Image courtesy of Gary Tonge
Image courtesy of Gary
Tonge
MGF FAQ Part II
v3.9 - 16th September 1998
This site is entirely independent of the Rover Car Company and MG Cars. It
is compiled by enthusiastic owners and represents additional advice for owners.
It is not a substitute for the official MGF handbook and no responsibility
is accepted for any loss or damage.
Click the relevant topic to quickly jump to that area.
You have up to 10 months to extend your Rover 12 month warranty - one or two people who have had problems with their cars have had their warranty extended free of charge when they have experienced inconvenience so it may be worth waiting six months or so before extending the warrantee if you intend to do so.
The
MGF's 1st birthday party
Large promotional
type pictures
The
Cambridge & District F Image Gallery
Casey's Pictures
Carsource
1.8i
World of
wheels
Irish
Review
Views from
a MG site
Daily Telegraph
Trident Garages
Clive Sutton
Swain & Jones
Edwards
Rover MGF page
Rover Thailand
Page
John Thomas
Olof
Anell
Caroline
Hamant
Kumar
Franky
Martin
Woods
Richard
Osborne
Scarlet
Fever
Mike Satur - interior
designers and manufacturers
Newton Commercial
Accessories
The MG Car
Club
The MG Car
Club F Register
The MG Cars
Enthusiasts Club MGF Page
Autolist
2nd hand MGF's for sale in the UK
SuperCars
Web Site - MGF page
MGF Events
List
MGF
Bulletin/Chat Board - come and say hello to fellow enthusiasts
MG has been advised that the Alarm and Immobiliser system as fitted to current MGF models has now been approved to Thatcham Category 2 Level. This information has been relayed by Thatcham to all the British insurance companies subscribing to their services. There is a Thatcham help line for MG and Rover customers on 0990 502006.
Insurance prices as of November 1996 varied between £270 and £430, so it pays to shop around. Check if you get discount for being a member of the MG Car Club (1st year membership free with a new MGF). Also check the amount of excess you will have to pay.
If you have a tracker fitted they will send you a list of insurance companies who give a discount for tracker fitted cars - Tracker Freephone 0500 090909
The following is for information only. From a safety point of view you should get your MGF checked if the SRS warning light comes on, as per the manual.
If you find that your SRS warning light comes on and stays on, check the wiring to the 'explosive' seat belt restraints. The wiring is under the seat and comes up from under the carpet and goes into the seat itself. The position of the wiring means that it can easily get trapped under a metal bar that rests on the carpet. Moving the seat back or forward can then pull the connector apart.
First release the clips that hold the lower rear end of the soft-top to the back parcel shelf. Raise the rear of the soft top toward the front of the car. Then remove all the parcel shelf trim and layers of sound insulation to reveal the engine compartment cover and undo about 10 small bolts that hold the cover down, lift it off to reveal the engine in all its glory.
For further details see the section on Fitting a K&N Filter
While the engine cover is off you can change the oil - there's a proper filler cap on top of the engine and you can pour oil in there far more easily than the proper way which is in effect 'down the dipstick tube' or you can drain the oil and access the filter from the side, just in front of the rear right hand side wheel.
Remove the bumper (two screws each end , five across the top and two bolts behind the indicators) then undo the two 10mm bolts and release the lamp assembly from the side and lower retaining clips. Once out the lens is retained to the reflector by six clips.
NB: Specs change from country to country, this comparison is based on the UK specs July 1997
The 1.8i has a maximum power of 120Ps at 5500 rpm, the VVC achieves 145Ps at 7000 rpm (ie the VVC needs much higher revs to get the extra pwr). This is a 17% difference
The 1.8i has max torque of 165 Nm at 3000 rpm, the VVC has 174 NM at 4500 rpm ie 5% difference
If you look at the graphs in the brochure, up to 5000 rpm, the 1.8i and VVC have identical power bands, after this the 1.8i goes down, the VVC keeps going up.
