Soon to be a +8 Owner

Soon to be a +8 Owner

Author
Discussion

pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Sunday 18th February 2007
quotequote all
Hi,

I'll be looking after a +8 shortly. A mid 80's +8 with 11 miles on the clock. She's been a garage queen all her life. Irregularly serviced although will get one from a non morgan dealer prior to her 400 mile trip home.

So here's the question, what should I make sure is AOK for the journey? What is most likely to have perished.
(Everything is as it was delivered from Morgan, including the tyres).

Thanks in advance,
Paul

PS - I've registered on Mogtalk. Is there a forum like way to read the messages?

boshly

2,776 posts

243 months

Sunday 18th February 2007
quotequote all
Hi Paul

Congrats. Nice one. I am also particularly pleased that you have 'liberated' this car from a lifetime of inactivity to something that it is built to do - being driven.

I am afraid that I can't really answer your tech questions as I am useless in that department. I am sure a Morgan Dealer Service Dept or even the factory will be more than pleased to help. They are generally a 'happy to help' bunch.

I also share your frustration (my impression from your comments) of MogTalk. I cant stand the e-mail type and my spam filter has had a great time spitting out 97 e-mails in response to me joining; and earning me a bo££ocking very quickly.

Personally I prefer Talkmorgan.com - not as many members but all friendly and I am sure someone will be able to assist AND forum, not e-mail, based

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Boshly


Edited by boshly on Sunday 18th February 19:55

Michael997

39 posts

218 months

Monday 19th February 2007
quotequote all
Hi Paul

Sounds like you have a great car there.

I would not take it on a 400 mile drive to begin with if you can avoid it, most things on a car suffer with age and sometimes more so with lack of use.

Tyres, water hoses, oil seals, brake seals and calipers, bearings etc etc.

I would be inclined to get her home by transporter and gently break her in and at the very leaset replace as much of the above as possible.

Brake fluid will need to bechanged along with all other fluids and filters, of particular concern would be brake seals which if they failed at the wrong moment could spoil your trip.

Your car will need a great deal of care and monitoring to start with as many things will have flat spots or hardened through lack of use.

Good luck and post some pictures when you can.

Michael and The Green Dragon



Edited by Michael997 on Monday 19th February 09:52

fly fisher

442 posts

248 months

Monday 19th February 2007
quotequote all
Where are you in Scotland??
Thanks,
Will

pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Monday 19th February 2007
quotequote all
boshly said:
Hi Paul

Personally I prefer Talkmorgan.com - not as many members but all friendly and I am sure someone will be able to assist AND forum, not e-mail, based

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Boshly


Edited by boshly on Sunday 18th February 19:55


thanks mate
i'll see you on that forum shortly.

pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Monday 19th February 2007
quotequote all
fly fisher said:
Where are you in Scotland??
Thanks,
Will


Aberdeen, you in Bonnie Scotland too?

pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Monday 19th February 2007
quotequote all
Michael997 said:
Hi Paul

Tyres, water hoses, oil seals, brake seals and calipers, bearings etc etc.

I would be inclined to get her home by transporter and gently break her in and at the very leaset replace as much of the above as possible.

Brake fluid will need to bechanged along with all other fluids and filters, of particular concern would be brake seals which if they failed at the wrong moment could spoil your trip.

Edited by Michael997 on Monday 19th February 09:52


Thanks. I feared as much. I'll post photos when I can.
Not likely to be until June though.
thank you for the advice

fly fisher

442 posts

248 months

Tuesday 20th February 2007
quotequote all
In Perthshire, but a student at St Andrews. I have a 87 4/4 4 seater and my dad has a 79 one of the same model.

Where is the Plus 8?

Why did you get one with such a low millage?

Thanks,
Will

Vmax

21 posts

264 months

Saturday 24th February 2007
quotequote all
Paulo, a twenty-year old car with 11 miles on the clock will probably break down very soon after you set off. Bearing surfaces might be corroded and seize as a result. The hoses will have perished and will need replacing. At the very least change ALL the fluids and filters (as Michael has suggested). The tyres will be flat-spotted and perished, with cracks in the sidewalls. Swap them for new ones before you do anything else.

All things considered, you'd be better off trailering the car to a Morgan restorer off your choice for him to give the car the once-over. Driving the car in its current state is not something I'd recommend, especially if the pre-delivery "service" has been carried out by a non-Morgan dealer. See whether you can get a further discount in exchange for the dealer NOT doing the service.

Neither the Pistonheads Morgan forum nor TalkMorgan is really geared up for hands-on advice on the trads. Aeros are very different animals: there isn't much an owner can fix on them - even changing the spark plugs or oil filter is a wings-off job. As a result the ownership demographics are skewed towards drivers with little or no experience of car mechanics relating to traditional Morgans.

