Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Broken Brooklands Exhausts

Very simply the length of the lever arm from the vibrating engine is placing too much load on the semi-rigidly mounted silencer. The fexible joint is too far from the silencer to help. There needs to be another mounting bracket forward of the silencer and a flexible section just forward of that bracket.

I had a very similar problem with a Laverda 3 cylinder motorcycle: the engine was mounted on big silentblocs to isolate vibration but the silencers were rigidly mounted to the frame. The weak point was the 3-into-2 under the engine which continually cracked.

I enjoyed your post and yes I have wondered myself what magic keeps us on side.
I suppose its the magic of driving the 3W. Its is an amazing ride. There is nothing like it.

I totaly understand how your dad felt. Untill we start to respect real engineers in this country we will always have to put up with the outcomes of the "that will do and don't do a rolls royce job" mentality that is endemic in Britain.

On the plus side my new aftermarket fuel pump seems to be working just fine and Morgan been very responsive and reasonable regards the issue.
When their coms are up to scratch Morgan are a dammed reasonable lot. Lets hope they can keep moving forwards in this regard.

OP do you have the Mk2 thicker exhausts?

I went through a couple of sets of Mk1 exhausts but my Mk2s are still holding up after 1000 miles. The exhausts are what make the car for me and I will keep replacing them whilst the car is under warranty. After that things could get interesting.

Hi Mario, you suggested a possible update about the Brooklands exhaust towards the end of this week. I'm keen to know whether you've anything to report as yet?

In fact I'm just impatient really as I'm sure you would already have posted if you'd anything to report. I'm just on tenterhooks about the whole thing. I even found myself looking down at the welds several times as I drove today. Crazy situation that I've spent £36K+ for the pleasure of.

Hi Stan, I haven't yet managed to write my full report of events to my dealer. He is waiting for it to contact Malvern.

But I guess it's not a problem if aI make here a short version of it ... so here's my "Brooklands Exhausts Story", told mainly in pictures, some say they speak louder than words.


1ST SET OF EXHAUSTS


AUGUST 15TH 2014 - Got the car from the factory.





AUGUST 17TH 2014 - 48 hours and about 500 kms later, somewhere in Ireland (Laragh) ...





AUGUST 19TH 2014 - Another 48 hours and with more (very loud) 500 kms made, they got replaced at Williams Morgans





VERDICT. THE EXHAUSTS LASTED ONLY 500 KMS BECAUSE THEY WERE MK 1 EXHAUSTS, KNOWN AS FAULTY BUT FITTED BY MISTAKE. SECOND SET WAS Mk 2 AND THICKER, I SHOULD BE OK.




2ND SET OF EXHAUSTS

September 7th 2014 - Two weeks later, back in Portugal, car has now about 2500 kms, that means these exhausts covered about 1500 kms. I was at Caramulo, racing the Plus 4 and between climbs taking lovely guests up the hill in the M3W. Here the loveliest of them all, Mrs. Gambalunga (Alis)




Then I noticed this:





On a closer inspection:




The car was kept at Caramulo, where the museum mechanic performed a basic welding job. Nothing too fancy, but it worked well enough.



All this was reported to Malvern. That after a while informed I was going to be sent a 3rd set.


VERDICT. THE WELDING HAD BEEN POLISHED TOO MUCH. THE NEW EXHAUSTS WOULD HAVE VERY STRONG WELDING.






3RD SET OF EXHAUSTS

DECEMBER 2014 - after the exhausts arrived (maybe during October) and after I had the chance to go and retrieve the car from the Caramulo Museum and back to Lisbon, these were fitted. The car had, in December and upon its return to Lisbon to have these fitted, about 3000 kms:






It is clear the welding has not been polished, but the exhausts look nice and strong ... being cautious I askl my dealer to keep the "caramulo welded" exhausts stored somewhere if possible, because you know, if you fool me once, shame on you, but if you fool me twice, then shame on me.


