9. Meanwhile, with the car stripped, we can examine other areas. The brakes receive special attention. A number of serious problems are discovered.

The rear lines have corroded to a point where they have begun to leak at the junctions and the line itself is about to crack.  For a mogtraveler like myself this is the worst type of issue. It is not a part you would think to carry, it takes days to arrange sourcing, it is dangerous and it can spoil a holiday. Happily Tudor makes their own lines in house and the new brake pipe they use is Kunifer tubing. It  will last at least another 16 years...far longer than MMC stock.

I was concerned about the rear cylinders and indeed, they both prove to be bad. The shoes are shot. The lot is replaced from Tudor's inventory.

The safety brake cable shoes the result of a Morgan design problem. The passage of the cable abuts the propshaft cover and the cover's thin edge has cut into the cable sheathing. Each time the cable was used, the situation deteriorated further. The cable is replaced and its passage rationalized.

At the rear, I have had a buffering plate is placed on the fuel tank behind the actuator bracket (which sticks out behind the axle. This will prevent the bracket from puncturing the fuel tank when the car is impacted at the rear or the rear wheels (pre-June 1993 cars).

Meanwhile, as we are in the area, the rear leaf springs, long past their usefulness and held together by rust only, are junked and new ones put on. The shocks are replaced with made-for-Morgans Rutherford AVOs.

The front brake calipers are fine outside of a dire need of some Tudor TLC. They are thoroughly cleaned, tested, and heat painted. The before and after pictures (right) hints where the car is coming from and where it is going to.
 
 

10. The bulkhead has rust rot at the sides..a common area to find it. This must be cut out and new pieces welded in prior to prep and paint. There is an option here to move to a new stainless bulkhead. However, the more parts you outsource, the less certain you can be of a completion date. Additionally, a properly prepped and painted mild steel bulkhead will last decades and there is no fitting issues if you repair rather than replace.

The inner wings show some minor surface rust but are otherwise fine. However, in the two weeks to get to this point, I have stumbled on an ebay deal on Morgan branch manifolds. I snapped them up on a gamble and they turn out to be in perfect order..only in need of some refurbishing. (In this case, the manifolds will be "metalized" which is a system of using a non-corrosive metal coating shot molten over a corrosive metal. The results are primarily aesthetic but very attractive and relatively inexpensive.)  As I have a spare set of stainless silencers, the temptation to move to a Morgan twin branch manifold exhaust (with the extra power and wonderful sound) proves to much for me and this becomes a voluntary "extra". It involves, however, an alteration of the valences to close the hole of the previous single system and make new holes to accommodate a twin system. Vernon does it with panache. With expert fitting, welding, edging and prep, the switch is undetectable.

To switch to a Morgan stock twin system requires some modification of the valences. One must close one hole and cut another hole in one valence and cut a hole only in the other. The new holes' edges must also be strengthened, then ground and sanded, re-primed and painted mirror finish black.

N.B. Any part that requires alteration cannot be surface finished until those alterations are done. The mild steel must be rust primed but not finally painted until the holes are cut and the welding is over. Ditto with the metalizing of the manifolds. This cannot be done until the possibility of surface damaging has passed. It is this dance between priming, repairing/modifying, refitting, re-priming (or sometimes polishing) and then repainting/topcoating that creates a ongoing dance of parts going on and off the car, with many of items this happens 3-4 times.

Don't get confused, the dance becomes a Grand Ballet  "Restoration" by the time your car is finished!