All Blog Posts (475)

I've been following the kit car scene since the 80's and have done GTMs and also a Sylya stylus (that I still have)

Had gap from it all for about 10 yrs but recently decided to get back in with my son, with a view to racing

I always liked the Phaeton and i see it as something of a classic - plus they're cheap

The story so far is that I bought a Phaeton body and chassis although i don't think they match as the body is well used  but the chassis appears almost new…

well today has been a bit strange, i had a quick look at my sierra and was asking about a spare cylinder head for my Xflow with a friend when the conversation got round to my bending my car a little bit.......then out of the blue came this offer.....

"I have a phaeton in a relatives barn that i never use, never driven really it got put in there over three years ago and i never got round to looking at it." so we talked about it half heartedly with a view to using it for parts, which…

its occurred to me that a comprehensive list of current donor cars will be useful on here.....so here goes;

BMW..all of them

Lexus...most of them i think

Mercedes...again most of them

Mazda....MX5 and i believe some others (RX7?)

Suzuki.....the 4x4's but box is easy to mod apparently

Fords mated to Type 9's

any others out there spring to mind?

Hi Guys, I am just about to start my winter project of beefing up the front suspension of my S1 phaeton including a new set of coil-overs. As I run with a rover V8, with the usual spitfire/herald front suspension, I was wondering what the spring poundage should be on the new coil-overs I am ordering from Dampertech. Your advice/comments will be much appreciated

Peugeot leather seats from a cabriolet of some description, Black need cleaning but not ripped... £30 and he threw the back ones in as well.

I thought the material from the backs would come in handy for trimming the doors and centre console, maybe even a dash top.

Now... where is that leather cleaning stuff my mrs bought for her mondeo :-)

Oh.. pictures to follow .

Just what are we trying to achieve here and on the other Dutton sites?

Do we wish to only preserve Duttons as they left the factory?

are we looking to use and modify our cars to suit the modern road conditions?

are we looking to find new ways of solving old problems or are we looking to keep a supply of classic parts to maintain the cars as they were built?

Are we going to discourage modifying of the cars bodywork? 

what modifications are acceptable, if…

had an informal interview for a job lined up yesterday....and the sierra refused to start so i have to try to rearrange it for sometime today.  Ignition i thought....poxy points and condenser again, so i thought anyway but not. well after flattening two battery's and it only coughing and spluttering it was time for a proper diagnosing session. 

It turns out that one of my rubber pipes joining the polythene fuel pipe to the engine had perished (Its fairly new having only been on the…

I have been asked about wiper motor park switches so i thought i would repost this wiring diagram. This is the wiring diagram i worked out to get the park switch on my car to work as it should. the wiper motor was from a Vauxhall Corsa C it has a two speed motor and a park switch with two connections. This park mechanism relies on a "broken track" on the motor gear wheel, but if the motor power is not cut immediately the motor runs on and it wont stop. the circuit also controls the two…

My wife just bought a Hyundai Atoz the other day because the owner had taken it to several garages and was told that the car was beyond repair engine management wise and the owner would have to put up with it stalling and juddering whilst driving.

It had a years new MOT and 6 months tax, is in pretty tidy condition a 1998 reg, and only 48000 miles on the clock.....all for the grand total of £150 an absolute steal if i can sort it. Looking under the bonnet it was obvious that the…

under the bonnet of the Sierra. I have to say the cylinder head and exhaust manifold is a very awkward lift at that height, I might have a twinge or two tomorrow :-(.

Its out now though and the top of the block has been scraped clean of kak, head bolt threads cleaned out and a clean cloth soaked in wd40 laid over the block and weighted down to keep the crap out over night. I found some interesting 'blockages' on the water channels where the previous owner hadn't popped all the gasket…

Have a read of this people. LINK 

I have already posted one comment which hopefully reads with good humour. Maybe some of you want to chip in and stick up for our cars.

As someone suggested earlier I have started to write up all those fiddly jobs on the Sierra rebuild on Mr'G's forums to save them getting lost in theis one or cluttering it up.

Read all about it here.

patting myself on the back.

The Beast of Blackrod rides again. Made it up the drive and back a few times under its own power, brakes need attention but that was expected after a two year layup. Still have a lot of wiring to do behind the dash but I'm a happy chappie.…

Finishing the engine refit, wiring the capri dash and fitting the brightest LED daytime running lights EVER instead of sidelights... I'll see if I can get away with it as they are not E marked. ( I have a backup plan just in case)

I am going to organise something for a bunch of us to get together in the run up to Xmas it will be in Hull where i live and most likely at a pub/restaurant for an evening meal and a few drinks, some numbers would be good and if only half a dozen roll up it wont be a problem, so long as i know in advance. so i am fishing for numbers it will be "members and partners" so we can get to meet and greet.

if there is no interest that's not a problem either as i am sure that there will be…

refitting the engine and box to the Sierra, third time lucky and hopefully it won't have to come out again for a while.

Thanks to Dave T for pointing out the obvious grot on the splined part of the input shaft which I blatantly missed when assembling the engine and box the first and second times... :-)

cooling and lights/grill still to be put back but other than that she's back together.

http://www.englishdiff.co.uk/complete-english-diff-rebuild-kits.html

includes instructions and only £55 quid.

Going to Bolton tomorrow to collect some allycat wheels for Peggy. If anyone is interested in the Wolfrace Street Octanes shown in my picture, let me know. They're 100/108 PCD, 15", 6/5" (185mm tyres) and ET35 offset with plenty of tread. Otherwise they'll go on ebay.

http://westfield-world.com/flash_changer.html

not Dutton but close and fun to play with.

i need to pick up some sheets of plywood for a little job at home and i have sold my big trailer, so i decided that because the 4 or 5 4mm sheets of ply wont weigh much so why not use a a roof rack?

The lack of a gutter might seem a problem.....not for a man with a drill and some ideas it's not. so i got some 4 X 2 timber and shaped some runners and fitted some steel cross members.....…