Are Rusty Sills Sign Of Terminal Decay

[cbjroms]

I am looking at a couple of MG TFs that have failed the MOT for having rusty sills.

Newbie with these cars and wondering whether rusty sills can be sorted forever or is it impossible to stop the rot?

Also if the sills are rotten, is there anything else that is likely to be terminally corroded?

[Charless]

Probably worth avoiding, although anything material can be repaired!

[Bigfootmgf]

If the sills are a bit rusty best to have a look underneath at the subframes and general condition.
All can be repaired but it will probably cost more than you bought the car for!

[Reckless Rat]

A lot of MGFs and now TFs are starting to bite the dust due to metalworm, although the earlier cars seem to have had better levels of protection to the underbody. Perhaps that was part & parcel of Rover's cost cutting exercise? Certainly subframes need to be in good order, as well as lower front wishbones (very prone to rusting) - rotten sills suggests that drain holes have been blocked. Repairs are possible, but it will mean metal bashing and warm spanner work, and all that then depends on how deep your pockets are because once you start you can open a can of worms. Welding will necessarily involve post repair painting, and that's not cheap, if done properly. (even if you DIY) - If there's any rust near the subframe mountings, forget it.

The British climate and winter road salting don't help. My car was exported to France in 2004 when it was only a few years old, and prior to that it may well have just been a weekender. It's as clean as a whistle underneath despite its 25 years. (and big mileage). I'm lucky.

There are some several thousand MGF/TF still out & about, but caveat emptor.

If a car is particularly scabby then it's probably a dog mechanically. Better to buy one that's been looked after and has a good service history. It'll be cheaper in the long run.

[Chris Tideswell]

A lot 03 and 04 cars were built to keep the production line running and were stored for 12+ months in a wet field and we are now showing the effects of this and seem much worse underneath.

[Rob Bell]

My 1995 built car has had sill repairs - and also needed repairs to the chassis outriggers at the front. But the outer sill failing doesn't necessarily mean that the inner sill structures are also terminal - so at the moment at least, just rusty sills doesn't necessarily mean that the whole car is riddled with rot.

TF is a little different - the famous victim of "Project Drive" cost cutting - so how this impacts on quality/thickness of paint and rust protection is not that clear to me... Careful inspection needed, but if you go in with your eyes open, and buy a project car with the mentality that you are going to find problems when you start looking, you shouldn't be too shocked by what you find...

[talkingcars]

It depends how bad they are and how well equipped you are to deal with it (either bodywork/welding skills or a fat wallet).

When looking do lots of prodding and take a torch to help inspect underneath.

[cbjroms]

Just bit the bullet and rescued a Wedgewood SE VVC with significant sill rot. Planning to replace complete sill on one side. I know Mike Satur does repair panels - is there anywhere else that I can get the parts for a complete sill or is it easier to fabricate?

[Chris Tideswell]

It looks like you can still buy genuine MGR sills (from Rimmer's at lest) https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID018993

[Rob Bell]

British Motor Heritage re-manufacture these, along with complete rear three-quarter panels. I'd imagine the quality would be good, but I can't say for sure owing to lack of experience using them.

[cbjroms]

Busy couple of days fitting a Make Satur repair panel to my MGF. Lucky I found a local, classic car welder who can work miracles.

From this:



To this:




Just some final fisinshing to do.

[cbjroms]

Little bit of glass fibre filler this and this is how it looks this morning:

[Barbour]

That looks good, love a nice Wedgewood.

Please keep us posted...

[mgb281]

I think it's worth comparing MGF/TF's with MGB & MGB GT's, in round figure five times the number of MGB/GT's were built and the vast majority of them were exported to the USA. More than forty years after the last MGB was built there are 24000 of all models licensed on UK roads and 14000 are SORN. If you compare this with MGF/TF are the results are surprising 5300 MGF's and 5900 MGTF's registered and the numbers are decreasing annually, the number SORN is 5200 & 4200 respectively. All these numbers are taken from Q3 when the number registered is highest
At some point in time the penny will drop and we will realise that we should have saved more of these cars, whether the value will start to climb is another matter but look at the value of a road worthy Allegro or Marina. I recently bought a MGTF from one of the regional secretary's of the MGCC as a retirement present for my wife, the seller thought it was too good to scrap (big ends gone). I have so far purchased a pair of subframes and have had them galvanised, a low mileage engine came complete with a very rusty subframe but with totally complete suspension which has been stripped and de-rusted. This will be painted and re assembled with new rear callipers (£60 for a pair Ebay), wheel bearings £34, bushes etc. Since VHS no longer do the big rear disc conversion I have no qualms in making my own copy, the alloy bar to make the adapter £14 and this morning Hermes delivered a pair of old stock Lockheed Citroen BX discs £16.50 (Ebay again! By buying when I see parts on special offer significant savings can be made, very often if you watch an item for a week you will get an offer price which is significantly lower.
The point is that by buying a car that does need some work then you actually know what has been replaced and the standard of work that was done, in my case a previous owner had spent £4000 having the sills, coolant pipes, radiator, new Cat, exhaust etc. On the other hand I could have bought one that looked to be in excellent condition and still had some or even all of this work needing doing over the next few years.

[Rob Bell]

MGFs attrition is surprisingly high compared to BMW Z3 or even Mazda MX-5. I wonder how much that is down to the company going bust in 2005? But yes, I don't think that they can be too far off becoming "modern classics". Similarly aged Lotus Elises are now going for strong money...

Enjoy your MGF - you always have a better bond with a car you've built/rebuilt

[jonny69]

Looks a good project. At least you will get to know the car and that things have been done right if you do it yourself