Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Another side screen post

[I'm having trouble with the fit of the rubber between the side screen leading edge and the windscreen frame on my '74 4/4. I'm sure it was ok when I bought it two years ago but I have renovated the side screens since then . I can see no adjustment without serious metal bending. Will I need to trim back the rubber to give enough clearance? The windscreen hasn't been touched. I'm in need of more experienced advice before I get the Stanley knife out

This may be silly, that looks like the trailing edge rubber. However what do I know as my 2011 only has a trailing edge rubber & no top or front rubbers on the side screens. Front rubber is on the w/screen frame.

The designs changed over the years. The u channel you have came in much later,.

This may help GoMog side screen fitting

Hi TLG. I have the same problem but I have yet to find an answer. I don't think the GoMog advice is much help because I think it is aimed at a different problem. I have had two Morgans that developed a gap between the top of the side screens and the hood when driving at speed. This may be due to a pressure rise within the cockpit. It will also produce a gap at the top of the side screen and the draft excluder which is not what you have. The trick for this is to remove the two mounting brackets, stick them in a vice and bend them inwards to tilt the side screens inwards. This works well but is not for the faint hearted because you have to remove the front perspex of the side screen to undo the machine screw holding the bracket to the side screen. But I drift the thread!

Coming back to the poor fit at the front of the side screen, in my case I noticed this when my car returned from a hood conversion and side screen re-trimming. Putting on the hood makes it worse because the screen is bent slightly backwards when the hood is tensioned. I have tried nipping up the screen mountings but they are already tight. I cannot see any bend in the side screens that will give you more space at the front. I have tried loosening the machine screws holding the two brackets to the side screens. I thought I might be able to slide the aluminium frame backwards on the trimmed panel underneath. However, each bracket has three screws, two in the trimmed panel below and one in the aluminium frame which gives no adjustment. I could not move the frame anyway!

The hood trimmers had hacked away at the rubber seal but it looked so bad that I replaced the rubber which was of no help. I am not sure if the rubbers come in different sizes which might help.

I feel that the answer lies in repositioning the two side screen mounting brackets but I am not sure how the trimmed panel and aluminium frame fit together. If the screw positions are altered it may mean the panel needs to be re-trimmed again!

Quote: The trick for this is to remove the two mounting brackets, stick them in a vice and bend them inwards to tilt the side screens inwards. This works well but is not for the faint hearted because you have to remove the front perspex of the side screen to undo the machine screw holding the bracket to the side screen

I did mine without removing the brackets, just one bracket at a time in the vice. Still not for the faint hearted though
Nick

Nick, I can see what you are saying but that just tilts the side screen inwards (which I may have to do, but thats after sorting this issue). Interestingly GoMog says this isn't effective! I need to move the side screen backwards!


Calypso, I've just replaced the perspex windows so getting them in and out isn't a problem. It's new Perspex so a bit more pliable than the old ones (I broke one getting the originals out). I have the hood on at the moment but I have clearance problems at the bottom of the screen as well as the top which isn't affected by the windscreen top being pulled back. It looks like new mounting brackets with slightly different fixing hole positions may be needed to move the whole frame back a few mm. The rear one may need modifying in length. Otherwise I can't see a solution other than trimming back the leading edge rubber. This of course reduces it's depth and some neoprene may need to be introduced into the rear of the windscreen frame.

Bending my sidescreen to door mounts has cured rattle over any but the very worst bumps. However there is now a noticeable squeak as door closes and metal surround of upper sidescreen engages with U channel rubber on edge of windscreen. Regular lubrication with a smear of silicon grease temporarily cures this though. Suggest trying this remedy before any irreversible Stanley knife surgery.

I have been grappling with a similar situation with the sidescreens on my Roadster, which has a different rubber seal (see photo) for the sidescreen-to-screen-pillar junction, as used on later trads. So apologies if this looks like thread drift, but I hope the following contributes to the general body of knowledge on sidescreens.

I commented in a previous post that "...I couldn't belive that the original factory fit of the sidescreen had been so (apparently) slapdash". I did attempt to bend the mounting brackets as advised by other TM'ers, but even with a sturdy vice and a BIG hammer, I could not get the 3mm alloy to change the angle of its bends.

Part of the problem with my sidescreens was that some aftermarket sponge rubber moulding which had apparently been added to reduce "cold elbow syndrome" was simply forcing the sidescreens into a rather unnnatural position. Well guess what, having removed everything so that I'm back to just the powder-coated virgin windscreen frame, the fit is uniform top-to-bottom and sideways. I have now changed my perception to "I can't belive how well the factory got the sidecreens to fit". (And importantly, for anyone else tackling this, the internal angle in the windscreen frame is NOT a right-angle).

Frankly the biggest issue I had was getting the adhesive residue off the inner face of the sidescreens where the add-on sealing strips had been fitted. Mohair doesn't like being detached from Evo-Stik / epoxy / superglue. I invested several hours' work near an open window with loads of cotton buds and a variety of fairly noxious substances including Evo-Stik solvent, Loctite glue remover, denatured alcohol, cellulose dope thinner, and acetone, and all but a small area of staining has now gone.

The seals are going back in tomorrow (if the storms don't blow down my garage !) As a failsafe, I have invested in some strips of 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm sheet rubber to act as "packing" just in case.

Where did you source the new sidescreens?

I ordered them from a Perspex supply company who will cut to particular shapes. Perspexsheet.uk. One of the "bespoke" options has the Morgan window shape. You just specify the dimensions. Cost me just shy of £24 delivered for four sawn pieces. I elected to have them all the same size to make getting the fixed window in easier. I ordered 3mm material but it actually had 2.8mm printed on the protective covering. I also found the cut was 1mm smaller all round than I had specified (but I had added an extra 1mm to the height as I saw their terms and conditions stated a tolerance of +-3mm). I did add a thin strip of Velco loop into the fixed window channels. This has a bit of give in it and stops any rattles with the slightly undersized panels. I did need to do some trimming of the sloped edge to meet the frame accurately. I added a "handle" to the moving panel made from some 8mm rod and two stainless domed 8mm nuts. Allows me to open the window from the outside as I have no exterior door handles.

I elected to use Perspex. The company also supply polycarbonate for a few pennies more