Morgan 3 Wheeler is Back Up & Running! British Engineering Pics

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I’m reposting with photos as none of them were loading on my android.

Gather round as we laugh and cry about my life with the 3 wheeler. If you remember, or scroll through past posts, I was stranded on the highway in October reading ghost stories texting my wife about how comprehensive is our comprehensive AAA membership, turns out not that much! While on said highway being a bit sad, I tried to trouble shoot the common problems.*

Did my exhaust fall off? No, great news! Is there oil in the engine? Yes, but I suspected it was low, with any luck I didn’t oil starve the engine. How’s the fuel relay switch? It was in proper position and then reset. I was stumped, but I didn’t hear the fuel pump turn over while on the side of the road. Maybe I tried to turn it over too many times and did more damage than good? Was it out of gas? I only drove it 200 miles, the internet said you can drive 300 miles! Between the fuel pump and the low oil I decided to be conservation and flatbed it back to the house. After unloading, it immediately turned over and stayed running.

I didn’t trust the little British bugger though, so after a month of calling service centers and checking message boards I decided to do a full service at home and investigate how much this was going to cost me. There is no grantee any warranty work on a 3-wheeler will be covered. They can simply deny a fix that other dealers were doing previously. Additionally some dealers will choose not to fix the car at all, no rhyme or reason to be found. This comes with the territory of ownership, I knew full well what I was getting myself into.

I bought oil, bevel box fluid, and a trickle charger for the battery and took a day to explore this little devil. The tell-tale signs of problems in this car are similar to every car, metal shavings in the oil, leaking gaskets, seals, hoses**, torn timing belt, offset drive belt with excess wear, and a fuel pump not priming. Here are some pics to walk you through the process.

I pulled the bonnet off, and some panels so I can check for any leaks, sometimes leaks will go into the footwell. Oil leaks at the feet, bevel box leaks at the seat.

This is under the bonnet, with the battery removed. The centra compensator that plagues 3 wheelers joins the engine and the transmission. It sits under the oil reservoir, which is the black cylindrical container above. The black cover the middle right of the photo is the fuel relay switch. Sometime this shakes itself so much it cuts fuel to the engine. Normally pressing(resetting) allows the whole thing to work again, not the case this time muchacho.

There is no oil stick in the Morgan, there are tabs in the tank. I never saw the tank full so I assumed this was low when on the highway which is why I chose to get a flatbed and not test it. Turns out this is slightly low, low tab is min on the left, tall tab is max on the right. It holds 6Qts, and when I drained it completely I got 5.5Qts out. There are two ports drilled in to this divider in the bottom so the oil can flow freely.

Draining the top reservoir and playing a dangerous game of please don’t spill everywhere.

I thought this was a leak point at the bottom of the dry sump, but luckily there was nothing and the dark was road grime. The dry sump plug on the bottom of the engine is a magnet, and there were no metal shavings. I refilled the oil and felt confident there was no damage to the engine itself. The sump plug is bottom right of the photo slightly out of frame.

Shop dog Lilly has settled in for the long work ahead. She loved the christmas movies and didn’t move except when I was under the car, then curiosity got the better of her and I had to put her inside for her safety.

Here is the back of the Morg. On the right in the black disk is the fuel pump which breaks. This can be a roadside repair if you carry a spare pump. The sending unit is out of a Land Rover. The metal boxes are the two fuel tanks, one on each side of the rear wheel. Two SPAX shocks comfort the driver in the back. The tiny orange cap to the right of the right shock is the breather valve for the bevel box which joins the transmission to the drive belt, and it likes to squeal.

This is how you can refill as well, there is a plug at the bottom to drain, Redline 80W250 is what I filled it with. The process is drain, refill, drive, drain refill drive, until there isn’t any sludge coming out and the oil is running freely through. This helps reduce the noise. I also didn’t find any metal shavings or too much sludge. I knew the bevel box probably wasn’t the problem but wanted to take a look at it anyway.

The timing belt under the cam cover had no tears and no signs of major wear. The new housing from S&S has a port to look into at the bottom between the two screws, to give a quick look up, but I too the housing off to inspect everything.

Throttle body nestled between the headlights with the cover removed. This is still mechanical drive by cable, which is like my old S2000. This thing is basically a Honda.

I will probably replace the spark plugs, these have 4k miles on them, I couldn’t photograph them well without a flash.

I’m switching these out with JW Speaker Evolution headlights, the same as aftermarket wrangler. This little guy broke about 500 miles ago.

After all of that, I felt confident in driving it around to test if it was actually the fuel pump. The first stop was the gas station where it took 9 gallons of fuel... The tank is split in two and can hold 11 gallons, which means there was roughly a gallon of fuel at the bottom of each tank. I was broken down on a 5 degree incline. You guessed it I fuel starved the engine, that is why it stopped driving. The best part is, on the talkmorgan site, an invaluable resource, many a owner mentioned how they have run out of fuel before. Now I hear them chanting “ONE OF US” in the dreams. I know this was a long read, I hope you enjoyed it.

*I’m not a mechanic, I’m learning along the way. If I did something wrong let me know just be nice!

**There is an allowable amount of weeping allowed in the seal that mounts the compensator to the engine. Oil will weep out and drop through the view hole in the bellhousing at right at the transmission tunnel. Throw some cardboard under the car and it shouldn’t be more than a drop or two a week.