Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Transmission oils for traditionals

Hi Dave,

What a fantastic series of articles you put out.

As a new boy I have probably missed a few.

I would endorse the idea that you put together a manual of your topics and offer it for sale here or on ebay et al!!. It would be Verrrrrry Useful. Our Mog is still very young at the Mo, and the only thing I have managed to obtain so far is an old 'Poly Chart' for a Four / Four Series II which is not much help other than to list Energol products and when and where to put them.
Keep up the good work.
Frank.

Frank,
I have to say Dave writes interesting articles.
There is also a uesfull w/shop manual on GoMog.
http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/allmorgan.html

Hope that helps
John

Frank - I've only been getting under a Morgan since the end of August 08 and didn't come across this site until December 08 - so all I've posted here is easy to view. But I've been taking cars apart for 39 years, so it's a transferable skill.......

Right then, lets move on to the rear axle oil.
First, a picture of the drain plug, which is the largest hex bolt on the lower edge of the diff cover (15mm - or 19/32AF will do). Here it's almost unscrewed and you can see blue sealing compound around the hole. There was also a trace of red sealer in the threads and I'm guessing that some, if not all of this was gasket goo, applied when the rear cover was fitted to the diff housing. It made the bolt tight for the first few turns on the way out. I cleaned the threads with a stanley knife. The residue was dry & brittle, and more or less popped out.

It took a while to drain...........................


Here is the level plug, showing the white 'nylon' sealing washer on the left and the cleaned up drain plug on the right.


This is the 'measure' of the level plug, showing in mm. In truth it's an inch & a quarter AF. This is a big socket and access is impossible due to the fuel tank, so use either an open ender, flattish ring spanner, or an adjustable spanner.


This is the old oil. If you compare with what came out of the gearbox, this is significantly more. It was also much darker than the gearbox oil, but not as dark as it looks here.


This is the semi-synth 80W/140 obtained from Morris lubricants, along with the friction modifier (Roadster only) from Demon Tweeks.

To refill- first I smeared a light dab of blue sealer on the drain plug & replaced. Then I mixed the new oil and friction modifier in a clean ice cream container which was my two litre measure. 70ml friction modifier is recommended. It's supplied in 118ml bottles (4 US fluid ounces).
I was refused permission to use MrsW's measuring jug. So I measured 70ml water in the jug, then transferred that to a small plastic container. I marked the level with a strip of masking tape, then tipped the water out and dried the container. Then I refilled the container with the friction modifier, and poured this and the oil into my dispensing ice cream container, and then into the funnel with tube attachment............


And that's basically all there is to it. But draining is slow, and refilling is slow, and it's much easier from above, so the tool tray has to come out.
So this gave me another chance to re-photo the Mark1 tray.....

Here it is naked......from above.....

From below.......


To be continued in next post............

Finally, I took the battery cover off for the first time. It's a thin sheet of aluminium, with little in the way of sealing.
I tidied up the wiring. Someone had fitted a Cetec battery charger umbilical, but this needed a grommet. I also fitted a neoprene flap along the bottom edge (just visible) to dissuade water from splashing up.


Finally I added a square of neoprene kneeling mat to the inside of the cover, to seal & insulate......


And polished the outside of the cover........


This is how it looks with the ply cover replaced and having had two coats of Danish Oil applied.


That took longer than expected (it always does), so now I must apply myself to the demands of MrsW for a while. There is a list of jobs to attend to..........

consider yourself fortunate, the 4/4 Sport comes without tool tray, the jack wheel-nut hammer and tyre sealant are in a zip vinyl bag left loose on the luggage shelf when the car was delivered, hardly secure or safe. It's an old manufacturers dodge to reduce the in service weight, they can claim the tools are a dealer supplied acccessory, probably helped Morgan get the Sport under the 140g/km co2 band

...as is removing the spare wheel.

Nigel

The 4/4 Sport has NO TOOL TRAY?.....

the rear deck is screwed down. been thinking about constructing a tool tray but its not top of my priorities - getting out and about and putting some miles on the clock is number 1, been for a 100 mile jaunt round the cotswolds this morning, four up, me,my wife and our two border terriers, I waved at a gent driving a vintage Bentley 3 Litre and he nodded back, a mog can look at a king!

I'm now wondering about making a replacement tool tray using fibreglass. That would allow complex shapes, e.g. using the tool tray cutout for the jack as a mould.

Or possibly even just using the existing thin plastic tray (which is beginning to crack) as a base and laminating it with chopped strand mat and resin.

The only problem is I've not done anything with glass fibre for a very long time!