Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 What is a normal noise and what is not?

Calling all M3W and Super3 owners.

When you vehicle is warm, especially after a stint at higher speeds do you have the following noise coming from the bevel box/belt area:

At manoeuvring/walking speed in both forwards and reverse, does your vehicle make a sound like you've driven over and are dragging a metal trash can? So much so that people comment "that doesn't sound good".
At higher speeds, the noise turns into a continuous 'scrape' sound.

It seems to be 'heat' related as once the car is cold, it goes away but returns after 10 minutes of driving.

Just curious to know if my issue is a one-off or a common 'trait' of the bevel box/belt combo when hot...

Thanks!

Is your drive belt rubbing on the mud guard? I had to take a cutter to mine to provide more clearance. It sounded like I had run over a Guinea Fowl before I fixed it.

Interesting suggestion, thanks.
Thinking about it, my Super3 has no mud guard - unless you mean the luggage tray. No sign of rubbing on the underside of that.
Plus the noise was present when I took the luggage tray out and pushed the Super3 back and forth by hand.

On the M3W there was a standard small guard protecting the BB as well as the optional mudguard covering the wheel. The small guard was aluminum and snared the belt on occasions (for me when the rear tyre wore down). I would expect the same thing on the Super 3...

The M3W as supplied has a screw on 'guard' on the rear sprocket, on the outboard side. This was a continual source of noise as the belt tracked side to side trying to align itself. A number of owners ( including myself) removed this and it reduced the belt noise a tad. Many other sources of belt noise are available, including dust, grit etc.

The only long term cure I have found is to go chain drive, courtesy of Mr Bleazey. Not sure if the Super rear hub is compatible, but worth checking if you are serious.

Remove the rear sprocket guard and trial as this has already been proved a fix by MMC on a new Super3 that had to be returned to the factory due to unknown noises coming from the rear....as they found the drive belt alignment couldn't be aligned correctly without pointing the rear wheel assembly off center and therefore the belt was catching the sprocket guard.

Hi ProfessorM, concerning noises on my new Super 3 (about 600km driven) I observe the following noises:
- When vehicle is stationary (more if the engine is cold than hot): a high-pitched whine which I think you or BarkBark have described before
- Since about 70 km I notice the previously also described drive belt squealing, present especially under acceleration, if the car is "coasting" so no throttle applied the squealing goes away.

The noises you describe sound pretty dramatic and I have (so far..) not experienced these.

Sounds like something is not as it shoud, in my opinion.

Hope it will be sorted out for you soon,
Adrian.

I’d suggest checking that there is sufficient lubricant in the bevel box - my bevel box was replaced after just over 150 miles as it had a leak, first time they’d had a bevel box seal fail. I noticed the problem as I started to hear a metal rubbing type noise and also a yellow / green grease type lubricant between the rear wheel and bevel box appeared. Since being replaced and the alignment of the belt drive being sorted, all strange noises have disappeared and I’ve really been able to enjoy the noise of the exhaust and engine.

Plenty of bevel box seals failed on the Quaife M3W bevel box, some numerous times. I believe the Super 3 bevel box is not made by Quaife.

I believe it was the first of the new Bevel boxes with the issue, through testing etc. it had not happened. Not happened since and I’m loving my Super 3. I’m looking forward to the get together at the end of the month at the factory.