Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Photo Gallery Bash plate fitting on a Duratec/MT-75 combination

Despite all the advice from the suppliers and beyond, clearly a skid plate was not going to fit my 2010 Duratec engined car fitted with an MT-75 Ford gearbox. So adaptation was required! I think the pictures tell all and you can clearly see the relief needed to allow not only a good fit but clearance as well...... The gearbox/engine has some movement when in use and being driven and you certainly don't want to create a problem while resolving another.

For full fitting instructions, and hopefully your car will not have this combination of engine and gearbox, needing such extra work, DaveW
(Wellings) here on TM has posted a full and detailed description so a look here first would be a good idea!

Hi,
I think maybe that skid plate was mis-shaped to begin with?
Yours looks very square.
Mine has a far more gentle angle compared to yours. Its a skid plate designed to help lift the car over the bumps with the angled fore and aft wings. I have a 2009 with the Ford gearbox and needed no mods.
You got it on though so fair play

Thanks, Redfate,

I've had it sitting on the shelf for over a year. I'd offered it up several times and was at a loss as to why in heavens name it didn't fit.
It was supplied by Williams Morgan and firstly I had contacted them, spoken with the suggested people there and was assured by them that it fitted!
So I then started looking at my car wondering what had moved or perhaps been damaged but alas I found no answer. Posted the question here a couple of times to discover no real solution, but was led to believe that they were made by Cain and he supplied them logo'd to others like BHM. You might see mine marked Williams Racing on the picture..

So I reached the conclusion that it was either my plate, my car or despite Williams mechanic's assuring me they had fitted them to my configured type cars before with no trouble ,it certainly did not fit!

So I would have to adapt the plate to fit my car as I wanted that skid protection that it would give to the chassis cross member.
I offered it up and scribed the areas that needed to be relieved in order to make it fit ,and into the workshop with grinder and files I set too! When exactly as I wanted it, I held it in the correct place with one of my newly made cross head support stands and using the guard holes as drill guides I first spot marked the cross member using a 6mm drill. Then I changed to a 5mm drill and finished the holes through the cross member(5mm drill is tapping size for 6mm). I had decided to tap the holes 6mm to give added security and then use a nut as a lock nut on the back side but on closer inspection I found that the hole on the RHS of the car was so close to the gearbox that with a nut fitted it was just off touching a strengthening gearbox webb so I just installed a shortened screw tightened into the cross member using loctite thread locker on fitting. I'm an engineer so am quite happy to undertake this sort of work although I'd hope if anyone buys one of these plates to fit themselves all that will be required is to drill the holes and fix the bolts! I'm comfortable drilling and can feel exactly what I'm doing and where I am but I would suggest If not you protect the soft gearbox casing with some metal sheet to prevent damage. Something like an old pointing trowel or similar would do.