Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Roadster 100 Modifications

Hello Mogsters,

I have been making some progress with the Roadster 100 that I purchased last year - it only had 9000 miles, but…

I thought that I might catalogue my modifications, since they may be of interest, and I have some questions too. So here they are:

1. The car came with the original 13 year old tires when I bought it, and bounced around as though it was on India rubber. I fitted Michelin Primacy 4 in the size of 205/60V 16, instead of the 55s originally fitted. I had three different makes on my Plus 8 in the USA, and I liked the Michelins best - I had two sets. I carried out damping tests on all of them - the Cinturatos and Dunlops were worst with damping ratios around 0.1 to 0.2 zeta, but the Michelins were much better damped and in the 0.4 to 0.5 range. They were also the quietest of the three types. And I liked the look of the size increase - the spare actually fits the hole on the rear valence and the tires fit the wheel arches. And they do not hit the wings on full lock… I forgot to mention that the sealing on one of the wheels failed during the tyre replacement, but MWS sorted out the correct wheel replacement after the second try. They were very helpful, and the new wheel is a work of art.

2. I changed the dampers to Spax, after chatting to Peter Ballard at SSL. I had talked to him when we were discussing bump steering, and the location of the steering arms on the 2002 models. I made a math model of the bump effects with the ball joints above and below the arms, and it was clear that the best position was below them, which was not the way my Plus 8 came. Anyway, when I got the new rear dampers they were about 3 mm too short, and were acting as rebound stops. I measured the original Konis - and they were the same. So I got Peter to have some new Spax 5 mm longer made. There was also a problem with the upper bolts - the Konis have a 12 mm fitting, while the chassis have a 7/16 bolt fitting. Morgan had very - er - ingeniously made a stepped bolt, which did not fit the Spax. Peter was very patient in sorting out these fiascos. I had fitted a rear SSL five link to my Plus 8, and it was a great improvement. I would do the same to my R100 if I had the room in my garage, but swinging cats is not possible, let alone advanced Morgan engineering.

3. I changed the steering rack to a 2.7 from Cain at Wolf, and it is a great improvement over the original 3.5. More like a sports car now… and this went with a change to a leather covered Moto-Lita, which is a lot more humane interface, I think. Perhaps not as good looking, but I use the car every day.

3. I have fitted a new stainless front bumper, since I was feeling a little vulnerable with the over-riders, and I did not like the sloping number plate fitting either. But this caused another minor fiasco, since I bought (unwisely) the stainless versions of the sweep mountings. They came with Whitworth front mounting bolts, but in the end, after failing to identify the threads with all my thread gauges, they turned out to be BSF. Who would have guessed? I have the stainless number plate box, and I think it looks terrific. Rear bumper is next, and I have a new valence, painted in 6272 Mercedes Amazon Green, ready to go.

4. Both seats looked like new, but the squabs had sagged. I had the bases rebuilt with new webbing, but they are still not ideal - I slide forward over time. Not sure what to do about this, but new seats from MMC seem possible, but not sure of the expense, yet. Suggestions welcome.

5. The seats were bolted to the floor, and the angle was not attractive. So I had some walnut rails and stainless steel polished mounting plates made, which restore the original long door seat angles. And I fitted them with button head Allan 8 mm bolts and I engine turned the heads.

6. I took it to Williams for an MOT and they changed all the fluids and fitted a Librands sports exhaust. The car had already been remapped and the final result is extremely nice. It runs up to 6500 with great enthusiasm. Not as fast as my 4.6 Stage 3 Plus 8, but fast enough for the UK I think. My last car was a Caterham CSR 260 - all independent, inboard front suspension, 550 kg and 260 bhp from a Cosworth 2.3 YD. I had it for five years and enjoyed it immensley. A great car for a driver, not so much for passengers - pretty lunatic, and not as charismatic as a Morgan.

7. I change the rear rack to one without the side screen storage, since I have never used it and I mounts any luggage too high. And it looks better…

More to come, over time, but nothing too critical except for the plugs, which will be the subject of my next post. I would also like to hear from anyone who has drilled the wings to fit spots - a slightly scary proposition, but possible with a little preparation, I think.

Welcome to TM David, always interesting to hear of owners fettling their Morgan

I suspect if the tyres were never changed then the sparkplugs will also have been avoided, even if it received the odd service

So good to "see" you David! Your presence will inevitably improve the Roadster model line as you once did with the later Plus 8s! Your GEMS Manual is still being busily downloaded daily from gomog 20 years after I first posted it! IMHO, the Roadster series 2 is the best of the line-up. Great spec.


I am very interested and I don't even own a Roadster. 🙂


VERY wise. The extra air cushion must have made your ride far more comfortable and improved comportment. It is why I insisted on 15 inch wheels when the MMC recreated my car. The speedo effect is negligible.


As you know from way back, I am a BIG Michelin fan. I kept buying the last Primacys as well, until they became unavailable in 15" in North America. Surprisingly, outside the developed world one can get 15s from any manufacturer and any quality still. More metal and less of an air cushion is a developed world fad I cannot fathom.


