Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax GTN #11 - Progress, pics and updates

I thought I would start a new thread to keep a little track on bits and pieces for the GTN, I have a few little jobs to do and hopefully with some time off over Christmas I will get some of them done!

First of all was to have a custom soft-top cover made. I had one made for my previous Aero by my local dealer and it was perfect for storing the soft-top.
The GTN came with a a soft-top from the factory with the car, and believe it or not this was still in brand-new condition having never been fitted.. it was still in its original packaging!

So I popped the soft-top in yesterday and by this afternoon it was ready to collect, and put away for storage.

The unused soft-top:



The storage bag:


Next job will be making a list of bits and pieces to do, she is good enough to become concours - although I won't be going that far as I do want to drive it.. but there are some bits I can improve - such as new wipers, one of the lights is not correct and I have a new unit and so on. I want to get her as clean as a new car, without losing the originality - i.e. I won't be stripping it down unnecessarily.

Also on the to do list is to give it a really thorough clean, polish, treat the leather etc.

What are the wipers of choice??

Mine don’t push hard enough down on the screen

I bought new ones from the factory, they were not cheap... seem to do the job though.

Time for an update!

So as promised over Christmas I spent some time treating the leather and deep cleaning the interior, not that it needed it but a special car deserves special treatment - and it is always best to look after the proper leather we get in a Morgan as it keeps it in better condition.

First off a general vacuum and clean of the leather.


Original mats never used, another set was made and kept over the top!


For those interested, I follow Shaun's advice from Allon White Morgan (he is the top trim specialist), and use the same products he does, as demonstrated on his various talks over the years. For cleaning the leather:


Now the scary part, the glovebox foam mat had some small bite marks out of it, and I had my suspicions a mouse had gotten in when it was stored under the previous selling dealer/owner, I was correct as when the floor mats where removed I saw evidence in a bundle of seed pods grouped together in a corner by the seat..
So to be thorough I stripped out the interior, seats and all the carpets. You can imagine my relief when I found there was no damage whatsoever to anything! I imagine a door was left open whilst it was charging or something and the little fellow got in for a few hours and just chewed the foam mat in the glovebox and started to make a nest but got no further.

Another bonus was I found 10 pence!

Now I actually viewed this car previously when it was for sale 4 years ago and the foam was not sitting correctly then and looking like it could do with replacing, so I count myself really rather lucky as it needed doing anyway. So that was ripped out and a template made to take to Shaun, currently comtemplating whether I get a small leather insert made that is perhaps embroidered or something else - so watch this space..

Seats out:




Having the seats out however was a bit of a bonus, as it meant I could properly gain access to all the leather for cleaning/feeding, as well as the carpets. So a few hours wiping down and vacuuming followed:



Looking at the drivers seat a couple of the leather clips were missing:


And a few of the caps had fallen off the seat bolts, both of which I will sort after treating the leather.

So onto the leather feeding, again as per Shaun's wisdom I used Connolly hide feed - which is for proper leather. It has to be applied with heat, so I heated up the garage to approximately 25c and used a hair dryer to assist in the application/s, before letting it rest overnight and giving a final heat/buff. It is really hard work, and took hours and hours - but definately worth it.


I also polished any chrome parts, such as the seat belt anchors and bolts whilst I had good access. In all honesty it didn't take much, just a very quick application and wipe off with some autosol. For the bolts a cotton bud helps get into the dirty centres.



The results with the carpets going back in:

I took the drivers seat to Shaun, and he kindly refitted the missing clips and tucked the leather ends back in, he was also able to check the leather and told me I had done a good job and the leather was perfectly fed - so I will take that!


I refitted the seat bolt caps that had fallen off previously. Then it was time to get the seats back in:



Footwell got a quick wipe but not much, its absolutely mint..


Finally, tucked up for bed!


A lot of hard work but worth it in the end, I also gave the glass a clean - wiped down the Carbon and the dials etc.

Few more bits still to do, such as sorting the glovebox mat and then a few door seals need refreshing - but that is enough for now.

Those underseat retaining clips are truly horrible things to deal with. I think there's a special tool, but without that they are finger and screwdriver challenging.

Shaun popped them both on in I kid you not, about 5 seconds flat. That was by hand!

Master craftsman at work.

- looks absolutely lovely Nick; I am a bit of a sucker for Carbon Fibre......

Interesting to see the audio speakers on the rear bulkhead ; I fitted two to my S1 in this location (after much deliberation!).

