Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Tool tray

I'm hoping to restore my Roadster tool tray, without resorting to a replacement in aluminium/ply/ABS or whatever. By the time I bought the car, the rear suspension anomalies meant the diff had whacked the tray and left several cracks/gouges. I'd kinda like to have it back in useable condition, as currently I'm driving around with no jack/tools. Has anyone successfully used, say, fibreglass to mend theirs ? And being picky, I would also like to restore the interior finish, which looks to be vacuum-deposited "flock". I remember it being used on model railways, so something like this might do the job ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335532203839

Haven’t had my tool tray whacked like that but it does look fixable with aluminium mesh and fibreglass.

Has the root cause of the impact been ascertained and fixed?

It doesn't have to be that strong Peter, I would just use two or three layers of chopped fibreglass matt brushed on with plenty of resin over the underneath of cracked areas. If you have to repair an open hole it's best to apply just one layer and let it go off, leaving a stiff base to add extra layers. If needed an extra layer can be brushed onto top surface but it would have to be thin to not compromise the space the jack fits in.

Spraying the finished job underneath with matt black paint will leave it looking neat. Your suggestion for the upper surface flock looks good but you will likely need to cover the whole area to match.

Good suggestions, thanks. In past years I have used fibreglass mat/resin to repair things, but the ABS plastic (I believe) that the tool tray is moulded from seems to be adhesive-resistant (I have even tried a temporary fix/bodge using black duct tape, but despite careful cleaning/de-greasing it pretty much just peels off).

The irony is that the original jack is too tall to get under the front suspension (especially with the A/C pipework in the way), so I use shallow ramps to raise the front of the car when changing wheels etc using a trolley jack (and with axle stands of course). And I have 2-eared spinners, for which I use a "Lionel Wheel-Widget" tool with a breaker bar. And my grease gun is a different shape/size from the original one. So basically the tool tray doesn't meet my requirements, apart from forming a barrier against road grime getting up on the plywood shelf. Still annoying though to have the original one cracked/holed.

As for what the cause of the cracks was, the weight of the jack/mallet/grease gun etc may have depressed the level of the tray in its early life, to the extent that the couple of inches of upward movement of the diff housing when driving meant it had rubbed or bashed against the tray. (I seem to recall reading about that on here and in Dave Wellings' book).

The last time I used fibreglass was to seal the bottom of the ABS plastic air inlet moulding after removing the part that sucked air from back of engine/bellhousing Obviously the area was cleaned first but the resin stuck extremely well after roughing the plastic up a bit. Finished item below.



Note to save all this work several folk including myself have made or had made alternative tool trays so may have an original lying around they are willing to part with. Unfortunately I sold mine.

My solution on Monty was to entirely delete the tool tray.

I found it was a source of many rattles, in addition to the general noises under normal driving conditions the axle had definitely been striking the tray under full rear suspension compression, so it had to go! I simply removed the spare tyre, relocated the jack to the void in the tail of the car, and then replaced the spare.

The void I'm using is a large usefull storage area, and my thinking was if I need the jack it'll likely be due to a puncture so logic dictates the spare would have to come out anyway. The remainder of my wheel remiving kit lives in my passenger foot rest/tool box along with a selection of other useful tools wrapped in towles to stop rattles.

Works for me

You could add some padding to the repair to act as a barrier and reduce the impacts as you drive. I used some self adhesive rubber tape with about 3mm padding in it in various areas, not just the tool tray ones. Also pads of neoprene for thicker areas. Padded the impact/rubbing areas of cables, wiring looms etc. as well as clips or cable ties to hold them if possible.

Great suggestion !

I used a load of bubble wrap to silence the tools.

L of the W, I'm with Montegue here. But first off I have found that most tool trays have been damaged after being installed the wrong way around and this puts the jack directly over the diff and it doesn't need much suspension travel to make contact and cause damage ie. the famouse hole it creates in the deepest part of the jack aperture.
There is plenty of space in the rear, by and under the spare wheel to store the jack with a little ingenuity and there is a tool box available in metal that fixes to the rear lip of the spare wheel carrier frame where it attaches to the chassis cross member. By the addition of a clever securing pin I have seen the jack secured inside the frame holding the spare wheel screw clamp. It stayed in place by opening the jack to fix it tight in place!
Depending on your model the under bonnet area of the drivers footwell is often free of any thing mounted by MMC and you can easily fit a tool box of your choice to this area using RIV nuts to secure it through the bottom of the tool box which is isolated from the body by rubber washers, 3/4" tap washers are good here. You can lock it and pad your tools to stop rattles.

Now to the real problem, the tool tray itself! MMC must have got Cadbury's to manufacture it on their milk tray box line as to be honest its next to useless. and if fitted with tools as supplied let alone anything extra you may wish to carry has the integrity of a Tesco carrier bag! It bounces up and down creating one hell of a din and when the suspension is asked to do any work crashes anything in it making the Mog sound.... well, like a bag of spanners!
A good way to sort things here if you wish to delete it, is to replace it with 3mm clear macrolon sheeting (shatter proof). Screw it down using the original fixing holes in the frame and it produces a water resistant finish. Return the ply floor piece as per normal and access is as simple as before and the quickly removable ply panel allows a visual inspection of the rear axle/battery area if needed without needing to remove tools then tray! Oh! and no more crashing noises, You will be mightily impressed just how much quieter the car is!