Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 New Owner: Deciding on Upgrades: Please Chime In

It does all depend on where you live, I too live on a glacier (not the same one as RedThree or TimG) from October to May at an altitude of 9000ft. This glacier is also high desert and I definitely need the UCK when pulling up and down the mountain passes to over 12000ft in thin air, it certainly helps cool the engine along with an oil cooler. All my Moggies would have difficulties without the electric fans.

I dislike the look of the fan cowl having experienced the car without, however I’ve also experienced skip fire mode and appreciate it saving my engine when stuck in London traffic. (Skip-fire felt like the big ends had failed), Phil’s discrete fan mod works well - I like the love jug fan setup especially if automatically operated so maybe that’s the way I’ll go eventually in time.

"Also Emil's fuel line upgrade is also a solid item to buy as it smoothed out my engine and made it start much easier."

Just installed mine this weekend...a very nice difference! It does run smoother and starting was almost instantaneous after a 2 week shut down. Takes 4-6 hours going very slow (like I do!) but it was very nicely engineered and fit almost perfectly. A couple of small mods along the way that Emil helped with. You can tell these are hand built as the differences can be surprising.

Next up...oil & bevel box cooler. In Arizona a must IMHO.

The following are my personal ‘Top 10’ recommendations (and they are just as applicable whether you’ve bought a brand new car or a previously cherished one).

1) If your car is pre 2014 then there are a number of potentially serious issues that you need to be fully aware of. I don’t intend to go into them all here but you owe it to yourself to check out the 5-Speeder Buyer’s Guide for more details. This is available as a free download on the MTWC website.
2) Add a puncture prevention compound to the rear tyre. I use OKO but there are a number of alternatives out there. A rear puncture is at the least very inconvenient and potentially extremely dangerous. Search YouTube for ‘OKO Tyre Sealant Introduction Video’ if you need convincing.
3) While you’re at it, check the rear tyre. It should have plenty of tread depth to aid water clearance. 5-Speeders are prone to rear wheel aquaplaning (and a corresponding complete loss of control) when you hit standing water. The legal minimum tread depth is way too little for our cars. By the way, while you have the rear wheel out, also replace the standard rear hub bearings with higher quality ones.
4) It is not uncommon for the standard (LandRover derived) fuel pump to fail – always at a most inconvenient moment. Replace it with a high quality Walbro pump while you can do it at your convenience and in the comfort of your own garage.
5) Sort out the exhaust. Various straight-through systems are available and all of them will unlock the stifled engine and make the car smoother and all together more pleasant to drive. Arguably, the Garage56 system offers the best compromise between performance and acceptable noise levels but it is reassuringly expensive!
6) The Centa ‘cush drive’ rubber rollers are consumables. Unfortunately if they fail (and they will…) you will loose all drive and the engine will have to be removed in order to replace them. Give Phil Bleazey a call and book the car in for his Centa modifications. This will allow the consumable items to be changed at the roadside if necessary and has a number of other advantages. Not cheap but invaluable in my opinion.
7) The standard Banner battery has earned itself a poor reputation so pre-emptively replace it with a more reliable brand – you wouldn’t want it to fail when you’re hundreds of miles away from home would you?
8) The fuel tanks are prone to failure due to undue vertical movement. Regularly check that the tensioning straps are taught and pre-emptively reinforce the fuel tank brackets with folded aluminium sheet, stuck in place with PU adhesive. This will hopefully prevent metal fatigue and fuel leaks from occurring.
9) Carefully check the fuel filter. These have been known to corrode between the canister and mounting bracket, causing fuel leaks. The best course of action is to wrap the fuel filter in duct tape where it is clamped by the bracket.
10) Screw-on plug caps inevitably come loose causing lumpy engine running. Fix plug caps with a dab of Loctite. Better still, fit spark plugs with a fixed anode.

I’m confident that if you take care of these basics, the 5-Speeder M3W will prove to be both enjoyable and reliable. Instructions for most of the above modifications can be found in the 5-Speeder section of the MTWC website.

Excellent read here!
Picking up a 2014 Brooklands Morgan this Saturday and had a very similar question to the person who started the this thread, you folks answered it. Another question, anyone know how restrictive the stock fishtail Brooklands exhaust is? The M3W I'm purchasing does have the cooling fan, newer frame and the upgraded Centa drive, so just looking to add key upgrades for reliability and driving fun!

I’d like to know this too as I have a Brooklands, have cams and ECU on its way and already upgraded intake. Enjoy yours....so much fun!

Socalm3w, where did you get your cams and ECU from? Looking forward to it for sure!

I beleve the Brooklands exhaust is less restricted than the stock one and close to the MMC stage 1.

Easy to check at night or in a dark garage. Once warmed up let the engine idle for a couple of minutes and see if the headers glow red. If they do then it is a bit restrictive, if they don't then you should be OK.

Thanks Chris99, I'll give that a go once it's in my garage.