My recently acquired 2004 Roadster ( known to Cooperman) came with a 15” steering wheel and steering damper fitted, when I first drove it after delivery to my home I was astounded by the very heavy low speed steering.
It took a 3ft bar to undo the wheel nuts! Which concerned me somewhat. So lovely stainless steel 7” wire wheels all taken off and cleaned, rears had medium dust on the inside, fronts had
heavy dirt and grease streaks/s(p)lodges.[I cannot write the last word without the brackets around the p].
So the steering damper was taken off today, K.pins greased : thought the lower ones were a little dry.
A very short run around the village left me thinking this is a lot better steering and I will be soon fitting a 14” steering wheel.
Hoping for a dry day tomorrow and a longer run to check all is good and maybe see why a damper was needed.
When I was looking for a roadster of this vintage I wanted one with alloy wheels, however the wire wheels are beautiful;
I must say this is a superb Morgan compared to my previous +4. Sport. Great paint, Metallic Azzuro (Blue).and the Porsch designed with Ford 6cyl engine.
I've always thought a steering damper was fitted to hide another steering issue. If it's oversensitivety I would look towards having the tracking checked. My Roadster was found with 2° toe out although not touched from new. The resulting nervous steering became most apparent after fitting the SSL RS kit. It left the car very chuckable with extremely light steering but prone to drifting on a straight road. Correcting to 0.5° toe in (total) had it tracking straight with improved feel although still light. It was further improved by fitting one inch smaller diameter Moto-Lita 13" wheel which actually has nominal diameter of a little over 12" but doesn't look too small IMO.
+1 Richard
When I took delivery of my 2009 Roadster I was disappointed to find that it had the dreaded shimmy. I was considering all sorts of solutions but when I spoke to SimonH he suggested checking the tracking first.
I already knew that I had excessive toe in but didn't think that would contribute to the shimmy.
I was wrong. I adjusted the toe in from about 11mm to about 4mm (maybe still slightly too much) and it has transformed the front end feel and the shimmy has all but disappeared.
So don't underestimate the effect that tracking can have on a Morgan
