I have just got hold of an absolute shed of an MGF, it is by far the worst car I have ever owned.

Only got it delivered here an hour or so ago and it took that long for us to get it off the road where the transporter left it and onto my drive.

It losses water faster than my hose pipe could put it in and the alternator is completely seized so it billows rubber burning smoke when it runs.

here is some pics of the poor thing.








I dont get how people let their cars get in this state.

hopefully can get it fixed up over the next few months.

its only good bits are a pretty low mileage engine, 70k, and it is pretty much rust free. oh and it cost £350.

from my quick look at it it needs:

underfloor pipes replacing.
alternator + belt
new bonnet
new boot
cambelt and service & HG pressure tested
new front ARB droplinks, they have completly snapped and the arb is fouling the front tyres.


also noticed that the rear directional tyres are on the wrong sides, no wonder the old owner was too scared to drive it in the rain

i was wondering why the hell you bought it until you got to the £350 price tag !

sounds like itll cost more than its worth to fix to me, should be fun though, hope that engine hasnt overheated in the past though...

some more pics of the horrors.














it will probably cost me a bit to get decent but they sell well and will be worth a grand when in good nick, probably keep it 12months.

Oh dear good how much salt do you use on the roads ?
or  has it been driven next to the beach all its life ?

most british cars look like that underneath.

in the winter the cars are white with salt. its terrible

I use underseal liberally so even the daily driver is like new underneath!

If youre replacing the under car hoses, you can use good quality rubber or silicon hoses, I did that on the MR2, and on the imp. (Replaced the hard pipes)

Quote from: knightyi was wondering why the hell you bought it until you got to the £350 price tag !

Saw him coming, even at that price.

Quote from: SeriousSaw him coming, even at that price.

If the engine is in good enough nick i reckon you could get £350 for that alone (if its the 1.8 VVC version)

did a couple of hours on it today.

Main priority was getting the locking wheel nuts off without the key. Yay!

After a while of trying to hit a socket onto it and then trying to spin it with a hammer and chisel I decided I needed some power tools.

set up the drill with a 20mm hole saw in with the arbor bit removed


worked perfect!

next I started to remove all the bits and bobs that connect the subframe to the body, so I can drop the subframe out.
got the exhaust, callipers, dampers and water pipes removed/disconnected before it got dark.

some pics from today







I have never known a car that has so many rusty bolts, I dont think a single bolt could be removed using the correct sized socket/spanner.
The last owner must have sprayed salt water onto it every night.

bit of heat will shift them. Get the oxy acetylene out - if you dont have gas - get it! Its more useful than a hammer.

Dont think I have ever come across a nut or bolt that heat doesnt loosen

A camera repair specialist I was talking to recently said the same thing; old Leica lenses that were made with such fine tolerances to fit the lens element into an internal groove machined into the barrel can only be dis-assembled using gentle heating.
He asked me a question as a general idea; if you have a sheet of metal with a hole cut through it, and you heat the sheet up: does the hole get bigger or smaller?
Apparently quite a lot of people think it would get smaller as the metal expands into the hole....

Holesaws are great substitutes for routers in wood, provided you can control them!

Busy this morning

rear subframe out.




that was a complete git to do, god knows how I am going to get it back in.

All the mounting bolts where shagged, I dont have a blot torch so when the opposite way and used some spray that freezes the bolts, it worked pretty well too.

looks like youre doing pretty well for working outside with limited space/tools etc...

I must be getting old, Im starting to get garages to do work Id have done myself a few years ago

Quote from: knightylooks like youre doing pretty well for working outside with limited space/tools etc...

I must be getting old, Im starting to get garages to do work Id have done myself a few years ago

yeah the slope on my drive was a real pain today and I could do with some proper engine moving equipment, that subframe and engine must be around 200kg.

here is how I left it for today before I moved onto trying to fix my bike