DuttonOwners

Dutton Kit Cars and their owners

one of the car with hard top.....

and one with the soft top.....

the phaeton is still in my drive and it really really has to go.......ebay this week some time i think.

as for the Legerra, well it has given me some fun and games, first it boils up like a kettle....er well it did it now has a much larger radiator and some ducting on the radiator. it seems to make a difference.

the car goes quite well but it did have a hot staring issue which turns out to be a duff ballast resistor even though the car has electronic ignition. easy to fix and the car now starts hot reliably.

the suspension is very stiff and it will be softened up a bit, but the car handles quite well.

it has a MG miget dash in the car and i feel it really suits the car....more pictures later

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Engine and gearbox  are in the trailer as it would have been too heavy to load on top of Graham's trailer.....

i started building this sometime about 1995....i think, i certainly had owned it a few years before i got married (1998), it quickly got to this stage then sat in my garage for a few years........well ever since to be honest.

so i did a deal (a hard decision but once made it had to go..)

there are two sets of engine mounts on it, the first set has the engine between the front axle...i didn't like it there so i put another set in about 18" further rearwards. after i had done it the car was almost balanced at the middle.

And very light.....from memory its about 7 foot .......

well i am about to make a start on the Legerra, and to get the garage free for it to go into i have dismantled the S1.

sort of glad i did to be honest as there are some nasties that would have caused me problems had i decided to finish off what i had bought.

Yup that horror is the prop......it wasn't even bolted up evenly at the gearbox end......but why did they do it like that?

the seating tubs were fixed in with about 20 pop-rivets each side, better than most i have seen.......but the boot section was fixed in place with only two 17mm bolts (loose as it happens) and two self tappers........some folks i will never understand.

anyway the Lancia / Fiat 5 speed gearbox is now up for grabs and it is a very light gearbox about 1/2 to 2/3 of a ford 4 speed i would guess.

Dear me, that just adds credence to the argument that there should be some regulation on who should be allowed to build kit cars. I wouldn't be happy driving something, that someone else had built, with out me first taking it to bits to check it out, especially given some of the horrors I have found on my one!

the gearbox tripod flange is a splined shaft not unlike the ford sierra and just slides out, there was no need for the bodged bolted together mount.

What is even more alarming is the engine was highly modified with high compression pistons, wild cams, a new big valve head, and a new inlet manifold with a brand new webber 38dgas. Estimated to be 170hp! ( i have looked at the specialist Lancia sites and that estimate looks realistic) Over 1500 quid in tuning parts back in 1982....all wasted because the engine is now severely water damaged and seized.

the gear box cross-member was moved rearwards and the steel dimensions reduced by about 1/2. there was no other modifications to the chassis (apart from the engine mounts i suspect) no strengthening no stiffening nothing.........with a planned 170hp!

The steering column is a spear!........ and fitted into a poorly steering column shroud. the pedal box hacked about ok but not well done, and the throttle pedal........well it just would not have worked right.

Well i have made a gentle start.....the Legerra is in the garage and the S1 is in the shed (now the reliant donated its home.)

so first thing first i disconnected the front ARB mounts.......and Lo! and behold, the wheels almost by them selves line up in the wheel arches at about 86" each side. look how far the ARB moved in relation to the original mounts.

it might even need to move a little more yet but the bar is touching the mounting bolt......(on the O/S)

here is the N/S ARB mount.

Despite the ARB mounts having 4 mounting holes in the bracket each side Dutton in their infinite wisdom only put two bolts on each to secure them.......they are prone to breaking off.....i wonder why?

well the new mounts will have 4 bolts each side as ford intended.

this wheel used to run almost touching the rear sill.......it would touch on fast corners. i would like to do more to the Legerra this week but tomorrow i am going down to the new forest area to impose on...... (err visit my cousin.)

If any of the Legerra owners could measure the wheel base of their cars to give me a better idea of where the wheels should be that would help. Also some spring rates would be nice as mine are WAY WAY too stiff at about 285-350lb/in (front-rear) and the car sits too high, amongst other things.

i also now have a set of 14" zero offset weller wheels (same pattern as above) to go on the car. i think 185 tyres will be fine, much narrower than the 205's it has now and they may even improve road holding........any thoughts on tyre sizes out there for the Legerra?

a picture of the way the wheel sat before.........

here is the thread on my Legerra (soon to be in my garage and finished) you can see the issues with the ARB......all Legerra's and it appears the S3/4 phaetons and Melos seem to suffer the same problems. they all share the same basic chassis.

four bolt fitting isn't standard Dave, they are all 2 bolt on the escorts.

Cheers Ade.......odd that the mounting brackets for the ARB are drilled for 4 bolts then, are they 2 bolt on the Escorts and 4 on.......? perhaps the RS models?

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