The Peter Mulberry 'Mulfab' Sump Conversion
Only 100mm Ground Clearance with 2 people on board!
The Roadster Sump and our Experience
My first inquisitive look under our new 2009 Centenary Roadster 100 brought out a cold 'sweat' on my brow .
I realised how low the Angled Sump of the Ford V6 Escape Engine is compared with the flat bottomed sump of the Ford Zetec Engine of our Morgan 4/4 where the Gearbox X Member was the lowest point..
After 600 miles and a large hole punched in our sump by a 65mm Gate Stop surrounded by potholes, I decided to go with the 'Mulfab' Sump Conversion, rather than risk another collision and more cost
Many readers will already know of this story.
Only 350 miles of driving later we met with this chap while leaving a National Trust Property
While the Height of the gate stop seem to be low enough to clear our sump it was the effect of the sunken Cobble Stones either side that increased the height sufficiently to stop our car and damage the sump.
The Moral of this part of the Story is to NEVER drive over any High Spot, Bump or (Speed) Hump central to the car.
Always try to keep one wheel driving over the High Spot.
For that unguarded moment, I forgot.
Fortunately, only the previous week I had read in Miscellany about the Sump Conversion Service provided by Mulfab (Peter Mulberry) for those Series 1 Roadsters who's engines had a undergone a similar problem to ours.
Rather than risk a second event with a new Ford Sump I decided to have this Mulfab Conversion made to our sump, which would also fix the hole.
I did not have sight of the hole itself before seeing the photo below.
The Hole in our sump (Photo courtesy of Peter Mulberry)
I subsequently discovered, when I met Peter Mulberry later, that our sump was beyond repair.
Our Original Sump with additional Front End Conversion (Photo courtesy of Peter Mulberry)
The Story regarding our old Sump is that the Oil Reservoir Capacity was increased and the Sump now resides on
Peters own Sprint/Race Morgan Roadster.
A new Ford sump was purchased and then it was also converted by Peter, and that is the one on our car now.
Suppliers of Sump Conversions
The Mulfab makes the conversion by milling off the 50% of the angled part and replaces it with a 3mm welded plate and they also move the Drain Plug upwards.
The reduction in angled depth does not effect the oil pick up area which is set into a mini sump inside.
Use of the modification is becoming more common due to more groundings and holes made. However, the purists among you may be concerned about authenticity for Concours event.
If that is the case a spare sump can always be purchased for retro fit replacement when showing or when selling.
For myself, I would rather offer my Mulfab Sump as an improvement.
The Mulfab Sump Conversion
The Milled Sump (Photo courtesy of Peter Mulberry).
The sump with Base Plate welded into position (Photo courtesy of Peter Mulberry)
The Sump re fitted to the Roadster
Guarding the Sump.
During the refitting of our now converted Mulfab Sump, Taff, the engineer at our dealership SGT of Taplow, Berks. decided, on our behalf, to fabric and fit a Sump Guard.
Apparently the Plate of 3mm Aluminium was provided by the Morgan Motor Company as fitted to original Morgan Aero 8's which also have a low (even lower) sump.
The Guard involved has been referred to by others as a Defector Plate as it does not actually fit under the sump but attempts to protect the Leading Edge from further puncturing of the Face End of the Sump.
The New Ground Clearance is back to the Cross Member Height.
The Sump Guard Plate
This picture clearly shows that the plate sits in front of the sump with the trailing edge angled downwards to protect the front of the sump.
In the previous picture that trailing edge may be seen with its base protruding below the sump.
Back in 2012, providing this Guard cost us £400, including Vat & Fitting.
Frank Lomax
The Morgan Centenary Roadster 100 Register
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The Latest Update and Price from the Mulfab Website (10th February 2014)
http://www.mulfab.co.uk/our-products/61/oil-tanks-systems/sumps/roadster-sumps-2004-2012
Roadster V6 Road sump
Modified to give an additional 20mm of ground clearance.
Usually sufficient for most applications.
That makes the gearbox cross-member and the bell-housing the lowest parts on your car.
Internally, the oil pump pick up pipe remains standard.
The sumps are sold on an exchange basis, and we try to keep them in stock for immediate dispatch.
Even if your sump is damaged, no matter how badly, it is usually repairable. This might incur a small surcharge for the extra time.
New sump castings used to be about £140.00, however Ford have recently increased the price dramatically ( to over £250.00) and they are to special order only, so may take many weeks to arrive, so it is worth having the old sump repaired.
£125.00
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The New Brands Hatch Morgans Bespoke Sump Guard
Register Founder David Harris, already having the Mulfab Conversion some time ago, had just had this beautiful piece of Bespoke Engineering fabricated for his Roadster by Keith Jackson at Brands Hatch Morgan Ltd.
Again fabricated from 3mm Aluminium sheet his unit is a 'Full Sump Guard'.
As can be seen from the Photos the Guard provides the same 'front end' protection as our Deflector but continues on to cover the full Sump area eventually terminating beyond the Chassis Cross Rail at the Rear Engine Mounting Bracket.
The Cut Out in the side is to both provide access to the Engine Oil Drain Plug but to allow the old oil to fall into its tray during Oil Changes.
The Shape and Joint at the rear end also allows access to the Drain Plug used for draining the Gearbox Oil.
As David say's, it does reduce the 2cm extra Ground Clearance, gained by the Mulfab conversion, a little but
is well worth the investment in providing protection from those 'Up Under' scrapes from the Sleeping Policemen
type of Hump and other unseen humps along the way.
Keith manufactures each of these Sump Guards to be Car Specific reflecting the situation that Hand Built cars
could have minor differences between fixing points and depths. They are made according to individual car dimensions.
Sarah Hutton, at Brands Hatch Morgans also said that they would do their best to help anyone interested in one of these.
The cost is not absolutely certain as David's Sump Guard cost was included in his £500 service cost.
We hope that you have found this topic of interest and useful to provide extra protection for your Roadster
Frank Lomax - The Morgan Centenary Roadster 100 Register
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