Fabian sent me one of his lightweight steel sprockets from Belgium. You would have thought this was courier proof, especially when as well packed as it was but no. It looks to have been hit with a spike of some sort with a huge amount of energy, which has severely damaged one of the flanges and may have cracked one of the teeth. In fact I semi-jokingly said to Fabian that it looks like it has been hit by a rifle bullet. It is going to have to go back to Belgium for X-ray examination and dependant on the results of that, repair or replacement. I am assuming that I will have to replace the hub with the later type since mine is a very early car.
The only answer I could come up with was a rifle bullet, given that the edges have partially melted and the shattering cracks radiating outwards. As someone who has been rifle shooting for close to 50 years, with everything from .17" Hornet up to .577" Nitro Express, I know what a bullet strike looks like.
The sprocket itself is steel, only the flanges are aluminium. Whatever hit it has smeared the aluminium over one steel tooth. I am just a bit concerned, as I can see what looks like a line on that tooth, that it has cracked from whatever the mighty impact was, that caused this. As we are assuming that DPD couriers will pay for a total loss and I am in no rush, as my M3W is in storage until April, why mess around and take a risk. A replacement is the sensible option. It looks like another forum member's sprocket was in the same truck or depot and his damage looks worse than mine.
I am assuming that I will have to replace the hub with the later type since mine is a very early car.
The later (black) hub offsets the rear wheel another 5mm away from the sprocket. The sprocket itself stays in the same position in relation to the BB drive sprocket. I suspect that if you fitted the lightweight steel sprocket without the later hub then the drive belt would rub against the tyre.
p.s. It looks like someone really doesn't want you to fit the new sprocket!
My new sprocket is starting to be machined this week. I will go and collect it from Fabian this time, on the way down to my French house in April. Not risking those pesky couriers again! Esprit Competition in Aubagne is ordering a late type black rear hub for me, as I am assuming my very early car (May 2012) will have a silver one. I have a pair of the heavy duty FAG sealed bearings sitting in my French house, which I will get fitted in the new rear hub, rather than transferring over the original NSK ones, which are exhibiting a bit of wear and movement.
Esprit are also ordering a steering comfort kit and a Centa compensator. I cannot advance order the chassis strengthening kit, as apparently there are two different chassis (presumably two different jigs used). In typical incompetent fashion, Morgan didn't record which chassis type was fitted to which car, so it has to be measured to find out. As the car is hidden away in secure storage at the moment, it is inaccessible to do this.
