Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) What Did You Do To Your Morgan Today?

It was actually yesterday, however...

...I took my 2019 Roadster to Matt at Lifes Motors in Southport (of more accurately now Banks, just north of Southport) to let him give my 2019 Roadster the once over, fit the rub plate I took off my 1999 4/4 and fit the factory issue luggage rack frame (aquired second hand from an ARP4 owner for £350 in excellent condition) to the chassis (it fits, just, which I had anticipated having offered it up to the chassis and identified the holes/bolts).

And what did Matt find that Oakmere (who had serviced the car for Sytner in Warrington) didn't:

- tightened up the loose steering rack to the steering arms bracket making a world of difference to the steering (and there was me just thinking it was the power steering rather than initial play!)
- stripped, cleaned, adjusted and freed/lubricated the rear drum brakes (...and cleaned the copious amounts of brake dust off the now cool wheel/spinner)
- adjusted the wheel alignment from 4* toe in to the recommended 1*
- deflated the tyres from 28 psi to 22 psi (...thanks Kwik Fit, bit I did tell you they should be 22psi AND showed you in the owners manual!)

To be fair to Oakmere, they replaced all the oil and fluids, the oil filter and air filter element, the spark plugs, a sump plug and an exahust clamp. Not sure what constitutes a 'full service' at Oakmere, but I guess it is an example of 'he who pays the piper' but I won't ever take my cars to anybody but Matt at Lifes Motors!

Known Life Motors since the 80's and they have always serviced my trad Morgans.

The attention to detail and quality of service Matt gives is IMHO second to none. When its been to Matts you know he has gone thru it thoroughly and he even remembers the work you had done on the car from years ago, that's a rare commodity this days, when very often you are basically just the next paying customer.

I replaced the spark plugs.
They still looked quite good after more than 50,000 km. Only the one from the first cylinder had issues with water ingress.



I already had an idea for a cover to hold back the water.



So I know what to do if we can't drive. Making this cardboard template in aluminum.

+1 for Matty Jackson at Lifes Motors. Always serviced my Morgans when I lived in Cheshire, went the extra mile and was happy to show me what he was doing during the service. Top guy

A long promised present for the Plus 4 was delivered this morning. An AS-7630 hydraulic scissor lift from Automotech. Weighing in at about 300kg all in, this is a beefy piece of kit.

Thanks to RichardV6 and a neighbour for help in the muscle and suggestions department.

The lift requires a 16A supply, so now waiting on the electrician to connect up my wiring and certify. The Mog shall now live in the garage on a pair of timber runners. These are just over 300mm wide and raise the car by about 50mm to clear the scissor mechanism which site between. Assembled using 3 full length scaffold boards, 1 of which was cut lengthways in half, with about 15 short lengths of 75 x 15 treated timbers under each runner. All secured top and bottom with steel straps and countersunk screws.

WOW well done, jealous.

Hi TBM, Just curious, what "other issues" did the electric pump produce. I fitted one a year or so ago, removed the mechanical pump and put on a blanking plate. I do have some fuel issues from time to time (tbh my fuel tank is about had it), but wondering if there is something else which might be a contributing factor.

Cheers

I fitted a decent Facet Red Top, and Malpassi Filter King to moderate the flow (and an inertia cut off switch). Fuel tank is new and stainless. However, I found that when I was accelerating hard uphill (like those occasions when you get an extra lane for overtaking) I was getting massive fuel starvation issues and getting myself into trouble.At times, she was cutting out completely. I put it down to the following:

1. Due to the low position of the tank on the 4 seater, the only position I could fit the facet was slightly above the tank. Ideally it should be level with, or below the tank.
2. The four seater has an unusual fuel line route - it goes over the top of the passenger side rear arch and then down to the chassis rail before travelling along to the under bonnet. On the flat this was no problem. but when uphill I think there was too much 'head' for the pump to deal with.

If I wanted to return to the Electric pump I would fabricate a bracket to fit the pump in the gap behind the tank in the small gap between the rear panel (where I normally store the side screens) and re route the fuel line along the drivers side chassis rail without going over the wheel arch. However, the mechanical pump works fine, and my new hand pump (now located and the top of the rear wheel arch) does the trick when starting after a lay up.

I've never managed to get a Weber DGV fitted Crossflow to run right on a Facet/Bendix Red Top fuel pump even with a Filter King. Absolutely perfect set up for running 40 or 45 side drafts but not a DGV.

Set the Filter King up with a pressure guage and couldn't get the pressure down below 5 psi - DGV's dont seem to tolerate an awful lot of pressure and about 1.5 to 2 psi is ample for them.

What seemed to work was a small Facet Posiflow fitted on the inner wing, pressure is about 2psi and no sign of either starvation or overfilling.

Arwyn

I think mine is a Facet Posiflow as well, I mounted directly above the fuel tank with a cut out switch (mine is a four seater also) and installed the clear view filters around where the old mechanical pump sat so I could see what crud my tank was shedding. The whirring of the pump is quite comforting compared to the interminable cranking with the old mechanical pump, at least I know what is going on.

I don't think I've ever experienced the starvation issues TBM describes, and I do drop down into and back out of Kangaroo Valley sometimes on my Sunday morning ride.

I know the tank will have to go, it is after all 50 years old, but finding one locally at anything like a reasonable price is proving difficult, and shipping from UK to OZ requires the selling of my first born child, so I put up with blowing out the lines, cleaning out the fuel pickup when necessary, and keep the tank no less than half full. I've become pretty efficient at the process when I feel that horrible cough, hopefully close to home.

One of the things I love about my Morgan is that things are so simple, it's hard for much to go wrong. I've described electrical issues on here before, mostly related to a 50 year old ignition switch, and the odd fuel issue as in this thread, but you get to know which is which by the seat of your pants. One of the first issues I had when I fitted the electric pump was a dodgy earth, that stopped me altogether, but the pump wasn't whirring so I knew where the problem was and fixed it roadside at 6:00 a.m. one Sunday morning.