Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 MTW problems in France andand French solutions

I am not a MTW owner – I have a +4.

This post refers to a number of MTW issues and in none of them am I very knowledgeable.

I am on holiday in SW France with the +4 and dropped in on Alain, a very active Morganeer friend. He does a bit more than tinker with his cars – he is a professionally experienced metalworking engineer. Alain has a +4, an MTW and a big Audi. His wife has an A-H Sprite. When we called in two days ago there was a second MTW there too, belonging to one of Alain’s friends.

He has owned and restored Triumphs and has done a lot of mods on his +4 – new re-designed bonnet (yes) enclosed parcel area and lots of superficial things. It was his first Morgan and he has no issues with it – but it is a much-changed car.

He liked the +4 so much that as soon as the MTW came out he ordered one (RHD, he prefers that) and got no 9 of the production – a very early car. He collected it in England and drove it straight home. I rode in it in 2013.

He has had multiple issues with the car and little support to correct them. It seems clear to me that there are a number of serious problems, any one of which would justify a recall in most circumstances.

In desperation and, I suppose, on the basis of ‘if you want something doing properly, do it yourself’ he has decided to carry out number of corrective modifications and improvements, mainly of his own design. He has facilities and the ability to do this. He believes he is the most active modifier of MTWs so far.

I have seen the car in its current partly rebuilt state. I will get more accurate and fuller details of his project but I immediately recall the following which are only some of the subjects being tackled:

· Removal of existing chassis members at the front of the car (too weak) and replacement by a braced tubular structure.
· Complete re-design and replacement of clutch (it broke up).
· Complete re-design of top front suspension arms to achieve a smaller radius of swing and improve the steering geometry of the car.
· Changes to the front wheel spats to allow more steering movement.
· Additional bottom panels at rear of car.
· Changes and additional engine and oil cooling with added fans - I don’t fully understand this but it is a major job. He has made a new bonnet with rows of louvres on the top and two fans both mounted on the bulkhead at the front of the bonnet, one behind each cylinder and discharging over the oil tank (I think) through the bonnet louvres and up and over and around the windshield and occupants.

There is more and I will get details and pictures. Alain has asked me to post about this on Talk Morgan to make the France-UK link to MTW owners with problems. I believe he said there are 200 MTWs in France. He doesn’t speak English but is a big fan of English cars and his are all RHD. He is al1.vouloir on the Old Morgan Addict (French) website and he is a very active poster on the French MTW website.

By the way, for anyone interested the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry is a super way to get to SW France quickly and without too many long day’s driving. We are on our 4th trip that way.

I will be back with more when I have it.

Now, where has that bottle of red gone

I don't have a MTW either but thanks for the very interesting post nevertheless.

It's disappointing that some owners have to go to these lengths to get things sorted, but your friend seems more than capable.

I must try that ferry soon. Sounds like a great way to get to Spain or France.

Cheers

I am also a french MTW owner, I didn't have same problems but I encountered a poor support from the official dealer in Paris, one year to get a single reply !
I had to escalate the issue to Malvern to have the dealer replying to me.

I had a TVR before and it was almost easier to find support.

I had a ECU failure and passenger windshield.

You or your friend can contact me if you need more info.

Would love to hear and see more!

Open another bottle of Chambertin and finish the story !

Thank you for posting Jack!

I 'am also interested to see his special solutions and i really like the very individual ways every threewheeler owner solved his problems.

Best regards from germany
Thorsten

I love reading about this kind of stuff, your friend Alain sounds like a fascinating guy.

Another M3W owner with it resident at my French house. I have a long list of things needing doing on my M3W, which is in storage over the winter but our local service dealer (which Morgan France in Paris seemed not even to know about), has been closed since July due to family illness. It is Esprit Competition in Aubagne, near Toulon and for Morgans, acts as a subsidiary of Marcassus Sport in Toulouse. I hope they do open again, as otherwise Marcassus is about an 8 hour drive away and I am far from confident that my M3W would get that far, with its failing compensator. Otherwise I suppose it would be a question of having Marcassus collect it from me on a trailer, which will be expensive.

Morgan Paris not impressive as others have said. The address they gave me for my local service dealer was a body repair shop that did not even seem to know what an M3W was.

Anymore news on your modifications????

� Removal of existing chassis members at the front of the car (too weak) and replacement by a braced tubular structure.
� Complete re-design and replacement of clutch (it broke up).
� Complete re-design of top front suspension arms to achieve a smaller radius of swing and improve the steering geometry of the car.
� Changes to the front wheel spats to allow more steering movement.
� Additional bottom panels at rear of car.
� Changes and additional engine and oil cooling with added fans - I don�t fully understand this but it is a major job. He has made a new bonnet with rows of louvres on the top and two fans both mounted on the bulkhead at the front of the bonnet, one behind each cylinder and discharging over the oil tank (I think) through the bonnet louvres and up and over and around the windshield and occupants.

I would love to see photos of some of that! is there a link?

Hello esprit compétition is always open after some family problem
I ve spoken with him And agrees to do job on MTW .
You can go And see on our site all the information about MTW