(When I spoke about the system with Simon Hall of SiFab just before he closed his doors, he told me he was responsible for fabricating all of the six Mulfab front wishbone conversions sold.)
Sadly Simon kept commenting how he was responsible for designing and making virtually everything. Even though the first was done before he arrived. He did not make them all during his employment, and there were few more in the years after he left.
I was surprised to see one of our invoices for the kit. Apart from my Roadster we never actually installed one ourselves. Rob Wells fitted his own and brought the car up for checking. We shared the workshop with Chas Windridge who was Mogsport and they did all the installations. We paid them £3527.27p on 10th April 13. Knowing Chas, they did not want to invoice direct so they could not be responsible if anything went wrong.
I don't have any contact names at Amsteer, so whoever answers the phone, although it seems the balljoints are not an issue. They are so overengineered for the application. The top has a grease nipple, so should never wear out. There was no room to fit a nipple to the bottom joint. The only comment I would make when tightening the long wishbone bolts, probably with the wheels off for access, is to have axle stands under the hubs so any tightening is with the wishbones at ride height so the bushes are not preloaded.
Peter
Brilliant Peter, the information you've shared is an invaluable contribution to Monty's history archive and is much appreciated
So, it would seem Chas Windridge of Mogsport fitted my wishbone conversion and Simon may or may not have fabricated the setup on my car, what I can say is the whole conversion looks extremely well designed and nicely put together.
When I found the loose wishbone bolts the wheels did come off, and I preloaded the suspension with a stand under each lower wishbone, as I say the top and bottom joints were perfect so I gave the top ones a shot of grease and continued my checks, that's actually when I found the loose wishbone bolts. The very slight notchyness I was feeling through the steering wheel, largely around the straight ahead position, must have been deflection because as soon as I test drove the car after tightening the wishbone bolts, the unwanted sensation was gone.
One last question if I may?
Simon explained to me the steering rack used is a Mk1/2 Ford Escort item, if this is correct do you know what ratio was used? Mine seems to be 2.7 turns lock to lock which is fine for road use, however, for more spirited driving and track use where I may need to quickly apply opposite lock, I feel a 2.4 turns LTL rack may be beneficial. Such a ratio swap would be relatively inexpensive, assuming it is indeed an Escort rack, brand new quality Escort steering racks are of course freely available in many ratios from suppliers such as Motorsport Tools etc,. Obviously Monty's steering then becomes heavier, so I suspect it may force an electric power steering conversion which does then start to make the project expensive.
As it stands the unassisted steering is close to perfect for road driving just as it is, the lower than normal self centering effect is slight and a complete non-issue as in my opinion it only serves to deliver a more connected driving experience, a bit more steering lock would be nice though, although I doubt Monty's turning circle is any worse than a standard Trad Morgan?
Overall I have to say the Mulfab front wishbone conversion would be an excellent upgrade for any Morgan owner looking to improve the ride quality and tun-in on their Trad, I do however wonder if the addition of a front anti-roll bar could make it even better? It's a shame the system is no longer in production, it seems to me if someone had £6k to spend on improving the ride and handling of their Trad, the wishbone conversion would be a better choice than spending the similar sum on the SSL five link rear suspension kit.
The wishbone conversion completely removes the antiquated Morgan sliding pillar arrangement and replaces it with the proven setup of coil over dampers with unequal length wishbones, in contrast and to my mind the SSL five link only really gives benefit by replacing the leaf springs with coils and £6k seemed like an awful lot of money for a the small ride quality benefit of coils sring over leaf springs. I also figured the remaining axle location improvements the SSL five link setup offers could be acheived on a leaf sprung car with the simple installation of an inexpensive Panhard rod and anti-tramp bars so his was my approach. However, I decided not to fit the anti-tramp bars because my hope was the BCC anti-tramp springs would mean I didn't need them? It does seem I made the right choice because even though I'm now pushing 200 plus horsepower I've experienced zero tramp on my setup, the quality Bilstein dampers I chose will certainly be helping here too.
Dave.