So ... during 2015 I get to use this car very little (at least compared to what I do with the Plus 4), I did a few weekend trips with it and had it participating in two regularity events. Comes the end of August, with the Caramulo Motorfestival approaching and this car is now clocking about 5000 kms. And here's what, a few days before the event, I noticed:


(UP) FRONT VIEW


INBOARD SIDE VIEW



OUTBOARD SIDE VIEW



I had committed myself to the Motorfestival organization that I'd take again the M3W up there to be displayed and run up the hill with guests, and I didn't want to fail, although obviously I would shame Morgan if this ONE YEAR OLD CAR was shown to the public with broken exhausts. So I called the dealer and asked if he still had the 2ND SET. His reply was YES, so I came back to Lisbon to get them, and had them re-fitted to the car on the eve of the Event.

Funny thing is that they ALSO started to crack on the second (and last) day of the Motorfestival. And the museum mechanic was ashamed that his work had lasted so little (I tried to tell him it was the car's fault, not his), so he asked me to, once again and one year later, leave the car with the Museum, so he could perform another welding job. And that's where the car is now. At Caramulo.


So, what to do? The way I see it, the short version of it all is this:

Set 1 - (from 0 to 1000 kms)
500 kms until failure. Then they did 500 kms cracked.

Set 2 - (from 1000 to 3000 kms)
1500 kms until failure. After welded they did 500 kms more.

Set 3 - (from 3000 kms to 5000 kms)
2000 kms until failure. Returned to dealer, to claim a new set from Malvern

Set 2 (second life) - (from 5000 to 5100)
In total, these managed 600 kms before giving up a second time. They've also been welded for a second time, and are now the ones fitted to the car.

What's next? Well, obviously the ...



4TH SET OF EXHAUSTS


With my promise that I will use and use and use the M3W this year. If need be, I will ask new exhausts much more frequently until the warranty period expires. And after that I will keep on asking them too, because with every new set you have a new warranty period (for the replaced parts only, obviously).

But I do hope MMC realizes something is fundamentally wrong (apparently they're the only ones not noticing this because everyone I speak to looks at the exhausts and says "obviously the mounts must be replaced and the exhausts need a bigger, or a second, flexible section".

This hasn't been good for me, but it also can't be good for MMC, so here's to hoping they solve it.

Mario, a well crafted horror story with all the evidence laid bare before our eyes. Surely no one can be in any doubt as to what potentially lurks for the other 49 owners, myself included ?

Just as I'm also sure that anyone reading this thread alone will be able to work out a once and for all cure, as opposed to the current sticking plaster solution.

These replacement exhausts cost, and fail, and cost again...

Is it really that difficult to work out that a soundly engineered fix, costs, and then works, the end (hopefully).

I hark back to an earlier post where my father, a true engineer and perfectionist, yes of course I'm biased (Supermarine amongst others for those who've recently enjoyed the Battle of Britain 75th) raged against Morgan's engineering, and that was 30,40,50 years ago and more. If he's looking down and now realises what a substantial proportion of my inheritance has been spent on I can only imagine what he's thinking.

So come on Morgan, for Gods sake, pull your b****y socks up, prove my dad wrong and start sorting this and all the other issues out.

I am sick to the back teeth of driving, what should be my pride and joy like it's on eggshells and just waiting for the next rattle, creak or graunch to signal problems.

Is this really how you want your customers to feel Morgan? Is it really?.....

What a story of doom Mario. The design of the exhaust system is clearly not "fit for purpose" and needs a base zero re-think.

It looks like a flexible joint might be the only solution. Years ago I had the very same thing with an MG Metro and an aftermarket stainless system. Mini's and Metro's suffer from the transverse engine rocking fore & aft under power on & off, so a lot of load is taken by the exhaust downpipe. In fact some journals will say that this was part of the design in that the exhaust was expected to stabilise the engine. The Metro had much improved mountings over the Mini, but the engine still rocked slightly. My first aftermarket stainless system only lasted a few weeks and cracked on the bend. The replacement lasted exactly the same time, and so did the replacement. After that I went back to mild steel, which had a flexible joint - the stainless did not. No more problems.
Ceramic coated mild steel would probably fix the problem on the M3W even without a flexible joint.

Maybe not the only solution, but certainly the best, I would say. It's not like they are difficult or expensive to get hold of. I've got one on my car linking the engine-mounted components (manifold, cat, downpipe) to the chassis-mounted components (exhaust pipe, silencer, tailpipe). It works a treat.