"Blue 33" so now named.

Well things did not go according to plan but here goes:-


As mentioned previously iscovered that the donor VVC had fairly new discs on it so off they came for a clean up as of course laying about they had got a bit of rust on them. The pads looked almost new ............................................ at a glance that is it was not until I went to clean them of much that I found that a real butcher had fitted them so I need new pads to finish the job:-

The start.

Here is how far we got

Disc cleaned and pianted

The Yellow calipers match the intake vent ................................. yes you guessed it ................................ I LIKE bright Yellow .

Although things have not gone smoothly and after all day the job is still not finished. Tomorrow have to go and get some new pads and fit them and the butcher who put them in didn't line the peg up witht eh piston and the peg has been crushed into the backing plate making the pad U/S.

As I removed the calipers for cleaning and painting the system has been virtually drained of fluid so whle it's like this and as the front wheels have to come off for bleeding the chance to fit the new HEL yellow PVC covered S/S braided hoses will be grabbed and they will be fitted to the front and the front calipers will be cleaned and painted as well.

Slight chnge of plan ................................ as it's hoped to fit upgraded brakes to the front decided it was not worth painting the calipers. Plus ran out of paint ............................... whoops and now running out of time if she is to get to the body shop and have the boot floor repaired before the end of the month.

So a trip into town for a set of new brake pads for the rear:-

Went for better pads that I might have normally bought and will see how much they improve the braking........................... once bedded in that is.

New shocks fitted to each corner. Bought these originanlly for the VVC Project as those on that were really rusted. While doing the rear brakes noticed that a lower shock bush was in rather poor shape so looked out these Anschler (Euro Car parts) shocks and fitted them.

Got the N/S/F new HEL (Cobra Performance) connected but have to route it carefully and secure the hose so it does not foul then fit the O/S/F and then can fill and bleed the system.

Weather permitting that is the job for Saturday morning. Then onto fitting the rest of the TF 135 filter assembly.

What time was available Saturday was spent sorting hose brackets and bleeding the brakes so it was Sunday before the TF 135 Air Filter could be sorted out.

First job was to modify then fit the TF 135 air filer box. Modify it to have the intake at the front instead of the rear and pointing down instead of towards the engine:-

Marked the centre and using a hole saw cut out the middle. The hole saw was not big enough so used a small flap wheel to grind it out to size and cut a notch to locate the 90 degree intake moulding then shorten the inner feed tube and drill a new hole to secure it to the bottom of the filter body.

Next job was the blank off the old intake location. Luckily I found a copper disc the right size which was held in place by good ole Duct tape whilst the body bonding agent got to work on the inside. Have left the Duct tape in place for now.

For now the old intake hose has been fitted and pushed down towards the side intake vent.

Will measure how much is needed and get some new nice coloured intake hose. The filter box top was cleaned then primed with plastic primer and then sprayed silver. It will eventually be bright yellow as will the cam cover ................................ one day.

Just need to get a filter element for this new air filter and the locating/retaining nuts and screw for the body as they seem to be missing.

And I believe we are ready for the body shop to repair the boot floor ready for taxing from 1st November. Time to put the tools away for a few days and catch up with other chores.

Friday got the call that the floor was reapired and all ready:-

So she is now all taxed, yep the ones from Sheep Central mugged me, and now in use. The ride is much smoother with the new shocks fitted............................................... which is a surprise as her ride was not bad before. The lower shock bushes were nto in the best of health as as these new shocks were on hand it seemed daft not to fit them.

So now the mind turns to the next stage of improvements :help: .

Planned already are:-

Servo brace of some kind.
Better front brake pads ......... or brake upgrade. (Current pads are Apec I believe in the front)
Replace air filter to throttle hose with smooth interior one.
Throttle body, alloy 48mm modified or 52mm one if possible.

