Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing The Kingpin Job - Autumn 2014

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First in the queue for one of these much needed terms of reference books if you do dive in - thanks Dave these projects are far and away the best learning tools available in the virtual IMHO .

I agree. By far and away the best 'how to' car manual I have seen.
There is a book there Dave. My workshop manual is for early models to 1981.

On the subject of brake pads, I have just fitted Green stuff pads and I find them much better than standard. More feel and better balance with the rear drums.

I never had issues with ebc greenstuff pads on my other car and only pads I had delaminate was a Mintex set.

Read into that what you like I just put it down to circumstances.

Not sure what Bosch have done with their compounds but both my other cars now with Bosch Pads have ended up with scored discs.

Mark, I'll post a picture of the pads tomorrow. As you say they "but up" against the caliper shoulders, and that's where you could grind away the corners of the pad backplate to allow the pad to move closer to the hub, but the friction material is up against the raised lip of corrosion, so unless modifying with new discs it's not worth doing. Plus the fact that the exposed backplate metal will corrode. My Roadster has the previous cast iron calipers, and the same pads fit well, so clearly when the aluminium calipers were specced up, the dimensions were very slightly out.

I think on balance, doing the rear springs, although a difficult job due to access, is easier than kingpins. It's certainly quicker but just as frustrating at times. But hey, that's why I bought a trad Morgan - so I could get stuck in with the spanners.

Yes I've contemplated a manual but I'm not sure that it would be any better than what you get on here, which you can print off if you fancy doing the job. I will say this though, don't attempt kingpins on a Morgan unless you've had experience of stripping suspension on other classics, and have the right tools. It can be a challenge. The first time I did it I was finding my way, but at least now I have a tried & tested method. I very nearly bought a hydraulic press but it seemed extravagant for home use, and not many have a large enough working depth for the Morgan stub. I must ask my local village garage how much depth they have on their press. It would be more refined than 'drifting' the bushes out. Today I've cut out and hand stitched two inner leather gaiters, and later this week I'll cut out some new mohair outer gaiters. When I get chance I'll knock up a few more sets of gaiters, I've restocked with mohair for this job!!!!! I also need to get some more Velcro, probably this time without adhesive because it sticks to the sewing machine needle and I get a lot of grief for that.

No bookings John, but if I had access to a hydraulic press I could certainly do the "new bush & Reamer job".

I think I'll take your advice Dave, especially seeing I don't have the tooling or workspace.

My kingpins will be left to New Elms as well as springs and dampers.

Here are the better pictures of the calipers & pads:

This one shows that the inside edge is right up against the wear ridge.



And this is the outer edge. It doesn't fit well......
Next time I'm in there I will chamfer the edges a bit.

...erm... don´t intend to appear intrusive, but i´d chamfer them NOW, as the excessive size easily causes brake judder as the pads grip a bit around the outer edge of the disc (which isn´t running perfectly circular very often...) - which is getting even worse with wear of pads & discs!

So: always chamfer the upper edges of the pads when changing / working on them - just mho.....