Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Front brake reaction bars

Unable to see them on my car during factory tour yesterday as wings already fitted, and didn't have opportunity to look closer. Just googled for images and found this



which is what I would expect assuming it takes the brake caliper force from a pivoting mount to the chassis.

I also found this though



which to my mind is just an extra stay from the top of the upright, although I would grudgingly admit it would help supporting same under heavy braking.

Which is closest to that which MMC currently fit when included in build spec?

Identical to the Mulberry ones

If they fit them at customer request, the latter which is a stainless tube. I have to say....and I know I’ll get shot down here....that unless you are a hard braker, they are not really necessary. Which is why the factory don’t fit them as standard.

They are fitted to mine ( mulberry )
To be honest I can't tell any difference

Is there any concern that potentially they load a part of the chassis, that is not specially strengthened!?

+1

Thanks for replies. I'm a great believer in having braking and acceleration forces transmitted to chassis rather than suspension although I accept the front suspension on the classic Morgans is a special case. It seems the optional MMC ones do not achieve that directly.

As to whether they are needed or not I can only draw on my greater experience with motorcycle engineering. For very many years Moto Guzzi and BMW produced shaft drive bikes with the bevel box directly coupled to the suspension swinging arm. Torque reaction from this caused the rear suspension to unload so the seat rose under hard acceleration. As this didn't make the bike dangerous under general road conditions it could be argued that a solution was not needed. Interesting though that both companies have developed fully floating shaft transmissions.

Here is an early example of a bike I built up with a custom Tony Foale frame back in the early 80's.



All three brake calipers are attached to mounting brackets pivoting concentric with wheel spindles. Each of these is anchored by a rose jointed reaction arm in tension, direct to frame or forks. Similarly the bevel box is free to float about the rear wheel axis with drive through a propshaft jointed at each end, with a reaction arm also in tension from bevel box to frame, just seen behind wheel.

The handling was like no other shaft drive bike at the time feeling rock solid in corners when under power or braking. Interesting that Moto Guzzi introduced a similar drive system some years later

That is a lovely Guzzi. Is it a Le Man Mk1 engine?
I had a MKIII Le Mans for 8 years and loved it.

Thanks John. The engine was not based on any particular model being a big V twin crankcase bored out to 95mm (from memory) to give 1105cc. Very many other mods including slipper pistons, flywheel/clutch one third normal weight, bored out (41mm) Dellorto pumper carbs and all internals balanced and polished.

I had the Mulberry parts installed for a while in my 4/4 Sport ... I could not tell any difference.

What annoyed me was the fact that there is not enough clearence and the (stock) tires rub on the stay on full lock -> removed.

Wolfgang