Similar with the torque, up to 5000 rpm there's little in it, the VVC dies off after the 1.8i does
0-60 manufacturers time has the 1.8i at 8.5, the VVC at 7.0
TopGear gives 0-60 times of 8.8 sec for 1.8i and 8.4 for VVC
Autocar gives 0-60 times of 8.7sec for 1.8i and 7.6sec for VVC.
John Thomas has graphed rpm/mph/gear for 1.8i and the VVC
I have driven my 1.8i for 12,000 miles, and a VVC for 600 miles. In my opinion, the VVC revs more freely, has a raspier engine noise, and seems a little quicker, but there's not much in it. I find the PAS makes the VVC seem more twitchy, compared the non-PAS 1.8i. I also find that the 1.8i picks up better than the VVC, the VVC seems to exhibit a kind of 'turbo-lag' at lower revs. Greg Hilton
I've completed just short of 12,000 miles in both. First of all both engines take a very long time to run in. In fact I feel that they both took at least 10,000 miles. The 1.8i, by the time I traded it in, was much quicker to drive than my dealers demonstrator VVC. Its pull was good especially up the rev range. Where it was possibly still lacking was low down, especially if you were maybe one gear higher than optimum. If you floored it at 30 in 3rd, the response wasn't really electric. If you were in 2nd it was great.In terms of entertaining B road driving, the 1.8i was more than enough for me. It was possible to oversteer on the exit to bends in both 2nd and 3rd, especially on a poor surface or in the wet.
The first thing about the VVC is that the gearing is shorter. This definitely makes motor way driving a shade noisier. The VVC also makes a different, slightly gruffer, noise. It's not a TVR but if you're in a garage it is obvious. Once the VVC was run past around 6,000 miles I'm sure it felt a bit quicker than the 1.8i. Its not that the 1.8i can't be made to be almost as fast as the VVC in normal driving, its just that you don't have to work or think so hard to achieve it. Especially on B roads, I found that I could drop from 4th to 3rd for a bend and still punch out: in the 1.8i I'd have wanted 2nd for the exit but the overall result would have been similar. Basically both cars have limits that I only ever access because I'm a *bad* driver. If I was smoother, picking better lines etc, I wouldn't have lost as much speed in the bends and wouldn't have needed to test adhesion limits on the exit.
Obviously you can't often drive this way on public roads either. On the motor way there is definitely more punch in the VVC: it pulls in 5th much better but again this could be explained mostly with the gearing difference. The extra rev-range (basically there is no discernible drop in power or acceleration right up to the vicious rev limiter) is great but sucks petrol at a frightening rate. Drive to the limit often and you'll see sub 24 MPG figures as opposed to my average of 32 and best of 42. Graeme Bishko
It is possible to install a handsfree car phone kit into the MGF, and it's perfectly usable, until your driving over 30mph with the roof down.
There are four components.
The aerial for the locking and security transceiver can be better positioned
There is a triangular panel which houses the footwell light in the passenger (left hand) side of the car which is secured by two cross head self tapping screws.
Remove this panel and just behind it you will see a part of the wiring loom and you should see an ultra thin bright yellow wire that is probably coiled and taped to the loom.
Remove tape and straighten this wire, you will see it only connected at one end to black connector block just behind the dash.
Lay the yellow wire in as straight a position as you can behind the footwell light panel, I found it went towards the front of the car behind a couple of large wire bundles and rested quite nicely in an existing cable support.
Try your blipper and adjust as required, when satisfied with the results use a small piece of insulating tape to secure the cable in the desired position, there are plenty of bits of wiring to tape to.
Check your blipper again, and replace the footwell light panel.
Another way to increase the range of the blipper is to hold the blipper against a piece of bare skin on your body (head / hand etc) and press the button.... adds a good five feet or so to the range.
Problem:- Rapid or sudden application and release of the brake pedal (Emergency stop, autotesting etc) causes the ratchet mechanism in the brake light switch to close up a notch or two, causing the brake lights to be sensitive to bumps or, at worst, on all the time.
