Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Ride height- why the change from early production

If this has been addressed on the forum before, please point me to the post. I tried a search but didn't find any.

I've noticed in photos and videos of the earliest 2012 cars that the lower control arms appear fairly horizontal when at rest or not cornering, with the upper arms inclined upwards at the wheel end. On my December 2012 build car the upper control arms are fairly level, with the lowers being almost 2" higher at the chassis end than the wheel end. This higher chassis level appears to be the norm for cars up until fairly recently when I understand the chassis was raised further for certain markets.

So my question is: does anyone know why Morgan made the change away from the original low chassis (horizontal lower arm) configuration?

And a follow up question: for those that have fitted aftermarket height adjustable dampers, at what level are you running the car?

First run of cars (inc ours (#92)) had Suplex spring/damper units (a basic non-adjustable model)...these were switched to Spax after a few months production and the ride height rose as you describe...

Why this was done is a bit of a mystery...esp as it exacerbated the bump-steer issues that then required the comfort-kit etc.

The lower height we have does create other challenges though as ground clearance and departure angle are low.

Some & not all early cars suffered with bump steer, mine was one of those but following a chassis change & even though the steering mod wasn't included the bump steer disappeared.

Bump steer was a bit of a worry and you had to maintain a grip on the wheel but the drive was always totally exciting. People have played around adjusting the steering to regain that responsiveness of the very early cars but as with all things is a bit of a compromise.

We're looking at raising the back end slightly too.

I have adjustable ATR shocks on my car, very good they are as well. I have set the ride height at the front by having the steering arms horizontal, desirable for steering geometry. This gives about 6" ground clearance measured at the front of the body.

The rear spring adjustment is set by the clearance of the LH shocks lower spring seat to drive belt with the design of the ATR. The rear ride height ends up at just over 7" measured at the point of the tail unladen. This reduces to about the same as the front when two up with a bit of luggage, perfect for touring. The standard shocks make the back very low when loaded and grounding can be a problem, so this improves things.

There are 10 clicks of adjustment for damping rate and I have 5 from fully soft on the front and 3 on the back.

My understanding is that the Suplex units were specifically developed for the MTW and due to high quality & low volume were expensive, the later Spax type were way cheaper and hence a bit 'cooking grade'