Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Cracked and bent chassis .

Are MMC doing as little as they can?

From what I read and hear its the opposite.

I agree that MMC should fix this and all instances at no cost to the owner. My understanding is that they have stood x their product.

It should not happen at all - of course.

Well in this particular case they appear to be doing as little as they can get away with. Let's hope that changes.

In other cases it took them an awfully long time to finally address the issue. In fact they denied it even was an issue

Did they jump or were they pushed ?

If MMC denied it was an issue why did they panic and offer to fit triangulated bolt-in chassis braces free of charge to all of the early cars.

MMC originally said that this problem only occurred on cars that had been driven very hard in competitive conditions for long periods of time but then many people who had only used their cars on the road and never even done a track day had cracks appear in their top tubes.

I agree that this should never have been a problem if correct CAD and FEA software was used at the design stage and a more suitable material such as Reynolds 531 tubing used for the chassis..

What worries me is that when a crack first starts to form it would probably be invisible to the naked eye, particularly under the paint, and do we know how quickly a crack can go from the initial invisible stage to the life-threatening stage.

If both the top tubes crack and this goes un-noticed, how long before the bottom tubes crack and the entire front end falls off?

If I was a member of the executive team at MMC, I think I would be having a few sleepless nights.

Nothing like the potential for a nice fat lawsuit to focus the attention...

I had 2012 chassis replaced by dealer. It is not a straightforward replacement because of differences between the 2 models. The dealer had to do a lot of adjustments and overtime to fit everything. New chassis came in rusted from MMC and was repainted at my cost.

The frame cracks have been an issue for some time. After I first heard about the cracks and breakages I was alarmed. My car is a 2012. I'm a bit obsessive and I started looking at my own car (about 2013) and found NO cracks. I think the factory triangular "Upgrade" was first mentioned in Talk Morgan about 2015(?). I ordered one. My dealer said the frame MUST be inspected before the upgrade could be released to me. No cracks or breaks. I installed the part in the winter of 2015/16. The car has only 4000 miles and I do not do track days--I will be 83 in May this year. This last winter I was installing a pair of LED driving lights and discovered the crack. Question: what caused the crack--the upgrade?--the design flaw?--what?
I am curious as to what level of responsibility Malvern is willing to assume.

The chassis brace was fitted to my july 2013 car in October 2015 at 6471 miles. Three weeks ago at 9447 miles I found the cracked chassis. Morgan have had the car a week & I have no timescale for the new chassis fix. I'm still waiting for a price for fitting the centa compensator & clutch check despite asking dealer 3 weeks ago.

Tim

It would appear from what TimG has said above, that the bolt-in stiffening brace was not the solution to the cracking problem and Tim's chassis cracked 3000 miles after fitting the brace.

Tim, perhaps your chassis was starting to form cracks before the brace was fitted but at that time they were invisible to the naked eye under the paint.

Once again, another knee-jerk reaction from MMC that did not work.

The chassis was inspected by the dealer before the brace was fitted but I doubt if it was more than visual so a crack may not have been visible.

I tell u what ...all this chassis issue is a major concern.

Particularly for those racing cars ...or driving with gusto.