The solution is to reset the ratchet as discussed below
The switch is situated under the dash, just above and behind the pivot point of the brake pedal. It is a pig to get at and is released by twisting (if I remember correctly). The ratchet can also be reset by depressing the brake pedal and at the same time pulling the plunger on the switch out.
All you need to do is either remove the switch or while you have your head in the footwell, give the plunger of the switch a VERY hard tug. This pulls the ratchet out and the next operation of the pedal sets the switch clearance up.
The manual is a normal Rover/MG part, and can be ordered from any parts department - just quote the product code. This is: Part No. RCL 0051 ENG.
The ENG bit is the language so your dealer may be able to try others e.g DEU is the German version.
If you feel the seats in your
MGF don't support you enough, you can buy an inflatable pad to fit in the
lumbar of the seat. The pad is invisible when installed and can be done in
5 seconds with no tools or damage to the seats! You simply pull the lower
seat upright forward a little and slide the flat, uninflated pad behind it.
All that remains is a small inflation pump that rests next to the seat and
allows you to pump up or deflate the pad.
Because you install it yourself, you can adjust the height at which the support is provided, not many built in lumbar supports provide this level of adjustment!
The pads are made by the racing seat manufacturer Corbeau, and you can buy them by mail order or in person from RipSpeed. Each pad costs £22.00 and I've had one in my drivers seat for over six months with no problems.
RipSpeed can be contacted on: 07000 747 77333 or 0181 803 4355
The lumbar support is on page 15 of their catalogue and priced at £22.00. There is another lumbar support in their catalogue, made by Sparco, but you want the Corbeau one. Their cheapest postage (parcel post) is £5.50. Their shop is in North London very close to White Hart Lane football stadium.
The MGOC was formed in 1973 to serve the growing needs of the MG enthusiast. Over the last 24 years the Club has concentrated on making it easier, cheaper and more enjoyable to own an MG. Membership has grown to 50,000 making it the world's largest single marque car club.
The MGOC offers its members many benefits including:-
The M.G. Car Club is an international club based in the heart of M.G. country - Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Since formation in 1930 by John Thornley O.B.E., the Club has provided high quality support and backing to all its members. The Club is unique; organising events, activities and fun, as well as offering comprehensive technical and historical information for EVERY MODEL OF MG from the 20s to the 90s.
The Club Head Office, Kimber House in Cemetery Road, Abingdon, is sited on the edge of what was once the M.G. Car Company's headquarters and factory - where Cecil Kimber (Managing Director from 1935-1945) and John Thornley (General Manager and subsequently Managing Director) successfully ran one of the world's most well-known and well-respected car manufacturing companies.
As an M.G. Car Club member you will receive a complete range of benefits:
The M.G. Car Club now boasts 14 Registers including a Register for the MGF, 13 UK Centres, over 80 monthly meetings and in excess of 85 affiliated overseas organisations. Whatever you want to know about M.G.s - from rebuilding to where to hire an M.G. for a film, photo-shoot or television advert - the M.G. Car Club has all the answers.
The M.G. car has always been known as the great affordable British sports car, not only by the manufacturers, but by those people who have bought, owned and loved them. The M.G. Car Club plays an important role supporting this enthusiasm.
The MG Car Club Was awarded 'Best improved Club of the Year 1996' by Classic Car Magazine
Awaiting further details.....
A load of useful information on financing your MGF can be found here
From: Dirk Vael,
Various pictures following his VVC being modified with the K&N filter and SP performance pack by Stephen Palmer Ltd.
The mounted chip, close up of the engine after the enhancements, good overview of exhausts, how the whole K&N 57i kit looks.
