OK, Going back to the old build.gradle for legacy projects

bin/templates/project/legacy/build.gradle

@@ -25,8 +25,12 @@ buildscript {
         jcenter()
     }
 
+    // Switch the Android Gradle plugin version requirement depending on the
+    // installed version of Gradle. This dependency is documented at
+    // http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/version-compatibility
+    // and https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB-8143
     dependencies {
-        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.0'
+        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.2.3'
     }
 }
 
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ allprojects {
 }
 
 task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
-    gradleVersion = '3.3.0'
+    gradleVersion = '2.14.1'
 }
 
 // Configuration properties. Set these via environment variables, build-extras.gradle, or gradle.properties.
@@ -94,11 +98,9 @@ if (hasBuildExtras) {
 // Set property defaults after extension .gradle files.
 if (ext.cdvCompileSdkVersion == null) {
     ext.cdvCompileSdkVersion = privateHelpers.getProjectTarget()
-    //ext.cdvCompileSdkVersion = project.ext.defaultCompileSdkVersion
 }
 if (ext.cdvBuildToolsVersion == null) {
     ext.cdvBuildToolsVersion = privateHelpers.findLatestInstalledBuildTools()
-    //ext.cdvBuildToolsVersion = project.ext.defaultBuildToolsVersion
 }
 if (ext.cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile == null && file('debug-signing.properties').exists()) {
     ext.cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile = 'debug-signing.properties'
@@ -109,7 +111,7 @@ if (ext.cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile == null && file('release-signing.propert
 
 // Cast to appropriate types.
 ext.cdvBuildMultipleApks = cdvBuildMultipleApks == null ? false : cdvBuildMultipleApks.toBoolean();
-ext.cdvMinSdkVersion = cdvMinSdkVersion == null ? null : defaultMinSdkVersion
+ext.cdvMinSdkVersion = cdvMinSdkVersion == null ? null : Integer.parseInt('' + cdvMinSdkVersion)
 ext.cdvVersionCode = cdvVersionCode == null ? null : Integer.parseInt('' + cdvVersionCode)
 
 def computeBuildTargetName(debugBuild) {
@@ -148,9 +150,7 @@ task cdvPrintProps << {
 }
 
 android {
-
+    sourceSets {
-    //Define a sourceset only if we have a top level AndroidManifest.xml file
-    sourcesets {
         main {
             manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
             java.srcDirs = ['src']
@@ -179,11 +179,6 @@ android {
     compileSdkVersion cdvCompileSdkVersion
     buildToolsVersion cdvBuildToolsVersion
 
-    //This code exists for Crosswalk and other Native APIs.
-    //By default, we multiply the existing version code in the Android Manifest by 10 and 
-    //add a number for each architecture.  If you are not using Crosswalk or SQLite, you can
-    //ignore this chunk of code, and your version codes will be respected.
-
     if (Boolean.valueOf(cdvBuildMultipleApks)) {
         productFlavors {
             armv7 {
@@ -205,6 +200,22 @@ android {
             }
         }
     }
+    /*
+
+    ELSE NOTHING! DON'T MESS WITH THE VERSION CODE IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO!
+
+    else if (!cdvVersionCode) {
+      def minSdkVersion = cdvMinSdkVersion ?: privateHelpers.extractIntFromManifest("minSdkVersion")
+      // Vary versionCode by the two most common API levels:
+      // 14 is ICS, which is the lowest API level for many apps.
+      // 20 is Lollipop, which is the lowest API level for the updatable system webview.
+      if (minSdkVersion >= 20) {
+        defaultConfig.versionCode += 9
+      } else if (minSdkVersion >= 14) {
+        defaultConfig.versionCode += 8
+      }
+    }
+    */
 
     compileOptions {
         sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_6
@@ -233,18 +244,9 @@ android {
     }
 }
 
-/*
- * WARNING: Cordova Lib and platform scripts do management inside of this code here,
- * if you are adding the dependencies manually, do so outside the comments, otherwise
- * the Cordova tools will overwrite them
- */
-
-
 dependencies {
     compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: '*.jar')
     // SUB-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES START
-    debugCompile(project(path: ":CordovaLib", configuration: "debug"))
-    releaseCompile(project(path: ":CordovaLib", configuration: "release"))
     // SUB-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES END
 }