Good. They forgot to fit the traditional wheel stops on my car, me and many others. That is what is allowing the wing rubbing.


IIRC Bill Beck conducted the same test 22 years ago. I can perhaps find his results if you want me to look for them. Autocad. I assumed that the Roadsters attached the ball joint above! But I see different placements from your car's era.

I am not a fan of the 5 link nor the SSL front end modifications.


IIRC, you did the same with the Plus 8.
I find nothing wrong with a padded leather Moto Lita. I like them much better than the thin rims found on their wooden rim line. They don;t fill the palm and one needs padded palm driving gloves. I used one like yours on our UK Plus 8 for a decade, courtesy of the MMC Parts back shelves. It had a badly dyed patch which I cured with some leather dye. They were very sweet. The other 8s used bespoke wooden rims that matched my palms.



Me too. And Audrey, who sends her affection, felt their later overriders were too walrus tusk looking. I wonder whether they were a decision influenced by the NHTSA need for airbag triggers.
I use the same ss bumpers in front with overriders at the rear, those from the Morgan past (similar to the old MGs) at the rear. There are older mogs and MG people here that will know them. ,[/quote]


I have used the same for the last now 12 years. NP. I originally used the old aluminum brackets and then chromed steel. Both sheared off. The stainless were a godsend for me. That being said I had them reinforced.


Me too. On the UK Plus 8s only. No front plates at home.


Yeah me too. I preferred the older seats I had in the UK. I should have kept the frames I had after the fire burned my first Plus 8. I haven't seen a sert of seats that fit a Morgan that I like. Though I have been musing about Barnsie's supersport seats mounted on a frame that can be tilted. I can only use a tilted seat Morgan now. Saves my back with a slight change in the angle and gives easy access to the rear.


Very smart!


Absolutely. And I chose a low compression 4.6 in the UK to run smoothly on rural fuel across the Channel. How's the acceleration compare at low rpm with your might Plus 8?


Can you fit the side screens into the axle compartment?


me me me! Just keep think of all the Americans/Canadians that have federalized mogs having to hang them off the bumpers! John Worrall (now pleasantly retired) used the ss specially made spot/fog light plinths for the right spot/fog light variants. I got them in polished stainless steel. If you like them, I will ask Jw if they can still be found.

"Please sir, can I have some more?" Dickens"

l.

Hi David, welcome to Talk Morgan. As best I can remember you had kinda pushed your +8 engine to the limit of tuning and greatly modified much else to match the power output... Seems you may still be rather keen on applying scientific thinking to Morgans....Power to your elbow... (-:

I proof read your GEMS manual for you some years back, and now use Luddite as my forum I.D. given this is not just a members only forum.

Hi David, Seriously good to know you are here

As well as being interested in your Roadster mods I would also be fascinated by your +8 developments. I seem to recall that you were developing a 3rd monster RV8 engine along with John Eales although my increasingly bad memory seems to think you may have passed that on to the racing fraternity.

You, myself and Richard Rebain (well mainly you really!) were kicking around Dashboard designs a good few years ago did you ever implement any of them?

Brian and Amalah '02 +8

I have overriders so I did exactly that, if you take the right approach it's a straightforward job but I definitely recommend adopting the principle of.....

"measure twice, drill once"



Of course by virtue of having a front bumper you also have two super rigid auxiliary lamp mounting points, however, if you're determined to go with wing fitting you really have two Morgan bracket options that have been specifically designed for the job.

1. Librands brackets - I have an unused set of these for sale if you're interested?




2. Morgan Motor Company brackets (available from Williams Morgan and others)





I bought both types, but as you can see from the above image I settled on the Morgan Motor Company brackets simply because they allowed the floating lamp look I wanted.



I used the above blue Irwin ratchet clamp that allowed me to try multiple positions prior to marking up for drilling the wings, once I'd found the position I was visually happy with I was then able to make a final check to ensure the light output from my Marchal fog lights was not obscured by the overriders as this would have caused a nasty and annoying shadow in their beam pattern.

During the trial fitting process I found the brackets needed to be closed up to allow the right range of lamp adjustment, this may just relate to range of adjustment available on my Marchal lamps and the mounting position I chose but I found a session in the vice and some persuasion with a lump hammer was needed to get the perfect fit. Obviously I took great care to use my jaw protectors in the vice and a piece of hardwood was also deployed to protect the polished stainless finish when striking the brackets, I also invested a lot of time making sure both brackets ended up with the identical angle of bend.



I marketed up the O/S bracket first, then took a series of measurements from various fixed points before exactly replicating the bracket positioning on the N/S, this ensured perfect symmetry. I then removed the overriders to give far better access for drilling, starting with a very small drill bit and going up in two more stages of drill bit size I made sure I was using new sharp high quality cobalt drill bits run at roughly 1,000rpm which seemed to work well on the sheet aluminum panel.

Using sharp new bits run at the correct speed and starting small then drilling up is definitely recommended if you want to achieve nice cleanly cut holes in sheet aluminum !