From:John Thomas, firms that are in the F tuning market :
Tel: 0181 893 4553
Tel 0115 972 2321
Tel 0181 647 5757
Tel 01865 383328
Email roversport@unipart.uk.co
Tel: 01772 555020
Emailtony.r.bolton@virgin.net
Tel 01226 750147
Email
106054.1000@compuserve.com
Mike Satur Web Site
Tel : 01925 636950
Fax :01925 418948.
E-mail: kn@kn.u-net.com
The K&N filter seems to be the filter of choice amoung many MGF owners, with the cold air induction kit it provides a great roar, and enhanced performance for little money. Below are fitting instructions which should be used in addition to the K&N instructions.
1. With the boot lid open, remove the engine grill. This is clipped in place along its front (towards front of car) edge- gently pull the four clips from the rubber boot seal and lift the assembly clear of the car.
View of engine bay, standing at rear of car, looking forward: right- oil filler and dip stick; centre: engine, and closer to you, the plenium chamber; left: airbox and flexible tube jubilee clipped to plenium chamber.
2. Remove engine cover from inside car.
a. Erect hood. From inside the car, there are five clips visible at the base of the hood, under the rear screen. Release these, and raise the rear of the hood so that it is vertical. Take a piece of string, and tie the hood in this position by fastening one end of the string to the hood retaining clip, and the other end to the front of the hood at its retaining clasp.
b. Remove carpet and sound deadening material from the rear deck. It will require a bit of tugging, but should come free reasonably easily. Exposed will be the engine bay cover: a dull-metal coloured plate, fixed in place by a number of hexagonal headed bolts. Go round each of these in turn, unscrewing them and putting the each in a safe place.
c. Put all of the hood-securing clips in the down position. Push the released engine cover plate towards the front of the car, lifting the free trailing edge upwards. Ensure that each of the hood clips are under the trailing edge of the engine cover plate. Once completed, pull the cover free from the car. You will now have a much clearer view of the engine bay.
A quick word of caution: there is a sharp edged piece of metal under the rear edge of the T-bar- this will easily graze unwary knuckles!
3. Undo the jubilee clip at the airbox, and the spring clip at the plenium chamber, holding the flexible air duct in place. Remove ducting.
4. Remove the black plastic screws (should be two, although often only one is to be found!) holding the airbox to its mounting bracket. Pull the airbox free. Now pear down into the engine bay, from inside the car looking backwards. On the right, near the bottom of the engine bay is a black plastic box. This is the resonance chamber. On its inner surface, there is a rigid elbowed plastic tube, that lead to the airbox that you have just removed. This needs to be removed to thread through the 57i cool air induction tubing. It comes free will a non-too-gentle tug (it won't damage anything).
5. Assemble the filter cone as described in the 57i kit. The induction tube is curved asymmetrically. Make sure the curvature is closest to the cone filter itself. Affix the assembly to the plenium chamber. Tighten the jubilee clips. It is tight enough when it is no longer possible to pull the induction tube off the plenium chamber when attempting to move the attached cone filter back and forth.
Click here to see what it should look like.
6. Attach the cool air ducts.
You will need two small cable ties, and FOUR large cable ties. (You will need to purchase extra , as the kit only comes supplied with two or three large ties).
a. Extend the compressed cool air ducts (x2) to about 40 cm.
b. Take two large cable ties, and attach them together (via one of the ratchet eyes)- and do the same with the other two large ties. This is done so that the cable ties are large enough to go around both cool air ducts. Affix these cable ties at either end of the extended cool air ducts to fix them both together.
c. Thread the ducts into the engine bay from the top, so that the bottom of the ducts are under the car. Fix the top end of the ducts so that they are 4 inches (10 cm) from the K&N air filter. The best place is probably a convenient point on the front fire wall; fix the ducts using the small cable tie tied around the composite large cable tie.
7. Underneath the car, draw the cool air ducts so that the tips overlie the Hydragas inter connector tube. Fix the ducts to this pipe with the small cable tie. Click here for a picture
8. Replace the engine cover, in its correct orientation. Position the hood retaining clips to facilitate the process, and recover the clips above the engine cover plate to allow it to settle in position.
DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE RETAING BOLTS: the screw threads are fragile, and the bolts will strip if tightened over enthusiastically.
9. Reposition the sound deadening material and carpet- pay particular attention to that sharp edge under the rear edge of the T-bar. Restore rear aspect of the hood to its original position, and clip back into place.
10. Replace the engine grill from inside the boot.
11. Now rev your engine, with a manic grin on your face! Enjoy!
MOSS offer a new catalogue of MGF goodies, including a supercharger.
Tel: 0800-281182
e-mail:
mossmag@easynet.co.uk
Moss WebSite
A site in New Zealand is collecting info on tuning the Elise engine, which is the same as the MGF VVC, so check it out for some useful tips and contacts.
A large amount of well priced MGF regalia, including an excellent product for cleaning the rear windows is available from:
Martin Woods
8 Kitwood Drive
Lower Earley
Reading
Berks
RG6 3TA. Tel. 01189 669834
http://freespace.virgin.net/martin.woods/index.htm
It is fiddly rather than difficult.
Start at the bottom, after removing gear lever knob, from the section nearest
the cigar lighter. You need a spatula type tool which you gently insert into
the crevice gap at one corner. Then moving the tool into the center behind
the gear lever you will feel a resistance as you come against the spring
clip. There are two slightly off center, you have to push these and lever
up at the same time. Once you have these up it a matter of easing out the
upper clips, two (one each side) just above bend about level with the switches
and two by the radio.
To over come the problems of the plastic surround trapping the belt.
Download two MG animated cursors for use under Windows NT or Windows 95. Created by Michael Wendell, and posted with his permission.
Get the Spinning MG Octagon cursor here, and the spinning Octagon with arrow here
Or check the original site, at http://www.kwyjibo.com/bmw/
Get an MGF screen saver from, http://www.mediatek.co.uk/mgf
From: Paul, Poole
"Armourfend" is a thin (about quarter mm thick) piece of clear plastic film which you can stick on your car's paintwork to protect it from stone chipping (a common problem is seems on F's).
I ordered just the bonnet section, which seems to be where most of the chip
have occurred on my car. It cost £60 + VAT and comes in 3 sections.
2 small pieces to cover the front of the front-wings and a large section
to cover the front of the bonnet itself. It covers the roughly the front
6 inches of the car.
Installation is very easy for the 2 small pieces, but I found the larger
section was a 2-man job (or 1 man and 1 woman job in my case!). You can liken
it to wallpapering - stick the stuff on and then work like the clappers to
get rid of any bubbles before the glue goes off! 72 hours later (with a day
spent parked in the sunshine), the bubbles had all gone
Armour fend also have a fitting service (approx. £20) but unfortunately
is only handy for those of you in London ;-(
Instructions are also given on how to remove it, so if it ever becomes tatty
over time, it is possible to get rid of it.
From 5+ metres away the armourfend is completely invisible ;-) but as you
get closer you can see the rear edge of the film as a very thin line across
the car.
Also, the paintwork under the film doesn't look as shiny as that film-free,
but this difference is really negligible. What I can say is that if the stuff
works (which I'm sure it will) then the plus points (ie. no more ugly stonechips)
far outweigh the very minor visible bits of the armourfend.
http://www.zantech-systems.com/armourfend/
The fuel tank is a saddle tank with the left portion having the sender unit
to the fuel gauge, and the pump intake. Since both lobes of the tank contain
fuel when at a low level, the fuel in the right lobe cannot be picked up
by the pump. Hence, the gauge appears to fall quickly since it only measures
part of the contents at 'empty'.
When driving on cross country roads, take a fast right hand bend or roundabout
as fast as safety will allow and the contents of the right lobe fall into
the left to be picked up by the pump and consequently, the fuel gauge will
rise considerably. If driving on a motorway, take an exit ramp and drive
quickly around the roundabout over the carriageways and return to the
motorway.
