Reliant Scimitar
Nigel can avoid one particular task no longer
For some months now, the Scimitar’s driver’s window has been getting stiffer and stiffer to wind up and down. I duly ignored the problem… that is, until the inevitable happened a couple of weeks ago and the window jammed completely.
These nagging faults always come to a head at the worst possible moment. For the Scimitar’s window, the end came as I was leaving the pay booth on the M6 Toll, on a run home from a visit to Wales. Having paid the £5.50 fee to avoid heavy traffic round Birmingham, and with 50 miles of motorway and dual carriageway still to go, the window refused to go back up. I was in for a very draughty drive home, though at least it was dry. The dilemma was whether to slow down to reduce the gale in the cabin, or keep my foot down and minimise the time spent in near wind tunnel conditions. The car seemed content with my decision to get home quickly; it really is an excellent motorway cruising machine.
Once back home and thawed out, it was time to sort out the window. The door card came out quickly. Credit to Reliant, the factory chose to attach the handles with screws that undo easily and the card is held to the door with self-tappers, much easier to remove than some trim clips which are designed to inflict damage to the door card upon removal.
I only needed to undo around ten screws and the card lifted away. Inside the door, the window regulator mechanism was dry and caked with years of dust, plus a bit more white dust from the hours of sanding to prepare for last year’s respray. I cleaned the regulator pivots, glass channels and winder gear then lubricated it all. Sure enough, the window goes up and down smoothly again, but the action is still a bit notchy near the top. Sometime I will need to track down and fit a new winder but it’s perfectly serviceable for the time being.
Rust removal
While the door card was off, I decided to tackle the rust that has built up on the steel window frame, something that has been bothering me ever since I bought the car two years ago. The worst of the corrosion was wired brushed and sanded off, then I applied a coat of POR-15 Metal Prep to neutralise the remaining rust. After drying the Metal Prep, I finished the job with
two coats of POR-15 satin black, which is formulated to give lasting protection on slightly rusty surfaces. Unfortunately, the weather was so cold the paint wouldn’t flow easily and I left some brush marks, but it’s still far better than before. Also because of the cold, I had to spend a while waving a hot air gun at the frame to persuade the paint to dry. The door card went back into place as easily as it was removed. I’m happy with the result but when eventually the winder has to be replaced, I’ll sand the frame and paint it again in warmer weather. It’s been one of those jobs where for various reasons I’ve fallen short of absolute perfection, though the car is still completely serviceable. I awarded myself eight out of 10 and went indoors for a well-earned warm up and a brew.
Lights… again!
Last month I had to deal with an occasionally reluctant headlight and guess what, the Scimitar has thrown up another intermittent electrical fault. Soon after I bought the car, the right-hand sidelights and dashboard lights would go out, only to reappear later for no obvious reason. Interrogation of the wiring diagram revealed the sidelights are fed by two fuses, one for the left and a second for the right side and dash. It seems overcomplicated, one fuse would surely have sufficed for all the sidelights, but that’s how Reliant chose to do it. The standard fix of cleaning fuse box contacts and replacing fuses made no difference. It turned out there is only a single feed wire from the light switch to the fuse box and the second sidelight circuit gets power through a link in the back of the fuse box. I carefully bent the fuse box terminals to improve contact with the bridging link and all the lights worked again. The same problem has just recurred. This time, after using the multimeter to confirm which side of the fuse box is connected to the light switch, I’ve soldered a bridging wire between the terminals. This will hopefully provide a longer term solution.