Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - A useful afternoon tracking down rattles

A useful afternoon tracking down rattles on my Morgan Three Wheeler

I decided this morning that I could no longer ignore the jingle-jangling that was going on with my M3W, so this afternoon I set out to track the culprits down and eliminate them.

1) The fuse box cover was slightly loose.
2) The right hand footwell access panel was slightly loose
3)The battery was very loose and one hold down rod was not in the correct slot. The strap had been tightened against the lock nuts further down the hold down rods and was not actually holding the battery down at all. The top of the battery was slightly scuffed. I put three layers of rubber self amalgamating tape under the hold down alloy bar to protect the battery, undid the lock nuts, repositioned the loose hold down rod into the correct slot, tightened the hold down strap so the battery was now firmly held and only then, did I back the lock nuts up against the underneath of the strap.
4) My Klaxon which has a pretty inadequate single point fixing was not 100% tight and also needed more anti vibration sponge rubber strips at the back under its motor and at the front under the horn.
5)The anti-rattle foam rubbers at the lower front edge of the mountings of the bonnet, either side of the locating pin holes, had pretty much worn through. Put some strips of heavy rubber tape on top of the foam tape.
6) Most of the Philips screws holding the metal trim under the leather padding on each side "arm rest" were loose. Two were on the point of falling out.
7) Glued down the fabric padding at the rear corners of the bulkhead, where the bonnet rubs against them. The corners had all come unstuck.

It is a lot better than it was but there is still a horrible resonant generated rattle from somewhere around the rear of the right hand (passenger on my LHD vehicle) foot well or just above the passenger seat. I think this may be a two person and stethoscope job to track down. I wonder if the seat belt buckle mounting is loose.

Wilson

First drive of the year today (to get MOT). As soon as I started the beastie I recognised a rattle that I've been living with for literally years. It sounds like it's either eminating from the pedal box or the steering column cowl. Thinking it was about time I did something about it, I held a length of hose to my ear and poked it around the footwell. It was clear fairly quickly that the sound was coming from where the ash frame was rubbing against the upper surface of the chassis. So, I carefully jacked up the body on that side (to slightly increase the gap) and wedged in a piece of 2mm thick mdf. I'm delighted to report that the rattle has now gone (after all these years). If ever the body comes off the chassis, I will make sure to place a rubber seal between the chassis and frame but in the meantime the bit of mdf will have to do!


Car is June 2012 so has the early body/chassis attachment points which were improved later in production.

Thanks for the offer but I don't think I'll make the club sprint this year because I'm double-booked. I did try to poke a suitable thickness of rubber mat into the gap but failed due to its flexibility. Hopefully my craftsman-formed piece of MDF will last the course!