Work has continued on a regular basis with the Madison but with lots of small jobs that don’t make such a splash! I made up a battery tray and relocated the coil to a better position. I replaced the engine mounts and all the hoses, dropping the radiator by 30mm so the bottom hose didn’t rub on the steering shaft. I fitted an electric cooling fan with a thermostatic switch, new clutch and accelerator cables, tidied up more wiring and made sure the earth returns were clean and sound. I think I’m going to have the cam cover powder coated and make up a support bracket on it for the hose that crosses over the top. I’ve also relocated some of the wiring loom and rewrapped it in the interests of tidiness and avoiding chafe and/or strain points.
I then decided I should tackle the exhaust system and originally thought I would have to replace the whole system, judging by the state of the lower manifold coupling. However, it soon became apparent that if I did I would need a bespoke exhaust manifold with a hefty price tag, as nothing Pinto based that would fit the space was available off the shelf. I therefore looked again at the exhaust manifold which had been wrapped. Once that was removed and the rust tapped off it, the top half of the manifold proved to be very sound and solid so I cleaned it up and wrapped it in exhaust tape and it looks very presentable.
The manifold goes from four pipes to two pipes and then has a flanged join. The lower part where it goes from two into one had a stainless pipe welded on with so much weld that it was impossible to get the three 8mm bolts in it, instead weedy 4mm bolts had been used (and a mole grip on one side). I disc cut the pipes off close to the flange and then phoned up my friend Al, who owns Triking Sports Cars, to see if he could help. The Triking is a 3 wheeler car very much in the style of the 3 wheeler Morgan but with a Moto Guzzi V twin engine and gearbox and it is beautifully engineered. Al is incredibly helpful with a well equipped machine shop so I took the flange over to him and he made me a two into one section with a right angle bend. The picture below shows the before and after and it is the same metal flange believe it or not..
This is it installed in the car, the Madison has a side exhaust under the running board so it’s nicely positioned once I work out how to support the heavy silencer…
