Making new quarter panels and trial fitting them with the rear panels while the frame was off the chassis was good. However I came to the conclusion that to get the scuttle panel back on the frame needs to be on the chassis and the bulkhead attached. While it is not much the bulkhead pulls the wooden scuttle construction slightly forward and this in turn make the scuttle panel fit a whole lot better. I think this is also what Arwyn Williams from the TalkMorgan forum meant when he suggested only to initially only bolt the bulkhead down with the forward facing screws.
Before I started with the frame I quickly attached the exhaust system. As mentioned before I strongly believe that that heat from the silencer caused/accelerated the rot in the wooden frame. In an attempt to prevent this I will fit a heat shield. The material I found on Amazon is 100cm long and 33cm wide – look like it should fit perfectly above the exhaust.
As you might have seen in older posts I already temporarily had the frame on the chassis a couple of times. Usually I used 3 bolts on each side to secure it and that just took a few min. This Sunday however it just did not want to fit. It took me hours to align the new stainless steel coach bolts. To my surprise the Teroson sealing band I reordered what white instead of black. I attached it to the bulkhead and I think it should not be visible afterwards.
I am still waiting for a delivery from Melvyn Rutter which should include new stainless steel screws for the bulkhead. Since I want to get things done I only attached every second screw using the ones I had at hand. After this was done the existing drill holes between the bulkhead and the inner wing and chassis lined up almost perfectly. A bit of Petec sealant and a bunch of new M6 bolts finished this job.
Next up was the new scuttle rollbar hoop from NewElms. As I already prepared the brackets on the hinge-posts when I trial fitted the doors which when pretty easily. These need to be installed before the rollbar is screwed down to the chassis. You can feel how this stiffens the entire scuttle construction. Once this was in place I drilled the holes that go through the side of the chassis for the rollbar. Anoher job ticked off the list.
It would have been really nice to put in the new EZ Powersteering as next item. However this requires to drill two new holes into the bulkhead. In order to do this – I need to find the correct location for the steering wheel and this requires the dashboard. After attaching it two issues surfaced. Problema numero uno is that I am currently thinking to leave away the scuttle panel padding. First of all I do like the look of the older Morgans without it better and additionally I would need a new one which in turn is out of budget right now. The wooden MK dashboard my father installed years ago would leave a gap to the scuttle panel – unacceptable….
The second problem I have is that the steering wheel is not perpendicular to the dashboard. I did notice this is the past and always wondered if this was the way was built or not. Anyhow the clock in the dashboard is centered above the steering column. If it just moved 4-5cm to the left – it would be much better. So in order to address both problems I would need to build a new dashboard. But before I do this – I need to get the seat in and check how it would feel/look like if I move the column to the left.
This decision will be postponed….
Yesterday and today were quite busy – so I only had two hours in the garage tonight. I started by applying the 0,3mm shim washers to the brake calipers. The brake disk should be centered and I now have ~19mm (+/- 0,07mm) to each side of the caliper. Not knowing the official tolerance this has to be good enough. The then used most of the time trying to solder and with AL380 and after a few attempts on scrap material I gave it a go on the new quarter panels I made. Not perfect – much much better. A grinder should get me to a point were filler can cover the rest.
The panels need to go to the the paint-shops this week so that the inside parts can be painted. I decided on the final color today and am quite happy about it. Stay tuned to see more next week 😉
Fixing C6622 