what have you done on your mgf today?

[gozzy 118]

I took the mgf for the mot on the 2 April , result straight through with no advisory's, the bloke doing mot was strict as hell as he was ex VOSA , , , , I bought the mgf 2 years ago for 150 pounds , great bargain for a cracking little car

[Camiel456]

Busy day today!

Fitted summer types on 4 cars today, worked on my trophy and on a ZR.

Summer tyres for my dads Golf GT, moms Audi A1 S-line, Audi A4 3.0 Convertible and my own Trophy.

Changed coolant on my Trophy and flushed the system.

The ZR 160 me and a mate got for track driving now got its engine stuck, so won't move at all! Seems one of the new (weeks old) spark plug was melted half away. And the left overs we could see in the engine where the spark plug came from.
We didn't have a locking tool, so next time we will operate that engine blok further. See if we can save it.
First time for us to open an engine! its a cool job to do.

This is the Spark Plug from the ZR;


For my trophy i got a new fuel filter i will change next week, and going to change the gear box oil. Donna when that happend last (got almost 200 000 km on the clock now).


And still loving my Trophy every single day!!

https://youtu.be/4R-gDi5hAe0

[Plezier]

Finished connecting the hoses on the 75th then filled her with coolant. Fitted the plenum to the lower manifold, throttle body, distributor and plugs. Connected a battery and tried her ........................ no start. Not even firing. Got fuel as she wet the plugs and got a spark from the H/T lead from coil to distributor but none at the plugs tht I can see. Tried the cap off Blue and still the same. Tried the 75th's cap on Blue and she fired up fine so the cap and leads are fine.

Only thing have not tried changing in the rotor arm and CPS (Cam Sensor).

So fettled Blue a little lubed her clutch release arm and hosed the mud from under the air filter .................................... man it was filthy down there also changed Blues clutch fluid as it was pretty dark and ugly.

Still wracking my brains as to what I have missed on the 75th tht is stopping her from firing up ...

[Mike H]

Can't help Plezier (but a very interesting and informative Rescue thread - thank you!) but having seen a damp patch under the car on Monday and then again yesterday I dropped it off for further diagnosis last night.

I've had the call this morning that the thermostat housing is leaking.....

Still, when up on the ramp last night I did at least get to see that a new exhaust will be needed in the not too distant future, so will have to add that to the new tyre budget

[castingflame]

Got the the rear subframe bolt drilled out last week and re-tapped the thread. Had to buy a new power drill a fist load of cobolt drill bits, and various taps and tap wrenches. Cost a lot of money in tools but after 2 days work, success. At least I still have the tools!

Managed to get the suspension pumped up ok but I was surprised that it took so much effort on the hand vacuum pump then 'grease gun type' hand pump. Talk about wan***s cramp! I have it set at trophy spec but it is definitely higher than when I purchased the car. No wonder I bottomed out in Morrisons car park.

Got most of the car back together over the last few days but struggled getting the rear brakes bled. Tried a vacuum pump, ezibleed kit, with a home made inner-tube adapter but no joy. After spraying under the bonnet with 1/2 litre brake fluid I called it quits so my dad is coming in the morning to assist the old fashioned way.

Had a couple of short 1 mile drives today. No rattles, bangs or shakes what so ever from the suspension. In-fact the little felt pads I stuck to the seats even stopped them squeaking.

Fitting compliance washers to the rear at the weekend and the tracking is being laser aligned on Monday.

I have a sump baffle that I need to fit in the next 3 weeks so I may make a guide as I have not seen one anywhere.

[Plezier]

Ahhhhhhhhh Houston we have found THE problem ................................................ it would seem we have a bad or dodgy connection onto the coil. Went through everything this afternoon and had the H/T lead off the coil resting on the cam cover so that I coud see it spark and after wiggling the connection onto the coil we got big sparks. So connected it to the dizzy cap and she fired up. So we have her running only for another issue to raise it's ugly head:-



She sounds like crap it would seem that one tappet has decided to quit working. She did not sound likie this before :-



So now we need to find out why this has happened and how to fix it it looks to me like the cam belt will have to come off again so that the cam ladder can be removed to access the offending tappet .

[Mike H]

I've had the call this morning that the thermostat housing is leaking.....

Still, when up on the ramp last night I did at least get to see that a new exhaust will be needed in the not too distant future, so will have to add that to the new tyre budget

Picked the car up this morning.....

