Dutton Kit Cars and their owners

Leggy Front shocks.

Hi all,

slowly getting various jobs done on the Leggy Series 2 but every time i wheel it out of the garage and look at it i don't like the hight at the front so need some shorter shocks.

What are other owners using on theirs, specifically lengths and spring loads?

Cheers.

Scotty.

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Permalink Reply by James Doulton on March 30, 2017 at 16:03

According to my notes, I'm using Gaz dampers 120/085B12 with coil springs 10 coils of 8.25mm diameter wire and 1.9" internal diameter - about 160 lb/in. The springs have a free length of 223mm (185mm pre-loaded). The GAZ dampers are adjustable and I have them set about 1/3 hardness (if I remember correctly it was 15 clicks out of 50). They are fine for road use but I probably should wind the dampers up a bit on the track (but I haven't tried that yet).

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Permalink Reply by Scott Grimson on March 30, 2017 at 16:20

Ok cool i'm looking at some Gaz ones now and will try to use that as a rough guide mate.

God knows what shocks i have on it now but they have no adjustment and the gap between top of tyre and wheel arch is about 4" on the off side and for some reason about 4 1/2" on the near side???!!!!! Is this just my car or do they all do this?

I'd like the gap at about 2" and have some adjustment to tweek it.

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Permalink Reply by James Doulton on March 30, 2017 at 16:49

Mine are similarly asymmetric : 3" and 3 1/2" with the track day wheels and tyres on. The gap would be about 15mm less with my normal road tyres on. Rear clearance is about 2" with the track day tyres on. My rear tyres (195's) are slightly narrower than the arches but when I had 205's on then they would touch the inside edge over some bumps.

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Permalink Reply by Adrian Southgate on March 30, 2017 at 19:14

Shocks on the front are originally hillman imp if I remember correctly.

Main issues with the legerra front end are...

Odd height wheel arches ! Measure across the bonnet floor to floor, work out the centre line and then measure arch top to arch top from the centre line, n/s is higher than o/s...

ARB mounts not square to TCA mounts also not square to rear axle. You said previously that yours was ok though.

Lower shock mounts on outer edge of wishbone - this causes fouling with certain wheel / tyre combinations - ideal solution is to move the mount inboard and below the upper wishbone. Haven't done mine yet so still using spacers / shims.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Grimson on March 30, 2017 at 20:15

Yes Adrian my ARB mounts are exactly the same so that's ok.

The tyres fouled on the shock slightly until i fitted spacers on the front hub and pushed the wheels out enough to clear.

Ade what front shock set up are you running mate?

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Permalink Reply by Adrian Southgate on March 30, 2017 at 21:22

Original issue, No idea what spring rate, no adjustment available, just use it and abuse it. Have to be honest and say the front is softer than it was on the last set but I think they were original Dutton shocks so possibly 25 years old when I changed them... for another equally old pair.

Its that mounting tube that needs moving but its awkward to relocate without moving the bottom of the shock inboard by two inches. My tyre just fouls the shock, when I turn right the left shock rubs, turn left and the right shock rubs. Fitting new ball joints may help a little but moving that tube half an inch inboard would fix the problem completely. I may ask Mr Kerswell if he would modify them slightly as I have a set on the 'spares' car.

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Permalink Reply by James Doulton on March 31, 2017 at 14:04

That is a good idea. I could see if that nice chap would do the same to mine. The GAZ damper adjusting wheel is the first thing that rubs on my set up but it is closely followed by the base of the spring.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kerswell on March 31, 2017 at 15:33

Oh, send them down, I love (need) a challenge.in

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Permalink Reply by Adrian Southgate on March 31, 2017 at 19:31

If you could do my 'spare' set and we could make it work then I can swap them and send the set down thats on the green one, send them to someone else and swap etc, rotate them until we all have a set. :) or in my case two... or three...possibly :)