Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Pulling out the motor/trans - replace clutch slave

With old non-syncro boxes, double clutching is of course the ONLY way to downshift and it is a fine art that has to be learned the hard way.

But with the syncromesh gearboxes, like the Miata 5spd, double clutching is just redundant and a time wasting procedure. With the blocking rings inside the trans, when you push into a gear the blocking ring slips on the next gear and with that friction it speeds that gear up to match the exiting gear in speed. Hence no more grinding gears when shifting.

Speed shifting or power shifting is again like double clutching, an art that needs to be mastered. I can't imagine what I would do with a left hand shift lever after spending my whole lift with a right hand shifter. At least your pedals are the same...

Dan says 'I can't imagine what I would do with a left hand shift lever after spending my whole lift with a right hand shifter. At least your pedals are the same'.
You soon get used to it. My M3W has a L/H change & my vintage Sunbeam has a R/H change & I've also had autos with column change & L/H change. Occasionally you forget which side its on & reach for a gear lever that's not there or if driving the auto a lot & switch to manual forget to change.
Tractors used to have the gears between you knees so you could use either hand.

Tim

The older I get the more I dislike change...

I still travel for work a bit, but back in the mid to late '80s a few years I was out on the road 285 nights. I really liked doing the traveling, but now I hate to just go to the airport. Old and cranky is what I'm becoming.

Yes, I've driven a few old tractors with the shifter between my legs and found no issues with it.

I'm sure that I would get used to the left hand shifters. I used to ride British motorcycles and most then had left foot brake and right foot shifters. Even the early Harley Sportsters thru '75 had right foot shift and left foot brake.

Over here winter ice racing was big back in the '60s and '70s. The BSA Goldstar 500 and the Victor 441 were great ice bikes because they had the right foot shifters and they had tons of lower end torque and didn't need to be shifted quite as often.

Our family had a small back in the mid to late '60s and during that time we took on Bridgestone motorcycles. I remember the 175cc twin had a shift shaft out both sides. It came left foot shift, but you could buy a kit to swap sides of the shifter and brake pedal. Just thought it was a great feature, but I never say anyone use it.

Back in my early days I had a beat up Chevy Impala SS with a 409 4 speed. The trans was a Muncie "rock crusher" 4 speed. These were close ratio and didn't have much for syncros. They always made noise when you shifted, hence the nick name Rock Crusher. About the best way to shift them was to power shift, but that was not always an option, in fact very seldom could you actually do your power shifting because of traffic and the local cops etc.

So when British cars had column shifters, which side were they on, left or right? My cousin had a Nash Metropolitan and the shifter was actually located in the dash next to the column and had a little ball socket that the shifter stuck out through.

Sorry for rambling on and on guys. I just couldn't get my finger to stop moving...

We installed the new centra compensator unit that uses the 4 oblong rubber inserts instead of the earlier designed HD sealed with grease compensating sprocket unit.

The centra compensator is attached to the S&S block with the clutch pack ready to go next.

I will post pictures with explanations soon.

Matty says, All the mechanics are nasty and shoddy (our American cousins can enlighten us on the origin of that word?)

This is what the Urban Dictionary tells:

"Words use arises from an oddly named and still standing 18th century mill in the Town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, UK. Shoddy & Mungo Ltd. This mill used to be involved with 'Worsted' this is the cheapest and worst to deal with hence its name form of woollen product. The name shoddy was forever more connected with the worst of the industries business.
Locally and Nationally people also use it as a way of describing ones state when one is high from smoking biftas"

Nice
I thought it was an amercian civil war expression relating to garments.
We must have sold them some!!!

The need for double de-clutching may have gone but a throttle blip to rev match (so you don't drag the engine up to speed with the rear wheel when re-engaging gears) is still a very useful and important skill.

I have to say that the pedal layout in the M3W is exceptionally good for throttle blips and heal-and-toe.

Essential

JVS,

Isn't there a legitimate Morgan dealer near you in West Palm Beach (their name contained the word "Chariots", I think)? I ask this, because I've never been there, but seeing their website makes me think they deal mostly in exotic used cars, so they may not have a great service department. Is yours the only M3W in Palm Beach or Broward counties?

Bill in FtL

Chariots of Palm Beach is a highend auto reseller in WPB who has had a couple of M3Ws for sale. They do not service Morgan's there.

I bought my Orange M3W from a Morgan/Motorcycle dealer in Charlotte, NC.

However, I have talked with Stahl Motorsports, West Palm Beach, who has sent a mechanic to Morgan for service training.

I'm lucky enough to belong to a small car club where we build and fix our own cars and bikes so this has been a fun project getting to know English mechanical thinking along with brushing up on our wood working skills :-)
Plus saving a bunch of money on paying someone else to wonder their way around finding the fixes.

Bill,our shop is in north Ft Lauderdale, if you wish to stop by on a Saturday morning give me a call , we have breakfast near Wilton Manor's Egg and You! (561) 441-0199