28-01-2021, 10:36 PM
I think these early Reliant engines are an interesting subject, one that little is written about.
Reliant were using austin engines, at some point the supply were going to dry up, probably about 1939 or sofor obvious reasons.
I would have thought, given its accepted that theu bought the rights to the engine, perhaps some or all of the tooling that their initial plan would have been to seemlessly build their own engine to slot in where the Austin engine would have, with little fuss. No doubt improved in production engineering terms, but similar in many ways.
I guess the early engines were like this, but there would have been pre war and low volume, so pretty uncommon. Over the years the design evolved and improved.
As a youngster I remember looking at a Reliant engine a friend in Colwyn Bay had. To look at it was basically a rectangular crankcase with bolt on steel engine mounts on the front and back, the rear incorporating the gearbox mounts and the starter. I seem to recall a hole in the head I assumed for the dizzy, And a sensible dynamo. All sensible improvements.
Reliant were using austin engines, at some point the supply were going to dry up, probably about 1939 or sofor obvious reasons.
I would have thought, given its accepted that theu bought the rights to the engine, perhaps some or all of the tooling that their initial plan would have been to seemlessly build their own engine to slot in where the Austin engine would have, with little fuss. No doubt improved in production engineering terms, but similar in many ways.
I guess the early engines were like this, but there would have been pre war and low volume, so pretty uncommon. Over the years the design evolved and improved.
As a youngster I remember looking at a Reliant engine a friend in Colwyn Bay had. To look at it was basically a rectangular crankcase with bolt on steel engine mounts on the front and back, the rear incorporating the gearbox mounts and the starter. I seem to recall a hole in the head I assumed for the dizzy, And a sensible dynamo. All sensible improvements.