MGF Minor Fettling

[Broadsword]

So I bought this roffle MGF off Mr. Moog. Initially I drove it 95 miles home without any incident and deemed it was quite nice for what it was, i.e. exceedingly inexpensive. After that, not so much use. Last week I took the hard top off the first time and drove a car sans roof for the first time. I've warmed to it much more now. I've decided I might as well use this as a runabout for a while for a few reasons. 1. Long MOT, 2. It runs and drives perfectly well 3. It's massive fun to drive. 4. The roof thing. 5. It only cost £350 so if it explodes I will sell the hard top for monies and scrap the rest to break even. 6. It sips fuel.

 

I'm really impressed by the fuel economy. The gearing is very tall, but I don't mind. Now onto minor improvements to make sure it's usable in the coming months.

 

I think the main reason I shied away from it to start with was that it stinked. The seats are infested with mould. The carpet was damp on the driver's side, sound insulation soaking wet. My solution was to get two rather nice half leather black seats from U-Pullit (£48). Dried up the carpets, junked the sound insulation and installed new, cleaned up seats. Now it's a rather nicer place to sit. I went back and got the hand brake gaitor and door cards to match the seats, a replacement weather strip and aeriel. They will go on soon (£12).

 

Now onto weatherproofing. The detachable hard top is brilliant. It is probably why I am leaning towards keeping it at the moment. Wind noise with soft top up is terrible, roof down is much quieter. Only problem with the hard top was the headlining being mouldy and falling down. See photo borrowed from Moog.

 

My solution was to take the roof off, peel the headlining off (it was hardly attached). Put the cloth on cold hand wash in the machine, then soak overnight in bleach. This got most of the grime off. Then clean the glue off the headlining board on the roof and reglue with Poundland spray glue. Here is what it looks like now. Total cost to fix, £2.

 

This is a good start. The soft top isn't really weatherproof. I've put Gorilla tape on a few obvious holes for now. I also have water proofing spray to apply. Ultimately I'm not going to do much with it now apart from those two because the plan is to remove it completely for winter and just have the hard top on. Seems sensible enough. Mechanically I've had no problems at all. It doesn't use any oil or water. It has stacks and stacks of service history. Originally the headgasket failed at 20,000 (imagine that!), then again at 70,000 at which point new belts, water pump, multilayer gasket etc. Loads of other work done over the years. It even has two keys. It could do with rear tyres soon enough.

 

More to come including an investigation into improving steering feel.

[Floatylight]

Noice, looking much improved!

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

[Guest]

It makes a massive difference to wind noise and draughts on these if you spend some time- quite a lot of time, adjusting the windows and front latches to get all the seals fitting snugly. It's a real pain, but worth it. Hoods are easy to change, and I've had 2 near new ones in the past from UPULLIT, £30 and £25. TF hoods fit too, and you may even get lucky and get a glass back window.

[purplebargeken]

The hard tops have their uses but I've never been a fan tbh. 

 

Bloody great cars. Am going to miss mine

[drivewaymyway]

Went out for a spin in mine today, floppy down obvs... I have got a stinker of a cold so I was hoping to blast it out but it didn't work.. Not cold at all.. my advice is not to give it anything over 3k revs until the oil temp is up this makes sure the head and block are properly expanded and tight which helps to prevent the OMHHGFFFS and keep the heater blowing hot permanently so if the HGF does happen the first thing that stops working is the heater, an early warning sign if you like.. If there is steam blowing from the coolant tank first thing to change is the cap, known weak spot.. Keep clutch arm on gearbox well lubricated as thet seize at the drop of a hat...

[The Moog]

Good to see it getting love.  Will be interesting to see if the headlining holds - often it is the headliner breaking down rather than anything else. 

[Broadsword]

I think it deserves some love, it's quite a good little package. After driving your MX-5 Mr. Moog I definitely understand the MG has no answer to it, but still a good car. Only thing now is my XJ Sport isn't getting used much. That might end up being converted to cash once I've replaced some wheel bearings, it's too nice and I don't have a garage.

 

I've let the headlining dry overnight inside with the roof stood up on its end. So far so good. Only problem now is to find some suitable trim clips to hold the card to the roof at the rear. The old ones broke upon removal.

 

Thanks for the suggestion on letting the engine warm up before revving over 3000 rpm.

