Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) SSL 5L Suspension on a Plus Four Super Sport

Hi,

I am new to the forum, and indeed Morgans. I’d really appreciate some advice. I have recently been looking at Morgans and thought I should take the plunge. I’ve only visited Morgan in Malvern and one dealer, Williams, who were incredibly helpful, I test drove a 2012 Plus Four and a 2011 Plus Four Super Sport, and absolutely loved the super sport. I didn’t find it crashy at all and loved the handling. It was much better quality than I was expecting.

My current ‘toy’ is a 2003 Lotus Elise S2 135R, which is brilliant and a complete antidote to modern cars. I reckon a Plus Four Super Sport would make a perfect stable mate for it.

I’ve seen a few Plus Four Super Sports for sale, and one has the SSL five link rear suspension. I wonder if this improves the car or just takes away a bit of its character?

I recently owned a 992 Porsche. A defining feature of this model is rear wheel steering, so I specified this in my build. I found that although it improved the ‘already too good’ handling, it took away from the car feeling like a Porsche. I drove a car without the rear wheel steering and much preferred it.

Can anyone advise please. Generally, are Morgans improved with SSL 5 link suspension or do some people think it just takes away the cars character? And specifically, is a Plus Four Super Sport best left alone?

Thanks in advance.

There are 2 opposing views on the ssl kit. I think it detracts from the classic mog experience others disagree and like them. Would i fit it no but if the right car showed up with it on it wouldn't put me off.

I suggest you try a few more trads to see if other models grab you.

I think the main objection to SSL kit is the cost, over £5000 fitted. Whilst I accept John's comments that it's a matter of taste it indisputably provides dual trailing arms and panhard rod for much better axle location, tramp control etc. together with adjustable progressive springing and damping. You can maybe take advantage that cost of such mods by previous owner do not reflect in secondhand price significantly.

FWIW the factory adopted their own version of this rear suspension on the limited production Cosworth engined ARP4 and all Roadsters built after April 2018.

Thanks John, good advice.

I'd say the Plus Four Super Sports is a bit of a modern Trad Morgan sweet spot, it uses the engine from the updated Mk3 Mazda MX5 known as the NC2, the NC2 got several upgrades including a forged steel crankshaft, forged steel connecting rods with floating wrist pins, revised pistons with stronger wrist pin bosses, and stiffer valve springs. As a result the engine in the NC2 produces it’s maximum output of 158hp at 6,700 rpm with the fuel cut at 7,200 rpm, in simple terms it's the best 2.0 Duratec, Morgan then added a really good long tube equal length exhaust manifold and a set of individual throttle bodies, fuel and ignition was controlled by an Omex ECU, this all took the output from 158hp to 200hp.

TBH the Duratec is a fantastic engine full stop in any guise, its super easy to tune and very strong, Morgan only produced 60 Duratec Super Sports, they're quite rare and comand a significant premium over a standard Duratec Plus 4 so I took a standard Plus 4 that had benefited from a Mulfab front wishbone conversion and created my own Super Sports. I commissioned a talented local fabricator to build me a Super Sports replica exhaust manifold, a freer flowing exhaust system, and a long runner inlet as an alternative to the ITBs Morgan used as I wanted torque.

ITBs can be fussy to setup and keep balanced, cold starts are also nearly always poor with throttle bodies in my experience, instead of the old Omex ECU which is a bit outdated these days I went with the latest EMU Black from ECU Masters, I then fitted a set of 440cc Bosch Green Giant injectors a pair of Newman Phase 2 cams and 80lb beehive valve springs. The result being more power and better drivability than an SS for less money than an SS, peak power now arrives at 7,250rpm with the fuel cut coming in at 7,500 rpm.

So don't discount taking a standard Duratec Plus 4 and tuning it as I did, I must say I got lucky with the previous owner shelling out £6k on the Mulfab front wishbone conversion which replaces Morgan's rather vintage sliding pillar front end, if you can find a Trad Morgan with this set up I can highly recommend it. I've not tried a Morgan with the SSL five link rear end, its another £6k fitted so if you're looking at an SS with it already fitted it'll probably offer a good saving. However, while I'm sure coils will give a better ride than leaf springs, at the end of the day it doesn't get rid of the old beam axle so I decided to take a different path. I fitted BCC anti-tramp leaf springs pairing them with a set of quality Bilstein dampers from SSL, a Pahard rod stopped the axle lateral movement and a lowering kit from SiFab was fitted and dialed in by Techniques Morgan.

