Project A brace of MGFs - a new arrival

[djoptix]

The first MGF is from on here via Urban_Paranoia.

 

 

The second - there is a tale to tell. I got wind of it as a spares car listed on Facebook, hasn't moved in years, they only want £100 for it. Then various people posted and said "omg those rimz". Apparently they're rare.

 

 

The seller got wind of this and put the price up to £250. Fuck! Not worth it. I hatched a plan though; I decided to list the rims for sale for £200, and if I got a bite, I would buy the car. Nothing happened for a couple of months, then out of the blue I got a message asking if I still had the wheels. I messaged the seller of the car to see if it was still available? Yes. Would they take £150? Yes. Ooooh man maths result. I popped round that night, removed the rims and put some of my own on, paid the £150. Went home, put some air in the tyres of the fancy rims. Within about 20 minutes the guy was there to pick up the rims - £200 - excellent, I'm £50 in the black!!!!

 

After a while I got to thinking that I really should get it back to my house rather than let it sit on the seller's drive any longer. I went round and put a battery on it just to see what happened. It only bloody started first turn of the key, having been sat there for four years!!!

 

Unfortunately the clutch was seized or something funny was going on, so it wasn't mobile, but it was good to know that it ran. I turned it off again because I didn't want to set fire to the sizeable bramble that was growing through and out of the engine bay.

 

Anyway, this morning I got a man from Shiply to recover it to my house, so this car has cost me the princely sum of £2 including the transport. I did actually manage to start it again, and move it under its own power - not very far, and the clutch smelled very burny, but I went far enough backwards and forwards to a) un-seize the brakes, and angle it towards the truck a bit. Then I stalled it and it decided not to start again. Hey ho.

 

It's got lacquer peel everybloodywhere.

 

 

 

The interior is nice(ish) though.

 

 

The bramble:

 

 

Free plant life!

 

 

Free fungus!

 

 

Plans are to swap the bumpers off this one onto the other one, maybe the seats and wheel and gearknob if they clean up well. Then sell it (will be for sale on here first obviously) and decide whether to try and salvage this new one. It's only going to be good for track car use I suspect, but I have some bits to make quite a convincing cheap track car out of it.

[Stinkwheel]

_{Starting to get a hankering for an MGF. Are cheap ones best avoided or just the best way to add value with a bit of work?}

[djoptix]

In my opinion, they're simple machines and at the bottom of their value curve at the moment - the only thing is, there's not much value to be added. But if you want a bit of fun, go for it. There's not much to go wrong really. If you can scrape more cash together, then an MX5 is probably better, as the handling is more predictable and they generally work better.

 

They feel like proper English sports cars to me, which means they're a bit rough round the edges and occasionally the rain gets in. But fun. Definitely get a VVC though.

[Stinkwheel]

They feel like proper English sports cars to me, which means they're a bit rough round the edges and occasionally the rain gets in. But fun. Definitely get a VVC though.

 

This is the bit that swings it. I will be saving up for after Christmas I think. need a proper british sports car at the bottomof the value curve in my life.

[djoptix]

Well, P69 FKN will be for sale for not much at some point. I'll post it on here when that happens...

[JimH]

Sigh. First new car I bought was a 1998 MGF in Tahiti Blue. Put 70K on it in two years and it refused to suffer HGF but then as the Merkins say, "some folks can wreck a breaker bar in a sand box".

 

Likeable ride, likeable engine, friendly face, didn't use much fuel and had a big boot. On the downside there was something cocked up about the way the designed the filler neck which meant it took forever to fill the tank.

 

Chopped it in for a new MX-5 which I did 60K in 18 months but while that was a bit sharper I really didn't like it that much.

[purplebargeken]

MGF over the MX-5 for me every time. MGF are bloody ace and very undervalued and under-rated. buy now while you can.

[JimH]

It's a shame they ruined the ride with the steel sprung TF.

[djoptix]

I've never tried a TF. However, the new one is sitting very very low because all the gas has escaped... at least you don't get that with a TF.

 

If and when I get it running I'll take it up and down the road private land and see how firm it is. I suspect "very" will be the answer...

[JimH]

The very best TF was one that someone had ticked the "sports suspension" box on the order form. As far as I can see this deleted both the springs and the dampers and made it all but impossible to drive quickly on anything that wasn't billiard smooth.

[djoptix]

 

Cost of car now £1.90 and counting.

[Uncle Jimmy]

What can you do with the K series to get more bang out of it?- if at all.

[djoptix]

I think the general consensus is "not much". You can improve the breathing with a bigger throttle body and an induction kit, which I've done on P69, but it doesn't make much difference really.

 

The standard VVC had 143bhp and then there was one which had 160bhp, but the difference was made up with head work and cams I believe, rather than just mapping or anything like that.

 

There were also VHPD engines which are K-series but with much more internal work and they make upwards of 190bhp, but they are highly strung and explode often (so says the internet rumour mill).

[djoptix]

Minor update - I extracted the seats from the new arrival (using my new* Makita DTW285 impact gun) and gave them a quick clean.

 

These will be going in P69, purely because it's quite fun to have red leather seats. And it surely doubles or even triples my chances of getting laid in it.

 

 

Thrice zero is still zero.

