what have you done on your mgf today?

[betheone]

I recently changed tires

[Barbour]

Proper wash and drive with my oldest son, beautiful weather, quiet backroads, love it..

[jonny69]

A week late but after 18 months or so off the road and a lot of work he sailed through the MOT with no advisories. Happy me

[Reckless Rat]

Just got home from a trip into Italy, which we cut short due to the appalling weather. The car never missed a beat. Never used any oil or coolant and returned 45mpg overall on E10.

[RobboMC]

Last week fitted my roll hoops and fire extinguisher

And took the car for a serious spin around Sydney Motor Sport Park ( short track )

Very, very enjoyable day getting my track confidence back;
next I need to get organised for some soft track tyres

[jonny69]

Look good

I have black hoops on mine, best colour

[Reckless Rat]

Took my Mk1 for its bi-annual French "Contrôle Technique". 25 years old and 116448 miles. Passed with flying colours. No advisories, just a mention that the speedo is Miles/Km and not KM/miles. Apparently they have to do it even though it's not a problem. I'm convinced that these days it's impossible to get a car through an MOT without the tester finding "something" - they'd probably do it with a car straight off the line.

The tester had never done an MGF before, and certainly not a RHD one, so it was "interesting". Firstly I had to show him how to start it as he set the alarm off. He was also baffled when he asked me to open the bonnet and then discovered that the engine wasn't there. It also took a moment to get it through to him that he couldn't plug in his OBDII reader because the car wasn't compliant... he probably wasn't born in 1997. He still had spots.

Anyway, entertainment over for another two years.

[talkingcars]

<<<snip>>> they got stuffed 947,32€ for the job! (ouch!)<<<snip>>>

big ouch, a heated front screen is only £230 from Ricky Evans motorsport. https://www.heatedwindscreen.com/collec ... windscreen

[Reckless Rat]

A pal of mine is a printer, and he has very kindly made me a pair of side window stickers for my Mark1. They are a very good match.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

As Cannon and Ball used to say "That'll do fer me, Tommy"

Sizes are identical. Photo angles not.

[talkingcars]

Looks good, now you need to get the glass etched so that the number sits in the window of the sticker.

[Reckless Rat]

Never ever been done. All I have had reproduced is what was there before. Neither door glass is etched, other than the symbols etc that are already there. Just as well it's not the original UK registration because the car is now French registered.

[Barbour]

Wash off bird muck..

Again.

[hellohay1]

interesting information

[Reckless Rat]

Been slowly doing the cam belt service on the Mk1. I have found that the easiest way to access the offside of the engine is to completely remove the engine mounting from the subframe. It makes access to the tensioner that much easier because it can be a real pig to get the cap head fastener to release its hold, and you can also get to the 10mm nut that locks the adjustment. Place a trolley jack uner the offside front corner of the sump to support the engine, then lower it once the casting is out of the way. You can also get to the alternator mounting bolts and the 8mm alternator adjuster a lot easier - make sure it's well lubricated prior to reassembly. You can temporarily replace the crank pulley to fit a new alternator belt and adjust up before refitting the engine mount casting.

I did discover some coolant in the bottom of the inner cover. Couldn't tell whether it was the pump gland or the pump/crankcase seal that was weeping, but the new one has gone back with plenty of Loctite 5920 silicone to seal it all. The car has been losing small amounts of coolant for a number of years so I'm hoping that has solved the issue. HG is done with the multi layer gasket and there are no external signs of leakage apart from the one on the cam belt cover. Fingers crossed!

One thing to be aware if you're tackling this job for the first time is that there is an 8mm retaining bolt at the back of the water pump that holds the lower part of the plastic inner cam belt cover to the pump body. It's easily forgotten because the head is out of sight.

The 17mm engine mount to subrame bolts (x4) are smeared with copaslip prior to refitting, to make the next removal that bit easier. They fix into captive nuts welded into the subframe and you really don't want to shear one of these off! It's a bit of a fiddle removing the mount entirely but it's worth it to have better access to the engine.

Refitting the belt is easier (on a manual tensioner car) if you leave off the stud for the adjustment. This gives you that extra bit of room to slide the cam belt onto the top pulleys. You then have to rotate the tensioner arm to refit the lock nut. Some photos:


Key:
1 = Tensioner cap head thread
2 = Tensioner adjuster stud thread
3 = Cam inner cover to water pump stud hole
4 = Marks on crankshaft for "Service position"


Offside engine mounting removed


Parts removed prior to refitting.



Cam locking tool in place. Disconnect battery, leave car in neutral so nothing moves after fitting!

Finally, drain coolant by removing the nearside one of the two under body coolant pipes at the engine end and drain into a bucket. Some coolant will still leak out of the engine when you remove the pump, so have an old towel handy to suck it up.

I placed the rear of the car on ramps prior to starting the strip down and then removed the offside ramp and replaced it with an axle stand so I could remove the offside wheel. This gives enough access to get under the car to release the coolant pipe. Chock the front wheels. This will also help with bleeding the coolant circuit after it's all back together.

Happy spannering!

[mgtfnut]

That 8mm bolt on the cam belt inner cover and the water pump is the hardest part of the whole operation for me

Years ago I had to get a ratchet 8mm flexi combination spanner to make any progress - but this bit still takes me longer than changing the cam belt.

I've noticed over the years and cam belt changes that there are a few bolts that are assembled on the block prior to dropping the body on the assembly line, sometimes making it very difficult to get them off - fitted the other way round would have made life easier.

