Not a lot of thinking shared so far on your thread Steve, so I thought to jump in...(-:
I`m NO expert on anything but happy to share my limited experiences.
That you are no stranger to tools and seem not to be averse to getting down and dirty helps create a foundation on which to attempt to assist you in making decisions which may suit YOU..
Seems you have for whatever reason jumped into ownership without asking the question "Which Morgan" first... Whereas I on the other hand being somewhat limited financially way back when, spent circa five years on Morgan forums from the mid 90`s on asking that which I thought was the logical question, hoping not to end up in a Morgan that might not suit, and like you I typed a bit of a CV relative to my mechanical ability, adding some of my vehicular history, the end result being that I ended up in a +8 which I have now owned for over 20 years, though in that time have only covered circa circa 30k miles in it, such have been other of life`s priorities.
I kinda gave up trying to make machinery "better" in my yoof, again limited budget determined that money was spent on cams and carbs, rather than brakes and roadholding, thus speed and noise were prioritised over creating a well balanced machine, which may well have had tyres older than myself on the wheels...!!! A m/cycle with an oil soaked rear tyre teaches a measure of respect relative to controlling a machine with a power band that kicks in from 4-6K...! Carried some of that over into cars, and it took a few decades to learn that balance was everything, thus as ever on a limited budget worked my way through the usual Brit sports cars bought as old t*rts everyone had already screwed to near death, and then discarded, trying to bring them back to life using my very rudimentary skillset and limited funds, I learned rather a lot, unfortunately it seems most of which has been forgotten these days...Sigh..!
Unlike those who may test drive this that or the other... I just bought that which I fancied at the time with a degree of research via my rather large back-catalogue of motoring magazines, in order to investigate which machine might suit whatever direction I wished to travel.... Test driving old t*rts can have it`s risks... and I have a few stories so related... (-: The main thing for me was that in the passage of time my repair capabilities had gone from working in the street, to eventually having my own shed in which to work in my spare time.
Over the years of feeding my petrol-head passions, I ended up working my way through three air cooled Porsches, the first of which as ever, was an old corroded t*rt in the truest sense, the second not as bad as the first, and by the time I came to own the third, although it was still a non runner, and with a measure of paint pox, but by far the better machine of the three...I was by that time a real fan of Porsche engineering principals, in terms of keeping things simple, and that form followed function, all of which well fitted my ideals of a truly balanced engineering design for a 2+2 all round sports car.
Priorities in life change and for a variety of reasons, long story short, (-: I ended up in search of a vintage motoring experience, and while the sort of vintage car that had performance enough to keep up with than modern traffic situations was well outside my ever limited budget... I imagined that a Morgan might just fit the bill..? That was when I joined the interweb and the first Morgan discussion group..
Did not intend this to be about ME, but wanted to give you an idea of how I came to think as I do relative to your question...rightly or wrongly...!
Back to YOU....Well I have kinda covered my thinking on improvement, having arrived at the stage where in Porsche ownership I was well used to a mix of performance and more importantly reliability, an engine which provides both can provide a sound basis on which to build a machine, seems to have potential to present a reasonable ownership experience..?
Morgans and ORIGINALITY are not two words that fit together too well, and much less so if you go back to the 50`s and beyond, where make do and mend was the initial way forward, giving way eventually to the 60`s and 70`s where the term disposable income entered the UK vocabulary, and the home mechanics had advanced from just keeping the old thing going, to tuning it up, with the marketplace offering all sorts of tuning goodies, some of that still exists today, though local accessory shops closed down in time as that generation aged and their tastes became a tad more "sophisticated" as might suit the more mature... (-: I am in my mid seventies, but at times it seems I have yet to grow up..(-:
Rarity and originality seem to suggest the next word in a sentence might be investment... I have to admit that when younger whichever sports car I might own was, all things considered, never likely to provide returns in excess of actual cost, but was thought to be the first thing to attempt to turn back into cash if push came to shove in terms of personal finances... I bought my old sports cars primarily as a hobby, though no doubt with a bit of man maths involved...(-:
My Morgan was initially bought to roar around the lochs and glens, but in time my good lady had ideas of touring a bit of Southern Europe which given my expectations of Trad Morgan`s design and build, combined with my knowledge-base from years spent on forums learning of just about every "foible" possible...!!! However, that my Morgan was rebuilt from the ground up as a tourer, by a garage business owning Morgan enthusiast who had paid special attention to making it as foible free as possible.. paid dividends for us touring France, Spain, and Italy....for sure there are more comfortable ways of taking on such mileages in a motor car, but adventure more than comfort was my good lady`s desire from the outset.... and I have to type, those trips created memories that have served me well in recent years... Thus Touring in any Morgan is worth considering, plenty of tales of such available on this forum..
Prior to actually buying what was to be my Morgan, I had only been a passenger in a 4/4 for a short run around a series of cones in a field at a classic car event, and did not even drive the Morgan I intended to buy, until I had paid for it, having a circa 270 mile drive home in February, with a mix of cold and wet hood-down driving in prospect, and in a concours condition +8, was bound to present a bit of a baptism and hopefully not of fire.... Made it home without issue and a smile literally frozen on my face... (-:
Next day I drove this concours condition Morgan up an unmade road at speed with stones flying, to get being precious about it over with, as opposed to facing death by a thousand cuts each and every time a stone hit it`s perfect paintwork over time..
I have ever looked at the 4/4 as perhaps being the most balanced of Morgans. but at the time I was wondering which Morgan... The idea of a Morgan with a Twink was initially thought to be ideal, as I was ever a Lotus fan boy in my yoof.... but that was not the way things worked out..
Given the weather this year I have made use of and enjoyed my old Morgan more than I imagined possible at this great age... What`s more to want..? (-:
Wishing you the best in your decision making process Steve, and hopes this ramble might assist you in some way or other..
