Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Roadster Lightweight Double de-clutching

My Roadster Lightweight doesn't seem to like me double de-clutching - the throttle blip is too lazy.

Richard Thorne tells me that is due to the engine management system being too keen on saving the polar bears by stopping unnecessary squirts of fuel.

This is hampering my enjoyment - in my humble opinion proper cars should be driven that way - especially race cars !

Anyone else got the same issue & anything that can be done about it ?

Thanks

Standard fare on all Roadsters. First gear on my 3.7 is all but unuseable due to the extent of the "rev-hanging" as it is commonly called. At one time MMC would sell you an uprated ECU to improve matters for around £2k. Many owners just learn to drive around it.

What engine is your lightweight. I thought they were the 3 l Ford ST220 so you should have rev hang. My 3.7l has the MMC ECU fix.
Wolf Performance has a rev hang fix as well

I have owned 3 x 3 litre and 3 x 3.7 litre Roadsters and all have suffered from rev-hanging to various degrees. I would have thought that a lightweight would have had the ECU fix as standard, unless someone has switched ECUs (as if they would.....)!

Not sure why you need to double de-clutch with a fully syncromesh box. Maybe you just mean bliiping the throttle to get a smoother down change

FWIW I have no trouble heel and toeing to get adequate blip for down change when approaching bend or roundabout, despite dual mass flywheel on 3.7 Roadster.

If it is a Lightweight Roadster from the first series with the Ford ST220 3.0 there should be no rev hang. The cause would have to be of a different nature, perhaps the idle valve for example.
I had a standard series 1 roadster with the same engine, everything was perfect and never a topic in the forums. After that I had a series 2 Roadster. There was rev hang so annoying that I got a differently programmed ECU on warranty. Unfortunately only a few customers in a very small time window got this improvement. My Roadster Sport 3.0 Series 3 again had no problem at all with rev hang. Which MY is your LW Roadster?

I contacted MMC today and they claimed that the 3.0 never got beyond S2. Mine (Centenary Edition) was registered in June 2010, and I think on another thread that you felt an S3 took over some time that year. How can one check on which series one has?

Certainly - in my view - absolutely no point in double-declutching, as the synchros are strong - and no difficulty in achieving a rev-matching "blip" with my March 2011 3 litre. I believe the final run of 3 litre Roadsters had a slightly enhanced engine spec (yours should be amongst them). Whether officially an "S3" is a moot point.

I do sometimes experience a slightly raised tickover when coming to rest at lights etc - but I've never found any rev-hang between gears to be an issue. I have a new replacement throttle valve on the shelf as a precaution, as I know these can eventually get "sticky" and cause an issue. Hope this helps.

The first S3 was the Roadster Sport 3.0 without the spare wheel and a narrowed choice of colours and interior. The powers enhanced to somewhat 230 Hp from 204 Hp re the S2 but it was basically the same engine with a new mapping and slightly bigger manifold tubes as far as I remember. After the launch of the Sports bespoked Roadsters were offered as well. One indication of S3 is the wider front axles and therefore a more parallel shape in comparison to the S2 trapezoid shape.

Heinz has nailed it.

Either MMC never regarded the upgrades as an S3 version, or you got a numpty on the phone.

Whatever was going on, the S3 was a significant change over the S2.