Suspension

[John Allen]

Right general question to all.

If you were to start with a bare chassis and wanted to rebuild a phaeton with the intention of bringing it into the 21st century what suspension would you go for?? I'm sure purists will say its not a dutton if altered but that's not the intention of the topic.

I'm thinking double wishbone at front and back with adjustable coilovers therefore making independent rear axle???

[Pete Clayton]

I think it would be easiest following what some of the other modern kit cars are doing and fit something like the mx5 setup. Would be some quite major work to get it to fit you'd almost be better off building the chassis from scratch

[John Allen]

Oh yeah never thought about that. Was thinking scobby diff hubs etc

[Paul Sheridan]

When I first stripped my Phaeton I went through the same sort of thought process, bare chassis, what to do with it in order to make it better??  I looked at making it into an independent rear end, but decided that, with the extra work and effort, the end result was not going to be much better than the easier option, and so opted for the trailing arm 5 link, as you see today. The front suspension needs to be as fully adjustable as possible.

Also need to think about what power plant your going to use and how the chassis can be strenghthend accordingly.  

[Dave Adams]

Build what dutton intended but do it right and you will be hard pressed to significantly improve on it. mine when done this year drove like it had a road magnet under it!

[Big Vern]

I agree Dave, though I understand why people want to use more readily available parts.

[Dave Adams]

TThe benifits of indipendant rear suspension are often undone by the extra weight involved in doing it.

[Big Vern]

I looked into this a while back and did quite a lot of measuring up as I wanted to put MX5 running gear into the Phaeton Pete Clayton now has. With the earlier phaetons and before your a9$e is virtually on the axle tube and there's not enough room to get wishbones and a diff cage in. With the later S3,S4 and melos/legerra chassis the seating H point is further forward in the wheelbase and there is room, but the main upper chassis rail has to be cut to clear the rear upper wishbone. You could do it with Ford Sierra rear arms as they mount way below the upper chassis rail and carry the wheel hubs. Its a lot of work though given the live axle gets the job done. I'll try and scan in some pictures of the Sierra based set up I worked on.

To note: both the Ford Sierra and MX5 have considerably wider track so the bodywork would need work to cover the wheels.

TBH if you're gonna go to all the bother to build a 'from scratch' chassis for modern running gear why wouldn't you build a haynes roadster? Good bodywork available at a good price and a decent resale value at the end of it if you had to.

[Paul Sheridan]

The only Phaeton I've seen with IRS is Toms in Germany, and that was a lot of work. Good though :-)

[John Allen]

what about RX8 rear end? answers on a postage stamp!

[Big Vern]

Essentially similar to the mx5 with much the same problems and an even wider track

If you have a dutton then sort out what you have and make it work properly much as Dave A has suggested. If you want modern then go for building a modern car to go with it.

[John Allen]

not sure if ive been a bit silly after reading all these comment but have just bought a whole rx8 rear sub with diff, hubs, drive shafts, calipers, discs etc etc only cost £10 so if all goes pete tong not a massive waste!

[Big Vern]

Oh Dear