Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Buying a Newish 3Wheeler

@Britmog- Hi Bruce. I want to thank you for weighing in here with your experience. In the relatively short time that I did a deep dive on the three wheeler, I've learned an enormous amount and don't really consider myself adept, mechanically. I just got off the phone with Phil Bleazey about his upgrades to the Centa drive and see what you mean about "learning how things work." I'll still need help-- machinist type things-- but I can appreciate the satisfaction of getting it right. You have several of these interesting vehicles-are the more conventional 4 wheeled conveyances less trouble/more straightforward to work on? There is something about the three wheeler that just rings my bell.

Hello Bill: I have owned my 4/4 coming on 45 years, she is the Morgan that appeared in the TV show NCIS as Ducky's car, the +8 23 years and the M3W 12 years. They are all different personalities with individual traits the 4/4 being more visceral than the +8 which is guttural and great for long distance drives, the M3W is pure unique fun (I was going to say exquisite but it is not in any way delicate). To me in some ways the 4 wheelers are more straight forward to work on but that could well be because that is what I have grown up and learnt with, I have never been a motorcycle person so the M3W is a new but rewarding experience. I have made many mistakes on the way some embarrassingly bad that required outside help to sort out with the knowing nod of "you plonker", most being able to correct myself so no one knows. As I have said the Morgan community is a relatively small one and everyone is willing to help each other even though we might be thousands of miles apart, I have had help and guidance from the UK, South Africa, Australia and beyond. Modern technology with the ability to easily take photos and videos then quickly send them across the globe to others who then can see exactly what the issue is has made working on these machines so much easier. Taking pictures of everything before and during disassembly makes the putting back together so much better, with in my case, so many fewer parts left over Driving as many different Morgans as you can is my recommendation, the one for you will speak to you and you will both glide across the dance floor. This is a good time to buy as the market is depressed and there are plenty of Moggies for sale so good deals can be made.

@Britmog- Bruce, this all makes good sense. I'm impressed with such long term ownership! We shall see. I think your advice about "seat time" is right on--I tell young audiophiles the same thing when they are approaching sound systems. They are all such different vehicles, the 3 Wheeler in particular.
Have you, or any of the other M3W owners done the Bleazey mod to easily access the coupler "dampers" for inspection and/or replacement?

The Bleazey mod is very popular in the UK and pretty much regarded as a "must have" by those of us who use our M3Ws for touring. There's a group who regularly do 5,000 or more miles a year and mine is just rolling over 40,000 miles in 4 years.

If you haven't already then join the MTWC Touring Group Facebook page to see how usable these wee beasties can be: https://www.facebook.com/groups/511022087505443

In my view the Bleazey mod to the Centa couping is a no-brainer as without it, replacment of the rubbers (a service item in reality) is a comple/expensive engine out job. There is debate on the merits of a "full" vs "part" Bleazey (whether or not to improve the connection to the splines on the crankshaft as there have been failures - we opted for the "part" one as we have had no troubles and we did not have easy access to a lathe big enough to do the job.

I consider this modification mandatory if you plan to really use the car

When we plan big trips, such as the recent one we did to Morocco, we pay extreme attention to this. Cars without this modification (and without a reliable Walbro fuel pump instead of the OEM one) are like a Russian Roulette.

They can break down at any moment and, without the modification done, you may find yourself totally ditched in the middle of nowhere, ruining your trip (and affecting the others if you’re in a group).

When we organized that trip, all cars but one had this modification (nor the fuel pump, and guess what did fail: the OEM fuel pump). Peace of mind. You really don’t want to lose your transmission in the middle of the Rift, the Sahara Desert, or the Atlas Mountains!

The Bleazey mod is a fantastic solution to be able to easily replace and inspect the rubbers. I however have decided to not go forward with it as the value proposition in my case doesn’t pan out.

I’m at ~9k miles on mine currently and it’s a 2014. I only put on maybe 1k miles per year. Seems many owners report getting about 10k miles on a set before needing replacement so I’m probably due soon.

I only drive mine close to home so a breakdown wouldn’t concern me. If I was touring I’d probably lean towards Bleazey mod being mandatory to avoid ruining a trip.

I do all the work on my cars and would be comfortable pulling the engine to replace the rubbers. I have been able to inspect the rubbers through the use of a borescope I have. Mind you this isn’t as thorough of an inspection as the Bleazey mod allows, but I feel it’s good enough to get an idea of what state they are in and I do see a couple with chunks of the rubber missing.

I have decided to go the distance and wait till they leave me stranded. Maybe that’s in as little as 1k miles or maybe I’ll be lucky and get another 30 years out of them. I forgot the exact price but I think the Bleazey mod at the time I inquired was about $2500 and a set of rubbers was about $100.

I’m at 11 years on this 1st set of rubbers. The engine has to come out to do the Bleazey mod and rubbers would get replaced at that point. Since I don’t mind a breakdown, for me to buy the Bleazey and have it sit in my garage waiting for my first set to leave me stranded (which may never happen in my lifetime) and then basically wait till the 2nd set break down to avoid an engine-out (which may never happen in my lifetime) didn’t make sense in the end and I might come to this same conclusion if I were paying a mechanic to do the work.

This isn’t a knock against Bleazey, who is amazing and a fantastic person and contributor to the community. I just feel in my case its price couldn’t be justified for my use case. But if I were touring I’d have gone through with the Bleazey.

Thanks for the response, @Socalm3W. Makes sense in your case to wait. If you have the Centa coupler, you just need to buy or modify the rotor and cut the bell housing, or so I gather. That would be the greater cost for me, given that I'd have to have a shop pull the motor and do that work. Though I'm far more taken with the exposed S&S twin, I gather that the Super3 doesn't pose such a problem given the nature of the engine.

As regards replacing the rubbers in the Centa unit, as long as you take it easy and don't lug the engine they will wear evenly and long. When my car was rebuilt due to the frame cracking my Centa unit had been in place for well over 20,000 miles. We replaced the rubbers and I kept the originals. They looked hardly worn at all. It really depends on how hard you drive. Again, lugging this beast will kill the Centa unit as well as possibly damage the motor itself.

@JMD- I'm big on preventative maintenance, especially where there is a known history. @Michael H has an enviable record of mileage using the original, but the idea of being able to inspect, possibly lubricate (I don't know if the latter is a controversial issue) and if needed, replace without a full engine pull is appealing. Granted, one must pull it all apart to do the mod. Perhaps overthinking all this, but I like to know what I'm getting into; perhaps more cautious now than I was 20 plus years ago since I'm a pensioner and would not like to see the vehicle laid-up for 6 months. Here, shop time in the better facilities are easily 2-3 months out- I don't know if that's the norm, but my experience here so far with vintage bikes (and discussions with shops who do hot rods) are that the good ones are over-booked and backed up.