Teribus13 Project MGF thread

Hi All,

Probably about time I started a progress thread about my project, JET the MGF.

JET is a 2000 X-reg 1.8i [120] Copperleaf red example which also came with a hardtop & the 16-inch 11-spoke alloys. I bought her from my friend Davy back in October 2021 with a paltry 42,000 miles on the clock, he himself won it in a roffle from the Retros**te Facebook page. Despite the low mileage, this is a car that's lived in Scotland its whole life, I suspect near the sea, because corrosion definitely features. A sensible person might have poked and prodded around JET and decided she wasn't worth repairing, so broke her for spares. I'm not a sensible person, though.

I ran the car for a month, putting 1,000 miles onto the clock, and found a few small problems I planned to fix during the winter. I also did a small handful of repairs and upgrades during this month - I swapped the torn hood for a secondhand one in much better condition, fitted an alloy gearknob, replaced the blown heater resistor, did a service, replaced the blowing exhaust manifold gasket, fixed the radio, and I fitted an electric boot release (As I said, I'm not sensible, I WILL lock the keys in the boot at some point!)

Plans for the winter were:

1. Swap the front subframe for a refurbished & galvanized example - the original subframe was rotten & beyond saving
2. Change both lower wishbones - bushes & balljoints were fine, but the wishbones themselves were heavily corroded
3. Swap both track rod ends - one was worn anyway, and it's cheap insurance to change both.
4. Swap both front wheel bearings - one was noisy, and again it's cheap insurance to change both
5. Replace discs and pads all round - the fronts were warped, the rears corroded.
6. Replace brake flexi hoses all round - corrosion on them meant they needed changed.
7. Weld a couple of patches on the floor where metal grommets have come away and the surrounding metal has started rotting out

Sounds easy, right? Well, as most projects go, JET the MGF wasn't going to let me off so easily. So now, my list looks like this:

1. Far more patches on the floor, including below the rear subframe front mounts - so the full interior and the fuel tank have come out!
2. Replacing both outer sills and the rear wheelarch closing panels with Mike Satur repair panels - both outer sills are rotten, but the inner structures are thankfully very solid still - nothing a clean and fresh protective coatings won't fix, they'll also get cavity waxed once I'm done
3. Rear subframe has a hole in it now after attacking it with the needle gun, I'll either patch it up or fit a secondhand unit - either way, all my repairs to the shell will need to be done before I touch the subframe

The goal here with JET is to get her roadworthy again, I'm not trying to do a full restoration. JET will never be a show car, she's always going to be around for the sheer fun of driving her. To that end, I have some other upgrades planned:

1. AP 4-pot brake conversion to the front, because why not?
2. Braided brake hoses to replace the corroded and tired rubber ones
3. Boot spoiler picked up cheap from eBay
4. Leather seats acquired from a scrap MG TF
5. Stainless steel back box acquired from the same MG TF
6. Install a double DIN headunit I have from a previous car, which will add such modern toys as Android Auto, Bluetooth connectivity, sat nav & reverse camera

Currently, poor JET looks like this, waiting for me to pull my finger out and get all the welding done to get her back on the road. I'm going to post more photos in replies to this first post.



-T

Let's start with how the floors looked to begin with. Here's how both footwells looked with the seats and carpets out the way:



First patch goes in. The welding isn't pretty, but it's solid:


Yet more patching. I've added a plate up onto the rear seat mount brackets as these had corrosion so I needed to put strength back into them. There's an area in the first picture where I have blown holes, that area has since had an additional plate welded in. In the second picture you can see my welding is improving a little. It's got to be up to at least a 3 out of 10 now!




More rust in the next post...

As I said in the first post, I discovered rust elsewhere on the floorpan. The areas in question are at the rear subframe front mounts. The driver's side had previously had a patch repair here, however once that was removed, this is the mess left behind:




By this point, I've discovered the outer sill is pretty rough, so I've cut a little of that away to see what state the inner sill is in. The inner sill has some surface rust, but overall is still nice and solid. It turns out JET had previously taken a bash in the driver's side sill, and I had to cut through about a 10mm thick layer of filler to get to the metal!



Time to get the fuel tank out



And cut out the rusty parts of floor from below where the fuel tank sat



While we're cutting, lets take a look at that sill closing panel



And test-fit the Mike Satur replacements to see how they're going to look.




Last, but not least - what happens when you remove the worn old cloth seats from your MGF and chuck them in the house until you can get them to the skip? Let me tell you what happens, your cats claim them as beds!

WOW ! That's not a project for the faint of heart but, good on yer for saving the car .
I look forward to updates .
John

Wow, that would be beyond my expertise. I watch these kind of projects on wheeler dealers on Discovery. I am impressed by your endurance to take on such a project.