[Reckless Rat]

Job done, road tested and all ok. Current mileage 116717 so now good until 2027.

[Reckless Rat]

When I re-assembled the offside engine mounting casting I made sure that the four bolts that go into the subframe were well coated in copaslip before assembly. Hopefully this will ensure that there are no seizures in the future - a couple of cam belt services ago the outer front one sheared off and I had to disk off the captive bolt from underneath. It has been replaced with a long through bolt which can now be accessed either from on top or from below. Removing the coolant header tank and swinging it out of the way improves access to the two rear ones (and the 8mm bolt on the cam cover). However it would have been more helpful if Rover had re-aligned the two long bolts into the engine mounting so they could be accessed direct from above rather than having to use a universal 1/2" drive because of the angle.

Anyway, all done and the car is running well.

Well, it was until I decided to do a lighting check and I discovered tghat the rear fog-lamps weren't working. After a thoriough check it appeared that the relay within the Control Unit (the red box at the back of the under dash fuses) wasn't working. Rimmers want 80€ plus postage. I repaired it using a spare relay from a van I scrapped a bit back and rewired back from the "lights on live" wire at the back of the switch and tapped in to the 12v supply at the rear lights in the boot. The latched power from the relay was spliced in the the rear fog-lamps and now all works as it should. I by-passed the OE switch and replaced it with an illuminated rocker switch fitted into the switch panel.



With lights on and the rocker switch illuminated in the ON position, the rear fogs are also lit and the orange dash warning light is also ON.



I have also upgraded all the rear lights (except the indicators) to LEDs which look really good in the Lexus style lights. I left the indicators as incandescent because it would necessitate changing the flasher unit over to electronic in order to run the LEDs properly. It was easier just to leave well alone.

[mgtfnut]

Removing the coolant header tank and swinging it out of the way improves access to the two rear ones (and the 8mm bolt on the cam cover). However it would have been more helpful if Rover had re-aligned the two long bolts into the engine mounting so they could be accessed direct from above rather than having to use a universal 1/2" drive because of the angle.

Mmmm, hadn't thought about moving the header tank out of the way for the 8mm bolt Good call.

While I was in there I renewed the engine rubber mount, and the two bushes in the upper torque reaction arm - that is where I had to cut the head of a bolt, and then replace round the other way - thanks MG-R.

However I'm at 99+k, I'm on my third water pump and the old units looked fine, no corrosion at all and no leaks unlike the original OEM pump. My previous cam belt change was marred by the tensioner pulley, which whined - probably NOS. Some things are better sourced from say Rimmers as non OEM as they are probably newly made.

As an aside, my Suzuki now on 308k, has had only two cam belts and two water pumps so far. As the head is non interference I'm not too bothered. I replaced the engine very early on with a Swift GTI block with a steel balanced crank/piston assy, and an 8 valve head, higher compression ratio and a Kent cam. I stripped the engine down a couple of years ago, all the journals were within factory spec, bores still had honing marks visible. I think it will outlast me.
My thought is, what happens if you just keep oil/filers up to date, will the MG engine run for years without self harm Bit too risky for me to try, but I wonder if any brave soul has tried it and lived to tell the tale?

[Reckless Rat]

Certainly the cam belt that came off the car looked perfectly serviceable. No age cracking at all. However the car doesn't do anything like the mileage at which a belt change is recommended. I just do it because it doesn't cost much for the parts, the time is mine and if a belt broke the car would be toast. It's a no-brainer.

There was detectable play in the tensioner bearing and a trace of coolant in the bottom of the lower cam belt cover at dismantling.

I last did the job in 2017 I did have a tag with the mileage and date on it, but it broke off. However at the previous French MOT in 2016 the car had covered 107933 miles. To date it has covered 116717 miles so an average of just under 1500 miles per year.

With being in France I tend to buy parts locally whenever I can. We have a good motor factors in town and a reliable on-line supplier. The belt kit was by Quinton Hazell and the pump by Dolz. They came to 59,50€, delivered, as opposed to 146€ for Rover parts from Rimmers (plus VAT and postage)

[Reckless Rat]

I ordered a clutch slave cylinder kit at the end of November from x- part but it took an eternity to get here due to the strikes in the uk, eventually darkening my door just before Christmas. As a break from eating, drinking and socialising I had a morning in the garage so decided to do the clutch. After removing the engine access panel, removing the slave cylinder was relatively straightforward. The two 10mm bolts locating the slave were loosened, then the hydraulic supply, which was plugged and then the Clevis pin and 'R' clip. Thankfully the clutch release arm was nice and free on its bushes. A strip of the slave cylinder revealed nothing amiss other than a worn out piston seal, so after a good clean down inside and outside I put it all back together, remembering to fill the slave with some fluid before re installing it. The fiddlyest bit was getting the clevis pin back into the release fork, due to coolant hoses being in the way and my torch which kept falling through onto the garage floor. Eventually I realised that I needed to crack the bleed nipple to release the hydraulic pressure so the piston rod could retract in order to marry up with the release arm. I eventually wedged it in place with a screwdriver and managed to get the Clevis pin replaced. Not easy when you need three hands and there's only room for one. I then disturbed the Mem'Sahib from her telly in order to bleed the system. It's the best rumpy pumpy I've had for ages. . Just got to put the engine cover back on and finish off. Clutch test with engine running ok. All gears engaging without probs. Mileage 116805.