Thread: Dutton Dementia
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Old 25th June 2022, 18:26
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2012
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Mick O'Malley is on a distinguished road
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinClan View Post
Watching with interest as it is bringing back memories of my build over 40 years ago.
Cheers Robin
Yes, it's all coming back to me also. It was 40 years ago last month that I hired a dingy trailer and towed it down to Worthing behind my ex Post Office van 'Mini Traveller' with my brother in law riding shotgun. It took me four and a half years to get it on the road, but I did have four children and two cottages to renovate at the time, as well as a 60 mile round trip to Bristle each weekday. Happy Days!

The guy picking up the Marlin was due this morning at 1000 but was over an hour late due to heavy traffic, so the morning was a write off. Good fun loading up, he had a cracking anecdote about a Spartan he went to collect which was crammed with bits and full of water which he couldn't drain. His description of the sloshing activity on the motorway viewed in his mirror was hilarious.



This afternoon I jacked up the near side high enough to worm underneath and spray the prop to axle, handbrake mounting, and seat belt attachment bolts with dismantling liquid. I then removed the high-tech side exhaust mounting bracket (drilled for lightness!) which I'm sure would otherwise sooner or later have scalped me.



Whilst waiting for the penetrating liquid to do its job, I drilled out the seriously overkill number of rivets attaching the seat tub to the frame and gently levered it away from the surrounding body panels. Now, only the handbrake and belt mountings stood in the way of tub removal. Worming back underneath I found the the prop would have to come off for handbrake mounting bolt clearance. The lack of room for leverage on these defeated me, despite profanity and skinned knuckles, so I called it a day, reasonably satisfied with progress. I'm definitely not getting any younger!

Regards, Mick
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