I'm super happy with the results and saved myself a good chunk of cash over a Super Sports, so perhaps taking a standard Duratec Plus 4 and tuning it to create your own SS is another option to consider?

Plus 4 Super Sport is indeed the pick of that range in my humble opinion, and having full SSL suspension I would count as an additional bonus.

I can't be 100% sure, but I strongly suspect Morgan achieved the 40hp increase over the already excellent NC2 engine simply by virtue of their excellent long tube header exhaust manifold, the ITBs, and the Omex ECU they added.

What I suspect is the cams will be stock Mazda NC2 items, this means if you added a set of mild fast road cams that SSL 5 link equipped Plus 4 Super Sports would be knocking on the door of 220hp. Let's say a Super Sports weighs 920kg which is about right, 220hp would give it a power to weight ratio of 240 bhp per ton. To put this into perspective, that's about the same as a 2020 supercharged Lotus Elise Sport. The 217hp supercharged Elise weighs 924 kg with power to weight calculated at 234.8 bhp per ton, Lotus quoted this Elise as delivering a 0-60 time of 4.2 seconds, TBH any small light car with roughly 240 bhp per ton is going to make for a very rapid road car.

Personally I prefer the Mountune MR200 long runner inlet manifold/plenum design over ITBs, sadly these are virtually impossible to find as they haven't been produced for years, fortunately Fusion Fabrications make a copy that closely follows the Mountune design, this is what I fitted to my standard Duratec Plus 4 with great results. A long runner plenum inlet will give more torque and will make the Super Sports more refined and easier to live, unlike ITBs a plenum inlet allows you to retain the idle air control valve which provides OEM cold starts and warm ups, you might sacrifice a tiny bit of throttle response and 5hp at the very top end over ITBs but in my opinion the long list of advantages far outway any negatives.

Saying that I've never driven a Super Sports and unlike a standard Duratec Plus 4, the NC2 Duratec in the SS has the considerable advantage of variable valve timing. This has the very real potential to add low end and mid range torque while at the same time delivering excellent top end power. VVT is like being able to change your high torque cams to fast road cams on the fly, TBH it's game changing technology as it really does give you the best of all worlds.

I'd definitely take another look at that SSL 5 link equipped Plus 4 Duratec, I assume it's this one?

https://www.williamsautomobiles.com/morgan/current-stock/15381199-morgan-plus-4-supersport/



If so it looks delightful in Iris Blue and should prove to be hilarious fun, I've owned a lot of fast cars over the years including a tuned TVR Chimaera and a 470hp Aston Martin V8 Vantage, but none of them were as much fun as my tweaked Duratec Plus 4 on the right road. Being an Elise owner you'll know all about the benefits of a small light car on British roads, a Morgan Plus 4 just injects a classic/vintage car twist to the mix which in my opinion adds huge charm and another dimension to the ownership experience.



My Morgan Plus 4 certainly gets more positive attention than any other car I've owned, including that beautiful Aston Martin.

I agree with others that the +4 SS is both a rare beast and a very worthwhile car indeed. I am told that the later versions (Baby Doll and ARP4) are both rather too extreme as enjoyable road cars and perhaps better suited to a track day environment.

I do rate the SSL 5L rear suspension highly. It has made my 250 bhp +8 much more controllable on the limit, to the point where i am happy to fall asleep as a passenger while my wife is driving! I suppose much depends upon how you want to drive it. The 5L rear will definitely soften the ride (good or bad?) and it will make the car follow around a bend more accurately , especially on a less than perfect surface. I think it enhances the Morgan experience rather than detracts.

Try a couple of cars back to back , I think you will prefer the 5L equipped car , but to each his own.

I have 2011 plus 4 supersport which is my daily driver and used in all weathers. I have never had an issue with the standard rear suspension, yes it will bump a bit over poor road surfaces but in general the overall ride and handling is very good. It is very tractable and will happily idle along in 5th at low rpm.

Thanks very much all, the information has been really useful. And if anything firmed up my belief the super sport should be the one for me.