was a 4 wheel vehicle from the start.
For what was probably the best the Reliant company had to offer look at the Reliant Scimitar.
 
AHHH - Thank you for the clarification ! 😁
The Scimitar makes me think of a later model Ford Cortina - I guess it was the style of the era.
 
As Danny says, this came with a full set of 4 wheels from the factory. Much rarer than the Robin or Rialto but that extra wheel is well prized by modders. There's quite a few of these had Cossie / bike / V8 engines in them. First job is going to be to make a sequential shifter using a push / pull cable.
 
I have all the glass plus some spare. One of the door cards is badly damaged but I'll be making new ones anyway from hardboard as I need some extra room in the cab on the passenger side. The tunnel is off centre giving the driver more room. I got a pair of Corbeau Sportsman seats with it which are one of the few seats that will fit being intended for Lotus 7 replicas that adhere to the original dimensions rather than the ones catering to more modern backsides. These are awful to sit on and on is the right word not in. MX5 seats are only 2cm too big and are also a firm favourite of the kit car builder. I can steal 4cm from the doors by changing the way the door cards work with the doors. I have most other trim and a rear seat that has a couple of small rips.

The bulkhead has moved into the passenger side somewhat to get the engine in. It's not that the engine is huge but it needs to go over that side to position the gearbox output in front of the tunnel. This means that even a Mini heater is too big. Fortunately Minispares have an even smaller one that will get used.

I've just ordered some plate to make a shifter which will be my first job
 
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