2001 mgf 1.8 (gold digger)

I got to see it in the flesh at the FRL too, looked good, I like matte black. No nonsense !

tackled the indicator repair from the FRL run



My brand spanking new broken indicator, had only been fitted 2 weeks, it hadn't even had a chance to get dirty lol


once I got the pieces of indicator out found a few cracks around the mounting bolt and where the indicator clips in and some chipped paint


All glued back together and rubbed smooth again


Painted up but one crack is still visible next to the lense, will have to wait another day though as I had another big job on

Next job, I have noticed recently a smell of hot coolant when getting out of the car on further investigation found coolant weeping from the inlet manifold where it meets the cylinder head so decided to get it done, I mean how hard could it be? :shake:


engine cover coming off again


access looks interesting


Started disconnecting whatever I could find but this hose didn't want to let go and brought the pipe with it :shake:


serious glue to the rescue, then used a soldering iron to fuse the outside of it together and seems to be pretty strong


Knuckle hurting bottom bolts




first car I've ever owned where sitting in the boot gives the best access to the engine


cleaning the header tank, lots of tiny bits of copper in here making me think radweld has been used in the past


manifold off but I couldn't physically get it out of the hole so changed my mind and decided to continue with it in situ


lots of coolant round here


this half of the gasket was flat and obviously leaking


this side also flat and leaking but my earlier thoughts of radweld were confirmed, completely blocking the jiggle valve (same cleaned out)





new gasket in


Changed the IACV while it was easy to do so




coolant drained off and all bleed valves opened until empty

bleed valves








changing to pink stuff so lots of flushing was required
once empty the bottom hose was refitted, header tank filled and the system bled
fired the engine and allowed it to warm, gladly the heater got hot as it should and no leaks anywhere
gave it a second bleeding afterwards but no more air came out, just got to keep fingers crossed next few days lol

took her for a celebratory drive (topless of course)

Great set of descriptive pics there Keith! Thanks.

Bit of an update, no work done atm. but did a little posing just off beachy head last week (looking very dirty)

very nice work there........ yes the plastic manifolds can warp and they have to be cut out.. The one on my 115 did and replaced it with an alloy one.

It is possible to get the plastic manifold out intact, just. As I recall you need the airbox out, and you can squeeze it out sideways. Gynaecological skills help! :broon:

VVC F have alloy manifolds I thought?
Is this not a vvc?

David Aiketgate wrote: It is possible to get the plastic manifold out intact, just. As I recall you need the airbox out, and you can squeeze it out sideways. Gynaecological skills help! :broon:

I removed my K&N first but completely failed to get it out so just did the few jobs I had in situ, will have to look at changing to alloy in the near future as not sure how long my glued repair will last

Whiz wrote: VVC F have alloy manifolds I thought?
Is this not a vvc?

correct its not a VVC so has the lovely plastic manifold. did look for a VVC at the time but most were in terrible condition compared to this one, saying that though if I had known just how much work I was going to end up doing on this one then I would have bought one of the scruffy VVC's :pinch: lol

1 advantage is that the alloy manifold splits into two. :broon:
Aa well as not warping and leaking like the plastic one.

David Aiketgate wrote: 1 advantage is that the alloy manifold splits into two. :broon:
Aa well as not warping and leaking like the plastic one.

does anyone know if a TF135 manifold is a straight swap, mine is a Mems 3 just the same