I’ve just returned from a 2-week holiday into Spain and France in the +4, fully loaded with Morgan leather bag (very heavy) and tandem. I covered about 1,200 miles over a wide variety of terrain and roads.
The most enjoyable aspect of the modified car is that it now pulls like a train in all gears. The hair-pin bends in Northern Spain were a delight due to the torque and also through the tightened up suspension (Suplex & brake reaction bars up front and asymmetric leaf spring and Panhard rod at the rear). On the motorways the 5th gear rolling acceleration is similar to that of a large capacity turbo diesel…very impressive.
On the negative side, the car is now lower than ever and exiting the ferry at Santander I had to drive over a “tie down” block on the floor and this removed the rear section of exhaust pipe from the car! Luckily there was a Spanish “Quick Fit” down the road so got them to re-attach it. On the return trip from St Malo, Brittany Ferries put me on the lorry deck as this has the minimum of ramps, so no problem here. Unfortunately, the road leading to the border checks now incorporates two large sleeping policemen, and this managed to again dislodge the rear section, so I had a very noisy 3-hour drive home with a less than impressed wife alongside me! Next project is to increase the ground clearance and possibly get Mrs Q some Valium!
