Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Monty gets a 'Nip n Tuck'

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Job done

Never seen that crossmember solution, if you plated in some more of the channel L&R to make it a box section, would that be worthwhile too ?

I can see how you could work on the cross member off the car but how did you cut of the flange on the gearbox?
A very neat solution.

1. The bellhousing was shaved so now the already very flat and low profile Duratec sump is the low point.

2.The crossmember was a simple reversal of the lip orientation, so no loss in strength but a lot of ground clearance gained.

It simply means lowering Monty has now actually resulted in better than stock ground clearance, 30mm of increased ground clearance to be precise, and while retaining a nice clean factory look.

I'll try to get a better shot, but essentially the whole of Monty's underside is now flatter than a very flat thing.

Clutch pipe raised too, it's much safer now.



I'm actually amazed it never got pinched in the original factory position.

My brake line with the MT-75 gear box fitted was also very badly positioned on the crossmember too! and was certainly vulnerable to damage from gearbox movement when driving, A good point to check for all classic owners perhaps. I'm sure Billy Bellinger's replacement Mazda gearbox also doesn't stick down below the Duratec sump so perhaps he does a similar mod to the bell housing? To be honest the Mazda gearbox is simply sublime and my preferred car would have been the original Duratec engined car with the Mazda gearbox but that gearbox bellhousing hanging down waiting to get ripped off stopped me going there! So I went with the MT-75 version right at the change point.

Fortunately I have worked for Ford and have a lot of experience with the MT-75 box and know it doesn't deserve the bad press Morgan owners can give it, quite rightly so though!
However there really in not much wrong at all with the box itself and most of the issues come from the remote linkage. The first problem occurs as the gearbox does need some breaking in especially the synchromesh elements so that annoys the owner right at the start of their ownership experience. Then generally the car does not have the use of an everyday car and so the gearbox literally never gets run in properly.. As time passes the linkage grease gets old, hard and contaminated with all sorts of gritty road muck. Think how low the car is riding and imagine the turbulence created under the moving vehicle with that magnetic grease just waiting to grab the grit it contains! This then makes fighting the thing into a gear or even changing gear become progressively difficult and a hate relationship of that gearbox is born!

Anyone with the MT-75 box should just take a bit of time and clean that linkage thoroughly using WD-40 and then re-lubricate it with grease, put the gear selector in a forward and reverse position ie. 3rd and 4th positions. You don't need to strip out the internal trim to access this procedure, it can be done from under the car. Limited the access is but you can see enough to get your bearings and the rest is by feel.

Sit in the car and then spend 10 minutes selecting the gears you will soon see a massive improvement and quickly the gear selection will start to feel as it should with a very positive click!-click! between gears. The MT-75 box due to its design will always have a slightly difficult 1st-2nd selection issue as it will always need to be realigned however if you have 1st to 2nd change difficulty even when warm then consider changing the gearbox oil, use Castrol Transmax with smooth gear technology and this will sort that out. First gear selection might continue to present baulking but align them with a quick 2nd gear selection first when that happens. That issue might hang around for 10,000 miles or more, but the box is bomb proof and when you get it changing with that positivity you will come to love it, different to the Mazda box but still wonderful!

Sorry seem to have moved off track! But well done Montegue, that is a stunning piece of problem solving with both the gearbox issue and the crossmember. When you see these issues being resolved you wonder why Morgan hadn't sorted them from the start. You can't tell me that no one from drawing board to testing hadn't raised both issues!
What was the reply I wonder! Not a very considerd one I expect!

I always understood that the bell housing was a Morgan item; if so, it does make you wonder why it’s too big for its boots. Possible. that the same housing is used across a variety of engines?

A few more bits and bobs hot off the TiG and table.

First up, a removable gavel shield fixed using Rivnuts.




Its designed to stop the gearbox mount scooping up dirt and gravel on little used minor roads where debris seems to build up down the middle.

Now some nice sainless exhaust hanger brackets to gain even more ground clearance and further improve the fitment of Monty's custom Fusion Fabrications exhaust system.