Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum New member and potential owner

Further to my post at the start of this thread I have continued to browse the web in search of a possible car post lockdown. I have seen a few 4/4s with CVH engines. They seemed reasonably priced but I know little about the CVH engine as I have always been a Xflow man where Ford engines are concerned. Anyhow, I have read a little bit about the CVH and it didn’t seem very flattering. Can anyone advise re these engines and whether or not cars so equipped are a good buy?
Harry

Harry, owned many Fiesta's (from '76 to now) and a 4/4 with CVH engines, found them easy to work on, reliable and parts reasonably priced. Regular oil & filter changes with decent oil pays dividends, when I last saw the current owner of my old Mog it had over 100,000 miles on it

Our first Morgan was a CVH engined 4/4. It went very well and was reliable. Jon's comments above re servicing are worth heeding. And make sure the cam belt has been changed recently.

There is loads of stuff out there on tuning and improving and parts availability is good.

Thanks for the replies. I am also considering Sigma engined cars. I know these will be more expensive but being more modern would they be a better bet?

Go as new as you can......build quality slowly improved over time...............

It would performance wise, I had a 4/4 Sport in 2009 from new and in four years put 26,000 miles on it and it was a joy to drive and possibly the purest form of all the four wheeled cars, the Sigma is a delightful revvy little thing.

The Conti tyres are not great and I swapped mine out at 17,000mls for some Toyo's which was a good move I should have done it earlier.

Enjoy your choosing.

I would say a fair amount depends on what you want to do with the car. If you just want to enjoy driving and polishnig it, then the newer the better and the Sigma engines are lovely.

If on the other hand you like tinkering and tuning then an early car is better as you can play about with it to your heart's content without having to worry about complex electronics and emissions restrictions.

I bought a CVH engined 4/4 20 years ago and have spent the last 2 decades fiddling with it and tuning it - to the extent of changing the engine to a GM Ecotec unit.. I've had a blast doing it but if I were to buy another it would be a Sigma-engined car without a doubt.

Our current car is a Sigma engined 4/4. Ours is Feb-14 and has the Mazda MX5 gearbox. I am not sure when it changed but the earlier Ford gearbox came with a rear axle ratio that some considered less than perfect.

It goes really well, is very economical and is very nimble. You have to change gear a bit more often than with the larger engined cars but for me, that is part of the pleasure.

Absolutely. For me, selecting the correct gear to obtain the required torque output for the circumstances is an integral part of the driving experience. In any case, I've been driving manual cars for over 40 years. I've done it a lot and dare I say I've got quite good at it, changing gear holds no fear for me.

I have both an xflow7 and a sigma 4/4, the 7 has a far better ride and yet, I’d never do any long distance tour in the 7. If I’m entirely honest with myself, the 4/4 is laughably bad on a bad road at the wrong speed so you just have to slow right down and dodge the bad bits.

Basically, you have to just decide you’re buying one, do it and never allow even a shadow of doubt to enter your mind, you’ll grow to love it.

I wouldn’t bother about a warranty, there’s nothing you couldn’t sort out yourself, I’ve had amazing reliability, the only recurring issue has been the wipers. It’s only recurring because I’m too lazy to sort it properly, the multi plug on the wiper motor is garbage, give it a wiggle and it’ll come back to life but only until I need it then it likes to remind me how lazy I am.

The sigma engine is an absolute cracker as is the Mazda gearbox, possibly the best I’ve had.

Here is my 4/4 with the wipers in the “let’s not work” mode, really unhelpful in snow.