Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Roadster, rubber trims around heater box (I think)

There are some rather random pieces of rubber trim under the bonnet of my Roadster. I've only recently looked in any detail, they are so bad I'm assuming a previous owner did a bodge and that it wasn't factory original ?

They were arranged around the edge of what I believe is the "heater box" (as it is ahead of the heater matrix). I'm currently driving without them, and so far nothing has blown-up.....Are they supposed to channel air inwards from the louvres, or keep it out, or what ? Are they supposed to be smoothly-tapered to contact the underside of the bonnet ?

I would have assumed (wrongly I'm sure) that they should be a one-piece moulding. But it looks like a lazy apprentice was given the job to install them, and mainly did it badly. I have looked at pics of five Roadsters for sale, and these pieces vary from smooth-edged and well-fitted on earlier cars, to a real mess on later cars.

I'm also assuming there's nothing special about the kind of material used ? I've tried Woolies' website and can't see anything quite like it. Closed-cell black foam comes in various wrong thicknesses on Ebay. A cost-effective solution seems to be EVA foam 2cm thick, sold as kneeling pads. It should be easy to make templates, then cut the foam with a Stanley knife, and secure with Evo Stik. Or am I wrong on all or any counts ?

Peter the early ones tended to use what looks like a 70's British Leyland door seal sold by the yard, later ones it's a sort of cheap looking closed cell black foam which I believe being softer forms to the profile of the bonnet underside a bit better.

But, as you say it's all a bit bodgetastic and deffo not a bespoke preformed jobbie

Thanks Jon, oh well whatever I come up with has to be less bodgetastic. I'll report back when I've completed my bespoke work with a Stanley knife !

I wrapped soft foam in duct tape . If that helps

Yes whatever the material used they are designed to channel cool air from the louvres above into the heater matrix, avoiding the warmer air flowing from engine which would otherwise make for an over warm cockpit in hot weather.

Although the louvres face backwards I believe there is a higher pressure area benefiting the rear ones as airflow bounces back off the windscreen.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

And re those trims forming a barrier, I understand the principle suggested but like putting a couple of sandbags on your doorstep in a flood, I'd be surprised if it makes much difference.

I found a pic of mine before I removed them, just wrong.

It is also important to have foam where the bonnet hinges go. i cut a V for the hinges in soft foam.

Just had a look at the seal in my 2015 Plus 4 and it looks like mine comes under the category of Factory Bodge. I've always wondered why there's always warm air coming through into the cockpit when the heater's turned off but put it down to being a "characteristic". It comes nowhere near the bonnet when closed and there's a huge gap around the hinge. It's been like it from new.



Thanks for the thread.

In the occasionally useful 2015 book "Making a Morgan", a photo on p149 shows a Plus 4 with similarly un-aesthetically pleasing trim bits. What really bugs me is that everything else under the bonnet is presentable, but now whenever I look at an open bonnet the first thing I see is dodgy bits of foam rubber. I blame "hand-building".

I'm off to the garden centre now to buy a foam kneeling pad and some new Stanley knife blades.....

The heater box seals are often freelance, and changed like everything else. Some have lip seals over the edge flange but more recently the seal is just a rough cut piece of aerated assymetric neoprene. Much earlier Trads had two seals, one either side of the bonnet hinge.