DuttonOwners

Dutton Kit Cars and their owners

Today I finally made it, fetching Dorrie from the container to the place where I can work on her. A full rebuild is planned as she is currently in bits, only partly restored. Progress will be rather slow, since it will mainly be evenings or weekends I can work on her for a couple of hours.

What did already happen?

Ade already helped me out with a complete Phaeton shell, which I was able to collect on the same weekend as the AGM and Stoneleigh were. So one day Dorrie will wear the Phaeton smile again. But before a lot of other things need to be occupied.

This blog is supposed to sum up the rebuild from start to the end.

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Comment by Patrick Buchfink on June 1, 2017 at 7:21

Kent 234 fast road cam is already installed :)

Comment by Adrian Southgate on May 31, 2017 at 20:48

Good to see your back on it again Patrick.

I'm no x flow expert but big steps anywhere in the gas flow is probably bad. If you go to bike carbs and a megajolt you should make enough BHP to make it entertaining, getting a fast road cam for it would help too.

Comment by Patrick Buchfink on May 31, 2017 at 19:07

Wow. Time flies by and Dorrie got less attention than expected in the last year (manly due to time intensive projects in my Master programme). Meanwhile, I aimed at using a Pinto engine ready to go. So, mid of last year until early this year, I wasted all spare time intended for Dorrie to salvage a Ford Sierra estate for the Pinto engine. Dropped the engine into the S3 engine bay and realized the difference between a Pinto and a xflow ... Engine fooling the chassis on several points (alternator, radiator) which is resolvable I know. But the weight difference is remarkable. I know you told me that earlier, Ade :) At that point I talked with a fried who works for the German MOT equivalent who told me that a tuned Pinto is too much power for the S3 to guarantee a certification. He'd allow me about 20% increase in power which is with the current registration of a 1600 xflow somewhat about 100 hp. Anything else would need closer investigations which are quite a struggle - so I was told.

So I decided to revert and use the xflow which sparse me modifications of the engine bay, reduces the weight and does not interfere with a too large power increase. I decided to take the route of bike carbs (CBR 600) with an electronic ignition (Megajolt). Since the Weber carbs that were contained with the engine do not match each other and the distributor needs replacement as it's damaged, both modifications come in handy.


Here you can see the parts for the crank sensor with the trigger wheel. The parts were designed in AutoCAD and 3d printed with PLA filament for the sake of prototyping. I always wanted to test my brothers 3d printer plus the parts will be laser cut by a friend which I want to spare from possible construction errors.

The bike carbs were purchased on eBay (~100€). I disassembled them and thoroughly cleaned with a loads of break cleaner. Next up is designing the inlet manifold for the bike carbs. I decided to space the bike carbs to match the inlet ports of the xflow. There is a detailed description of a Locost guy (http://www.dwjenkins.plus.com/bike_carbs.htm). This way, the manifold is easy to construct with straigt pipes. Yet not sure which diameter to choose for the inlet runners as the original rubber connectors are reducers with about 33-34 mm on the short site and my xflow port is 38-39 mm so there would be quite a step. I'm tempted to buy silicone runners of diameter 36-38 mm which would match the carb and the xflow port without big disruptions in gas flow.

Comment by Patrick Buchfink on August 28, 2016 at 12:11

Little update on this one.

Dorrie is very happy to get an upgrade.

I found a pretty affordable '88 Sierra with a 2.0 Pinto just around the corner and couldn't be talked out of buying it. We fetched it last week evenings and yesterday we salvaged the engine:


It's a 205 block with a Weber DFTH carb with a lot of electronics (control unit for cold start). But I'm planning to switch to DGAV 32/36.

The ignition distributor is such a mechanical / electrical hybrid with a Hall sensor. The sensor wire went straight into the big control unit, that is connected to the carb. I know these kind of distributors need a kind of amplifier that controls the distribution signal, but I don't want to use the whole control unit. Does anyone know, which models come with such an distributor from which I can use the distributor control unit singularly?