If you run out before you notice what the fuel gauge reads, rock the car
from side to side to achieve the same result.
There is a 'push connector' on all models as they all have the same wiring
loom.
To find the connector, first ease out the boot illumination lamp fitted in
the boot lid (it is only a push fit). Gently pull it out as far as you can
and work the wiring out with it. Attached to this part of the loom will be
the 'push connector' for the high-level brake light.
The connector is an ultra-fine type but if it does not marry up to your high
level wires it is a simple matter to remove that connector and fit your own,
if you are fitting the official Rover High Level light it should fit.
The wire for the Light itself can be routed through double skin of the lid
behind the high-level brake light. Then brought across the lid and into the
double skin where the boot internal lamp is. You will find that the boot
lid already has 'tags' in place on the struts of the lid.
Olaf Columbus reports that not all Fs have the wiring loom, or at least his european F doesn't. He says that within the Rover-Part No. XFN 100180 there is an extra Cable, some cable-fixing-strips, and a detailed Installation Instruction.
With larger wheels the tyres may rub. This is a way to rectify that
1. Drive at full lock both left and right as driving onto your drive at home.
This marks the plastic insert.
2. Remove the insert (remove the road wheel first) (2 screws and a quick
flick)
3. With plastic arch in hand use an electric paint stripper and slowly warm
the plastic where the tyre was rubbing.
Then push out slowly and re-mould the plastic.Leave to cool
4. Refit insert.
5. Refit road wheel and test.
6. No more grating when at full lock.
If you are looking at replacing your speakers, they are 16.5cm These Kenwood speakers have successfully been used to replace the standard ones:
Model No: KFC HQR175C
165mm Pearl Mica Cone Woofer, 30mm PPTA Balanced Dome Tweeter
Max Power 150W
Greq Responce 30Hz to 30,000Hz
Sensitivity 91db/W at 1m
Impedance 4 ohms
Weight (each) 300g
Price £100
Tom Satchwell has fitted an Alpine 3DE-7886R head unit. This head pumps out 4*35Watts from a front-loading 3-disc multichanger.
He says the sound quality is simply excellent, especially as it is connected to the Kenwood HQ-series speakers (one set of 2-way 6.5" speakers, coupled with a set of tune-up tweeters).
He also took the opportunity to sound-deaden the doors. For this, he bought a special sheet of self-adhesive 3mm thick rubber material - it cuts down the resonance and reverb in the door panels.
When fitting the Rover wind deflector make sure that the rubber backing side faces the rear window as you can fit it the wrong way round.
If you drop the drivers window and keep the passenger window up it reduces the backdraft.
If you turn all the air vents to the driver and turn on the heater fan to the number2 setting. Then set the drivers facia air towards the open window, you will get a swirl of hot air behind your neck.
If you have a passenger reverse the settings otherwise they receive all the back draft.
If you break the feeble plastic sprung catch which holds the lenses in then you need to insert a screw driver in the inner point nearest the MG badge on your bonnet (that's the inner recess of the indicator lense) .
Gently press in the screw driver blade (insert one inch) to release the sprung plastic catch - only very slightly. With a second small flat bladed screw driver you can prize the lense forward and out. You can then remove the bulb or remove the front bumper main bolts (there are several others that also need undoing....but that's another story).
When levering the lense out protect your paintwork with a cloth or something. A piece of cardboard taped in position will leave your two hands free to manipulate the screw drivers.
If the inevitable happens and the plastic spring catch breaks then you either have to go to your dealer and fork out about 25 notes for a new lense or you can repair the broken plastic by first supa gluing it (which won't hold on it's own) and then reinforcing the glued break with a compound called Milliput. You can buy it from Beaties or any good model shop. Mix the two putty like substances together and apply around the glued join. Leave 24 hours and it will set rock hard.
Greg Hilton drop me an email if you wish to add something useful to these pages.
NOTE: Remove the words NOSPAM from the above address to mail me.
