MGF brought for Cheap - All advice is welcome

[Wolfie]

Hello everyone,
I brought my 96(n) MGF earlier this evening for cheap, Im still waiting for delivery to my driveway, but Im planning to restore and hopefully, make it even better than show room standard.
Its a bit rusty around the rear arches(I dont know if this common) and its a non runner at the min, previous owner was told it was the starter motor, but Im not sure till I take delivery and check. The only symptoms Ive been told is the battery kept draining and alternator has been checked out and is a-ok. Has anyone else heard of or experienced this problem?
Hope you all wont mind me bugging you with questions, Im keen to get cracking, but I have very little in 'diaognistic' skills.
Thanks in advance

[stuart]

Good luck mate- if you can keep another one of these great cars rolling then fair play to you! Here's a link to a site which you'll find invaluable:

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/

Other than that you'll find answers to all questions on this forum- a very helpful lot!

All the best!

Stuart

[talkingcars]

I'd start with a new battery, the old one may have been draining as it was knackered.

[Bandit]

Rust around the rear arches is becoming common, and chances are you'll find more if you go looking. Like all cars, when paint is applied to panels that have a sharp edge, e.g. arches, side vents, crossmembers, sills, the paint goes on thin and will fail before long. Often it takes a few years before the rust spreads far enough to become visible, but by the time it does the start point can be properly rotten and need more than just filling & painting. The sill sections are particularly prone to this, if your car has tiny bubbles below the side vents it means the panel has rotted from the inside out and you'll need to cut out large areas and re-fabricate. If it hasn't got that far yet, you can probably extend its life a decent amount by cleaning out as best you can and then wax coating the inside surfaces.

Like all 'mini restoration' projects, you're guaranteed to find more issues when you start looking properly, but on the whole the costs are minimal if you're prepared to put in the time. The upside is that the inner bodyshell panels i.e. floorpans, inner sills, bulkheads are all fairly resilient and unlikely to need any attention, so largely it's just the external panels that you need to maintain.

Good luck, hopefully it won't throw too many challenges at you

[Rob Bell]

Welcome aboard Wolfie! Bandit's spot on of course - you're going to find a good deal more "surprises" than you bargained on - but I guess you know that already!

Actually, down here, I actually haven't seen much rear wheel arch rust - the common areas in my experience are:
1. front wings particularly at the flange for the bumper mounting
2. the sill seams (2/3 along sill, where it meets the rear 3/4 panel)
3. end of the sill, over the rear jacking point (curiously always on the nearside that I've seen)
4. engine side vent apperatures
5. around the side indicator repeaters
6. seams around the boot lid

Find rust in one area, anticipate finding more rust elsewhere.

Other 'popular' corrosion points being (no particular order):
1. brake pipes - particularly around the engine bay - both the main rear pipe, and where it splits for near and off side caliper circuits
2. clutch pipe (similar material, therefore similar corrosion problems)
3. rear subframe - the perimeter steel can simply rot out - the worst I think being the front cross member, which appears to be made of the thinnest material.
4. front lower wishbones - they're double skinned, collect moisture and rot from the inside out
5. front subframe - particularly the longitudinal strengthing bars

Battery discharge with good alternator function almost certainly points to fractured wires in the boot harness - the wires break where they've been continually being flexed when opening and closing the boot. I suspect you'll find a cable going to ground causing a continuous current leak.

Engine not starting - obviously very hard to tell, but I presume that the starter isn't turning? The most likely culprit here is the starter motor solenoid either sticking or suffering from corrosion. Sometimes you can revive them by tapping with a hammer, but they can be repaired (there's a link to Dieter's website on this somewhere), or easily replaced. Well, easy-ish.

Have a look at the headlights too - the silvering is likely to have gone completely matt (unless they've been replaced recently?), so expect to either recondition them, or get new replacements.

Check out the cooling system. The under body pipes rot from the outside-in (inadequate paint protection where they are welded to support brackets). OEM replacements are available and are adequate. Alternatively use s/s - which are a good investment if you plan to keep your car for the long-term. The original mild-steel radiators rot out, but can be replaced with an alloy TF item. Hoses can rot and fail - so inspect and replace as necessary (and invest in a low-coolant alarm - these engines have very small coolant volumes, so even a small loss of water can be disasterous).

Loads of other things to think about (I've got the T-shirt to prove it), but until you look, you won't find those "unexpected" things - so do ask away!

Hope you start a restoration diary! I'll look forward to hearing more as time progresses!