Or something like that...Someone asked how big a rim you can get on a Dutton... These are 8j 15's with no spacers due to being centre offset.

I know they won't be to everybodies taste but the tyres will be replaced with something chunkier before winter so they will actually serve a useful purpose.…

Awful photo's of my old cars, well some of them anyway.

Click Here.

Fuel tank and pipe to pump.   

Radiator brackets and top hose.     

Sender units and coil mounting.     

Washer bottle and plumbing.     

Check all brake pipe unions     

Longer wheel studs all round     

Identify and terminate all the wires under the dash     

Finish back door shut glassing up.(my 'wet weather' job)     

Battery mounts and cables    

Exhaust (awaiting parts)    

That should keep me busy for a day or two.…

Enjoying the sunshine, wiring the Sierra and buying stuff on ebay (again)

Despite having many big boxes full of odd nuts and bolts I don't seem to be able to find the coarse pitch UNF blots for the seat belts. M10 bolts thread into the holes but are so slack you can nearly wiggle them out 

Are these bolts 3/4 UNF Cp or 5/8 UNF CP, does anybody know?

Clearing up trying to find those elusive bits that have vanished.

Despite many hours and help from Mr H I have passed my deadline and therefore failed to get the Sierra ready for this weekend.

On the bright side I have got a lot of the base work done and much progress made but for the lack of a few bits and a couple of days work its not going to make it. Maybe next week, maybe the week after but it wont be long.

fitting the engine and box, plumbing the brakes and starting the wiring.

Anybody bored out there in duttonland I wouldn't say no to a helping hand (free tea and coffee provided)

refitting the pedal box, steering column etc to the Sierra. Moved it all around and now I'm happy it's as straight as its going to get. I need to make a new mounting point for the top of the column as it doesn't line up with those dutton tab brackets anymore. The column will need to be shortened by about 9 1/2 inches and the tip triangulated, then a new shaft made with a splined UJ on the lower end.and a triangle bracket UJ at the top. 

Then set about repairing all the old holes in…

I have come to the conclusion that whoever designed the column, pedalbox bracket and U/J layout on the S2 Sierra's was loco or suffered from some odd physical deformity. Absolutely nothing lines up properly on mine so tomorrow the pedal box and column are coming out again and I am going to re glass the floor, possibly even put a sheet of metal in to act as a bracer plate.

Pedals have steel brackets welded to the chassis strut brace and strut riser which are two inches too far to the…

The first clear day on the Sierra rebuild has a pedal box back in (thanks Daryl) heater box semi fitted (needs a gasket and one bolt hole re-drilling), bonnet hinges removed and repaired and a partial repair on the body to stop the hinge twisting back into the car through the scuttle.

Nudge bar is back off again ready to crank an engine in, the question is ... what engine?

2l pinto with a choice of 4 or 5 speeds or a 1300 xflow  for which I have no gearbox :-(

Its a…

After two years of slowly fading gelcoat I decided, before the lakes run, to polish the Legerra with a toy I found in the garage. The halfords polisher failed miserably on the last vehicle I tried to polish with it, seems I was using the wrong 'stuff' ... Tcut. 

I tried something else this time, G3 scratch remover, water in a spray bottle and this dirty great polisher. I'm pleased to say it worked a treat. Bit weird on the arms for a while afterwards but definitely took all the graft…

Digging... how much does my back ache?

With a Sierra and a Phaeton I am dying to get to grips with I really need my garage back so I have started work behind the garage on a small extension to store all the garden stuff and spare car parts in.

Two days and I'm now fighting ivy and blackthorn roots to make progress for the footings.

Mother nature consumed to little wooden shed that was there so this one will be brick and as we back onto a field thats three feet below our…

Playing with steering wheels and shopping.

Shopping first. Went with Sue to look for a bit of furniture to put in the now decorated porch, somewhere to put boots and shoes. Came home with a rake of suede like material which is now going to be used to trim the legerra. It'll go through the sewing machine which will make assembly times faster on the seats. Easier to work than the original plan of using leather and about £100 cheaper. There will probably be enough left over to make a…

This one is to enforce the 'anti dazzle' law applicable to car headlights.

Blinding Vehicle Lights or "Lightmare"

Responsible department: Department for Transport

Blinding vehicle lights are surely the most pressing road safety problem of modern times. When life-safety is at risk why are car manufacturers trying to out-shine one another by fitting dazzling lights that cause temporary blindness under the guise of safety? The law is…

I got home from work today to find two of the wheels down the drive had been stolen.

I wouldn't mind so much if it wasnt the pair I took of the legerra last week leaving me with two odd alloys on the front and two odd alloys on the back. Any number of other alloy wheels down the drive they could have nicked but no, they had to nick two out of the only matched set of four 15" rims I had.

If I ever find out who did it I will make sure they never steal anything ever again.…

As its nice and mild I have the office window open and am being serenaded by the dulcid tones of Ronan Keating coming from Haigh Hall 5 BLOODY MILES AWAY!!!

Still at least its not Opera.

The old girl clocked 600+ miles this weekend, taking the total over 20,000 in less than 3 years. Didn't miss a beat all weekend, drove back from Kent with the roof down all the way despite threatening cloud over Donnington.

The spoiler has made a difference at speed, it feels more stable. Just needs finishing along with the rear bumper. The new glove box got used and seems surprisingly solid despite being made from foam and skinned with tissue.

I still need to service the back…

So I spent my sunny weekend doing odd jobs on the car, Decided it was time to fit the metric studs in the back axle.

I bought the studs before I bought the car, sat in a bag covered in oil in the garage for a while. Out comes the blowlamp, big 'ammer and other bits and bobs to get it sorted. Old ones were a nice tight fit but came out with just a few carefully placed whacks with a 2 1/2 lb'er. Got the new ones ground to the same length and fitted. Checked all the back brakes while the…