Another issue is engine mounts. What engine mount brackets are needed for the Pinto? Can I use those U shaped from my Kent? Pic from Burton

Comment by Patrick Buchfink on June 25, 2016 at 18:16

@Ade: English axles were supposed to mean something like RHD axle. I could have imagined that they are build with an offset to the left. But with the correct angles that's fine too. Nice video that made me understand cancelling out angles in the drive train pretty nicely was this one: Link.

Yep, adjustable height shockers will help a lot. Since the rear shockers are rusty on their mount they need to be replaced anyway.

@UJ in the steering column: Didn't think about its crashworthiness. That's another pro for UJs.

Comment by Adrian Southgate on June 25, 2016 at 17:18

English axles or 'english' axles?

GB built cars have the same offset pinion flange as yours but if the axle and gearbox are straight in the chassis then the pinion flange angle cancels out ok. As the original mounts were offset to the left of the car then the angles would not have cancelled due to the gearbox not being straight.

Build the car at the height you want it to ride at and just use adjustable height shocks to level it with occupants and body on. Pinion flange angle can be altered with adjustable top or bottom suspension arms.

Comment by Patrick Buchfink on June 25, 2016 at 16:58

Some progress on Dorrie: I finally found enough time to measure her up (gearbox + engine mounts). That looks more like it! The picture below was taken in working progress. Little offset on the gearbox mount on the picture. This was for sure corrected before measuring.

One can see the problem clearly: The differential has an offset to the right. The engine mounts were build with an offset to the left (LHD axle + RHD engine mounts?). This resulted in a horrible drive shaft angle (picture in my last post with pictures). We now decided to accept that offset of the axle such that the drive train is perfectly straight and there is some more room to breath for the driver. Do English axles have an offset to the left?

Lots of screw clamps and spirit levels involved. We build a straight line with a metal measuring bar from the crank pully to the differential (shiny thing in the picture). Finally, we constructed a cardboard dummy for the engine mounts. I chose to go with a bended sheet metal triangle instead of those bars. Steering rack will have enough space to pass through besides some exhaust manifold problems. Yet not sure if the manifold will be changed or to go with a UJ in the rack.

The clearance on the rear cross member looks pretty low. Yet, I don't know how much the weight of the shell + passengers will change on this. I'm planning to change the part of that cross member, such that there will be more clearance. Also, the pinion angle of the differential is not right yet. But this is a thing to set up with the rear axle and has nothing to do with the centralizing.

For the gearbox mount I went for the Cortina gearbox mount (http://www.burtonpower.com/gearbox-mount-ford-cortina-mk1-mk2-gb2e4...). Don't know what was in there earlier, but I read that the original Sierra mount is in some cases too soft. To attach the gearbox mount to the chassis a cradle will be build that can be removed in order to lower the gearbox out of the car if needed (cheers Ade for that hint!)

Next job is producing engine mounts and gearbox cradle.

Comment by Patrick Buchfink on June 5, 2016 at 16:43

Ok. Then welding will be the first job on the car. Luckily, there is a fitter in the family with all tools needed :) Centralising engine + correct gearbox mounts + correct angles in the drive train (such as pinion flange angle). Maybe there will also be some work on the suspension of the rear axle. Yet not sure. Upcoming job: Measuring.

Current sump clearance is 100mm + 35mm increase with the correct tyres. Exhaust is planned to be a side pipe. This should be ok then.

@Steve: Luckily, Melos parts are quite rare down here :)

Comment by Steve Kerswell on June 5, 2016 at 11:33

I've got 100mm sump clearance, never hit anything or ground it, the silencer however tells another story. Eye's peeled on road for that odd big pothole, or bits of Melos left laying around :-)) as for the engine gearbox, get it central while it's stripped, save heartache later, do if once, do it right.

Comment by Adrian Southgate on June 5, 2016 at 11:30

the drive flange on the diff faces straight forward but slightly offset therefore the back of the gearbox should also be straight (parallel with cross rails) but it can be central in the chassis.

The two angles on the propshaft uj's have to cancel out so once the engine angle is set you may have to alter the vertical angle of the diff flange by putting wedges under the mounting plates. (lookup pinion flange angle on you tube)

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