Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) So 2 months on how does it feel?

On the 19th of August Sue and I headed south to go see my now 2012 Plus 4 sport in red with tan interior, only 4700 miles and spent the last 5 years or so in storage. It was in pretty good shape, the inevitable marks from long term storage, had some paint at the front at some point. It had an excellent service record prior to going into storage but hadn't been serviced since 2019.......having said that at 3500 miles. Clearly the oil and filter had been changed more recently, checked the MOT history and that was completely clear no fails or advisories at any point. It needless to say hasn't been used so the engine on start up was a little tappetty, but that still persisted less so on warm up, More about that later.

It drove and rode amazingly well, the suspension was very compliant .Everything worked well, it needed new wipers, so they went and got some from Rutters, whilst I haggled a fair bit, as they clearly wanted rid of it as it was taken in part exchange and not their normal fare. So an amazing deal was struck and OZZY was ours.

It was a terrible journey back, weather was awful, my right arm had only just recovered from a fracture and it was Sue's first drive following her recovery from a fractured ankle, so a bit optimistic on both our parts, but it had to be done.

The first thing I did was book it in for a full service with Life's, changed and greased everything, car felt much better for it. Whilst the tappets had quietened down some what, still aware of them. We decided to leave them for now and see if use would quieten them down, it has helped but not enough so its something I'm going to get them adjusted during the winter.

Having had 3 x 4/4's the most powerful being the 1.8 Duratec in the 70th, I was pleasantly surprised by how much more poke and torque the 2 litre has by comparison, no where near the power of my Roadster but actually far more useable in everyday motoring as the Plus 4 performance envelope is well within the capabilities of the chassis, suspension and brakes. It's as chuckable as my 4/4's, slightly more cabin space and I'm not stirring the gearbox as much as I would be in the 4/4's. The steering is heavy at parking speeds, I notice it more so since my fractured elbow, so in time once the reliability has been sorted out and proven, power steering may be on the list. The Plus 4 gearbox is nicely weighted, slick and a joy to stir, a major departure from the gearbox in the 70th and the Roadster which on occasion detracted from the overall enjoyment of the car Also the dreaded rev hang I experienced in the 70th and Roadster is not a feature of the Plus 4 Sport.

It's had its Morgan moment leaving us stranded, thankfully a short taxi journey from home and a burnt out fuse holder the cause....but as a result the electrics have now all been checked out. I expected some problems as lack of use and particularly long term storage can create problems, as you bring a car back into use, as I found initially with my Roadster, which was also low mileage and stored for many years. I never seem to learn, but sometimes that allows you to put your hallmark on a low mileage car. Its had a couple of light parking incidents whilst outside the house, so I tend to leave on the driveway now.

The Plus 4 has taken me back to my very first experience of driving Morgan's when I acquired second hand the 1985 Sunday Times competition prize 4/4, a really nicely spec'd car also in red, that was very chuckable, decent ground clearance and compliant suspension and good fun. Needless to say a stereo and speakers will join us in the cockpit, I don't miss the music, but it keeps Sue happy, so I'll just switch off and enjoy the car.

I'm using the car far more, very much like my first 4 seater which was my daily hack...........I was thinking of Sorn it over winter, but I don't think so, if I only get a few short drives in a month, it will be worth it.







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Great review John. It sounds like you're bonding. I remember that when I first got my Roadster in 2008, it was a slow build love affair.

It sounds like the start of a beautiful and faithful relationship. All these measures on the car help to make it “your” OZZY. Despite my tuning measures, I still think about how nice it would be to have my 4/4 with 2.0 Duratec intake manifold injection.

Just come back from a 3 hour journey to get ice creams. Normally its a good hour and half 60 miles round trip but todays sunshine found us finding excuses to just extend further and enjoy the drive. I've been using E10 petrol , so I thought I would try the E5 to see if there was any difference, and I couldn't tell any discernible difference whatsoever. If anything it used slightly more E5 fuel, but that could just be me, enjoying the country lanes more.

Mine has been quite tappety when cold since new. It’s now done 53k miles like that and has not got any better or worse. It is quite quiet when warmed up. I took it back to the factory for its first service back in 2011 but Mike Baldwin insisted that it was “normal”. I wasn’t convinced but since took it to a main dealer and they said the same. I am still not convinced!
It could of course be noisy flaps on the inlet manifold instead, but I cannot really pinpoint it.
However, to adjust the tappets will mean the camshaft coming out which is probably why I have lived with it. If you do actually get them adjusted, I would be pleased to hear how it went.
Thanks.

Thanks for that Doug,

The handbook does point out that the engine can be tappety, from cold after a few days as the oil drains away. On start up mine has quietened down even after a few days left standing, but it 's still noisy when warm....so from discussion I had with Mat at Lifes, they may have to be adjusted. What makes it sound worse is the complete lack of any sound deadening, which you get in normal cars.

I'll let you know how things turn out.

Is it already a GDI or still a Duratec with intake manifold injection?

It's the Duratec,

My duratec is a bit tappetty on first start but quietens down after a couple of minutes.

I much prefer it to my previous plus 8 - less power but much more civilised

Mine too has had its foibles - mainly related to catalytic converter issues that haven’t actually existed throwing up MIL lights

It’s also a 2012 model now with 7600 miles, and I do run it on E5

Is it worth researching some really high spec fully synthetic oil ? I know Millers Oils will give good tech advice freely by phone