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.

[Brian (up north) Morris]

:-)

[Steve Kerswell]

That's nice. I'll look at it, don't do scalextric Anymore :-))

[Adrian Southgate]

I'll just leave this here until the end of the GP highlights 

[Adrian Southgate]

Well whaddya know... The second set of papers I filled in got sent in a pre paid envelope as supplied by the DVLA. I left it a week before I called to allow mr postie time to do his thing and sure enough he did, well he would have if they hadn't gone missing as well.  

Had a few calls and some emails back and forth with the DVLA and hopefully it's now in process. Two sets of documents I posted in and they don't seem to be able to locate any of them.   Had to repeat the process by email.

Anyway - back on the spanners...

Axle is now stripped down, cleaned out and I'm happy with the casing. I've got some paint so that'll keep me busy for a few evenings. Made a stand from a couple of bits of old timber and the two ARB brackets I removed from the axle as they were unused and just 'dead weight'. It all came apart with no real drama apart from freeing the brake drums. Now it's just an empty shell awaiting it's fate.



I'm now in a bit of a dilemma as I'm not sure which diff ratio to use. 
I have currently got 2 x 3.89:1, a 3.88:1 and a 3.54:1.



As its only using a 1600 crossflow and a type 3 box of uncertain ratio's I'm not sure which one will provide the best result for 'general motoring'. I am tempted to use the 3.54:1 just to keep the revs down on the motorway as I expect quite a bit of it's life will be spent there. The 3.88:1 is an odd one though as it has a 10 tooth pinion and a 39 tooth crown wheel according to the stamping on the actual crown wheel. I knew the 3.89:1's were the most common and the 3.54:1's were rare but hadn't actually come across a 3.88:1 before. Does make me wonder what I will find in the other axles when I eventually get around to sorting them out.

[Adrian Southgate]

Thanks Paul. We will see what happens. I don't think the DVLA are money driven, I think they are self serving, just trying to prove to HMG that they earn their salaries... 

[Paul Sargisson]

Ok I wish you all the best with this one Ade, DVLA appear to be on no ones side but their own ie making money.

[Adrian Southgate]

Times have changed Paul. When we first started to tackle your issue we had LVLO's which made life so much more simple. The DVLA have moved on and of course, just like so many other things done in the name of progess, made our lives so much more difficult. I still think that when you've finished it will be worth it though. Just see how I get on with mine and if it all works out then we can call it a 'method' of getting a win.

Like me, you always have plan B, (see what I did there haha) 

[Paul Sargisson]

And you would like me to to take this path to no return ???

[Adrian Southgate]

I'm sure it will sort itself out and I have plan B, C and D if that stalls...

I sent it all in knowing that it may be a problem due to the length of time its been off the road and the changes to the V5 so hey ho. We'll see what happens. 

[Adrian Southgate]

Well that put the cat in with the pigeons.
I'm not going to turn this into war and peace ranty whinge post but I need to get this off my mind...
I sent the V5, and a SORN notice off to Swansea at the beginning of April along with some other documents relating to XSC. As usual, recorded delivery blah blah...
As I hadn't heard back from them I decided to give them a call last week. Turns out that even though they had been signed for they had 'gone missing' somewhere inside the DVLA's offices.
'we'll have to investigate' was the comment I was left with.   

It was no surprise when today I got a letter back from the DVLA...

'On checking our records a discrepancy has been found. . . . ' No Kidding, REALLY! No chance they were going to put down on paper that they had lost anything huh...

I have a V627/1 - built up vehicle report. (yup one of 'those') 
This asks for serial numbers for all the major components, the donor car's reg and make/model - As all my parts are original I put Dutton and N/A.
Very specific answers requested but no guidance notes.

I also have a V894 which is innocuously titled Reply Slip. 
Its asks you to fill in the VIN - the first question is then 'is the VIN/chassis/frame new or used'. Optional answers new or used with no option for 'original', technically the chassis is used but its original, unchanged... 
Then it asks for the engine number and cc - The second question is then 'Is the engine new or used?' Used implies you are fitting a used replacement, new would imply it's a new replacement, again no option to specify 'orignal'
Badly worded and no guidance notes. I was tempted to fill that in as N/A in all boxes but I don't want it returned again. 

So, a nice full envelope with all the original paperwork (copies), all the new paperwork, photo's etc set to go back to the DVLA tomorrow, I'm really not a happy bunny. Its a genuine car, not seen the road since 1991 and I fell right into the trap.
It's not like i'm even trying for historic taxation class.