Hi all

[jake_g1]

Hi,
My name is Jake, I live in West Sussex, me and my wife just purchased an mgf 1.8vvc in tahiti blue. Its booked in already for a long overdue head gasket upgrade, cambelt and waterpump plus a service! i want to try and do as much as i can myself, which probably isn't much but i want to learn. I've already put together a shopping list in the region of £2000 (gulp) in the hope that these cars may go up in price and i'll make some money back on it eventually.
Hopefully you guys can help me out along the way.
I look forward to meeting some of you and seeing your cars.

[talkingcars]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Whereabouts in Sussex are you? I am in Horsham.

Where are you getting the belt etc changed?
I highly recommend MJS automarine who is from Worthing but is mobile.
What Mike doesn't know isn't worth knowing and he will happily chat and advise as he works (and like all the mobiles are far far cheaper than traditional garages).

What have you got on your shopping list.

James

[jake_g1]

Hi James,

I'm just south of Arundel in Ford, There doesn't seem to be many f's around these parts that i've seen.
MJS are doing the job for me, he came highly recommended by a friend who is an ex zs 180 owner. I'm hoping to pick his brains about a few things while hes working on the car lol.
The shopping list has a lot of stuff that's perhaps unnecessary and some that either me or my wife would like. The idea is to clean it up, keep it as standard as possible while increasing the potential lifespan and reliability of the car as we plan on keeping it for a fair few years

So far i've bought:
A new fuel filler cap,
Genuine MG wind deflector,
Full set of oem spec shock absorbers,
Passenger side sun visor,
New rear discs
TF airbox plus mounting bracket and hoses to replace the tiny stock one that comes with the car.

still on the list is:
Uprated coolant hose kit,
Stainless radiator pipe kit
Stainless Exhaust backbox
Front grooved discs and decent brake pads
New door cards
New tonneau cover
4x new/proper tyres
Possibly a hard top
and completely unnecessary but i put a ss manifold on the list as well lol

plus it needs some dent removal and paint correction so it's got a fair bit of work and love needs going in to it

[talkingcars]

Hi Jake

Personally I wouldn't bother with grooved discs unless you are doing track days. They give off more noise for little, if any, benefit on a road car.

Rimmers were selling off door cards cheap so that might be worth looking at.

I sold my tonneau and hard top as I never used them, both slowed top down, top up times too much.

If you have a mk1 there is a gain to be had swapping the OE 4 stud manifold and down pipe for the later 6 stud version as there is a smoother flow out of the head. I have a 6 stud set up now on my mk1 with early cat and exhaust.

James

[jake_g1]

That's good to know, i had grooved discs on my clio 182 just for a bit of extra bite when it needed it.
Tbh a lot of that list will be when the current parts fail and need replacing that the upgrades will be made!
As far as the door cards go i want black, as much as i'd love to do the whole interior and go for a beige/walnut/tan theme its just too much money, the current ones are black so have found a few on fleabay which i'm watching at the moment!
The tonneau is more likely than hard top tbh, just to keep things tidy, they seem to be readily available for not loads of money which is good.
I might start a thread on the cars progress etc so i can get help where i need it and advice and so on. Hopefully will come to some meet ups and meet some other owners too