Dutton Phaeton Series 4
Car was first registered in 1989
| Colour | Black |
| Engine | Ford 'Pinto' 2000cc Fast Road Spec - Low mileage late model 205 engine with DIY ported head |
| Gearbox | Ford Type 9 Five Speed Gearbox |
| Axle | Ford Escort MK2 with 3.89:1 ratio and 8" brakes |
| Front Suspension | Converted from Dutton type to Double wishbone system using Cortina upright - Fully adjustable coil-over shock absorbers |
| Rear Suspension | Full Five link axle location - Fully adjustable coil over shock absorbers |
| Accessories | Full wet weather gear and optional hard top |
My first Dutton bought in October 2002 as a winter restoration - when I got it home and started the first stages of the rebuild it became quite apparent that the car was in need of quite a bit of work and that when first built not a great deal of thought had been spent on driver comfort.
12 months later the car has undergone some significant work on the chassis and in the suspension, brakes, gearbox, engine, interior area's....... However its still far from finished although most of the hard work has been done.
The list of modifications are as follows.
Capri Mk1 3.0L axle with 3.09 ration swapped for Escort MK2 3.89 type.
Capri 2.0L engine replaced with Sierra 205 block with a Weber DGAV32 carb with a home ported head.
Capri 2.0L Type E 4 speed gearbox replaced with Sierra Type 9 five speed unit.
Rear axle arrangement changed from leaf springs to 5 link.
Chassis modified to:- place engine 1" further back, to accept 5 speed box mounting, to give extra cockpit room, to use coil-overs all round - additional triangulation added to stiffen it.
Body tub modified so that full seats may be fitted and also to give additional leg room in cockpit.
Brake pedal assembly and steering column moved to give lower pedal position - to allow column to clear side exit exhaust and get the master cylinder further from the exhaust manifold.
Front suspension swapped for a twin wishbone set-up using Cortina uprights, discs and Callipers.
The car will sit its original KN diamond alloys but with 185/70 13's rather than the 205/60's that it currently has. These will give a little extra ground clearance and fill out the arches a bit more following the 2" body drop that the chassis suspension modifications have allowed.
Here is a snap of the suspension before work was carried out on the chassis.
You can see in the picture the original suspension towers which accepted a triumph spitfire coil-over unit with the spring cut down - for some reason the tower was not welded inline with the lower pick-up on the Escort Track Control Arm (TCA) so that when the suspension moved the coil spring rubbed and made a hell of a noise - you can make out the mismatch in the photo.
These towers were curt out of the chassis and modifications were made to accept a standard type of competition coil-over.
This was the first round of front end modifications with a small tower positioned on the new chassis rail to lower the car and do away with the odd original set-up however at this chassis height any additional suspension travel caused the Escort TCA ball joint to start to bind up and the Dutton upper arm was at too steep an angle for good suspension geometry. Also clear in this picture is the side exit exhaust and you can just see the position of the master cylinder and the hole above and to the right where it was originally.
Links to pages that cover modifications and work carried out