 

Forgot to mention the clock is half broken in the sense that I can't set the hour. I got a replacement off the same car I have been raiding at U-Pullit. I'm sure a roof will turn up at some point. Great think is that I'm only a few miles from UPI.

 

I hinted at the steering. Fact of the matter is that it's over-assisted and lacks fee. I rear you can just pull the Maxi-fuse under the front bonnet to safely disable. Without power steering it's quite a chore parking, but over 20 Mph steering feel is 100% better. What would be useful is a button to disable to the EPAS from the cabin. I read this has also been figured out.

 

http://mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/DIY/epas/epas_bypass.htm

 

Props to Rover MG for bringing out the first mass-produced car with electric power steering. I hope Lucas didn't make it!

[Broadsword]

Today saw pleasing progress. First off was to change the clock. Simply unscrew the gearknob and remove the gear selector surround along with gaitor, then start pulling out the centre console. It just pushes on. The clocks at the top are held in with whatever screws are left there. Two leads and a light are attached to the clock.

 

Next up the door cards. Around seven screws hold it on then pull. The driver's side window was slow. Turned out some screws holding the mechanism in were loose. The result was that the whole mechanism would move with the window, leading to extra resistance. I buttoned up everything and lubed the mechanism. Also the driver's side mirror was a bit loose which meant it would flop around while driving. I simply tightened up the screws to fix that.

 

The hardtop will probably go on in a day or two but the soft top will definitely be removed. I'll do what I can with the soft top but hopefully a half decent replacement will turn up.

 

I would like a rear thingy to stop wind messing up my hair with the top down and a chin splitter, but they are quite low priory as I don't want to throw too much cash at it right now. Would rather leave that for tyres.

 

With the clouds drawing in I had a quick experiment with doing something with the ruined rear badge. I'm not paying £20 for a new one so I tried some black nail polish to bring back the MG letters. From a meter away it looks almost ok. I guess with some very fine masking tape I could do a better job next time.

[purplebargeken]

The coolant cap should be treated as a service item and try and get the proper Rover/MG jobbie.

 

I might have a wind deflector somewhere, black mesh one.

[Broadsword]

Noted, I've sourced the genuine Rover part from Rimmer Bros for £4.80. PM me if you like if/when you find the deflector.

[Broadsword]

Drove the MG to the North York Moors the other day with the roof down. I had lots of fun driving whilst driving safely within the speed limit. My passenger on the other hand complained about a bad back as a result of the enthusiastically stiff suspension. It was great though for someone who hasn't had a sports car before, while grinning that all this fun cost very few pounds.

 

I've shoved the car into the shed (yes it fits in a large shed) for the next week or so since I will mostly be away. The hard top is now back on so lets see how the headlining holds. Forgot to locate heated rear screen plug in. Not sure where that is in fact.

 

I did a little video showing how it runs so someone can probably point out whether it sounds like it is about to explode.

SPAM. Please subscribe to my webzone, I have an ambitious target to reach 1000 subscriber! /SPAM.

 

[drivewaymyway]

Did you take the rear badge off ?? they are only stuck on and have two pins that do the locating, the pins broke off mine so I just silicone it on.. I have a glass wind deflector on mine but I think I prefer the wind in my hair sod the passenger.. If you want it I can chuck it in the Hermes for just £30 fuel vouchers + P+P.. Is the suspension the right height ? does it need pumping up ? It should be something like 363mm from centre of wheel to underside wheel arch measured from the front. The rear takes care of itself.. I bought a cheap pump thing off ebay and used coolant as the fluid, seems to have done the trick, I did it 3 years ago and still up so all good..

 Is the rag top fooked ? Mine has holes in it so 3 years ago all I did was to plug them with flexible glue, I used cheapo UHU from the pound shop and layered it up with several applications but don't try to waterproof the hood afterwards as the glue will strip off, so treat the hood first then glue up the holes.. If you want a better fix get some cotton fabric and glue it to the inside then layer up the glue. If the holes are 5p sized or bigger put a couple of stitches in before you do anything..

 Waterproofing can get expensive but I just bought a 2.5l tin of Fabsil off ebay for not a lot of money, a convertible is a tiny amount of fabric compared to a tent so loads of layers of waterproofing can be applied, don't worry if the water doesn't bead off, the MGF has a multi layered fabric not the flimsy shite on the MX5 or BMW..