Done… almost…

After two and a half intense days work on the Morgan I am back where I started two months ago. What on earth let me think that I could pull the wiring, add relays and have everything done in three weeks? I don’t know….

Back in June I made an appointment at Victor Günter Motorsport in Cologne to check and validate my work on the distributor and Weber 32/34 DFT carburettor. They are certianly also much more experienced to diagnose why the engine temperature was so high during the short test drive in June. I am really curious if I am far off – after all the Morgan starts on the first key turn easily.

My plan was to drive the 25km very early tomorrow morning. The Revotec fan now has a dashboard switch and I am now equipped with an additional infrared thermostat. But after fitting the dashboard yesterday I noticed that the ignition warning light stays on. I double checked the wiring – white from the ignition switch and brown-yellow from the D+ from the alternator are correct.

A quick test with the volt meter on the battery while the car is running showed 12,1v – so the alternator clearly isn’t charging. I repeat the test with the volt meter B+ on the altenator – same result – just 12,1v

I bench tested two older alternators I have for the MGB. One of them was working but the shaft for the pulley has a different size. I the end I decided to get a trailer and ask VGS to fit a new altenator.

Another really aggravating issue is the dashboard, steering and indicator-and wiper stalk. The new Lucas SBQ119 stalk had to be bend to fit the Morgan – I had pictures of this before. When bending I must have damaged the plastic – while testing the indicator it suddenly cracked and the plastic base broke.

The wiper stalk also doesn’t fit anymore after I correctly mounted both stalk to the new steering column. The EZ Powersteering lacks little grove that keeps the stalks in place. I used a dremel to create the 2mm deep grove and this moved the stalk approx 4mm further back.

The best option is to correct the dashboard. A few weeks back I got the original Morgan dashboard and noticed that it has a much slimmer shape. But this can wait until after VGS has checked the car.

The good news is that the wiring is correct. All relays are working, all instruments and switches are correctly connected. The Lucas 1130 sidelamps need new wires and I will order LED bulbs for those.

I have also fixed the wiring for the heated seats, Brantz gearbox sensor (that also feeds the new Smith digital speedometer) I wanted to do some before and after pictures – but my phone battery died and so I only took on picture today 🤷‍♂️