TR powered +4s have had a proclivity for cracking just forward of the
firewall on the right hand side. The crack always begins at the bottom
flange and works its way up. My '64 Plus 4 developed a crack like this at
around 45,000 miles when it was 5 years old. We made a gusset reinforcement
similar to that installed by the factory on the early +8s, but with an
extension to follow along the bottom flange just forward of the chassis hole
for the exhaust. The reinforcement was welded on along both sides of the
lower flange for its full length, and to the forward edge of the crossmember
at the base of the firewall. We have had no problems since. The car now
has over 110,000 miles on it and over 60 race weekends of all out racing.
My regards to Tony Howard. He and Edgar Wallace came to Santa Cruz to
visit sometime in the early 80s, I can't remember the exact year, and we had
a great time together.
This year there is going to be a good contingent of Morgans racing at
the Monterey Historics on the weekend of August 27 thru 29. Bill Fink will
be racing his SLR, Brain Howlet his 59 Plus 4, Adrian Van der Kroft will,
I think, have his SLR running, Richard Freshman will be racing the ex Lew
Spencer Super Sport "Baby Doll IV," Jim Belardi his 53 flat rad, Peter
Schmidt his Pebble Beach award winning '38 Series I 4/4 , and I will be
racing my '64 Plus 4. Most of us are racing on Sunday afternoon. This is
most unfortunate as it conflicts with the "Pebble Beach Concours de
Elegance" where Morgans are featured for the first time with a special class
in honor of the 90'th anniversary of the Marque. All of us racers who have
been proudly waving the Morgan flag of many years here in the States finally
have the opportunity to race in front of Peter Morgan and we now hear that
he is to be held captive, in a matter of speaking, at Pebble All Day. So we
won't get the honor of performing for him even though he is only 7 miles
away! What a shame! What a disappointment!
But we will still be there racing as hard as we can, so all of the rest
of you Morganeers are invited to come and cheer us on.
It is possible to go to Pebble Beach early in the morning and then come
to the races in the afternoon.
Hope to see a lot of you there. Bill Fink, Denis Glavis , Morgan Spares
and myself have financed a Morgan Display Tent in the infield, so come by
and say hello there or in the paddock. The paddock, by the way is open to
everyone at the Historic Races.
Regards, Greg Solow
----- Original Message -----
From: <Dave.Vodden@uk.ecitele.com>
To: <morgans@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 1999 7:00 AM
Subject: Cracked, a tale of woe
>
>
>
> A sad story to start the week
>
> I took HUY out Thursday Lunch time from work. There were four of us with
2
> big guys in the back. I was taking it easy as I always do when the back
is
> loaded. We went along one stretch of road which is part of my normal
> journey home. This is a descent with a right hand curve at the bottom and
> a climb on the far side, good for about 65-70mph when I am on my own as
> there is a clear view and the bend is not as sharp as it looks when
> approaching. The only issue is that just as you hit the up part and the
> suspension travel has been taken up there is a ridge in the road which
> causes the car to push into the road harder.
>
> Anyway with four up at about 45mph it bottomed on the road at the back
> which is not so unusual, although the first time it has happened there
even
> when loaded, so I thought no more of it. On the way home that night
there
> were some more creaking noises than I recalled before.
>
> HUY was coincidentally booked in for his annual MOT safety inspection the
> following day and I had not anticipated any issues. When I went to
collect
> it at the end of the day I was surprised to find that it had failed as the
> chassis is severely cracked just ahead of the firewall.
>
> I think the story goes like this.
>
> The back of the car is supported by the body frame (I thought it was
> the other way round 'til now)
> The front under the engine is reinforced to support the engine
mountings
> (or seems to be)
> Just ahead of the firewall is a triangular reinforcement between the
> chassis and the cross member; the front end of the triangle is both a
> high stress point as it is just about where the support from the body
> ends and a weakness.
> 6.5 years of enthusiastically attacking the bend described above, plus
> many other discontinuities in the North Hampshire roads may have
> weakened the chassis at that point. (UK roads leave a lot to be
desired
> in terms of smoothness)
> Having the back end violently pushed up (by bottoming out) at the same
> time at the front end was kicked up by the ridge was the last
straw.....
>
> On the right hand side it is just the bottom flange that is cracked, On
the
> left the crack runs about 2/3 or the way up the side of the chassis rail,
I
> think we were pretty lucky not to have had it break completely. Hopefully
> Tony Howard can have it welded up by Thursday for the Thames Valley noggin
> and failing that it will be OK for Saturday so we can go to Silverstone
for
> the Bentley Drivers Club Meeting, More to the point perhaps it will now
be
> stronger at that point and not just move the weakness to another stress
> point at the end of the welded on plates. I have been told that the
> galvanised chassis complicates the repair, but there may be some news
> tonight.
>
> BTW Tony has been working with Morgans for a long time, as well as the
> first SLR he has an early Moss box Plus 8 (with the steel floor pan)
> currently in bits awaiting rebuild after a hard life racing. He says he
> has never seen one crack there before.
>
> Feeling a bit glum..
>
> Dave Vodden
> 1992 Plus 4 4 Seater
> Hampshire UK
>
>
>
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