Bought an MGF Today...

Alarm going off at weird times is usually down to wires failing in the wiring thats tied to the boot hinge. Its normal automotive cable which can withstand some flexing but the movement it's subjectted to from years of opening and closing the boot just wears it out  They all do it. 

Buy lengths of the correct colour wires, chop the wiring back to beyond where it flexes and replace (solder and heat shrink all the way).

+1 For the alarm that Bruce Cotsell makes. He is on the forum from time to time as well as selling them on Ebay so if you post a new thread 'Wanted Coolant alarm' in the Parts section here then he should soon pick that up and get in touch.

Morning Simon, was it raining?
My alarm will go off when the car is subject to a heavy downpour, as I use a disklock which is bright yellow visible, I have been known to leave the car open on the drive.


 

Simon: That looks like an excellent buy.  Full marks for going to examine it equipped with ramps, so that you could look at the underside.  You have already received excellent advice Re underfloor pipes, low-coolant alarm etc.  You will find Notanumber, Cobber and many others very useful sources of sound advice.  Roverlike is also a Goldmine of useful, accurate information, some of which is NOT available, or occasionally WRONG or misleading in the workshop manual!

You mentioned: "It needs a full service, a set of tyres and the suspension pumped up, but other than that it's hopefully very close to passing an MoT."

You also mentioned that the ride was hard.  I strongly suspect that the Hydrogas spheres have lost some or all of their nitrogen charge.  Just pumping-up the suspension may corret the ride height, but will do very little for the suspension harshness.  Replacement/Recharged spheres are the best solution, as NOS spheres are NLA.  www.hahsltd.co.uk are worth a look.  They are based in Telford, but other suppliers/refurbishers may be nearer to you.

Good luck with your car: Many hours of grin-making motoring ahead!


 

The unknowing just keep having the fluid pumped up which regains the look of the correct height but at the expense of being rock hard. The spheres are partly filled with nitrogen gas in a sealed section and then fluid is pumped into the other section, with a diaphram between the two chambers. Over the years some of the nitrogen is lost but though the gas isnt DIY refillable they can be sent to a specialist for regassing as EllisoJo recommended. I sent mine to Kevin the Hydragas man who charged me £ 160 for doing the set including postage. For a tiny amount more he will modify the cones to reduce the ride height slightly to Trophy level without limiting the range of suspension travel.

Very helpful replies folks - thanks again.

I'll investigate and rectify the boot wiring issue.  It wasn't raining at the time, but both nights the alarm seemed to go off at about the same time, when the temperature was beginning to cool down for the night. The car had been locked for a good three hours prior to the false alarm each time. I've left it unlocked ever since - I'm lucky because I can park it off the road and away from danger. It'll be no trouble to splice some replacement wiring in.

Thanks also for the info about the suspension issues. I'll check the service history and see what, if anything, has been done in the past. If I can get refurbished spheres for under £200 then that will be a good solution.

One other bit of info I can't find easily is what size tyres the Freestyle MGF should have.  I've got 205 45 R16s on the back which are in reasonable condition, but the fronts are 195 45 R16 and require replacement. The owner's manual doesn't mention those tyre sizes so I'm wondering if they should be 205 40 R16 but someone's upped the aspect ratio because if tyre availability or trying to make the speedo more accurate.  I did the same trick some years ago with a Rover 45 that had 16" alloys.

One final question - has anyone had success in programming in a new fob for the remote locking?  My car came with two keys and one fob, but I've got a couple of spares that I picked up in the scrap yard some time ago.  It would be great to get one of these associated with the MGF.

Thanks everyone, and apologies for all the questions!

 

Regarding your question on programming new fob for your car, yes it can be done. However you need specialized software to do so. We are mostly using PScan software which forum you can find on this site as well. See  https://www.pscan.uk

On the sphere front, I had a spare set, intention being to recharge them myself. I am well equipped to attempt a job like this & had most of the materials about me.
There was however a reluctance to drilling units which may have had a number of good years in them.
I built a test rig & in researching information on perimeters I came across Kevin “the hydrogas man”.
He takes your spheres, tests them & if resurrectable, recharges them using the original methods on manufacture; a much better proposition than drilling.
He is in Stockport.
Notanumber had recently had a set done, as already mentioned & other than the ease of recharging the weld on modification, when those eventually sag.
I consider Kevin’s method superior & cost effective.
M

The Freestyle designation is just a trim level. Most people won't know when different editions were introduced and what they had on them at the time as there were quite a few specials and limited editions which largely just add up to trim level differences.

When buying parts and doing work the important things to know about your MGF's build are: Mk1 or a Mk2, whether MPI (118) or VVC (143 or Trophy 160) , MEMS 1.9 ( has a distributor) or MEMS2.0 (usually early vvc) or MEMS 3.0 ( late MGFs and all TFs). Standard front brakes or 4 pot AP Racing calipers (dictates wheel size).

Tyre choice is interesting, lots to seach for on this. The front and rear tyres are indeed different sizes intentionally.
MGFs were sensitive to tyre choice, MG TFs especially those with 16 " wheels were really hyper sensitive to tyre choice

The Freestyle actually specifies 215 40 x 16 all around on tyres.
Other specs are front splitter and rear spoiler, Hairpin 16inch wheels, Newer mk2 interior. 
Usually leather seats.

SimonR wrote:

Hi everyone - many thanks for all the words of welcome and helpful suggestions - I'm glad you like the car!

I've noted that the underbody coolant pipes rot from the inside - I will replace those as a matter of urgency and replace the coolant with new.  On that subject, what low coolant alarms does everyone use? - I found this on eBay - Any views on this one?


 

Hi Simon.  Sorry to be slow in picking this up.  I'm all behind with recent posts - they come faster than I can read them

Please contact me directly by private mail here on the T-Bar for a low coolant alarm.  I offer a decent discount to members of the T-Bar.  Since eBay started adding a premium to the price set by private sellers, they are even more of a bargain this way.

To send a PM, on the left of this post, under my avatar, there is a little speech bubble.  Click this to send a message (might be different on a phone).

Bruce.

No worries Bruce - thanks for the message.  I've emailed you to buy an alarm.

I reported in another thread but thought I'd add it here as it's good news - I've found a donor vehicle that's being broken for spares and have negotiated a deal on an almost new dark blue mohair hood and rear screen, bonnet, hard top, scorpion exhaust and stainless under-floor coolant pipes. 

The plan is to get the car MoTed asap (which turned out to be the 14th May as my local classic-friendly garage is really busy) and then drive it over to the donor car and swap the parts onto it.  To that end, four new tyres arrived today and will be fitted prior to the MoT.

Finally, I had a trip to the scrap yard yesterday and picked up a few bits from two MGFs that were languishing there: some wheel nuts as a few of mine are mangled, a speaker grille for the driver's door card, a washer bottle lid as mine was damaged and some boot lid wiring to splice into my car's loom to see if that's the cause of the alarm going off for no reason.

 

Just a quick thank you to Bruce for sending the coolant alarm so quickly - I fitted it today and it works a treat!