Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) +4ss

Can any +4ss owners report on there progress with the car,
I have just reached 1500 miles and enjoying the car a great deal, minor problems have been a broken windscreen changed under warranty, a pulsing tickover which was also too high but this has corrected itself but it has developed a rattle as the starter motor disengages,(not all the time)Other than that the car is good fun but I think I will replace the small spot lights for full size,
Alan

Alan,
Glad to hear you're enjoying it. You using all the revs yet? Just reached 1400 miles myself. Had a problem with a high idle speed when hot, corrected by blipping the throttle. Seems to have largely settled but will know for sure when weather picks up. Also a weep from the sump gasket but apparently there is a fix in the pipeline for this. Have raised my rev limit a little since first service but not been over 5000 yet. Be interested in how your larger spots look.
Nick.

I have picked up my car last week. Since that I drove 500 km in sunny dry weather (two longer trips). Until now I have seen minor issues only, which all will be fixed easily when I make the first inspection (cannot lock the car, have a slightly loose drivers door). BTW some "very minor" issue if any are the rattling clockwinders of the two stop watches (which I silenced with a small rubber band).

My first impression is to drive a very balanced car in comparison with the Roadster. It´s a joy to drive curves. To make a start I have set the dampers 5 clicks rear and 4 clicks front. With this setting it feels very rigid and firm, may be a bit on the harder side; I will try 4 rear and 3 front as well.

Currently I drive 3.500 rpm. in average without full throttle - with some very few short acceleration up to 4.500 rpm when engine is warmed up all through - with more throttle from 3000 rpm. Even after just 500 km I notice a significant enhancement of power.

I like the sound. But it is so loud from the outside that I seriously consider another main silencer - only for one reason: Not to call attention to the police.
What do other P4SS owner think about the sound pressure level? Is it ok or a bit too much for road use?

This is my 4th Morgan and I will keep her for a long long time. I love her and I´m really impressed.

Librands have an an accoustic trim that reputably works well. You would have to check that it is the correct size for the SS exhaust.

http://www.librands.co.uk/products-view-126.html

Someone on TM recommended it.

Thanks for recommendation, Peter.

The next 2000 km I will wait and try. Especially I will see what happens when revving 7000 and more rpm. I have read that the P4SS exhaust is special made for her. Here is a local shop who is really great in building customized solutions for reasonable money. They made a fantastic solution for my Roadster as well.
www.f-f-motor-sport.de

A well calculated stainless steel main silencer (with same values ref backpressure) would cost me round about 350 Euro. Of course the original part would be kept for ever and can be assembled again at any time.

To be clear, I want to keep her very original. I have no need to change something just for fun. It is only the likelihood I have to cope too much SPL not to become too noticeable.

The Librands Acoustic Trim took the edge off my loud exhaust although thats on a 4/4 Sport with their Sports system. My main problem (although my girl friend loves the sound) is a booming at mid to full throttle which I suspect the flat rear panel on the Sport exaggerates otherwise the sound of the exhaust is great. I have a friend who makes silencers for racing cars and we are going to make an experimental silencer to play around with to see how the tone of the exhaust can be altered to a nice level.

Looking at the price of 350 Euro and probably 100 Euro for the Accoustic Trim, I'd go for a new silencer from your local shop.

Some pics from the local store products.

www.f-f-motorsport.de/galerie.php

Again I feel very comfortable when inside my car, different than with the Roadster sport before changing the exhaust system. The P4SS exhaust is just trumpeting like 20 wild African elephants, which is cool but so loud to the surroundings.

One note, I´m surprised how good the 9 stud roof behaves. It seems to be even calmer than an everflex easy up because I don´t hear any low freq flap.

4500 miles to date and a couple of electrical niggles, indicator relay stopped working, a pain to replace as its relay tucked up high on the fire wall. Wipers failed to park and a few days later failed to start, the connection close to the wiper motor was loose!

Make sure you've plenty of road when taking it up to 7000rpm plus, this start to happen very fast after 5000, it also gets noisy too!

Blissfully happy with mine, despite limited opportunities to use it for various reasons. Only 700-odd miles to date, but loving every bit of it. Had originally ordered a 3W but decided to swap horses as I reckoned I (and Her Ladyship) would get much more use & fun from an equivalently demented 4 wheel car.

Being cautious with revs & throttle, but wondering just how cautious one needs to be, given that this is a very modern engine. The sound is joyous - a wonderful, jubilant bellow.

Faults and niggles? Hardly any. At the level of ultra-pernickety, the starter button is ever so slightly misaligned. I have seen what looks like a tiny oil drip on the garage floor. (Could this be a weepy sump gasket?) Slight traces of trim adhesive on the paintwork on the doors. Sticky LH door hinges. Underseal overspray on the brake calipers, so the orange CAPARO lettering is blurred out. The battery will not hold a charge between one weekend and the next so I have to leave a charger connected full time. Poor preparation of the top face of the scuttle, just in front of the windscreen, as file/ sanding marks are visible through the Iris Blue paint. I know Morgans are different, but should we be putting up with this sort of thing on a £50K+ car?

The door pockets are a mystery: there is no give/ elasticity in the top of the pocket, so you can't get anything thicker than a parking ticket in it. And the net part is closed along the top, so you can't get anything in there either.
The £200-ish Audio Pack was a surprise. No radio! Just a passive amplifier and a pair of speakers, and a 3mm jack to connect your own noise device. I suppose this means there's nowt for the radio thieves to nick. I plug in my iPhone with TomTom software and listen to amplified route instructions.

Haven't touched the suspension settings yet, but loving the way the car handles. Have bought a pair of Halfrauds brightest H4 bulbs but not yet fitted them. Contemplating replacing the Wipac units with Cibie H180s and doing the bulbs at the same time. Did not order the driving lights - thought they looked cheap and hated the brackets Morgan use to fix them to the bodywork. Surely can't be long before the aluminium wing cracks, given the bouncing up and down that the lamps will get. (Anyone any experience?)
Have fitted a Librands Streamline Badge Bar to carry the +4 60th Anniversary badge that Her Ladyship gave me for Christmas. Not a bad solution, but fairly heavy.
Bought a pair of Librands door check straps and attempted to fit them but they lock up solid before the door is closed. After a chat with Rob Wells, who talked about having to drill and tap new holes in the s/steel roll bar I decided to invite Allon White to fit them at the first service.

Have barely used the hood but on a wet night when I did I was hugely delighted with the heated screen. We didn't get one of those on my +8 back in '69. It really works. Hope it doesn't crack next time the hood goes on.

Interested in any feedback from other +4SS owners. By the way, does anyone know how many they built in each of the 6 colours? Was it 10 of each?