Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) What Did You Do To Your Morgan Today?

IRichard, as I understand it shims are used to make up a gap, whereas the Morgan damper is a bronze plate used to dampen rotational forces.

The damper plate it`s self being held from rotating by the length of steel (damper blade) screwed to the plate, the other end of which is held from rotating by a simple clamping mechanism (saddle) mounted on the chassis.

As you typed Richard, the damper blade has to flex up and down relative to vertical suspension travel and in so doing the blade requires to be able to adjust for a change in length as the suspension rises and drops, thus it`s overall length has to be able to slide through the saddle arrangement at the chassis end. When greasing my suspension I often run a finger of grease over the intersection of the blade and it`s saddle to ensure free movement and resist corrosion build up at that point..

Of course the terminology used by others may differ, saddle, bladeand plate... As in the case of taps, I was taught taper, intermediate and plug... Each to their own.. (-:

As ever happy to be corrected.

Different terminology, same animal...

Thanks TBM. Used a bottle jack as you suggested. Worked fine, although not much grease got through. The car hadn't been used much for the past few years. The previous owner concentrated on a complete engine rebuild, rewiring and other such jobs. I don't think he put any more than 1000 miles on it during the 7 years he had it. The rear suspension hadn't been looked at, so I doubt he did much at the front. Guess I might have to completely dismantle, clean and check over the winter. I know the king pins are a little worn, but still OK.
Checked the chassis end of the damper bar. It hadn't been greased for a long time, so sorted that. There is about 5mm of lateral movement when I turn the steering, so maybe new shims.
Thanks for all the help, getting to know more of the intricacies of the car.

Identified and fixed the annoying rattle that has been getting louder, coming from (possibly) the passenger sidescreen or behind the dash of my Roadster. Like Bridget Jones and "What happens at the office ?", I finally removed the dash to have a look around, (not a difficult job at all). It turned-out to be a loose penny washer on the inside of the front lower screen-frame retaining bolt. I did note that all the wires behind the dash seem to be a couple of inches shorter than ideal to enable easy fettling.....

Also fixed the increasingly loose (Librands type) gear knob. Ghastly job to remove the lower trim ring that covers the grub screws. Why so ? Seemed to have been epoxied in place (or at least, an entire bottle of Loctite). I used strips of Gorilla duct tape about 8" long and torn to 1/2" wide and wrapped around said ring to get a good purchase. Removed/cleaned/reassembled, all sorted.

Taps arrived today. Interestingly the advert listed them as a Taper and Plug. The individual packets have them as TAPER and BOTTG, however the profile of the 'Bottoming' is different to the other bottoiming tap I ordered which from the picture has distinctly flat end (hasn't arrived yet). The BOTTG I have has a tapered end (but not as much as the Taper), whereas the other Bottoming Tap has a flat end.

Anyhow, SUCCESS!!!! Rain stopped for enough time for me to cut a couple of threads with the TAPER until I ran out of space, the BOTTG then did a fabulous job and cut a good cm or so of nice clean threads. Manifold all bolted up, will do a final tighten at the weekend. Happy Phil

Yesterday, actually, replaced the blue high beam indicator jewel that was in the dash panel when we got the car with a proper chrome bezel lens. It was bugging me...

1854sailor

Well done! Sometimes very small parts are very important!

Well done I can see why it annoyed you

Great when a job goes to plan...

Preparing her for a longer journey in the usual way, but some things more.

After a lot of testrides for the DIY tooltray I think it’s time to make it waterproof. So all corners clued with „Sikaflex“. A good product, but it has a terrible smell. Now I hope it‘s away on the journey.

Than the leftside bonnet „rubbs“ at the cowl. At the factory a man told me: lift the hook and bend it out. Another man told me: use mor fabric at the cowl and yes, there where some more men and some more ideas. Now, looking back at more than three years of ownership I lost my fear („German Angst“) about to do something wrong with the expensive car… Undo the hook. Easy, the bolds where riveted. Only undo the nuts. First fear cured. Than get the holes from round to longholes. Easy too. Than put a piece of oiled leather under the cloth at the cowl and fit the hook a little bit upwards. It looks like it would work.

Than the usual way: looking for oil, water, give the springs a flush of aerosol BALISTOL and grease the kingpins.

But: the left disc shows inside a wrong wear. Not all over shining silver, it looks like the Rings of Saturn. In the middle!? it‘s brown coloured? So no wear of the brakepads in this area? Only in the middle? Very mystery and needs a closer look.

Greets René