An excellent source of information is www.gomog.com. This is the best source of information on Morgans around. If you find Mogtalk a bit dogmatic, try www.emog.com as an alternative. This is a very friendly forum, with a fountain of knowledge on +8s.

Contact me OOG if you have any questions or want a recommendation or two regarding specialists.

Good luck,
Vmax
98 4.6

cerealsurfer

594 posts

270 months

Saturday 24th February 2007
quotequote all
Vmax said:
Paulo, a twenty-year old car with 11 miles on the clock will probably break down very soon after you set off. Bearing surfaces might be corroded and seize as a result. The hoses will have perished and will need replacing. At the very least change ALL the fluids and filters (as Michael has suggested). The tyres will be flat-spotted and perished, with cracks in the sidewalls. Swap them for new ones before you do anything else.

All things considered, you'd be better off trailering the car to a Morgan restorer off your choice for him to give the car the once-over. Driving the car in its current state is not something I'd recommend, especially if the pre-delivery "service" has been carried out by a non-Morgan dealer. See whether you can get a further discount in exchange for the dealer NOT doing the service.

Neither the Pistonheads Morgan forum nor TalkMorgan is really geared up for hands-on advice on the trads. Aeros are very different animals: there isn't much an owner can fix on them - even changing the spark plugs or oil filter is a wings-off job. As a result the ownership demographics are skewed towards drivers with little or no experience of car mechanics relating to traditional Morgans.

An excellent source of information is www.gomog.com. This is the best source of information on Morgans around. If you find Mogtalk a bit dogmatic, try www.emog.com as an alternative. This is a very friendly forum, with a fountain of knowledge on +8s.

Contact me OOG if you have any questions or want a recommendation or two regarding specialists.

Good luck,
Vmax
98 4.6


ooohhh... that so hurts...

Some of us actually get our hands dirty.

funky

1,064 posts

234 months

Saturday 24th February 2007
quotequote all
cerealsurfer said:
ooohhh... that so hurts...

Some of us actually get our hands dirty.



Are you mad sir? I preferre to have the butler do that



Big-L

40 posts

231 months

Sunday 25th February 2007
quotequote all
Hi Paul,

Plenty of traditional Mog owners up here in Scotland and an active Morgan Owner's Club too, I'm in Dunfermline, we've several members in Aberdeen. I agree with the others, if the car has so few miles on it I would trailer it to somewhere like MacDonald Racing in Lanchester near Durham (www.macdonald-racing.com/) and let him get it into condition for you, he'd be worth talking to on the phone first anyway, there are very few people who understand +8s better than John MacDonald. If you tell us the rough geographic location of where the car is we might be able to recommend another experienced Mog service centre that might be more convenient?

It should be fine once sorted but you could do a lot of damage, to you as well as the car, running it that distance without any work first. Tyres over 8 years old should really be changed so I really wouldn't want to drive on those.

Cheers,
Lawrence



pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Wednesday 28th February 2007
quotequote all
Big-L said:
Hi Paul,

Plenty of traditional Mog owners up here in Scotland and an active Morgan Owner's Club too, I'm in Dunfermline, we've several members in Aberdeen. I agree with the others, if the car has so few miles on it I would trailer it to somewhere like MacDonald Racing in Lanchester near Durham (www.macdonald-racing.com/) and let him get it into condition for you, he'd be worth talking to on the phone first anyway, there are very few people who understand +8s better than John MacDonald. If you tell us the rough geographic location of where the car is we might be able to recommend another experienced Mog service centre that might be more convenient?



Thanks for the advice guys. Good idea on somewhere local. Isle of Man....
Yup, the land of well known Morgan dealers. Anyone know of a good restorer there?

Big-L

40 posts

231 months

Thursday 1st March 2007
quotequote all
Hi,

I have spoken to the Morgan owner's Club on the Isle of Man, they have a person who may be able to help you. Please contact me through my personal e-mail in my Profile if you want to know more about this person or the Club contacts on the island.

Lawrence
Morgan Sports Car Club, Scotland "Jockmog"

pauloamore

Original Poster:

225 posts

220 months

Thursday 1st March 2007
quotequote all
pauloamore said:
Hi,

I'll be looking after a +8 shortly. A mid 80's +8 with 11 miles on the clock. She's been a garage queen all her life. Irregularly serviced although will get one from a non morgan dealer prior to her 400 mile trip home.



Guys, I'm sorry, Lawrence mentioned that my post stated 11 miles.....It should have been 11K. I'm sorry for the confusion I caused.

Does that make my chances of getting to Aberdeen any better?