Very few of you know the full background of Morgan the mouse. Here is the now-complete saga.
My Morgan SS languished and deteriorated in my garage in a less-than-ideal storage environment. Jerry Wilcox, famous in our area for his many beautiful home-built aircraft, asked me one day what I was planning to do with my old green Morgan. I said that I wouldn't even know where to begin. He suggested we make it a Millennial project. I jumped at the opportunity for him to restore it. All of you have seen his beautiful work. What no one has seen—until now—is Morgan the mouse.
Early in the restoration period, the fuel tank had been removed, cleaned and painted—then set aside in the workshop until final assembly. Several months after getting the car back on the road, engine performance started declining. On inspection of all things fuel related, I discovered what looked like fine gray fur in the extremely fine screens in the Weber carburetors. Over the next several months, cleaning those carb screens became a pre-travel ritual and all went well. Yes, Morgan the mouse had taken a one way trip into the fuel tank as it sat in the shop before assembly. Got in easily—couldn't get out. Eventually, the fur stopped showing up in the carbs so I avoided the grueling task of removing the fuel tank. So, Morgan the mouse has had many trips around the province, trips to the famous British Invasion in the USA, British car shows in PEI and Windsor, and many many more great runs with the FABAC gang.
Recently, I have been having more-than-irritating engine problems, narrowed down to fuel delivery. I decided to remove the tank, and yes, grueling is the correct word for that activity. Once drained and removed, after all sorts of peering in and investigating with one of those cameras/light on a flexible shaft, the mouse remains were spotted. A Morgan fuel tank has two baffles and of course the mouse was in the furthest section from the opening where the fuel sender unit goes. The first session was well over an hour of peering, prodding, shaking, inverting, etc. in attempts to get the remains in a position to reach it with one of those foot-long cables with the little grabber end. No success. The next day, I was shaking the tank and felt the mouse land at what seemed like near where I was gripping the tank with my right hand. It felt like it was centered and I thought it might be possible to flip it into into the center section through one of the baffle holes. I tried that and heard/felt it land. I can't explain how each of these moves really went, but when I looked into the center compartment, there she/he was! Success!
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| Here is Morgan (his better side!) beside the sender hole. |
An important additional discovery during all this is that one of the two baffles had broken away from its soldered location and was flat on the 'floor' of the tank, free to slide around to the point I believe it could have slid to a point where it could partially block the fuel pickup point. So, that needs to be repaired—we maneuvered it into the right position, so all should go well—some argon (We hate explosions!), a few well placed holes and an expert repairman. Clean it up, paint it and deftly slip it back into place. (I love how easy all that sounds when one puts it into a couple of sentences!)
Love old cars—especially British ones. Ask me some time how many ways Morgan has arranged to kill its drivers if ever in an accident. I know more now, just about the design and placement of the fuel tank. Bottom line: Don't have an accident! Especially from the rear—or from the front—or from either side.
- David
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