Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 S&S

Forgive me if this has already been brought up: I was looking the S&S website and noticed that the maximum recommended vehicle weight for their 117" (roughly 1920cc) "X-wedge" engine and 124" (2030CC) "V" engine is 1058lbs (480kg) - 100lbs (45kg) LESS the advertised empty weight of the 3 wheeler, 1160lbs (525kg). I've had a couple of test drives and power doesn't seem to be a problem but I wonder if the fact of a large, narrow angle V twin (lots of character but not at all smooth) hauling around that much weight is what contributes to one or more problems, the compensator for example, that current owners are experiencing.

You're forgiven entirely John, although as the engine is the only item made by S&S it's difficult to understand why there is a connection with the weight. Strap it to something heavy & it'll be slower, but providing the connecting items are robust enough there should be no issues with the reliability. Or am I missing something..?

I'd guess that's more of a guide for home builders who buy the engine as a stand alone item. Morgan had to homologate the whole car, so weight issues would have been part of that process.

The V-twin requires the compensator in order to keep from eating the transmission. The compensator has been found wanting in a small but statistically significant number of cases. We only hear from other members of this site. We are also a minority in the world of M3W owners. What the rest of the M3W base is doing is silent to us.

Dropping in a smallish inline water cooled three or four cylinder would eliminate the need for the compensator but would add greatly to the weight as well as causing other problems. The weight itself is a big factor in keeping this beastie registered and taxed as a motorcycle instead of an automobile requiring bumpers, air bags, doors and windshield wipers. From what I have gathered this was a near thing!

Thanks for absolution, Steve. I don't think you're missing anything. I was wondering/thinking (dangerous thing for a non-engineer) about the connecting items - the problematic compensator for example. The S&S is 2 really big cylinders banging away at what sounds like uneven intervals. If the output end of the crankshaft isn't engineered to receive a sufficiently robust "compensator/"vibration dampener with respect to anticipated vehicle weight, then the loads competing on either side are going to tear it apart. Maybe MMC and S&S anticipated this and the original compensator design was itself flawed and the new one will fix it. And, maybe I'm just pulling suppositions out of my butt. Incomplete knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Michael, thanks. I am definitely a fan of having two air cooled cylinders jiggling out in front, naked to God and everyone. The simplicity and back-to-basics motoring is very appealing. However, the several and varied problems do get me speculating beyond my expertise, especially considering how much I want one. But ownership is at least a couple years off, which may work to my advantage though strain my patience.

Maybe some of us need to diet? Well me anyway and learn to pack less on a holiday.

Good idea Donald.

Easiest correction is to have driver and passenger loose weight, and by far the cheapest one !!!

Stig (110 kg)

Have to say I dropped 2 and a half UK stone between ordering & collecting...big 'must do' on my life list for several years & feel so much better for it. Could do with another couple off again to keep the knees happier, but it makes the entry/exit routine so much easier!

There is no doubt that weight of the machinery plays an important part in the dynamics of the car, no matter what weight the driver is, and the plain fact is that our little Three Wheelers are porky, they are built heavy because Morgan have very a little idea of the advantages of lightness - Colin Chapman a understood this, and saving weight is a virtuous circle. You only have to look at a couple of the components to see this. All of us have had the cowl off, it weights so much because the dummy rad. surround is too heavy, If you've ever had a mudguard off, you'll notice that this part is stupidly and unnecessarily heavy, unsprung weight too, the wishbones are double the weight of the equivalent Caterham ones, and so it goes on.

Sure the engine and compensator are heavy, and this inherent part of the car cannot successfully be changed, but there're are stacks of other areas which can be, it is just such a shame that the will is not there to do so.

Maybe, one day we will see a Three Wheeler which will fulfil its' true promise, but I don't think it will be for a decade - at least.