Marc, monsoon do still make the soft tops, their about the £200 mark, you could try them, but i believe that they were talking about stopping the manufacture of soft tops, but someone with in the club was looking at buying the templates if they do call it a day, so you should still be able to get one, pinto 1600, not a bad block, except for eating cam belts, 2000 was better. mines stictly old school ,1300 crossflow , as i said ,before you remove the prop check what rear axle you have, if escort mk1, you have a pull rod system across the back axle for the handbrake, if mk2 separate cables if its a mk2, try a morris marina cable , their slightly longer :)

I will mention the sift top to my BiL and suggest he hurries up :-)
Sorry, misled on engine, it is not the Pinto, so must be OHV - my bad.

Hoping this weekend to help him get the prop out to take a peak - he has ordered a mk1 as it appears to be based on one cable only.

Cheers

1600 crossflow then, still a very good engine though :) you can change the cable in situ ,but its easier to drop the prop so that you can get to the clevis pin, theres no room to get your hands round it otherwise just watch out for any gearbox oil , messy stuff the firm are Monsoon automotive, and their in east sussex ,

I may be a miserable person but I like the thought that someone has had his 'ringer' de registered. I just hope he can find the seller to get some money back. Fat chance! Good luck with the Melos Marc

What the DVLA do depends on the situation, in some cases they , if its an older pre IVA car they will issue an Q plate, but if its a modern design, they show no mercy, the ringer can be crushed .
plus they will do the seller for not returning the v5 to dvla,
having re built my Melos from scratch, it was an interesting build, would i do it again, yes but with lessons learnt from what i messed up on, she may be old, she may not be completly top class, but she goes well , is safe and i know every last nut and bolt, and when it went for its first MOT, all i had to fix was to add extension pipes onto the front calipers because the front hoses may contact something, not bad for a budget build, oh and total cost, including buying it, £ 600 insurance is £90 fully comp , its tax exempt as its registered as historic

Well, we sorted the handbrake - needed shortening, so used the old "silver solder a nut onto the wire for a nipple" routine - works well now. helped him fix some minor niggles (indicator had wrong bulb, rear number plate light etc) - waiting for MOT now.

good luck with the MOT fingers crossed :)

Will announce results here :-)

Ok, so, now has an MOT. needed a new steering rack (turns out it is mk2, not mk 1 - very different threads on track rod ends, and tapers are very different - as we found when BiL took to the test - steering effectively just wobbled around on its own! But all done now. Fitted a new washer bottle - it had teh pipe work but no bottle. Got rid of massive air horns and he is to sort out column horn push. Back end is sitting off - drivers side is higher - so maybe a duff passenger side spring. Then next BIG issue os the overheating - clearly has serious issues. Need to get timing right, then carbs and then work through the heating system to get it right. Joys of kit cars.

But for me, my car should be with me next week subject to trailer hire etc, so it will be less Dutton for me, and more Miglia as I build my own car - wish me luck :-)

Duttons are well known for overheating, but its an easy fix, fit an electric fan, ,i used the thermostat housing from a fiesta as it contains a fan switch , and duct the area around the radiator, to ensure air goes through the rad, not round it simple sheet metal work on mine the rad is shroulded , and the air flow has to go through the rad, its the only way , it used to get very hot before, but now even in hot weather it will not boil the fan cuts in at 86 degrees

Still no response from the DoC though - BiL is a bit miffed that he paid his money two months ago and not heard from them since. Shame.

But my Miglia has arrived so probably won't update on the BiL's Dutton anymore - I have mentioned this website but he is not too computer focussed, so may not be much in the way of updates.

Hopefully though we will make a show or two in the Melos when the sun shines - see you fellow owners there :-)

Get him to contact Ade Southgate ,he's the membership sec, things are not very good with in the DOC at the moment , but Ades one of the best committee members

for anyone remotely interested in kit cars, ones making its way into soap land, a light blue Melos on corrie to be exact , it was filmed this week