Dutton Kit Cars and their owners
My New Dutton
Today I bought another Dutton. This one has a 3.1 litre Essex V6. It's MOT has lapsed and it has a number of issues, the biggest one being that it has had a front end shunt which has upset the suspension geometry, and the bonnet fit, and the steering. The last 6 inches of the main rail is crumpled, moving the ARB. Finding a good reference to work from to restore the geometry looks to be an interesting puzzle. In this picture you can see that the nearside wheel has a different camber to the offside. It was the nearside that was hit.
I will do some investigation over the weekend and post some pictures of the damage. It was dark by the time I got home, and I was worn out. The journey was 400 miles in total, all but a handful were motorway : M5, M42, A42, M1. The car was about 15 miles south of Sheffield.
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Comment by Big Vern on September 11, 2016 at 12:53
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@Daryl LOL you make me laugh 3.889 is an english ratio used in the one point three litre Capri. MK1 Capri 3.0L pre face lift and MK1 and MK2, 3.0L auto used 3.22:1 4HA Mk1 facelift and all MK2 used 3.09:1 Anything lower would see the engine vomit its rods at motorway speeds.
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Comment by James Doulton on September 11, 2016 at 11:37
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Vern: that was why I was a bit surprised that the ebay shop listed the same axle ratio - I'd have thought that the engines had very different characters.
Daryl: I found a Swiss Capri site that says that the early 3000 (with the 128bhp engine) had a 3.22. All of the other 3000's had 3.09.
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RS2600 had the Koln engine not the Essex. From the info you have provided so far it looks like you have an early MK 1 Capri 3litre probably a GTXLR.
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I had the Scimitars down as having a 3.31 diff. Most of those had overdrive too. Oddly enough, a company on ebay has 3.22 listed as the ratio for the RS2600 and RS3100 Capris ... the plot thickens. Maybe it really is one of the 250. Elsewhere, I have seen the RS2600 as having the 3.22 and the RS3100 having a 3.09.
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The tag on the diff says "i=3.22:1". I jacked up one wheel and turned it by hand and I didn't feel any strange goings on, it just turned freely. 3.22 is rather low with 195/50x15's, 60mph would be 3,000 rpm. Max revs (I'm assuming 5500) would be 110mph, which might be a little slow for Castle Combe. For cruising, it could do with an overdrive.
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An Atlas, that is good. I will have to check the ratio. This car is looking better every time I look at it. Would I expect to 'feel' or hear if it was an LSD while just pushing it to manoeuvre it?
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I'm not really meant to be doing anything with the Malaga until I've got the Legerra fixed (after its track day) but I had a look at the axle, does anyone recognise this?
I also weighed it - 730Kg with exactly 50:50 split front/rear (but I have no idea how much fuel is in the tank)
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The ARB is uniform thickness, I would say. I think it is getting on for 1 inch diameter. I was wondering whether the wishbone was bent too. I could do with getting a straight one either to compare with mine or to replace it. Maybe I could borrow/buy some of your spares. I guess that I won't be able to fit any replacements until I have sorted the chassis though. I expect I'll be needing to borrow that trailer again soon, I'm pretty sure that I left my number plate on it anyway.
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They are 195/50 x 15's. It could probably cope with bigger wheels but they might foul the cycle wings. I think those work out to be about the same rolling radius as my 13" track day tyres. I don't normally like black wheels but I think they look good on this.
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