MGF ride quality

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Charless
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by Charless » Thu Aug 24, 2017 8:34 am

An hour or two labour? You have clearly never removed 20-years-in-situ spheres yourself!
Your 'friendly honest' garage will also need public liability insurance, high pressure nitrogen and a hydragas pump if the car is to be driven away - not an impossible coincidence but I doubt a 'few quid' is all they would expect for access to such seldom used facilities!
I have used the send away recharging service for £350 and wouldn't bother with something that could be described as 'experimental' that might appear slightly cheaper before anyone has yet done it. Having done the sphere replacement job myself I would happily have their full professional overnight fitting service next time for only £120 extra. Both the service interaction with Ian and Dawn and more importantly the subsequent ride quality cannot be bettered.
Get it done properly if you aren't sure about the nether parts of your car and how they work.

hammond
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by hammond » Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:31 am

I'm sure if Mike Satur is offering a fitting service too he must have all the liabilities and equipment needed to do it. I'm presuming his business and therefore his reputation is his livelihood and wouldn't want to risk those to make a quick buck selling/fitting parts that don't work.
Just my opinion.

RSR92
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by RSR92 » Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:58 am

I think Charles you are missing the point of mikes solution, in theory at least, the spheres do not need to be removed that's where the majority of the savings are in the labour front. As I say I haven't ordered it yet but the theory is it can all be done in situ! I can't imagine it taking a competent mechanic more than 2 hours to drain the fluid, drill 4 holes and insert the valves. Obviously at this point it'd be good to have nitrogen and a hydragas pump to hand but from what I've read in a pinch air along with reintroducing the fluid will do for a short drive to somewhere that can help with the nitrogen or indeed to get back to the safety of your drive until you can source some yourself.

Ergo £92.50 for the valves delivered
Fitting is £0 in theory, should it be possible to fit in situ which I'm sure Mike wouldn't say so if it weren't
Then luckily I have a garage literally round the corner with a hydragas pump so that's £36 for the pump up, so my only problem causing my delay in purchasing is sourcing nitrogen at 280psi but I'm calling local hvac and classic Citroen specialists to see if anyone can help me out on that front for a modest fee.

That's all well and good for a gentleman such as yourself who may well have £500 to chuck at such things - others are on a budget and this solution appears to be a godsend for the likes of us.
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talkingcars
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by talkingcars » Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:35 pm

Tyre places often have Nitrogen as it can be used in tyres instead of air.
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ZSx
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by ZSx » Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:04 pm

talkingcars wrote:Tyre places often have Nitrogen as it can be used in tyres instead of air.
But not at the required pressures...

jaapaap1111
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by jaapaap1111 » Fri Aug 25, 2017 7:36 am

It wont be easy though to drill the holes when fitted! I cant see how there is space for a drill. Then with drilling possible metal parts are spreading into the sphere.... can you clean it with pressured air? The edges must be sanded somehow... it certainly is not an easy straightforward job imo.

I'd use the plugs without doubt but i would definately take the spheres out to do it properly and right.


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Bigfootmgf
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by Bigfootmgf » Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:32 pm

Drilling the sphere has its own problems as the rubber membrane will be deflated so close to the metal outer your drilling!
Paul

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jaapaap1111
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by jaapaap1111 » Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:27 am

Thats true unless you take all the pressure off the fluid side.

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talkingcars
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by talkingcars » Sun Aug 27, 2017 8:26 am

But the fitting instructions ask you to deflate the fluid side anyway.

Drill as close to the top as you can while allowing access to the fitted valve while the sphere is in the car.

Drill slowly. This will reduce the risk of punching through and will reduce the swarf to mostly small particles.

Consider putting something like a slice of cork on the drill bit to reduce its length to just a bit more than the thickness of the sphere.
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RSR92
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by RSR92 » Sun Aug 27, 2017 1:06 pm

ZSx wrote:
talkingcars wrote:Tyre places often have Nitrogen as it can be used in tyres instead of air.
But not at the required pressures...
I've been mulling that over and thought it's probably worth asking what they can pump to if they can pump to 10bar then that's probably more pressure than they had before the mod so would still be an improvement I imagine and would do for a journey to somewhere that would be able to fill them to the correct pressure

Otherwise iirc you can just hire nitrogen at a pressure higher than 280 and use a regulator - I've found 10L@300psi + 20 bar regulator for about £130 combined so I'm tempted to order that and offer the service to any f/tf owners for a minimal fee as I'm struggling to find any local businesses with the capability

Edit: I was looking at the "ranges from" the 300psi regulator was in fact in the region of £350 so definitely not :( and besides I'm not sure of my thinking anyway, would you not need some sort of pump to keep the gas moving beyond equilibrium?

jaapaap1111
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Re: MGF ride quality

Post by jaapaap1111 » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:46 pm

I had my welded spheres filled by a local citroen specialist. But mind you may have to bring your own low loss connector as citroen spheres have different valves.

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