Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 More worries - cracked gas tank.

That's not good.

Another one for the cracked fuel tank bracket club. Two cracks in the top bracket of the near side tank after only 2000 miles! Both belts are pretty tight and centered on the buckle. This is a seriously lame design, it’s as though they never thought of the weight of fuel in the tank, I mean what are the chances of someone filling a tank up and driving on bumpy roads? In the uk? million to one I would think?

Bell and Colvill talked to MMC about the cracks in my tank brackets and MMC have offered to do a warranty repair even though the car is 2015. I just need to get up to Malvern. That seems pretty fair to me so thanks to MMC and B&C.

The repair seems to be “an aluminium sheet bonded to the bottom of the tank to support the cracked bracket”. I’ve thought about this and I think that this implies the problem as they see it is weight on the front bracket (probably when the tank is full). Those Of you that have stripped out the tanks did you notice that the front bracket was taking weight?

Congrats - my dealer claimed no support from MMC in 2019 for a 2015 car...

If you are having problems with your M3W on safety issues like this, NOW is the time to get Morgan to address the problem no matter where in the world you live.

The MMC repair seems to be “an aluminium sheet bonded to the bottom of the tank to support the cracked bracket”. I’ve thought about this and I think that this implies the problem as they see it is weight on the front bracket (probably when the tank is full). Those Of you that have stripped out the tanks did you notice that the front bracket was taking weight?

Conjecture based on my observation of the design: When the machine is static, the weight of the tanks and fuel is sufficiently supported by the cantilevered tube under each tank. But when on the move, bouncing around the lanes, that lower tube flexes enough to put significant stress on that dainty front bracket, unless the band-aid support strap is fully tight. Which of course it isn't if the machine has much in the way of miles or hours of use.

When I checked my machines support strap tension at about 8.5k miles, they were notably loose and required many turns of the adjusting nut to get back to tight, and now there is no adjustment left. Small cracks were already forming at the front brackets. So I have bought a little time, but some sort of re-design will be in order as replacing the straps with new ones that will again yield over time is not a very satisfactory solution.

Has anyone come up with a torque spec for the straps? Or any way to know what is tight enough?

You can put some rubber spacers under the strap (around gas tank corners, I used a large hose cut in half) to give you some extra tension...

Be careful not to over-torque the tensioners, as they’re made out of cheese. I had to re-weld mine and re-sew the belts.

Having also suffered this issue - To me there’s insufficient anti-vibration cushion on the rear mounts & love your description kanKeL.

I wonder what else is made of cheese?

Morgan did this repair for me together with the body change when that was required - So no complaints here WRT Morgan Motor Company, Triggers broom indeed.