It was a bit 'heart in mouth' time cutting the holes plus, access from the boot is a

Keep the pictures coming.....

James

Thanks James, I have to admit I was suprised by how different it felt sitting inside it and reversing it off the trailor when it arrived - it feels a very different animal no part helped by all the carbon, certainly felt special.

Yes I noticed the speakers years ago when I viewed it the first time, I had actually bought speakers for the rear of the old Aero but never got around to fitting them - funny that they are standard fitment on the GTN!

I would quite like to get cleaning the underside, but I need to find somewhere I can borrow a ramp for the day..

Nice work Nick You could borrow my scissor lift, but it's a looong way to drive

Looks sensational Nick.

Love the black interior with piano wood and carbon dash. Very nice.

I know you probably sleep better having “fed” your leather but post around 89 it’s a waste of time.

Modern leather is lacquered and doesn’t absorb the food

Cripes. Somewhat green with envy and embarrassed by the work you are putting in compared to the state of mine.

Careful there's going to be a huge queue outside your place if you ever offer your services!

My S2 has the speakers in the rear bulkhead. I upgraded them to a pair of Focal with larger magnets and they work pretty well there. Access, as mentioned, was foul.

Thanks Jon, I have thought about buying something but would need to be small enough to be stored under the car - so a no go for me at the moment.



Thanks Lee, so leather wise you are correct on all mainstream cars, so your BMWs, Mercedes, Audi and so on - however Morgan are a little different as they use very different much higher quality leather from Muirhead / Yarwood (I forget which is former and which is latter as they changed suppliers). This leather is not lacquered/sealed and so it does absorb the feed, its also quite expensive!

I had a good conversation with Shaun about this before as for all modern cars I just use Dr Leather cleaning wipes (pointless adding anything as it just sits ontop of the leather and goes shiny eventually) but he educated me that this stuff is different and this is an important part of the maintenance process. The only other cars that use this sort of stuff (besides custom work) are the odd Rolls and Bentley, as its softer and more supple when maintained. I believe its why you often see much more wear and water marks/damage on Morgan interiors as it is pourous and less durable unlike mainstream stuff (which is a very thin skin of printed leather stuck to other synthetics for durability) and not sealed.

The feed however does need heat to get absorbed correctly, the Connolly hide care is almost like animal fat and the heat allows it to run otherwise it goes all fatty, it doesn't smell overly nice but once its absorbed into the leather it does bring out the original smell - and Shaun showed me how you can feel once the leather has absorbed enough, as it goes more wet/skin like - it can feel slightly drier beforehand. I will be honest I find it hard to tell but you can when shown by an expert.

Hope that explains it, he did a far better job than me educating on it all!



Thanks Alistair, it has always fascinated me how sometimes a good clean can almost restore a car - so I have to admit I have done a lot of research into detailing and try to do what I can myself as it is quite satisfying, espicially when you have a bit of music and a good beer in the garage!

Speakers wise I will have to see how they sound and go from there as I do love my audio, I may upgrade them if they aren't great but I must admit I am quite keen to not add any weight to the car (sad I know - but I want to keep to the ethos of the GTN!), so I will have to do some research and find some of similar weight if I do change anything. Often punchier speakers have bigger magnets and weigh a lot more, probably never notice it but hey ho I have been watching to many Lotus/Colin Chapman videos lately...

Now I am confused. At a MOG event, the chap on the Meguiar's convinced met that I needed their Leather Balm. Then I read the Muirhead page on care which advises a completely different approach:

https://www.muirhead.co.uk/en/products/leather-care/

Thanks Nick
Very interesting. I ought to get my Connolly gear out in that case.

You’re right about the way they wear now you mention it. Just like an old car.

I feed my old Aston regularly and it’s beautifully soft and supple but I only do it on a hot summer day

Yes I think it’s all change.

I’ll ask my nipper who works at the factory as I do recall him mentioning something about the leather in huge detail but I passed out.

May be different on Aeros as they’re a fair bit older

Now I am definately confused!
Will have to ask Shaun next time I see him.



Good shout Lee - be good to know.

Been doing lots of research on the car as I cannot drive it at the moment with the weather and other commitments.
I always like to have not only a full documented history, but to speak to all the previous owners and piece together the cars story, so it has been quite fun researching, speaking to people and trying to find out a little more of its story!

