Parts-R-Us Part 2

Uploading a bunch of photos of the wrecked Solstice. This is mainly for the guys over on the Solstice Forum (hi guys!) to take a look at.

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Parts-R-Us

Well, in a rather unexpected turn of events, the past few days have provided a few ups and downs. I found, on Craigslist of all places, a parts car for the engine / trans swap. After a bit of back and forth I purchased this wrecked Solstice for two grand from a fellow in San Jose. I’ve seen the car running (with the rear… wheel.. turning), so soon I shall start yanking off everything I don’t need to get down to the core vehicle. This was a majorly good find, especially since just the motor alone usually goes for a few grand without any of the wiring harness.

In other news, I posted up on the Solstice forum recently about getting a shop manual, and have already been told off by one individual there that the idea of using the independent rear suspension and axle setup from the Solstice just wont work… we’ll see about that. I see no reason to pass on at least looking into the possibility. I obviosly don’t want to make it a nightmare for the project, but I don’t think it’s as bad a situation as that individual lets on.

Also, I’ve been in contact with the Morgan factory, and not surprisingly some folks there aren’t too keen on the idea of the plans I have for the vehicle. I’m working on a well thought out reply to their concerns, as I’d like them to not feel put off by my intentions. Besides, keeping on good terms with the makers of the car you’re working on definitely can be a boon when you need help or information.

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Slow times…

Still on the hunt for a parts car for the Mog Rod. I screwed up big time a few weeks ago by not biting the bullet and bidding on a Solstice GXP that was up on Copart, and since then I’ve yet to see another Solstice or Sky worth considering. Until the parts car is sorted out, I don’t want to start ripping apart the Morgan because I need it ‘together’ (using the term loosely) to make measurements and comparisons off of. That being the case, I managed to dig up the photos my mom took when we initially rolled the Morgan from its outdoors resting place into the garage. It was back in May on one of the rare sunny-ish days we had. There’s a lot of photos (mostly redundant), but worth putting them up here for posterity.

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The part where…

My weekend gets ruined by the weather. I couldn’t go to Vette Magic on Saturday because of the rain, and had to make the decision to not take the Barracuda to the Mopar Alley Rally this year because of the strong potential for rain on Sunday. That last bit really hurt, I’ve worked on that car for thirteen years, and now I’m going to have to wait another year to show it in that event. Good Guys was also this weekend… so technically I missed out on three car shows in one weekend.. Huzzah.

In Morgan related news, a little to report. I dug through a bin of parts and found one of the two bullet-shaped front fender light assemblies, and one of the four glass glass covers for the indicator lights. I’ve yet to find either of the brake lights… However.. hang on.. just had a thought…

Nice. Just went digging about, found a bunch more of the lighting housings. Seems one of the two front indicator glass housings is broken, one of the brake signal covers is missing, but both rear indicator housings and recepticals are there. A number of the chrome trim bits are damaged, and those that are usable will likely be painted instead of chrome. Obviously after this much time I’ll need new gaskets, time to start sourcing those bits. I’ll likely be doing all the lighting with LED assemblies to garauntee visability.

Overall, despite the setbacks due to weather, a moderately successful weekend.

Oh yeah, anyone know where the heck the battery is on one of these cars?

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Crack open a case…

Took advantage of the nice day to crack open the crate of parts that my dad ordered in the early 80’s and see what kind of damage the ravages of time had done to the parts inside. To say I was surprised with what I found is an understatement. We’ve actually got the original invoice in a folder in the office, along with a bunch of other paperwork. At a later date I’ll take to scanning and posting all that, along with as much as I can salvage from the newspapers used for wrapping in the crate.

The first surprise was the luggage rack. I knew it was in there based off the invoice, but I was pleased to see it in such good condition (and painted, no less). After seeing the front frame and fender sitting slightly rusted, and how covered in rat droppings and plant debris everything was, I really expected things to not turn out so swell. Boy, was I wrong!

All the rubber hoses and other parts were in great condition, but what really surprised to find the hood strap / belt in excellent condition… one less thing to worry about sourcing!

The replacement bumpers and steering linkage were wrapped up together, and even the linkages’ rubber was in great shape. The bumpers have some strange corderoy-like adhesive film over their outer surface, probably there to prevent scratching during transit.

The last item in the crate was a wide, flat wood box. I carefully popped the lid of that, and man it had some gems inside!

The first odditiy was a couple of blue boxes with some cat head outlines on them. These turned out to be new headlamps for the Morgan… halogen headlamps… Didn’t even realize they had halogen headlamps that far back.

The real surprises were under some layers of soft wrapping paper… a shiny new grill for the car and a new windshield, frame and all!

All in all, quite a rewarding day, especially so since this means I’m going to have to spend a lot less on getting replacement parts for the pieces I’m keeping.

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Doing a bit of spring cleaning…

Moved the parts crate and panels inside while the weather abided today (this is supposed to be sunny California.. apparently Mother Nature didn’t get the message). I set the body panels loosely on the car, some are grey because we had them acid dipped and painted along with the Barracuda a few years back. I’m amazed these panels aren’t sheets of pure rust considering how poor the results were with the cuda.

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Welcome to Mog Rod!

Welcome to MogRod.com, the site where I’ll be keeping track of the restoration / customization of a 1966 Morgan +4. The site’s still pretty basic, as I just got WordPress installed and set up. I’ll be putting up more info soon, and getting some images up as well.

For a starter I’ll show you what I’m beginning with. This is the car as it sits right now in the garage.

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