Hi Leon,Briefly:
Yes better tyres and keep the rims! The car is so light a good quality branded tyre should suffice. There's not the chassis clearance and to start messing here opens a bag of frogs on a 4/4. Why would you want cross ply tyres, fit radial's!
Fit brake reaction bars.... no question. On a narrow body you may get some interference with tyre rubbing on the BRB's. Connect the top end up first and when positioned check on full lock. I found the wide bodied cars are fine but have modified the BRB's for a narrow body car. I put a bend in the bar which flexes it towards the chassis and this increases steering lock greatly. Important you sort this before drilling the chassis as it will change the rear mount position and you don't want to weaken the chassis rail with a series of holes.
Brake hoses... talk to BHM or Cain at wolf performance. Brand escapes me but they are stainless braid covered.
Rattling/ steering vibration.... check the front suspension out, play in pillar bushes and all the normal checks after that. Consider upgrading? TOE is an essential check too. Wire wheel balancing... most are done incorrectly these days!
Rear springs...... clean and lubricate and consider fitting Rog's suspension assisters to stop bottoming out! Rog posts on this site. Just to add, best mod I ever did!
Seating position... you might have spacers under your front seat mounts, you might not. My 2010 car had nothing and I found the seat position to be hideous. when using the clutch or brake to some extent I was fighting the front of the seat squab with my thigh so I fitted tapered spacers raising the rear of the seat by about 5/8" over the front edge and its now valhalla!
Exhaust.... fit the Librands sports exhaust, manifold/cat and all behind, You'll like the sound and its a lot cheaper than a Morgan original!
Shocks.... won't bore you too much here but adjustable shocks on the front are IMHO are a waste of money, you can't damp the undampable! but if yours are original fit a good pair of premium shocks. On the rear end adjustable shocks do help fine tune the back end. You will still only need a very low setting but it helps stop the springs rubber banding and slows the speed of compression to a more comfortable rate, I set mine so that the whitness mark to the top of the spring from Rog's assisters is about the size of a 1P coin.
If you search my posts I have covered fitting BRB's in some depth as has Davew. Do look if you haven't had any experience with the front suspension as It will save you days of messing around and keep you safe!
Finally you will probably get loads of opinions in what you should do and how, I can only give you mine which I have learnt through my own experiences and to some extent it will depend on what you want from the car, Some want total originality others mod it to the extreme, I want a well behaved Morgan that is fun to drive and as Morgan meant it to be but, I'm not scared of adding that which will improve it within its design envelope. My car drives as well as I think I can make it drive, you can't remove all its foibles! I think the best statement given to me in my early days of ownership was that as a smooth road drive its unsurpassable but if the going gets a bit rough its a handful! last piece of advice is don't do every thing at once, do each upgrade one at a time and that way you will be able to evaluate what you are doing and adjust as necessary! Now it's your turn to to decide!
Thank you... Just a big and sincere Thank You. I will re-read and process and ponder your points and opinions over the coming days.
I would also like to pre-empt and apologise for my, likley piecewise, questions or / and response. please be reassured that they are never intended to 'bate' and argument.
I will start with my opinion on one of the final marks (in your message before): A number of years back, I first experienced, buying a car and having extensive work done before driving it. It was a brand I knew and the modifications and setup complimented and relied on eachother... It was amazing! I was lucky (possibly) and I 'fettled' the setup over time; but, it worked very well and was / is a nice thing. This car isnt the same, as I have driven it plenty.
This far, i have got... pads and braded lines for the breaks; a Lidbrands manifold and will likley get my 'exhaust man' to build me a de-cat-able exhaust; an organ pealed for the throttle (I have always preferred floor mounted accelerator peddles and have seldom 'felt nice' with the roller ball one - its lovley in socks though :-)). I still dont know about air intake and will think more about dampers; then... hehehe :-)