I then lightly deburred the holes with a needle file, painted the exposed aluminum hole edges with an acid etch primer using a touch up brush before finishing off with a layer of Sport Green, but only after I'd given the etch primer a full day to go off. I also gave the Sport Green top coat a further full day to go off before I fitted the brackets.

The lamps were then bolted to the pre-fitted brackets, before I finally replaced the overriders to complete the job.



The above image shows the end result which I'm very happy with, some say the wings will crack with these MMC floating brackets but I've had no such issues. My experience has been that the thick stainless steel MMC brackets support the weighty Marchal lamps perfectly, obviously I used the nice rubber gaskets that came with the brackets (essential) but also used extra large stainless steel penny washers on the back of the wings to spread the load across the super-formed aluminum panels as broadly as possible.

Nylock nuts were then deployed and tightened up really firmly to create a super solid mount for the lamps, six months after fitting I checked the fasteners for tightness and they had not relaxed at all, this proves if you install the MMC brackets correctly there is absolutely zero risk of movement which I would speculate is the only reason why some people have experience panel cracking around the drilled holes.

Drilling holes in Monty was certainly a bit nerve wracking, however, by taking my time and adopting a careful methodical approach I've ended up with a result I'm very happy with indeed.




I hope the above helps?

Dave.

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year, and thanks for the replies. Having survived Christmas and the New Year I am starting work again on my Morgan – and my motorcycle…

I developed a presentation on my Plus 8 when I sold it, and I will share that in case anyone is interested. It turned out to be an outstanding car, in the end, but it was quite an involved project. It was sold by Mid-Atlantic in Pennsylvania. They picked it up on Friday, and it was gone on Monday for an amazing price… and with the proceeds I bough my Roadster and motorcycle, and had some change left over. Woof…. so there were no negotiations needed with the Head of Household.

The main projects on the R100 are (1) change the plugs and coil packs to eliminate an intermittent misfire (which sounds like a fouled plug) (2) fit the rear bumper and the new valence (3) fit the spot lights and set up the wiring and (4) the seats, which are still not ideal. Then there is the dashboard, and other minor stuff…

The first one I imagined would be easy, but it turns out to be a bit of a zoo. The inlet manifold has to be removed to get at the plugs, and I have not been able to find a definitive manual on the engine. A lot of rumours (Escape, Mondeo) and maybes, so far. I bought a couple of Mondeo manuals from Haynes, but they were pretty useless. I did a search for Ford V6 engine photos, but did not find one that matched. And there are several possible variants – perhaps Morgan had Ford remove the logos from the cam box covers. So this is what I think, so far:

Plugs - Denso IT20 - 15 Nm torque
Coil pack TBD - 7 Nm torque
Inlet manifold gaskets – who knows, but they look square-ish, which mean an interim version, I think.
Inlet manifold bolts - 10 Nm + 1/8 turn – but these may come from a later variant.

I will buy 12 plugs, so that I have enough to allow me to index them (they have conical seats, so the index washer trick will not work). And unless any one can come up with any more information I will remove the bonnets and start taking the engine to pieces and record my findings, using a torque wrench when I remove the fasteners to get some idea of relative setting. I appreciate the removal forces are likely to be higher than the installation torques. I talked to two different Morgan dealers and they had no useful information – and I wrote to Morgan but did not get a reply. Quite amusing, though – sort of like an automobile equivalent of dungeons and dragons. Owning a Morgan has never been for the faint hearted, I am pleased to say.. But it is going to be easy compared with what I plan for my motorcycle. LOL. More to follow.

Good Morning David,

I would be very interested in the details of your +8

I had to Google Indexing spark plugs, "learning all the time"

Dave Wellings (Roadster Guru) did a guide on replacing the 3.0L V6 sparkplugs, you may want to search for that

I've done it without fully removing the intake on the difficult bank, 2 other owners have followed my guide with success (it won't publish on here for various reasons) if you PM me David with your email I'll sent it over

I am very happy about that, David. You worked so hard on it! I am fond of the Café Racer here as well. The Andes is a wonderful motorcycle venue.


Good man!


Same here. Yours has been my experience as well. I bought the same stuff myself and I sadly agree with your opinion. The US forums are much better, but spotty.... I blame it on Ford, following the current manufacturer's template of denying buyers access to their creations (much more profitable for them) and possibly a consequence of this human era's lack of interest in hands-on skills. Yet long underpaid auto mechanics are finally getting their just due!!) However, of late I am discovered brains and talent coming out of the woodwork here. It will move this forum beyond the 30+ years old Cuthbert Twillie leather bootie age.

For example, from the noted forums and my help line I found that some engine variants can develop an unpleasant water pump weakness you/we can look into. Many variants allow a broken or (inevitably) worn water pump leak coolant into the oil system which can lead to great sadness if not quickly detected.

The Morgan Roadsters are now 20 years old. It is time to move to more meaty stuff.


David, I post Roadster information as asked of me for an international group of Roadsters owners, run by one of my/our favorite emoggers. https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/RoadsterDetails.html
Compare your stuff.


Not their fault. They have no information to the depth you/I go to. They need assistance as much as anyone. I look forward to your findings and work. It is very much needed.

Lorne