Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Too precious towards the car?

Many years ago (1983) when I first bought the +8 it was a daily driver so had no option summer or winter, but I did have a roof in those days. Since ditching the hood and side screens in 1986 I have used it in winter regularly, but do try and avoid salted roads. Easter 1998 we went to Kitbuehl Austria, drove home in the day to Cambridge (851 miles). When we left it was -7C and there was a foot of snow on the solidly frozen tonneau. Just made it back in time for a pint in the local. 15 hours.

That’s proper hardcore.

Hats off to you

I’m firmly in the no salt camp. Although it has galvi chassis, SS bulkhead and ally body there are still major components like cross head, heater box, plus’s sundry brackets that are just painted so salt, for me as a long term owner IS still an issue. I have cleaned, treated and painted all currently affected parts but still wouldn’t use it when the roads are salted. I wait for a good downpour to wash the roads down then use it year round - just more in the summer.
For me long term ownership is different to short term especially when the car will hold good value or (in the case of my ‘36 Austin) appreciate slowly.

Simon, part of the problem is the mixed metal that you mention above, steel, zinc, stainless steel, aluminium, add in some mixed metal fixings too and it's a cooking pot for bimetallic corrosion and even some potential galvanic rot as the metalwork is often used as the neutral (earth return), add some moisture then increase it's conductivity with salt & BOOM ! Well not quite, but you can almost hear it fizzing away

I thought I was bad.

If I thought too much about all the above I wouldn’t sleep

With our previous Mog she was used all year round but generally avoided icy/ salted roads mainly as a result of following the advice on TM. Both with roof up or down -always with a smile on my face!
Please excuse my ignorance but with the new CX chassis is salt on the roads still as much of a concern when compared to the trad steel version?
Genuine question but don’t think I’ve seen it answered elsewhere on TM and I am a thicko mechanically/chemically...
Thanks in advance for explanation in simple language!!!!!
Cheers
HB
Ps apologies for thread drift

Headless,

the CX chassis is closer to the Aero Chassis in that it is made up of pieces of aluminium, sheet, extrusions and some casting/forging pieces, all glued together. The under surfaces, at least on Tarka, are undersealed. I'd expect the CX chassis to be undersealed.
As with virtually all aluminium chassis cars they are designed to be used in all weathers and are less sensitive to corrosion than steel. Some aluminium alloys develop a surface corrosion which then protects the body of the metal. I don't know if MMC use this type of alloy anywhere.

If I had a CX chassis car I'd treat it as a modern, all weather, car.

Enjoy the future!

Top notch reply
All, and I mean all, weather driving it will be then!!!!! 😝🥳🕺
Thanks Peter - that has given me a lot more confidence
HB

I'm cautious with all my cars which means regular inspections of the underside. With my Morgans, I know the undersides intimately, so I can soon spot any changes.

The primary risk is abrasion of the protective surface by road debris, which is more than you might imagine. Lots of modern cars have plastic mouldings under the floors, which help to protect the metal.

A good example on Morgans is my exhaust deflector plates. These are simple angled aluminium plates, which I fitted on each exhaust mounting, primarily to stop crud building up there.

The section under each mounting is horizontal. The leading edge is folded up at maybe 30 degrees. After only a few miles, the angled section has been grit blasted by road debris, whereas the horizontal section is hardly marked.

The other feature of Trads is that the body centre section stays clean. Only the wings and running boards take the crud.
It's worth checking the bottom couple of inches under the trailing edge of each rear wing. Here can get blasted down to bare metal very quickly.

Use mine all year round.

Never drive it with the hood up either.

Its not made of glass and I've rebuilt once so I can rebuild it again.

Arwyn