Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Wow - A message for 3 Wheeler owners from MMC

The stakes are now very high. Morgan should have at least set up a "Response Team" and a clear customer management protocol to manage this Re Call complete with a night desk to support OS customers.

You should expect a full, timely and professional response to this issue.

I am dubious about dye penetrant testing. I had a failure of a titanium spherical joint on a rear track control arm on my Ralt F2 car, on the first event of the year, after penetrant testing over the winter. This resulted in the car going into Armco at considerable speed and 45º on a hill climb in the Ardennes. From the post breakage metallurgy by Rose joints, it appeared that the crack had propagated from the inside surface of the outer housing of the joint, which dye testing would not have detected. The titanium had not been properly heat treated/stress relieved after forging and the whole track control arm was found to be a counterfeit part, using joints probably made in the far east. Needless to say, I replaced all the other spherical joints on the car afterwards. Three of these, all titanium ones, were also found to be counterfeit. The stainless steel ones were all genuine.

Wilson

A close call indeed!
It does go to demonstrate the need for the right type of NDT. The dye penetrant method is a simple one but has limitations. Must be done correctly and the position/ size/ critical nature of use of the tested component all limit the use.
When in a steelworks I was detailed with testing some rolls used in the mill. It involved dye penetrant tests on corners of the drive tangs, whilst the rolls were still on a lathe prior to use. A big lathe! It was a quick check at high stress points but we pointed out the limitations. One roll had failed in the area we tested and that instigated pre use tests. I never had suspicions of cracks in all the tests I did nor any failures in use.
A mate worked for an NDT company and he was sent to test oil storage tanks ( huge buggers) at a refinery where a fire had occurred. He was X- ray testing all the welded joints in the tank skins, signing off each X-ray taken.

As with any form of inspection, the findings are only as good as the skill and experience of the inspector.

In my dealings with Morgan's service leadership, during debates about their engineering standards, one of their oft repeated statements was, "this is not an issue, nobody is complaining about this."

If a M3W chassis crack leads to a fatality, it would not surprise me if Morgan's response would be, "not an issue, owner never complained", but maybe, just maybe, times are a changing...

I have only taken the precaution of informing my heirs of this topic, in case it becomes pertinent during executorship of my estate *knock wood x3*.

Like a quote from the M3W LA to NY in 41 hours story ; "a contraption known only for reliably falling to pieces and the murder of fools."



**Apologies for my darkness; I'll hope we're all lucky enough to keep the 'shiny side up and the rubber side down'.**

I just had a response from Morgan.

1) They confirmed as I have a late type 2 chassis now fitted, the chassis inspection does not apply to my 2012 car

2) They have asked for a photo of my pedal box (which I attach here as well).

3) They accept that logistically it is difficult and expensive for me to get from where I live to Toulouse, where the Morgan main dealer, Marcassus Sport, is. In addition after all the furore over the 11 month job of the wrongly fitted replacement chassis, which had then to be totally redone at the factory with my M3W having to be trucked there from the south of France, I don't know if Marcassus and I would want to do business together any more.

I see from the photograph, which shows details of the pedals much better than by eyeball, that the whole braking torque is not taken by the tube (and weld(s) between the pedal and the m/c actuation lever. If you look at the photo, you will see that the clevis pin through the actuation lever and m/c fork, also extends into the brake pedal, thus sharing the braking load with the torque tube.

Wilson

https://www.tm-img.com/image/cXQ6c

can only see your image if you have an account

Thanks for posting that Richard. How do you get an image which I have saved to my account in TM-IMG to appear in a post. Do I have to put the URL in square brackets or something like that?

Wilson

PS I have found it - I have to use the BB codes not the share link I was using.

You are welcome Wilson, Just click on the Embed codes at the bottom of the image, in the revealed dropbox go to Full Image and hover over the RHD end of the BBCode where a copy will appear and then just paste the copied image directly into your post.

Good luck with your pedal box, my first impression is that they don't look very robust but I've not seen a standard one either.