£1.50 for the 'faulty' O Ring
£6.40 for 2l of OAT necessary for the refill resulting from the failure of the £1.50 O Ring

.....add 2 hours of labour to replace the inaccessible £1.50 O Ring
.....add VAT for to the government for a bill of £128

Not grumbling though - just an observation on the failure of a £1.50 item

[alect]

Today I have started to give the old Abingdon a deep clean, started by a good wash and then used a clay bar for the first time, this really does get all the muck off the top surface of the paint and also worked very well on the glass and plastic rear window.
The MG badge on the back has started to delaminate so I removed that and the high level brake light so I could clean behind and get all the old polish residue that had dried white and was impossible to remove.
I removed the rear lights for the same reason and was shocked by the amount of accumulated muck that was stuck behind the light units

This fell out as soon I removed the light unit

The other side was exactly the same, I would estimate that there was about 1/2 a pound of wet muck that had accumulated over seventeen years

ready for a good polish now

[alect]

All back together and shiny, the back half that is, I will do the front tomorrow.
I touched in all the chips and scratches first and then wet sanded followed by two passes with a machine polisher ( first time for that, a bit scary at first) using 3M 50417 Fast Cut Plus doing 1/2 a panel at a time and then hand buffed with Autoglym Super Resin Wax.

The front to do next

[talkingcars]

Emptied all the rubbish out of the newly acquired 1.8i and refitted the boot carpet where it had come away from the rubber surround.

Then nearly sold it to a chap at work.

Now going to POL the ZR.

[John SS]

Had a good week;
New cam belts etc. fitted by very efficient Mark from MG Rover Mobile Mechanics at Derby. On time, quick, knowledgeable and good value I think at £150.
Some doubt whether the belts had ever been replaced before although the water pump and head gaskets have!!
I also replaced the fuel filter - wow, the bolts on the unions were tight.
Also pumped up suspension, re-taxed and went for a great blast in the sunshine.
Reminds you what it is all about.

[talkingcars]

I did some weeding



or should that be arboriculture, yes, that is a sycamore seedling growing on the rear shelf!

[Mykel]

Got up fairly early this morning and re-tightened the exhaust manifold nuts. The two on the gearbox end had worked loose. VW Beetle sound now gone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alect]

Had two new rear tyres fitted today, having read all the recommendations on here so I have gone for Toyo Proxes 215/40 16s found a brand new unused and never fitted pair locally and my local garage put them on for me, so far very pleased. Before the ride was slightly choppy and I could sense a wiggle from the back end when going over bumps, now the ride is much smoother and the wiggle has disappeared completely. The old tyres were badly worn and 13 years old

Polished the front half and all the glass and now the whole car is shiny best its been since new I would think.

very pleased with that result

Tomorrow morning we are off to Malvern links as we have been invited down to the Morgan Factory curtesy of Pistonheads for breakfast and a look around the factory, 300 cars attending but looking at the list I am the only MGF, should be a lovely drive 160 odd miles each way down through the Cotswolds weather forecast is looking good.

[gerry.laing]

Took the car up to work early this morning to change the cam seals, gearbox end had car ready to fit by 7.20 am only to find out Euro car parts had supplied the wrong parts had to wait till 8.30 for another factor to open before I could get the correct one's nice easy job it takes longer to remove the carpet sound proofing and engine cover than it doe's to change the seals.

[adrianclifford]

We took Pearl for a good shake down after her cam belt escapade, new front pads and discs and the Stage I conversion too. 200 miles of route testing for MGFIM and we came home clean ! More testing during the week and then the AGM and Chairman's weekend to look forward to.

[scruffygit]

Well yesterday (Sunday).
Refitted the original fuel pump that I'd replaced a few months ago as the replacement seemed to have a problem with the fuel sender unit, the guage was up and down and all over the place! The original also wasn't the cause of the fault that I was initially trying to fix a while back, so I now have a spare pump but with a U/S sender.
Gave her a wash and then T cut the front bumper, 2 front wings and about half of the bonnet. Then a waxing. The T cut seems to take a lot of ingrained muck off of the paint but I'm wondering whether to have a go with this claying thing. I'm not too sure on the procedure, but will investigate.
Then took Lil out for a blast....hood down, windows up, heater on. I love the revviness, if there is such a word, of that K series VVC engine!

[alect]

Claying is much easier than you think, and it certainly made a huge difference to the paint on my car, get a bar from Halfords or somewhere I got mine off e bay, follow the tips given by the Chemical Guys on You Tube.
For lube I used a spray of plain water with a few drops of Fairy liquid in, works a treat. Do the glass and perspex rear window too it pulls all the muck off the paint.

[scruffygit]

Thanks for the tips alect

[beefio]

In use these clay bars and they are really good! Just use it with water and a decent car shampoo, I use Autoglym...

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 0702844155