MG TF Question.

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GHT
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Re: MG TF Question.

#91 Post by GHT » Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:07 pm

Thanks for looking that up Gazza, I do appreciate it. The information that I can't find is how the engine deals with the heating the the K series so miserably fails at. You see the latter TF is notorious for overheating and blowing it's head gasket. The K series engine has strengthening bolts that go through the head, block and main bearing caps. Lining them up is fraught with complications, get it wrong and you have to start all over again. A garage would charge as much as £800 just to replace a head gasket, that's because of the hours that the job clocks up, it's also why there are so many asleep on owner's drive waiting for a new head gasket.

There was an alternative that I saw on Wheeler Dealers, where an expensive but waterless coolant was used during the rebuild of a TR6. That coolant had amazing tolerances, it could go as low as -40c and as high as 180c. But I have never heard of it being used in the MG, and whether that coolant would be ok to use in that car. If you come across anything useful, do let me know, and thanks again.

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#92 Post by Dick » Tue Dec 24, 2019 9:29 am

Due to the usual lack of funds and anything i would have spent on an mx5 ive been finding those mg f? Things quite attractive...

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JPB
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#93 Post by JPB » Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:02 pm

Dick wrote:
Tue Dec 24, 2019 9:29 am
Due to the usual lack of funds and anything i would have spent on an mx5 ive been finding those mg f? Things quite attractive...
Aesthetically, yes, I agree on their attractiveness and I suppose that as a one time Mr2 owner you're obviously used to servicing a car through a letterbox sized aperture rather than a proper bonnet! ;)
(Says the one whose van's engine is so deeply buried under the seats that my friendly local Toyota specialists pretend to be out and board all of their windows up if they see me coming in to book work on anything that isn't my conventional(ish), Yaris-derived daily driver..) :(
:scared:
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

GHT
Posts: 1523
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#94 Post by GHT » Tue Dec 24, 2019 4:36 pm

Dick wrote:
Tue Dec 24, 2019 9:29 am
Due to the usual lack of funds and anything i would have spent on an mx5 ive been finding those mg f? Things quite attractive...
Is this really an MGB-GT with a Mazda badge? The MG forums are going overboard/ballistic depending whether you like it or not. There's a few variants but in the main prices new average around £23,500. Two and a half years later you can pick one up for fifteen and a half grand, with about 25K on the clock.
mx-5.jpg
mx-5.jpg (222.61 KiB) Viewed 19728 times
Just a word of caution though, your street cred might take a dive if you do buy one and don't remove the sticker.
hair.jpg
hair.jpg (4.79 KiB) Viewed 19728 times

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Atodini
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Re: MG TF Question.

#95 Post by Atodini » Tue Dec 24, 2019 5:35 pm

GHT wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:07 pm
Thanks for looking that up Gazza, I do appreciate it. The information that I can't find is how the engine deals with the heating the the K series so miserably fails at. You see the latter TF is notorious for overheating and blowing it's head gasket. The K series engine has strengthening bolts that go through the head, block and main bearing caps. Lining them up is fraught with complications, get it wrong and you have to start all over again. A garage would charge as much as £800 just to replace a head gasket, that's because of the hours that the job clocks up, it's also why there are so many asleep on owner's drive waiting for a new head gasket.

There was an alternative that I saw on Wheeler Dealers, where an expensive but waterless coolant was used during the rebuild of a TR6. That coolant had amazing tolerances, it could go as low as -40c and as high as 180c. But I have never heard of it being used in the MG, and whether that coolant would be ok to use in that car. If you come across anything useful, do let me know, and thanks again.
Not an MG but my Reliant Kitten. Been using Evans waterless coolant in it since 2004 now, no problems of any sort. A couple of other things I've found is that it has never needed a replacement hose since!! Plus all hoses are still soft and crack-free, like new in fact (I did renew all of them when I first put the Evans in). Done about 220,000 miles since.

Plus it simply does not pressurise, you can safely remove the rad cap regardless of the engine temperature - no water = no steam = no pressure which can only be good for the head gasket.

Initially expensive - yes but it's "for life" you never need to change it.

As a post script, we removed the engine for a routine overhaul in 2013 at 180,000 miles. When we stripped it there was no sign of any scale or corrosion in the waterways - even the wet liners were still bright steel.

Some say the engine might run a couple of degrees warmer though mine seems to be OK, odd, as the Reliant engines can be somewhat marginal on cooling.

So it gets a big thumbs up from me!

John
"I thought I was wrong once - But I was wrong"...

GHT
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#96 Post by GHT » Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:36 pm

Has anyone seen "Flipping Bangers?" It's yet another buy a bottom end, clapped out banger, make good and sell it for a "profit." These two blokes have a workshop that is the envy of the chap who looks after my motors, yet they can't scrape more than a grand together for their next purchase. It's wearing a bit thin. They buy a 30 year old MG Maestro for £1400, the seller wanted two grand, so with no money in the kitty the car gets a cosmetic respray on the bonnet for £250, a new Radiator, also £250, a new clutch, I didn't get the price of that but there were other parts and the total spend, including the cost of the car, came to about £100 over two grand.

After putting it on an online auction for three grand and only getting bids in the mid to high hundreds they up the ante and jack the price up an extra thousand. Low and behold MG nut comes along having clicked buy, at the full price, without ever seeing the car. Is this entertainment, or am I just getting cynical with age?

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JPB
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Re: MG TF Question.

#97 Post by JPB » Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:10 pm

The first series was probably less well researched and all the better at that since they appeared to be buying purely on the basis of whichever car appealed to them. The second series featured a kitten which was encouraging, though it wasn't a bad one to begin with and their work seemed to avoid the usual suspects: rusty chassis, shattered clutch release arm roll pins, typical mini drum brake issues and the swimming pool in the rear footwells, but bless them, they were fed a bum steer or two by their chosen "specialist" advice provider :roll: and should have listened to the register folk who gave them facts! beyond that, I wasn't much wowed by its content. The show appeared first on the Blaze TV app, but I believe that the episodes are all available now on Blaze, the side that shows the show concurrently with the app.
Go for the download if you like detail as Blaze has no HD content and like many of the similar sides, their fuzziness is reminiscent of that seen on a well worn VHS tape, but without the grunting and the German speaking moustache enthusiasts.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

GHT
Posts: 1523
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#98 Post by GHT » Tue Dec 31, 2019 12:44 pm

It was on Blaze TV. I bet if you tried to list the number of car renovation, car sales and car oriented programs from memory, without using any sort of prompt, you would leave at least a couple out, there's that many. It seems that there are at least a squillion programs about trains too.

GHT
Posts: 1523
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#99 Post by GHT » Mon May 11, 2020 12:25 pm

Anyone fancy a new, E-Type-esque MG? The new concept from SAIC:
MG Cyberster.jpg
MG Cyberster.jpg (155.18 KiB) Viewed 19142 times

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: MG TF Question.

#100 Post by Dick » Mon May 11, 2020 5:02 pm

Ill have to give it miss as there seems to be a problem with the electricity leaking from its wheels..
;)

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