Dutton Dementia

[Paul L]

Mick - Very belated Happy Birthday wishes!

Sorry to hear you are having so many technical difficulties.

But I am sure you will get there in the end.

Good luck, Paul.

[Mick O'Malley]

I've also been very happy with them over the years, but yesterday all I got was complete intransigence from a supercilious jobsworth. Apparently it was all my fault for not buying and having pressed in (at Merlin) their Timken bearings. I lost patience in the end and motored back, pausing at Maynard, who agreed to perform the necessary machining and pressing in. This won't be cheap!

However, a little further down the road I dropped in on my ever helpful welder. His first job for me was to attach the flared end of the donor car's exhaust downpipe to that of my Mini van, into which I'd dropped an MG1100 engine and 'box. It was in '80 or '81 - he gas welded it and charged 40p! Anyway, his two sons now run the gaff and said to bring the Phaeton's frame in (another Dutton Towing Gizmo outing), together with the prepared metal, and they'd do it as a folding money foreigner. This cheered me up no end!

Regards, Mick

[Lucky@LeMans]

I wouldn't have put up with the jobsworth at Merlin. They supplied you with a bodged part that wasn't fit for purpose and refused to replace it or refund your money ! You have consumer rights that you can exercise if you want to, so I'd send them the bill for reworking the hubs and insist they pay it, in full !

[Mick O'Malley]

This morning, whilst down in the cave, I heard my house 'phone ringing but didn't get there in time. A 1471 revealed a Chippenham number. Hmmm, could it possibly be? I called back - Merlin Motorsport . "We're very sorry sir, but the batch of ally hubs yours came from is faulty, and we will replace them, transfer your UNF studs, and press in your bearings all FOC." The voice on the line was a young one so the above mentioned jobsworth clearly didn't want to grovel, unless he will when I return the duff hubs. I quickly 'phoned Maynard who thankfully hadn't got around to modifying them. Phew, as their machining charge is 80 quid an hour + VAT!

On to the Phaeton. In January I had offered up the engine cross member and decided to mount it under the frame rails, but this meant cutting and shutting the gearbox cross member. Not an elegant solution. On Sunday I had a good think about ways around this and decided that the channel under each end of the engine cross member would sit nicely over stubby lengths of 1.5" box sitting on the frame rails.



Yesterday I cut the lengths of box and this morning cable tied them in position on top of these rails (the middle of the cross member has to align with the white mark).



I then craned the engine into the frame, after bolting the cross member to its mounting rubbers and lowered away - rubbish photo' alert!



After the last few centimetres of lowering the engine sat very nicely in position.



I now need to decide whether to have the stubby bits of box welded to the frame or to the cross member, and how to secure the other side of whichever I plump for. That will only leave gearbox mountings to be fabricated before welding can be organised. Woo Hoo!

Regards, Mick

[Lucky@LeMans]

Sounds like the entire batch was machined incorrectly and then botched by the machine shop to get them out of the door.
Shame they didn't want to listen on the day you took them back !

[Mick O'Malley]

Originally Posted by Lucky@LeMans

Sounds like the entire batch was machined incorrectly and then botched by the machine shop to get them out of the door.
Shame they didn't want to listen on the day you took them back !

Absolutely! I'll work out how much petrol I'll have used in the two round trips and send Merlin the bill. A grovelling apology from the intransigent shop assistant would also be most welcome. I won't hold my breath.

Regards, Mick

[Dpaz]

Just mention him to the management, apart from that it is coming on well.

[Mick O'Malley]

Well, that's what it looks like. These are my replacement front ally Ford PCD hubs c/w 7/16 UNF studs. I have to say that Merlin has bent over backwards to rectify the error with timely communications and speedy despatch, so no hard feelings .



I'm still wrestling with how best to mount the engine and 'box. My previous imagined solutions would have resulted in their being either too high or too low, and probably insufficiently strong. I'm currently chopping some square plastic down pipe as a cross-member template for some 1.5" box. Time will tell!

Regards, Mick

[peterux]

Hi Mick,
spotted this lying by the side of the road whilst on holiday...........

RIP Dutton by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

RIP Dutton by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

No sign of a chassis or axles.........

cheers, Peter

[Dpaz]

Giz a clue, wherezit!

[peterux]

Originally Posted by Dpaz

Giz a clue, wherezit!

Highcliffe-on-sea, Dorset