I found out something quite nice having been in touch with the original owner and Morgan - they confirmed it is not only the last ever GTN produced, but also the very last Series 1 Aero produced.

Opened up my email the other day and noticed one from Morgan, giving details and dates for the 'Meet at Morgan' days - spotted my car in the pictures which was unexpected!

I have a lift the fits under the GTN. Specced high enough to lift the. Vanquish and the Tesla too.


https://www.garageequipment.co.uk/V...t/e4g-kl2500AC-portable-kwik-lift-ac220v

How do you find access whilst on the lift? I always worry it will block half of the car - but hard to tell from a picture.

Will email you a video of it lifting the GTN

Had a chance to speak to the nipper Lee? Be interesting to see what they use now and what he says.

I spoke to Shaun a few days ago, he said that Muirhead are likely talking about new leather. He explained that new leather would not require feeding for at least a couple of years, just cleaning. But once it starts to feel dry it would need feeding, this of course depends on a lot of factors but he did say for a low usage car like mine I would probably never have to do it again

Thank you. That is really useful information.

Update time!

Finally after a very busy start to the year, I got some time on saturday (and weather to match!) to give the GTN some attention, first of all got it uncovered and woken up from its slumber. Which did require a few extra volts on the battery to awaken the evil, perhaps the battery is the starting issue I am having.



Once outside I gave the wheels a proper clean and inspection, and like everything on this car was pleasantly suprised.

I then gave the underneath a good going over and a wash/rinse, it has (as was described) been undersealed from new which is very rare (was told it was the only one done), so everything looks lovely and brilliantly protected but covered with underseal.
So now the decision of whether to dry-ice it (safely removes dirt and underseal without even touching things like stickers!) or to leave it as-is. It looks so clean underneath I must admit I am tempted to get it all cleaned up, that or I could leave the underseal and just clean all the ancillary components - will ponder this one as I don't want to make it concours, but I don't think it would take much effort to get it 95% there (slippery slope).

Another great stroke of luck is all the places that do not have PPF on have a thick layer of underseal, which looks to have protected all the paint under the car, which is fantastic news as I eventually want to get the entire car PPF'ed to protect it.



Finally I put some protective overmats in place (the original floor mats with the leather etched Morgan logos are unused and I can't bring myself to ruin them ), then at last.. I got to take it for a first drive!



I only did about 15 miles but had a blast, absolutely brilliant. For those who asked everything felt very familiar to my old S1 but somehow tighter and more positive (probably down to the miles, being the last S1 - compared the one of the first, and being a GTN), less transmission shunt was noticeable, and generally less mechanical/suspension noise, things like the fuel pump being quieter than any Aero I have been in before so overall it felt very solid. It has a short-shift from standard which felt nice, the only small issue I found was the indicators are not self-cancelling, so that will need looking into as its confusing enough to motorists when they see it.

The brakes are very much typical S1, you forget just how much effort you need to put into the pedal - which after a few months away always gives you a slight wake up call until you give it the pressure required! Don't get me wrong they work well, but you need to be hard on the pedal to get the best out of them. Good job I have started back at the gym..

Handling wise it felt planted though I was far from pushing it, certainly better than any other Aero I have driven, again very special.

Then the best thing... the noise, it is bonkers. I cannot believe how visceral and angry it sounds compared to my old car, the combination of the Alpina engine and the side-exits are truly brutal. At full chat it is reminiscant of a flame spitting racing car with the pops and bangs, certainly a very different and angry animal. Very much like a track/racing special (which I suppose it is) whereas my old S1 felt more laid back and relaxed. It is also far louder, deafening in fact. It has more performance as well although I was being very cautious so will explore this another day (with ear defenders).

Cruising at low speed it sounds evil and brings an evil grin to your face, and I think everyone you drive past (who isn't deafened).

So next plans are to get a proper set of spare floor mats made, get the glovebox foam replaced - and then decide what to clean up and polish.
Then before having the PPF applied I will have all the paint inspected and any minor defects corrected. Although some of that may need to wait till next year, as I really do want to get out and drive it now!

More progress!
As mentioned previously the car came with the original floor mats fitted in unsused perfect condition, along with a set of protective tailored over mats. The over mats were getting a little worn, and were not the right colour in a mid grey instead of black. I could not bring myself to use the originals as they had survived over 20 years and they do not make them anymore being embossed with the old Morgan logo. So I went to Allon White and discussed options.
In the end I opted for a new set of floor mats, matching the leather binding and carpet to the originals - this means aesthetically they can look spot on and I can use them without worrying having stored the originals. I opted for the ribbed rubber heel kick pad, for longevity and to match the method Morgan use today for the new cars.

