The MGF Register Forums

Thank you

Well no progress this week due to me becoming a Daddy again

Been looking at exhaust options and droplinks, bit of a pain but have some ideas. Had the garage open while changing the oil in the daily the other day. Chance for a photo.

The Mk1 Golf GTi spoiler looks good! Seems to be fitting reasonably well too?

Yeah its a very good fit for saying i've only trimmed the mounting lip to fit around the subframe. Might take about 10mm out the middle but thats a job for another day!

Been trying to work out what exhaust to have, not enough room for side pipes in front of the rear wheels. I've been wanting to do twin 2" single pipes about a foot appart like a Spitfire - Been looking at cherry bomb type boxes, Hornet do an aliminimised steel kit that looks quite good value.

I personally think a single centre exit pipe would look superb.

Shame the side exit route isn't going to work - but in a way may be a good thing, as you may find that your exhaust blares directly at sound level meters on some tracks!!!

Just ordered a hornet kit with a 2.5" tailpipe. It won't quite be center as I don't want it directly under the tank. The kit looks quite comprehensive with joiners, angles and straights, comes with a mid box too. Might order a second rear box if I decide to have dual single pipes

I wonder how well the aluminium finish stands up but seems to have good reviews. The custom tig welded front section is stainless so should last, rear section I'll not have to worry about at £100 for the kit.

It now has 700lb 7" springs on the front which are about right I think.

How soon before engine start Ed?

No idea lol, still zero wiring in the car and that's it's own project!

This summer I hope, currently banned from the garage though!

So I was allowed a few hours today, got the coolant pipes all finished and the header mounted. Checked for bonnet clearence and its all good. Mounted the fuel filter, braided line still to be connected but have plenty of length. Using a Rover 45 hard line and keeping the oem connector for the high pressure side. It all manages to fit and aviod the strut brace quite well. Added a bulkhead fitting and measured up for a clutch line too.



Battery mounted (no wires yet)



So I think once I have done the fuel lines it just needs electrical wiring to run, throttle, brakes, clutch can come after.

On the subject of brakes I'm running them inside the car to my pedal box. At the rear I have changed the factory flexi for braided which goes into the car via the old rear seat belt bolt. I measured 150cm at full droop but with the long travel of the rear arm it puts a nasty bend in the Venhill line. I might have to swap these for a shorter length, maybe 125mm.

Almost ride height



Almost full droop

I've ordered some more braided twice as long so I can have a full loop.

Knocked up the exhaust today, just needs another hanger in the middle and the sections can be welded. Clears the arb, gear linkage all ok.

It's all looking extremely tidy Ed - fantastic!

I agree with you regarding the length of the braided brake line. A little shorter would be very sensible.

PS I've also got a PowerVamp battery to fit into Project Shed! I am wondering about also having a standard battery to act as a slave for when it is parked up for periods of time, to keep the electronics alive without flattening the PowerVamp? Not sure how to do it though: two battery set ups tend to have split charging systems, and that is a level of complication I am not keen on delving into...

I've ordered braided lines twice the length so I can have a full loop, that way that cant get damaged at full droop either.

I'm putting a cut off switch in the centre console so the battery will be disconnected when not in use for more than a few days, don't care about the headunit not holding settings and I think the ecu will be fine?

I have got a Acucell 6 charger that I use for my RC stuff, might be easier to just keep the battery topped up when not in use?

You and I will be using MEMS3. It appears that it may need a permanent live feed to maintain calibrations that it has learnt. It'll still run of course, but not necessarily at full efficiency.

Besides, unfortunately I don't have lock up space for the Shed - so it is parked on the street outside the house for 365 days a year, so having an alarm function may be a good idea...

Yes an alarm could be wise, although no battery would also be quite good security!

I do remember reading that mems3 stores engine conditions and optimises, will have to check on that. I still have a green ZR 160 that's mostly stripped on my drive, start it up every few weeks and it still fires on first turn - no battery in it otherwise.

Yes, it is the optimisation that you loose I think. The chaps over on rovertech.net will likely know more

Pedal box fitted properly, feed lines all made up. Throttle mostly done, needs joining and testing.





Got myself a footplate and laid out the fuel lines Not much garage time allowed at the moment so slow progress made slower with everything now being time consuming.

That's really neat Ed.

I've read some negative comments regarding flex in these obp pedal boxes - anything you've noticed?

Yeah the base of them is a bit thin, we've added quite a bit more weld into the frame of the pedal box itself. Also if you go back to page 17 there has been a lot of 3mm plate added to the floor, firewall and in-between to support it. I really wouldn't want to mount it just to the floor without anything supporting it, especially where the brake pedal is concerned.

Time will tell I suppose but nothing a bit of weld can't fix I've also moved the throttle pedal over to the right by about 20mm as was too close to the brakes for me.

Rob Bell wrote:Not sure how to do it though: two battery set ups tend to have split charging systems, and that is a level of complication I am not keen on delving into...

It isn't difficult, it is basically a relay and there are plenty of kits on eBay.

Thanks James - I'll give it some thought. I might just have it there for when parked, and then remove when in use. Or simply disconnect the lightweight battery when not in use... The latter is the simplest I suspect, albeit with the risk of losing MEMS3 calibration when I go over to that system.