Q835XSC - Dutton Legerra Series 2

[Adrian Southgate]

So, collected last weekend and the first chance I get to go over it we have snow / hail / rain and gales... lovely if your a penguin I guess...

Q835XSC purchased from the factory in 1988, completed in 1990, stored for the winter in 1991 and there it sat for 22 years, possibly one of the saddest Legerras I have ever seen apart from my black one.

It was rough, body panels off, windscreen missing and a sorry case of 4 wheel drum brakes... 

Today it got a wash, nothing special just caravan cleaner and a sponge but an improvement on fungus and moss...

Hell of a job on here lads, starting with a body off chassis check, bushes and bolts and some refurb bits fresh from the sand blasting cabinet.

I will be posting more detail on Mr G's but major updates will be copied onto here too.

[Adrian Southgate]

I was still looking at 1300's on ebay until Dave pointed out the differences... just in case.

Proof will be when it fires first time....

[James Doulton]

A decent 1600, despite the appearances, that's a stroke of good luck.

[Adrian Southgate]

I think I need to treat this with a bit more respect then Dave...

I'll finish stripping it and cleaning the worst of the gak off tomorrow, Head can go for a valve job and then I can clean and paint the block.

[Adrian Southgate]

[Adrian Southgate]

So this is a 1600 then...?

[Adrian Southgate]

So, heads off, nicely surprised to find this inside...

Obviously Ford rustproofed the inside of this crossflow...

but forgot the outside...

I think it was red - looks pink now... my question is 1300 or 1600 as I can't remember what the height difference is and where to measure it...

[Adrian Southgate]

This is what I have done under the bonnet of the white one. Not the best photo in the world but you can see I have opened up the rough hole made by Dutton and tidied it up a bit. There's just a 25mm lip all the way round now. I'll make a foam insert to fit between the inner panel and the radiator and then make a fibreglass mould of it fit to the car to duct the air through. The original hole was small with very sharp edges. This is now smoooooth and once the edges are coated in resin should look a lot better. If I make the recess in the front bumper to match the existing one in the bonnet I can double the amount of air going in through this part of the front of the car.

I have yet to work out the ducting for the bumper however I think with the increased area given by the lowered front edge I won't need to duct the side intakes into the radiator void. I can use that air to duct around the brakes.

The upper vents inboard of the indicators will be used to force air into the cabin. The nearside one will be ducted into the heater box, not quite sure how i'd get the offside one to send air over to the nearside yet but ducting behind the front bumper seems possible below the metal rail.

[Adrian Southgate]

So, apart from the issues with the Sierra :(...

Dragged this out of it's donor single handed (literally) and dropped treacle like gearbox oil (which was clean) all over the nice painted floor of the unit :(

Scabby 711M 1300.... I still havent had the head off but whilst moving it around on the hoist I tipped it nose down to drain the rest of the coolant only to have water come out of number 1 inlet port... this is not a good sign. I'll get the box off and get it up on a stand so it can be done properly. Looks like a complete rebuild may be on the cards  . Luckily I know a man who knows crossflows so I've sent him a photo... 

Type 2 box but gearstick is shot however despite outward appearances I'm hoping the internals are good. Find out when I pop the top off.

Body is coming on nicely, going to need some very clever glass work on the passenger footwell to make that right again. Don't see the point in butchering the exhaust when the floor is already in need of repair so will be shaping the new floor with plenty of clearance on the four branch.

[Adrian Southgate]

Back from Wales and keen to crack on over this weekend.

Got an engine, box, prop and diff to remove from one car, Brackets to make for both XSC and CMV for the anti roll bar mods and new TCA's to fit to CMV along with new ARB bushes for the 19mm ARB. Also got to find out why the handbrake on CMV has stopped working in the last week :(

As usual, open house round the unit if anyone wants to come round and get grubby or just waffle and make brews/pass spanners.

[Adrian Southgate]

@ Daryl - Heads coming off anyway. if its a GT head then its having hardened seats put in the exhausts if not then I'm off to find a big valve head for it. 

@ Brian -  I was expecting a lot of corrosion even if it was just surface... but it's clean. Mind you if the cap's been left on and the cover not removed to let the damp in... Bores on the other hand have been exposed due to rain getting in the carb and damp getting up the exhaust manifold as the downpipe and in fact the rest of the exhaust is missing.