Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Roadster 3.0 sump

My 2004 roadster used to ground all the time. Mostly the sump but depending on the angle of the ground, sometimes the cross member.
I once got completely stuck at the top of a ramp in a multistorey car park and had to shift the passenger and some luggage to get off the peak. It grounded both sump and chasis that time. In the end I became obsessed with the problem so sold it in p ex for a new 4/4 around 2014. The dealer promised me he had never had a client with a 4/4 ground at all. My 4/4 was constantly grinding on the cross member. Almost any sleeping policeman caused it if two people were in the car. Long private drives with central grass reservation were impossible. In the end sold it and bought a 1987 plus 4 which has proper ground clearance and I can actually take it out without nerves.
It's far more planted than my new one was. Far more torque. Far more comfortable seating. Just better in every way.
Nick

As I am about to take my Roadster (albeit with slimline sump) over innumerable French village traffic tables, this thread fills me with delight.

Neilda visited several times in his Roadster I believe without injury, before he went AeroV8 and he is not a slow driver it is said.

Sorry to say the multistorey car park I referred to was in France...

Never had any significant problems in France in the previous S1, they tent to use chicanes in some of the villages & the 30kph limit is so slow you have time to manoeuvre the best angle of attack over humps

There is obviously quite different experiences when it comes to grounding with a Roadster S1. I find this intriguing - why? Some claim to touch the ground a lot, and have even sold the car because og that. Others seem to have no problem. I belong to the latter group, as I have stated in an earlier post in this thread. I do not think I drive in a very special careful way, but I take care with speed bumps and gravel roads. I have no need to go fast in such circumstances anyway. I have covered 30k km in my Roadster, and never - not once - touched the ground when ordinary road driving. And that in spite of having a skid plate, that reduces the ground clearance from the original 10 cm to aprox 8. The skid plate has some scrathes here and there, but that is what it is for. The engine is running fine, with no overheating, and I do not think the extra weight of the plate alters the performance of the car. It is low down and not far away from the teorethical center of gravity.
This might be anecdotical, but it hints to that a skid plate perhaps isn't that bad, and certainly cheaper than i new sump - that I admit is the better solution.

Mine did fine with the lowered sump. The gearbox crossmember got hit about as often as on my +4.
In Holland with Belle there were plenty of speed humps and no issues.

I note that Mulfab now have their steel sumps for the Morgan Roadster for sale - has anyone fitted one and, if so, how have you found it?

I fitted the Sifab shallow alloy sump to my Roadster series 2 whilst not the steel version, and it certainly made clearing speed hump less challenging

Good to hear; however, as SiFab is no more, that negates that as an option.