My MGF progress

[Fred]

Hi all. I've just insured my MGF so I thought today was a good day to do show the progress it's made since I bought it back in the freezing cold, snowy january.
I bought it knowing it had a water pump leak and that the inside was "a bit fusty"
I made an offer of £350 that was accepted on a 2001 mk2 F with 70,000 miles on the clock and the known problems.
I borrowed a mates trailer and set off in the snow on the 5 hour round trip to fetch it.



Apart from the known problems it looked in good nick although it had a very deep key scratch all the way down the passenger side door. The interior was far from "a bit fusty" though. It was absolutely minging with mould everywhere.

The whole interior came out and the carpets and underlay were replaced and new door and roof seals were purchased to stop the leaks. 2 small holes were fixed in the roof and I then re-proofed the roof with renovo which is an excellent product.

I then resprayed the centre console in mg platinum silver to match the exterior.



Whilst on the forums I saw an F that'd been converted to a TF and decided that's what I wanted to do so I bought the headlights, bootlid and both bumpers for £150.



I decided the end look of the car was going to be matte black so set about spraying the "new" parts and de-badging the bootlid and front bumper.







Next was to get the water pump, cam belt, new stainless steel coolant pipes fitted and a full service done. MG Rover mobile mechanics came out and did a great job so I then put it in for an mot which it passed with a couple of advisories (front and rear subframes showing corrosion)

New black Lexus lights were bought and rear grill mesh sprayed and fitted.





I'd been looking at Plasti-Dip as an option for spraying the car and decided to give it a go so I bought an Earlex electric hvlp spray station and 11 litres of matte black plasti-dip.



I masked off the roof and the bulk of the windows, leaving a strip on the windows that I could paint and then peel off leaving a nice edge (better than trying to mask perfectly to a window seal)

I had already sprayed the inside of door, boot and bonnet shutlines in matte black so it looked like a good job had been done when doors etc were opened.

While the weather was hot and there was no wind I decided to get the car painted.

After watching lots of you-tube videos about how to spray Plasti-dip I set off with a few light coats.







Building up the coats









This picture shows how the Plasti-dip just peels off to leave nice lines wherever a natural line break is.




Once the car was peeled I was left with this







The finish looks and feels really nice and I'm really happy with how it's turned out.



I've still got the wheels to do in order for it to be "stealth" but they'll be done in the next couple of weeks and then it'll be taxed and legal just in time for "the great British winter" LOL.

Sorry it's such a long post but thanks for reading and any comments (good or bad) are welcomed.

[talkingcars]

That is more than just progress that's transformation.

[robbie1003]

nice work to say its done on a drive, the tf upgrade is nice touch, wots insurance company think? not sure about mat colours tho, worked on many range rovers for kahn desighns at Bradford, any scratches or marks, bird poop, cant even wax it.

[J13UTM]

Plasti dip is awesome.

I have a spare F shell now, and im just toying what to do with it really.

[924Rothmans]

Your spray job looks really good and even, imagine what a spray shop would have charged you to do this.

Other point is that as the original panels have not been sanded you can peel it off and do any repairs really easy if you ever get any chips or marks.

Job well done

[Tibs]

That looks really good, does it look as good a year on ? Whats it like to keep clean ?

[Fred]

Thanks for the comments so far

No lengthy cleaning, drying, polishing, waxing regimes. Just wash n go

Seriously though, it does need to be hosed down completely to eliminate any soap suds and if left to dry naturally you can be left with some water marks.

I've been amazed at the local kids reaction to it.

Apparently it's sick!

I've only driven it a few times since it's all been sorted and road legal and it can only be described as like driving a go-kart!!

Great fun

[chrisrigby]

Fantastic transformation you've spent some good money on the project a very personnel car, wondering how much you would estimate it cost you to do the spraying? The wife said I could by another to play with but it must be pink, I think she doesn't think I can get one, but if I sprayed it like yours .. He he

Very nice work especially on the driveway, pity you don't live next door!

[Fred]

It cost about £180 for the 11 litres of plastidip and £70 for the earlex spray station but I can use that again.

I can't decide what to do with the wheels now though. Not sure whether to go matt black to match and keep it all the same or try something different.

[Rob Bell]

Great job with the plastidip! How long does it last? It's certainly affordable: where do you get it and do you need any special protective/respiratory gear to use it? I am guessing it'll go through a compressor/spray gun?

Wheels - go for something different. I wonder about bright green perhaps?

[mgfsoldier]

Or bright red then red leather intetior

[Fred]

Great job with the plastidip! How long does it last? It's certainly affordable: where do you get it and do you need any special protective/respiratory gear to use it? I am guessing it'll go through a compressor/spray gun?

Wheels - go for something different. I wonder about bright green perhaps?

I'm not sure how long it'll last to be honest, I'll just wait n see.

I bought mine from UK Dip on ebay. But it can be bought from www.plastidip.co.uk also

I didn't use any protective or respiratory gear as I was outside but if I was in the garage then yes I'd want a good mask on. It smells like it would do you some damage if you breathed too much of it.

They recommend the Earlex air sprayers and all the you-tube videos show these being used but I see no reason why a conventional compressor set-up couldn't be used.