The only other part of the interior that was not perfect was the glovebox tray, its foam liner had started to lift and was tatty, so whilst I was there it made sense to bring the tray and have that re-covered as well.

The closest finish we could find to the original foam was a foax alcantara (it does have a specific name but it alludes me currently) in dark grey, this is used in many interiors and is far harder wearing than actual alcantara - which is perfect for the glovebox tray. I had this trimmed over some cushioned thin foam to give it the right thickness/finish, and it is nicely anti-slip.

Bit of work in progress on the mats before the push-fit buttons were attached that secure it to the floor panels (this was done on the car to ensure a perfect fit):



Finished tray & mats ready to install:



Re-installing the tray was a pig due to the angles involved, a fixing was missing and I am not confident the right length fixings had been used originally so those were replaced with the correct fixings.

Tray in:


I then got on with installing the new mats, a bit of a messy job as the felt backing is very dusty and leaves bits of itself everywhere.. so cue some careful manoeuvring and some vacuuming required!

Passenger mat and tray installed:


Drivers side:


The final result!


Small things, but they smarten up and basically finish the interior work (besides potentially fitting a newer Morgan alloy gear knob ).

Enjoy!

A bit of an overdue update I think, in all honesty not much has happened as I have been so busy - but I did look into the intermittant starting issue.

A bit of trial and error trying to charge the battery and some fault codes pointed to that being the culprit, it also got extremely hot when trying to recover it via the special trickle modes so that went in the bin and I purchased a new battery recently, one of the proper Odyssey ones (had one on the old car that lasted literally forever) so I hope that solves the issue.

Just need to fit it now, which I hope I can do soon.

Also for reference the post explaining the purchase of the GTN and sale of my old Aero Here
And my old Aero thread where this all started Here

One of Morgan greatsest!
And one of the very few cars I would once love to drive myselve

Thank you for the kind words

At garage Albert they had one for a long time , the car was sold to a Russian if i remember well

Bit of an update from the previous weekend, finally had some time to fit the new battery.

Ready and waiting:


Terminals attached:


Fitted:




Fired up, straight on the button (after cranking for 10s to circulate oil since the last start) and sounded lovely, so took it out the garage to get up to temperature and run all the systems - before putting back to bed!

That jacket around the washer bottle is a good idea, did you make it yourself Nick ?

It is standard fit on the Aero's, at least on the Series 1's - so I cannot take credit for that!

It did have a jacket around the battery but it was a bit tatty - I could replace but I didn't feel it was necessary as it was not a standard factory item, plus they are quite good looking batteries.

A bit of an update, as mentioned previously one of the oustanding jobs (or so I thought) was to replace the loose rear fog light cluster, it turns out the fog and reverse lamps clusters are mounted slightly differently to the others in that they are bonded in place. This was a bonus as I could simply refix the original mint unit.

So I stripped out the boot carpet and set to work rebonding it, the reverse was also loose so did that one as well. I used my laser tool to ensure they were lined up perfectly.




Whilst there I made sure to add a little ACF-50 on the screw threads as they were quite dry, and gave everything a wipe down.

Waiting for the bonding to cure:


Fog light curing:


Now this is where things get more interesting (or not!), the TPMS system had been deactivated previously and was something I wished to re-instate. Whilst working in the boot I found this timer module which was plugged in between two looms. A bit of fiddling, investigation/testing and subsequent removal seems to have brought the TPMS system back to life - which is great news. I still need to get 4 new sensors, but at least the system is now active, and I have removed a non-standard module from the car.



I then tidied up the looms, retaped them in places (I have the special fabric automotive electrical wrapping tape from a previous job!) and gave everything a dust down. Truth be told nothing was very dirty, and it all looks exceptionally well cared for:



I then set to work to reassemble everything:





That is it for now, only a small job but as with most things Morgan it took a couple of days to sort everything, and get it all done perfectly.

A small update, on a recent trip to the factory I took the removed module and found out (Mark Baldwin helped build these) that it was a factory fit item! It was used to independently shut off the heated glass to stop them overheating on later Series 1's - the relay turns off the front/side windows but as there are less elements for the rear window this cuts the power.

So I will need to put it back!