[djoptix]

Also - £1.85.

[purplebargeken]

52mm throttle body and sports air filter made my green one peppier, sounded ace too. 

[vulgalour]

Those seats are amazing, I'm very jealous.

[djoptix]

I've been neglecting the MGs. I had two precious hours this morning while all the little Optixes were out at a birthday party. I did half an hour of banjo practice which left 90 minutes of car activity available.

 

I fitted the red seats, fitted a stereo, and took out the boot carpet because it's soaked through. The plan is to get this MOTd pretty soon, because there's a track day coming up on March 26th that I want to do...

 

 

Annoyingly, I also found some rust on the battery tray which I think I'll have to make an attempt at welding before MOT time.

 

[Aston Martin]

I think there's a reason those rims are rare.

[djoptix]

I think there's a reason those rims are rare.

 

Agreed. "Fugly" is the word...

[Aston Martin]

There's alot of sub £400 mgfs about.

[djoptix]

Sent it for MOT.

 

Doomed.

[OwdChina]

Oddly enough I was back in Lancs for a month between the States and Germany and the wife's MGF has sat untouched in the garage since 2010. Flat tires (perished), covered in dust and some moldy crap I cannot identify............but otherwise looks solid all over.........rusty brake discs and probably seized calipers and clutch aside it don't look too bad.

Anyhoos, got the jump leads out and it only fired up first turn..........and ran properly.......I'm bloody amazed. There is a dam good chance it will see the road again.

[Tamworthbay]

Sent it for MOT.

 

Doomed.

Is doomed the prediction or result? Hope it gets on ok

[dieselnutjob]

What can you do with the K series to get more bang out of it?- if at all.

 

Lotus Elise cams and some tuning with pscan.  See http://www.mgfregister.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24728&p=189642#p189642

[djoptix]

Is doomed the prediction or result? Hope it gets on ok

The prediction

 

Not as bad as thought. Needs sill welding but it's not rotten, it looks like someone has jacked it with entirely the wrong jack and punched a hole in the sill! (Not me) Getting those cheeky chaps at the garage to wave their sparkly stick at it.

 

Also needs a track rod end and a ball joint. Going to do these myself (although fuck knows when) because the garage would take about 3 hours to drop the subframe to do the ball joint. So will probably do ball joints on both sides, I reckon I can just do the ball joints themselves - I think the done thing is to grind out the rivets and then replace them with bolts.

 

Big plus is that my windscreen repair (bullseye n from a stone) seems to have worked, it wasn't even mentioned on the fail sheet. Result.

 

I have a track day booked on the 26th so it has to be ready by then...

[Tamworthbay]

The prediction

Not as bad as thought. Needs sill welding but it's not rotten, it looks like someone has jacked it with entirely the wrong jack and punched a hole in the sill! (Not me) Getting those cheeky chaps at the garage to wave their sparkly stick at it.

Also needs a track rod end and a ball joint. Going to do these myself (although fuck knows when) because the garage would take about 3 hours to drop the subframe to do the ball joint. So will probably do ball joints on both sides, I reckon I can just do the ball joints themselves - I think the done thing is to grind out the rivets and then replace them with bolts.

Big plus is that my windscreen repair (bullseye n from a stone) seems to have worked, it wasn't even mentioned on the fail sheet. Result.

I have a track day booked on the 26th so it has to be ready by then...

That’s not bad in the grand scale of things.

[djoptix]

That’s not bad in the grand scale of things.

 

Agreed, not bad at all. Would have added up to about £450 if the garage had done it all mind... I'm in the wrong job.

 

...but it's good to know that when I roffle it the winner will be getting a good one

[Tamworthbay]

Agreed, not bad at all. Would have added up to about £450 if the garage had done it all mind... I'm in the wrong job.

 

...but it's good to know that when I roffle it the winner will be getting a good one

Some jobs can be a ball ache though I guess, but yes the prices garages quote can be ‘amusing’, the Pug I am in the middle of doing up had a few things on the fail sheet but nothing horrendous on its own. But I would guess it would take a garage somewhere in the region of 8-12 hours and even at cheap rates that’s £400-600 and more likely £600+ and then parts on top of around £150. All on a car that’s £500 on a good day. I wonder how many cars end up scrapped because of jobs that most DIYers could fairly easily do. I am lucky as I can weld which helps a lot.

[djoptix]

Well, what fun I had getting the MGF ready for Frank's Charity Track Day yesterday at Blyton. I ended up doing both balljoints on one side and the track rod end on the other. It finally passed MOT on Monday morning and I loaded it up with stuff (tools, track wheels and tyres etc) and left Bristol at 0500 yesterday, got to Blyton at about 0845 in time for the second half of the briefing.

 

It was a great day, cool in the morning and brightening up in the afternoon. I went with the goal of getting under 1:25 and eventually managed 1:23.4, so I was super happy. Also very pleased with the MG, which behaved very well, driving all the way there, zooming round all day and then driving home again. Despite being mostly bog standard I think it's an excellently balanced car. On R888s the grip is fantastic and the handling is predictable - you can really feel what each corner of the car is doing.

 

However, I did have a go in my mate's MX5 turbo and would quite like the extra 100hp...