Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Starting after a long layup

Having spent the last three months in Spain yesterday I finally got round to starting up my car.
I was really worried about starting the car with minimal oil on the top end so tried removing the fuel pump fuse, which I'd been told wouldn't work, and it turned over with no problem, after a few goes I put the fuse back in and she started first time, result.
Had a great run for 50 miles, huge smiles all round.

Worthers +8

Nice work...

Good tip...thanks.

Glad all is well.

Another reason for using the best possible quality fully synthetic oil and changing it every 12 months, even if the miles run are less than the specified interval, is that it doesn't drain away in the way oil used to, it leaves a protective film so that in the situation you describe, it protects.

If you want to get oil into the top end of the engine before firing up , take out the spark plugs and spin the engine over a few times , the oil pressure should come up nicely. The engine will spin freely without the compression and you should see some movement on the oil pressure gauge.

Then replace the plugs and go for a trial fire up. You should see oil pressure on the gauge almost immediately (or as fast as the gauge can react).

Appreciate it is a bit of a long-winded job when you have 8 plugs to remove and replace , but in my view it is worth doing.

The ideal would be to remove the plugs before turning the engine over because that reduces the load on the bearings - no compression.

That was the advice from all the dealers but I aways prefer to turn the engine over and generate some oil pressure after such a long spell of inactivity.
Another bit of good news for me is that I have finally have got my 1934 3 wheeler radiator back from the fabricators, after two years, so as soon as I remember how to post photos I'll upload and show where I'm up to with the rebuild.

Worthers +8

I would agree about removing the plugs but unfortunately getting to them on an Aero+8 is quite a job.

Worthers +8

Great stuff Derek!

Andy

Too True!!
On each side the rear 2 are relatively easy, the next two just possible, but the front 2 require wings off.

Not normally an issue as plug life is at least 100,000km/60,000 miles.

Perhaps that is just as well! Makes me glad I have a trad +8!

Just out of interest , how easy are the wings to get off ? I guess you would need quite a bit of garage space as a start.