Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Hose clamps for 1970 4/4

I was at judged show yesterday which went well for me and my car. There were two judges that called me out on the type of hose clamps that were on the various hoses in the engine compartment. I had replaced the clamps with "modern" worm screw type clamps when I recently replaced the hoses. They(the clamps) were the same as I removed. I was told that they should have been the wire type with a screw and a nut assembly. I have used the wire type on my older MG's('53 TD's) where necessary to be period correct, but I find it hard to believe that this style was still being used on my Kent crossflow engine hoses. Is there any way to obtain information as to the proper type of clamp that was installed at the factory in 1970? I'd really prefer to use the modern clamps since I think that they provide more clamping power and are easier to use. On the other hand, if the wire type were used originally, I'll go with them. If the modern type were used, then I guess that I'll need something to prove to the judges that they were indeed what the factory used. When I look at the sketchy parts lists they quote part numbers for old style and new style clamps but don't define what old means. I'm stumped.

Hi Marcus,

They are not show in the Kent engine bible - if you PM me I can send you a link.

Cheers,

R.

I'm not at home to,check at the moment, but I'm sure my book, "Morgan 4/4: The First 75 Years" by Michael Palmer, has some detailed photos of the engines.

Give John Worrall a shout by E MAIL at Heart of England Morgans .

Marcus,
Sounds like you had fun.
I suspect Morgan would have used whatever they had in stock at the time!!

Wire clips are 'correct' almost certainly, but much inferior to jubilees. Any picture at a motor show may well have jubilee types, and any picture taken after a sensible owner had bought the car would have jubilees too.

The wire and nut type lead to a shorter life for hoses, but as they are cheaper, most car manufacturers were using them at the time. I very much doubt if Morgan were any different.

Tip - buy your stainless jubilee clips from a chandler. Often cheaper for these than a car parts shop as stainless prices are often loaded for cars; you'd not use anything other than stainless for a boat that might see salt water.

Wire clips were in common use by BL into the early 8Os. Standard fit on MG at that time. You should only get comments on things like that when the judging is really close. And only when the judges know for sure that they are right. Such obsession doesn't encourage owners to enter again.

A photo of a Plus 8's engine in a 1968 Autocar shows Morgan using "modern" hose clamps.

Dave,
A little bit of "help" won't hurt my ego. I certainly can't know it all. I've reviewed every photo in my Morgan books and can't come up with a conclusion yet. The photos that I've seen don't yield conclusive proof. I'd really like a statement from the factory but for a lot of reasons that won't happen. They probably did just use want was available at the time. I'll get there though and if I have to, I'll stick on the wire clamps just to eliminate some know it all judge from commenting in a negative fashion until I am sure.
It is really interesting to see how some judges think they know it all. I spent 2400 hours rebuilding and researching one of my '53 TD's. It went on to become a national award winner 2 years ago. When I was done, I actually did know more than any judge that I ran across in my showings. I would bring out the documents proving my point down to various nuts and bolts and they would just back off. I'm not planning to do that on this car but I still want to know as much as I can. It's the little things that count.
Perhaps I'll run across a good candidate for a body off restoration and the info that I gain now will help down the road. It sure is fun playing with these little cars.

I found a photo in Worrall's book showing a '71 Kent engine with the same type of intake manifold that I have on my car. It has Jubilee type clamps. That will have to be my reference to the judges that think that they know it all. It still might be wrong but now they will have to prove me wrong.