Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing How to match glove box lock to door key

Hi Everyone,

Having spent over 40 years in the lock trade I would compliment Peter for disassembling his "wafer" cylinders.

These disc tumbler cylinders are the cheapest cylinders available and as Peter says there is no security..

As a rule of thumb you cannot mix disc, paracentric, and pin cylinders, nor indeed different manufacturers items. Yes, there are clever locksmiths who can accomplish a one off, but is not the norm.

Personally, I'm quite OK with my separate keys but understand the desire for a single key.

Years ago when the first "electric" locks became available the word was that keys would soon be obsolete!

That's great work Peter.

My glove box key is an even simpler affair.

One of the quirky things I love about Morgan is its many keys. Everyone who rides with me smiles. I love it.
Nevertheless I admire your skills and your love for details, Peter.

I remember matching a new lock barrel when I had an Austin A35 as a teenager in 1972. I think I put the original key in the new barrel, some of the pins protruded, I just filed those flat. Worked perfectly.

My Morgan door keys, glovebox key, and filler cap key are all similar to that classic British design, I'm sure it would be easy to match them. The ignition key is a Land Rover blank with a Ford immobiliser chip! A local locksmith managed to make a spare for me, and coded it to the car, as I only received one key.

The fuel cap key on my car was different to the door key and just a little bit thinner than the ignition key, even though a similar design. I had to use some small rotary files and diamond files to widen the keyway about 0.5mm. Once I could insert the ignition key I was able to move and adjust the wafers. Much to my surprise the end result is that I can open it with both the original key and the ignition key. In the end I only had to file one wafer and with the original key it still stayed below the surface of the cylinder so the cylinder could turn.

All that probably only makes sense to someone who has actually tried to do this sort of adjustment.

Thanks Peter, missed that before.

Stefan