Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Vibration on Passenger Side

I've checked the chassis to frame connection by the dashboard cross member and all seems in order. However, there does seem to be something odd going on by the arm rest. Even though the red side paneling by the armrest is fastened at each end, I can still pull the plastic / fiberglass (whatever it is) away from the wood side frame. This is where it meets the top of the metal chassis. See pictures 1 and 2. In picture 3, I can easily slide my fingers behind the panel and between it and the wood frame behind it. Picture 4 shows it close up. The red side panel is pulled out, the black tube chassis is below, and in between, I can see some sort of black tape. In the photo it seems to have a red band along it. This "tape" seems to be along and on the face of the wood frame. I'm guessing it is there to bond the panel to the wood frame immediately above the chassis. Can anyone confirm?

I don't remember it being this loose before. The car is with me, here in South Florida, where we have real issues with automotive glues coming unstuck. My Audi's rear window of its convertible top is a good example. Within months of moving to S. FL the glass delaminated from the fabric where Audi had glued them together. It looks to me as though a similar thing is happening here with the M3W. I cannot find anything in the M3W Parts Book or online about how the frame, chassis, and panel all come together in this area, but it looks as though there is some sort of tape, Velcro, or glue that bonds the panel to the wood frame along the length of the area below the arm rest (and between the fasteners at each end). When I push my finger underneath the panel and away from the wood frame and then let go, the panel snaps back into place and makes the same noise (not as loud) as when I'm driving. I think at certain frequencies the vibration makes the panel strike the wood frame and it acts like a drum with loud reverberations going through the car. That would explain why, if I reach over and squeeze the panel below the arm rest at the back end, the noise immediately stops.

Assuming this is the root cause - and I await speculation / confirmation from the M3W Experts - I need to secure the panels to the side frames on both sides of the car. More glue or epoxy, particularly those that are heat and moisture resistant would be an improvement on the original, but using the same approach. I think it would be only a matter of time before that too failed. What do you think of the idea of adding two or three more mechanical fasteners like the one on the very far right of the first (top) photos? The existing fasteners screw directly through the side panel on the inside of the vehicle and into the side of the wooden frame. Spaced 6-9 inches apart, they would be enough to hold it together and stop the flexing and vibration. I could also put some fabric tape, like the stuff I think it actually there now in the last photo, and screw through that as well, securing a material buffer to reduce vibration even more.

Thoughts please?