The backside of the panels for frame are currently being painted and I am still anxiously awaiting the new wiring harness from AutoSparks. The goal of having a rolling chassis has been completed – with one little thing to do: installing the new EZ Powersteering. While this in theory sounds like a straightforward job it turns out to be more complicated. Compared to the bulkhead of a Morgan +8 the one on my car is a bit deeper. As a result the bracket that the steering column is normally attached to needs to be removed completely and new holes need to be drilled from the top of the bulkhead.
This in turn requires the correct position which in my case I need to determine from the dashboard. So I temporarily put this onto the scuttle. I remembered that the steering wheel in our 4/4 was always a bit closer to the dashboard on the right of the wheel. As can be seen on the pictures below the difference to the left is roughly 15mm. As I am planning to leave the scuttle padding away I would need a new dashboard anyway. This would allow me to move end of the steering column a bit to the left – resulting in a “straight” steering wheel. To check if this would make sense I had to put a seat into the car to check the position and “feel”.
As the drivers seat is really quite worn out started out the test with the passenger seat. Very much to my surprise I felt that the entire seat is twisted to the right. Upon closer inspection of the seat frames I found out that there are indeed build in with a slide angle. This was even more visible after I changed the seats and put the stripped frame of the drivers seat into the car. the base of the seat is parallel to the chassis – but the backrests create a slight angle (to the left on the drivers seat). Because the current dashboard is one from MK Holztechnik I also double checked is the steering wheel position was always this way. And this was the case. André Koopmann was so kind to check if this is also the case on the Morgan 4/4 4 seater (RHD) that he has – and the pictures he send me show exactly the same.
With this confirmed I could now theoretically drill the holes for the steering column. But it is also quite clear that it depends a bit on the seats. Therefore I am currently trying to get another quote for a seat rebuild. In addition I am also looking for used Morgan seats and sent out a few emails to see if somebody might have a new set in an acceptable condition.
Fixing C6622 