Yes the tapered end never went in all the way, hence why it's half rusted at the top, it never got flush to the turning arm. It was pivoting on the shaft back and forth and finally broke off.
The folks that installed the Empire Kit didn't think or know that they would have to rework the Empire parts to fit the Morgan or vs. versa because not all Morgan parts are the same. They needed to drill out the Morgan steer arm so that the Empire part would fit all the way down into arm making the flat part now flush.
Hope this helps
JV Sclafani Boca Raton, FL '13 M3W Metallic Orange Pearl 128CI Steered by Empire - Riding on Ohlins
Out of interest I had a check on the arrangement of the "Comfort Kit" while I was down in the lock-up this afternoon. The riser appears to be stainless so presumably a reasonably hard material and the bolt is a Grade 12.9 M14 which is a simple bolt, with no tapers to potentially prevent the riser seating fully down. The bolt is done up very tight taking a fair old swing to undo the nut with a long ratchet and socket. There is also the brace from the top of the riser to the upright though I don't know how that is actually fixed to the upright to prevent any movement at its connection. Relying on an M10 (or indeed M12) Grade 8 seems like a large reduction in available strength compared to M14 Grade 12.
The Grade 8 bolt is the same size diameter as the steer arm knuckle and steer arm bolt hole. it can't be any thicker or it wouldn't fix. It inserted bolt fits tightly inside a steel tube making it very strong, no wobbling here. Something else will break before that bolt/steel tube would break.
Old Empire Part miss-installed
Last edited by JVS; 05/11/1505:31 PM.
JV Sclafani Boca Raton, FL '13 M3W Metallic Orange Pearl 128CI Steered by Empire - Riding on Ohlins
I think the problem on the Empire kit is that unlike the Morgan Comfort Kit, there is no steady bracket to the top end of the bolt, which on the Morgan Kit, locates under the top ball joint on the main upright. This means very high cantilever stress just above the steering arm. I strongly feel that the Empire kit needs a top steady like the Morgan Kit, before it can be considered safe.
The steering arms on my 2012 were both different taper. The metal on my car is not stainless as it gets quite rusty (here in California). An upper steady sounds like a good idea for my Empire kit. Another project for this winter.
Has anything more been heard from Empire about this problem, and how they intend to fix it? The design of the spacer/tapered bolt is seriously flawed, and is a real danger to any occupants of a car fitted with this kit, as well as any pedestrians, cyclists, or occupants of another car that have the misfortune of being nearby when the bolt fails. Does anyone know how many of the Empire M3W steering kits are in use?
