F SUPER PROPSHAFT

 Having finished the restoration I found that the propshaft had a vibration at 50 MPH that was quite annoying. I had previously built a JZR tribute Morgan with Moto Guzzi drive train. It was a known fact that the propshaft in it would begin to whip and there were even several cases of the shaft ripping itself out of the car. Triking also had this problem. The solution in both cases was to install a support bearing somewhere near but not at the center of the shaft. This will break up the harmonic vibration and allow the shaft to run without a problem.

There have been several articles in the Bulletin with various solutions for the Morgan. I have taken my experience with the JZR and together with the knowledge of other Morgan owners come up with a rather simple solution that has worked well for at least 1500 miles so far.

Clarrie Coombes also wrote, in his excellent book, a method to cut the splines using a lathe. Since I have a decent mill I have chosen a different path. This is really quite simple to do with a Chinese indexer and a slitting saw for the cutter. This photo shows the setup. If you have not used an indexer before you need to find some Youtube videos and learn as I had to.

 

The material I used was 7/8” diameter 4340 cold finished alloy steel. This is plenty strong. In one of the other articles on the subject the author used 5/8” shafting. The first step is to use the lathe to turn the end to fit the pilot bearing in the crankshaft. Then cut the splines. The same process is used to cut the two keyways in the rear end. I also cut a snap ring groove in the shaft just forward of where the support bearing would ride in the torque tube. This was in the area of the shift lever. This allow the shaft and bearing to be removed together.

Here is my Autocad drawing where I worked out all the movements of the 3 axis of the mill.

The process involves making two cuts to create each spline. This is accomplished by making all ten cuts on the bottom of each spline while rotating the indexer spindle angle according to the list on the left. Then raise the cutter .227” and make the final ten cuts to finish the top of each spline. I have a digital readout which makes this much easier but it can be done without one if you watch out for backlash in your machine. I used a 2” diameter cutter but any size will work.

Once all the cuts are made you can test fit the clutch disk. If it is too tight you can go through the process again and remove a few thousands of an inch from each spline. Watch to be sure it isn't the spline bottoming out in the disk or the disk hitting the root of the spline.

Here is how it all looked in the mill. I made a simple support for the long shaft so it would freely rotate in the indexer. The shaft was then cut to length and the key ways cut in the other end.

 

 

 

Next is to machine the support bearing housing to suit the bearing chosen. This housing should be a close fit into the torque tube.

NEW DISTRIBUTOR

 My original dizzy is pretty much done in. Using a timing light the light flashes all over the place when reved up, not so bad at idle. This makes the engine run really rough and vibrate. I had an old  Sprite and it looked like it would work. The first job was to turn down the lower body to fit the hole in the Ford engine. I had to machine farther up the body to get the length needed.

Next was the spindle which needed to have a single blade offset end for the Ford. Also a sleeve was needed to cover the tang and locate the drive gear shaft.

Here it is installed. still need new plug wires. The difference driving is remarkable. I now get 28 total degrees advance at 2000 RPM. I'm thinking it should be at a higher RPM. I have no vacuum advance at this point. 

Any thoughts or comment are appreciated.

Full flow oil filter

 To convert an E93A engine to a full flow oil filter does involve some machine work but it quite simple if you have a lathe. First off you have to alter the pump to prevent the oil discharge from going up through the 2 slots in the upper part of the pump body. To do this chuck the pump body up in a 4 jaw chuck and machine down the upper part until the slots are removed.

Now machine a sleeve to fit over the turned down part so as to have the same diameter as before. Also drill out the two oil holes to enlarge them a bit.

Drill and tap a new outlet hole in the block. Measure up from the pump flange to the outlet holes and transfer that dimension to the block and drill and tap a hole. I use 1/4" pipe thread size. Be careful since the block is only about 5/16" thick. I used a 1/4" pipe street ell to fit the hole. You will have to remove metal off the male thread if any of it sticks out to the inside of the hole where the pump fit in. I had to make a 1/4 male by 1/4 female adapter to space the street ell out enough to clear the support brackets on the block but short enough so that it didn't hut the exhaust manifold.

The same street ell was fitted to the side cover at the rear end as a return fitting for the filter.

The next photos show the filter base mounted to the firewall. I use 3/8" fuel hose to connect the filter to the engine.

Head gasket issues

I hav had some leaks from the head gasket. It looks likthe head is bowed up in the middle.

I took a piece of 1/2"plate glass and stuck some 80 grit sandpaper to it. After rubbing the head on it for some 15-20 minutes I got it to be flat with slight sanding marks across the center..

I did the same thing with the engine block.

Cam failure

 I used the wrong oil. Rotella T1 40W doesn't have the needed level of zinc. I had researched it and found it has zinc but later find it is a low level of zinc.

Rotella T4 15W40 is the correct oil. I lost a lifter and rounded the cam lobe. The front 4 lifters suffered damage while the rear 4 look good except for scratches from debris in the oil. Now it's back together with new cam, lifters and crank bearings. An expensive mistake but lesson learned.

DRIVING REPORT

 I have now put about 700 miles on the engine. Oil pressure is holding well and is above 40# while driving and 15# at idle. I'm happy. I'm using Rotella 40W diesel oil.

Driving is getting better every day as I get better at shifting. Fine tuning the carbs I now get 30 MPG and good acceleration. I've taken it up to 65MPH with more to go but keep it at 55 on the hwy. 

The new propshaft is great. I have a tiny bit of vibration at idle which is probably that 3 or 4 thou. out of straight in the shaft. If I release the clutch it goes away.

The car drives very stable at speed and the thrust bearing I put on the front springs helps steering but it is still stiff to steer.

The body is very quiet with hardly any rattle and no squeaks. I would like to add rear shocks as the rear bounces badly on rough roads.

I am adding electronic ignition and will report on that soon.