It will be interesting to see what she produces power wise now ..................................... and have just discovered that we have a local place with a dyno and rolling road so will make enquireis as to costs for a run or two. The any further improvements can be checked to see exactly how they perform depending on price of course. It's only a couple of miles up the road too!.


Have decided to upgrade her if I can power wise to make the difference in driving her from the VVC "Elsie" less noticable. To this end am currently seeking advice and suggestions as the the feasibility of things like a TF 135 head or just the higher lift cams as found in the TF 115's andTF 135's. After all she now has the TF135 filter for better flow and with it's forwards feeding intake for more direct flow it should be much better on the intake side.

Got the TV5 52mm throttle body fitted to "Blue 33" :-

Have no idea why it was painted red but condition is very good and very clean and the price was good enough to go for it.

Anyway a 10 mile test drive confirms the throttle response is crisper than the old Ploymer body and this alloy one does not stick like the polymer had started to do. .................................................................. But in all honesty I cannot say it's any better than the modified alloy 48mm TV1 that is fitted to "Elsie" my VVC .

Another bit of interior bling arrived this morning so it got fitted right away.. A Mk2 air bag for the steering wheel so we now have the nice little MG badge and not the inferior embossed black one. Not bad for less than £6.

Today "Blue 33" got nice quiet wiper motor fitted. Lots of fun in the cold and that was just gettign the plastic clips off.

Whilst I was away down in Surrey and Sussex the other week "Blue 33" decided that her outlet coolant hose had taken enough use and started to leak. A new hose was obtained from Harwoods in Crawley and then fitted by a small garare in Horley and I am still recovering from the shock of the bill ................................... £96 to fit one hose is outragous.

Anyway it's done and this past week she got a new MOT as well. For this pass she required the O/S/F lower ball joint replaced due to it having play in it and a new CAT. The one she has been running with was the one that came off "Elsie" and we knew it was not much good. "Blue's" original 97 vintage CAT works fine but the flanfe has rusted away around one of the studs so a new one was bought. By luck I stumbled across a genuine O/E one for a reasonable price and that is what she has fitted now and she sailed through the test.

On the way home from the Derbyshire run on the 8th about 12 hour from home the lower speedo cable decided it had had enough and broke. So currently she is parked up whislt we get another cable and get it fitted.

The is a slim chance that "Blue 33" might be offered up for sale as there might be a chance of buying a 75th Anniversary model and in reality I cannot have three MGF's in use. So now only time will tell if this comes about or not. I hope to go and look at the 75th this week to have alook at the coindition overall so can make an informed decision.

Well the 75th was good body wise but needs some restoration on the interior and of course the over heating and possible HGF issues dealt with. So the deal has been done and so we now have to prepare "Blue 33" for sale. There are a couple fo things that I want to do before this like clean the leather interior once more and get her valeted especially the soft top which has green mould in places. We want her to be her best shape for the new owner.

After giving it a lot of thought the decision was made to restore "Blue" to her original wheels. Here are her front rims:-

Not in bad nick ................................... the rears are however dreadful. Will get the tryes popped off in the morning and see about getting the rims refurbished.

Ahh yes and I painted the front calipers to match the carriers:-

So they will look better and more of a finished job.......................................... and not just half done.

The rear wheels are away being blasted then painted so will be a while before they can be fitted. The fronts however have had the tyres put back on and are now on "Blue":-

The rears are now tyreless and in for blasting to remove the white oxide corrosion and then will be painted. Will get them back towards the tail end of this week.

Just another little job done.

Still to do is repaire the heater blower module as speed 1 is not working. have rezpak here to do so. Also need to replace the cigar lighter as hers was awful and quite rusty and get the door hing bushes replaced.

Well due to the acquisition of the 75th Anniversary Edition "Blue" is now up for sale .......................... have started locally and on my FB page at £900.

Would be nice to get most of what we have spent on her back ................................ but we will have to see how it goes. Of course we are open to sensible serious offers.

76,500 miles only 2 owners MOT until Feb 24th 2016.