S4 Complete

Well was it all worth it? It took a fair amount of work and four years to finish but a couple of other cars did get in the way in the mean time and mess with up the program a bit But the completed car is far better than I thought it would be and drives pretty well.

I have made a few changes along the way during testing and fitted 175lb rear springs but they are still a bit on the harsh side. But all in the handling is pretty neutral and even with some rather naff tyres the car is quite impressive in terms of grip and the angle on the rear Panhard does not seem to casue any compromise - It's probably due more to the fact that the car is so stiff that its hard to notice.

I managed to remove all the stupid go faster stripes from the bodywork and a quick wipe over with some Farecla G3 certainly improved the gloss although I will be imposing on a mate who has a polishing mop to really made it shine. I also found some decent spot lights to fill the spoiler – Ring roadrunners .

The engine came up pretty well and below you can see the modified rocker cover to have a rear mounted filler but not the shallow sump with a Vizard baffle system.

 

 

Performance wise the car goes pretty well and I would say that with the head mods the car is putting out about 120BHP which is about 10BHP over stock the carb was quite worn and it took a bit of fettling to get it running well. The power is very noticeable when the pedal is hard to the floor opening up the second choke on the progressive Weber DGAV 32.

I really could not get on with the huge gap that was the door opening when the had the hard top on without the side doors – or the soft top for that matter I also didn’t like the doors on as its not really what driving one of these cars is about, Some may well say they are not about having a roof on of any kind and I am all for that but it’s the UK and as I want to enjoy driving as often as I can a roof is essential. I hope that you agree the half doors balance the look of the car. I can confirm that the feel inside the car is much better and my son can testify that they make a big difference for him in respect of reducing buffeting.

 

 

To sum up I have to say that in its origonal form the Dutton Phaeton S3/4 series of cars are not that well engineered or thought out and it would not have taken that much additional work by the factory to nake them as this car has been finished. The cars would have been much more fun to drive and accessable to a wider range of owners.

I would certainly recommend one as a cheap introduction to kit car ownership but they are not a low maintenance option as the work needed to keep them on the road is quite considerable if you start with a cheap one as the quality of finish is highly dependant upon the abilities of the original builder.