Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

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Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby 89ARIES » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:53 pm

Irene just called me on my cellphone during lunch from across the globe. Riga, Latvia, Europe. She is one of our first members in this club and very active. After two years and a lot of money invested, she now
is seriously looking at getting rid of the 81 Reliant. It is the only one in most of Europe. Mechanics have been unable to get her car running right. She has invested tons into parts. She has decided to give her
nightmare project one last chance by making some videos for us of her car and the engine running. I wish there was some way we could help her. We do have a new member from Sweden. Butch, want to fly over to Europe and fix her car? :lol:
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby Butch » Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:55 pm

I'd love too Guy. Got a plane ticket for me.
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby RichG » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:04 am

I'm closer than Butch.....I'll take a boat iffen you get me a berth. I'll take all my tools...too, I wish her luck.....
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby 1of10K » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:24 am

Maybe, as a club, we could collect a few parts she still needs and send them over there? Would be alot easier for us to find the parts here and maybe would help the mechanics over there who are not familliar with these Kars.
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby Butch » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:38 pm

I already got some hard to find parts for her. Raise $85. as a club and I'll ship them to her. Or better yet someone buy these parts from her. There located in L.A. Ca. as I'm sure she would rather get her $ back.
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby ReliantLV » Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:11 pm

Hi!

Thanks once again for the support and ideas. I believe the main problem is this: the people who own the real "valuable" US cars here, are not particularly interested in helping me out (even with advice etc.) - I tried several times and regret to report that they've always come off rather snotty and most unhelpful (sort of like "yeah, interesting project, you do realize this is not something that you could sell later?") I am sure if I had put, say, $5000 on the table for them to get this car back on the road, some of the mechanics may have shown some mild interest, but that I didn't have and still don't. (My idea was to just fix the major problems and see if and how it can run at all (after sitting in a shed for 10 years at the previous owner's place), and then perhaps the restoration could have continued properly.)

So I've had to rely on mechanics that were not exactly experts in US cars, but showed enough enthusiasm and a decent amount of positive attitude to my little old Reliant.

Since last November it's been in a private garage where this guy (aged ca. 65, just for the record) seemed very positive at first that we'd be able to fix it. I had no reason not to believe him (seeing the other cars he's fixing), and he was sort of my last hope. (and the $ was right) He really did a LOT with the "hardware" - fixed up the rear axle nicely, reinforced the bumpers, got rid of the rust etc etc (too many points to mention!), including partly fixing the brakes that only needed the drums which Butch kindly bought for me and which I've been putting off having shipped because.... the car wouldn't start. That was something new, as it ALWAYS started when I was test-driving it before letting it hibernate for the winter. Which brings me to the next point - and I really hate to say it - but I really do NOT appreciate it when some men (some, not all!) have a problem saying they don't know something or can't fix something.

So rather than telling me to look for a different mechanic, a specialist to see what the problem was under the hood, he kept trying to solve it by himself and/or with the help of some advisers (who turned out to be no wiser than himself). Being rather devoid of the ability to nag, I didn't even think to interfere and was waiting patiently (as he was still full of enthusiasm and I was sure the problem would be solved soon). Then finally many weeks later he announced that they solved the problem - the "brains" were at fault and they put in something from an Audi 100. Now, I know that there HAD been plenty of modifications even before that (not to mention that the engine itself was put in from a different Chrysler, it's a 2.5), but I think all that together certainly did not help this little car's engine run smoothly and efficiently.

So at this point it does start with some effort (but for some reason the generator doesn't charge the battery, the red lamp is flicking - they tried to fix that at a repair shop but half an hour later the lamp was back on again), it does drive, but there is no use to even try to go through the emissions test as my nose can tell they're 10x what is acceptable; naturally it consumes an unreal amount of gasolene at this point, and the engine doesn't run smoothly even when warmed up. Basically I am getting sick of local mechanics looking under the hood and exclaiming "oh, it's SIMPLE, it's just a carburetor!" and then returning the car to me with a list of things that still need to be fixed for the engine to run normally (and even then without any guarantees because things have been tampered with so badly already).

I do believe in karma and everything and it's beginning to seem like this car really does NOT want me. Either it wants to retire for good, or it needs a proper owner, someone who has the brains and skills to look at all of the wires and figure out how to make it run nicely. I don't know if that is possible, I guess the Chrysler people didn't hire their engineers for nothing, and it may not be possible at all to get it back to normal after so many changes already made. :( Logically thinking, it's actually impossible for one little car to have so many problems, one stemming from another, to prevent it from getting back on the road, is it?

Just to say, I'm feeling really 'strong' right now, you can tell me your worst verdicts or predictions. Some of my close friends that have seen it, like it very much (as do I) and would not like to see me get rid of it, but one HAS to get real at some point? (even the craziest ones like myself)
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby ReliantLV » Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:36 pm

89ARIES wrote:Irene just called me on my cellphone during lunch from across the globe.


I didn't even realize it was your cellphone! :mrgreen: And thanks for listening so patiently!
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby Butch » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:49 am

Wow, she still alive :lol: Hello Irena, here's a little help on the charging problem.....http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/vbart ... ticleid=51. So is there any Hot Rodders in your neigborhood ? they could always adopt a drivetrain they know about into the car. The last shop I work at built Chevy powered classic Fords. Maybe someone there could put a VW eng. in the trunk for you. :lol: Good luck, I hope everything work outs for you. Also post on TM too, there's alot of good mechanics there who are suckers for a pretty girl.
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby 1of10K » Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:32 pm

Too bad your mechanic didn't stop when he first realized he didn't really know what was wrong and just planned to throw parts at it in hopes of it working. We have mechanics here like that too, they just want you to keep giving them money for pay for them learning on your car.

By all means keep your car! If it were alive, I would think it knows it needs you to save it from being recycled or wrecked by someone who just wants to sell it for it's scrap value and appreciates the time, money and effort you have already spent on it!

Do you have any factory shop manuals for your car?? I am willing to email or send you copies of whatever page(s) you or your mechanic might need for your '81 from my set of '81 shop manuals, if you think it would help. The pages would be in English, but may really help whoever tries to work on your car. Let me know or PM me here. Also, I would tell that mechanic to stop putting any more Audi or other Make parts on your car, in hopes they will work.
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Re: Irena of Riga, Latvia, Europe called me today. Her 81 Relian

Postby Butch » Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:19 am

1of10K wrote:Too bad your mechanic didn't stop when he first realized he didn't really know what was wrong and just planned to throw parts at it in hopes of it working. We have mechanics here like that too, they just want you to keep giving them money for pay for them learning on your car.

I't's statements like this that really piss me off. If the owners mantained the car CORRECTLY and didn't run them into the ground they would be more reliable. If the owners would learn to do just some basic repairs or even learn what a screw driver is, they wouldn't be paying someone else to LEARN on their car. You have to gave the guy credit for trying to help, even using foreign parts is better than not being able to find the correct part. Many people switch to the GM 1 wire alt. because there's only ONE wire to hook up and NOTHING in between it and the batt. It's a know fact that the holley carbs are junk on these car and webbers are used in their place.
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