Duttoneering Holiday

[James Doulton]

So I decided to take my Legerra on my annual holiday to Cornwall. I wanted to finally reap the harvest of all the work that I have put into the car over the last year or so. I called in on the Kerswell household on the way down, where I left most of the components of my bonnet catch on the ground outside the house.

Then I called in on Nick Carlin to examine his stripped Legerra chassis. As soon as I set out for the 27miles to his place my roof fixing came away. Then it started to rain. It rained all of the way to his place which took an hour and a half because of getting lost twice and then ending up in the middle of a field. I don't normally drive the Dutton in the rain because the windscreen wipers are quite difficult to set up correctly - either they hit each other and jam or one blade goes off the edge of the screen and eventually gets caught.

All the time that I was at Nick's place it rained and most of the water that collected on the roof ended up in the cabin when I went over a ridge leaving his drive. Then I hit the rush hour traffic which was stop-start, so without the airflow I struggled to keep the screen clear in the rain. It took over an hour to get 'home'.

Then when I parked up, the handbrake lever went all the way with no resistance and no effect. So today I had to get under the car at the side of the road to work out what was going on. Fortunately the cable wasn't broken - the cable adjuster had pulled out of the mounting on the chassis.

[James Doulton]

It's a collector's car - every time I drive it I have to go back and collect the bits that have fallen off!

[Dave Adams]

Thats the trouble with kit cars they are either over engineered or bodged to a hopeless and inadequate standard.

[2edvaw06pgbav]

I found that the more you use it the less it mucks you about. I did 6000 in mine before the tax ran out and if you drive it regularly you tend to fix things rather than let them go. That said I still have ongoing misting problems and an small wiring fault to deal with once the engine is back in and I really don't want to spend any more money on a car that I'll be putting up for sale

[James Doulton]

I fitted a new in-line fan for my heater. I put it into the feed hose in the wheel arch. It improved the situation but it has not cured it - I think I need bigger vents, which would mean taking the dash apart. A side effect of fitting the fan was that the hose from the grille fell off somewhere, so I have no ram air effect from just driving at the moment. Also the gaps around the soft top only seem to allow moisture in and not to let the humid air out!

[2edvaw06pgbav]

If there are no takers I'll redo the heater from scratch probably with electric demist for the screen and a small heater/fan for the cabin. I've noticed the same about the hood

[Dave Adams]

I have a plan to fit a cabin vent on the rear seat moulding like conventional cars to suck the air under the car and improve the ventilation.