The MGF Panther restore complete

Front Fogs are a God send out here. Being on the Fens fogs are a matter of course and there are no curbs and often dykes and drains to wander off into. So Fogs as I said are a God Send, Only he 97 MGF MPi does not have them the two Rover saloons have them as standard in their trim.

Just wish I had the space and fund to gather more. The fixing up on the two MGF's that I do have is taking time as we can only do bits as finances permit. Sadly her bodywork was badly knocked about whist she lived on the Street in London:-

O/S/R quarter

N/S/R quarter .............................A local garage did this bodge up for the MOT:-

took the guy nearly three hours to do that dreadful mess. It's being cut out and repaired properly now along with dent and rust removal the both rear quarters being sprayed.. Then once funds have been saved up some more rectifications can be done. One day she will be presentable possibly even good. It's seeing MG's like yours that inspires me to keep at it for the long run.

The front bumper came off today to replace them headlights as mentioned in earlier posts. The front tub and front panel are corrosion free,the shell is pretty good ,a little grimey under the bonnet area with a degrease & clean some chrome mounts and stainless bolts i can cheers this up.Most importantly no rust.



Standard OE lights now fitted.



Ap 4 pot calipers and discs also fitted on front today .

Nice but C'mon those AP calipers need a bit of a spruce up. I can say that the Halfords Red caliper paint, brush on type, seems to be good. I cleaned up the discs bell and painted them red and the outside rim of the discs with this paint and nearly 3,000 miles later they are still looking good. OK I admit that I did a fair bit of refurbishing on mine, new bolts holding the halves together, new cross over pipes and bleed nipples along with new wear plated and pins.

Wish either of mine had that little rust :nonod: .................................. keep up the good work :broon: .

Appreciate the advice haldfords paint etc ,but please view the picture at bottom.
My friend MG MANIA as all the parts available to refurb AP calipers,pins plates replacement bolts seals pistons etc crossover pipes should anybody need them visit his website.
Come to think about it he called in today and on my list was some off these from him as i always fit them when replacing calipers we used some on the panther today i scrap the old ones as Glenn advises they stretch when previously torqued up
MGF MG F BIG RED AP 4 Pot Caliper Stainless Steel Bolts Kit Completed
I have replacement helbrake hoses infact plenty of new parts already purchased from MG MANIA for this car already in place pointless boring everybody the future pictures will speak for themselves but i am not in a rush to strip it down at moment as i have other cars to finish.
By stripping it down without finishing another car adds extra pressure to my workload only fools rush in i was once told.

As explained in previous posts this car will not have the refurb i have planned until i finish my Green MGF see my other post (MGF REFURB COLOUR OPINIONS).I already have two MGFS and one TF and a couple of non MG associated cars i am working on i am not adding another shell stripped down until estimate DECEMBER for this panther.
These are just minor cosmetic touches and the brakes i have fitted obviously improve the braking i am still fitting balljoints and a few parts here and there to improve the ride then road testing so i dont want to get the ones pictured below dirty,when i refurb a car it rarely gets driven again.

The calipers fitted today on panther are not shiny red whats the point when the car is going to be stripped down rebuilt to a standard that will enable me to fit these little numbers below,i have several second hand AP calipers I have a set for sale on the forum,i have some new ones that are not for sale i have collected over the years i only fit them to my finished projects that never get driven a new pair will show on my green mgf shortly on this forum and standard that no doubt a pair will finish up on the panther.
Point is this car as bigger fish to fry than going straight for the shiny caliper look of fitting the new pair i have for this car pictured below at the moment .

Ahhhh sorry I did not realise that this one only a temp measure whilst you finished the other projects. Out here tis a bit of wilderness for stuff like this so I bought some of my refurbishing AP stuff from Mike Satur then realised had not ordered enough wear plates as the bag only contained one caliper set, the bolts came in a bag for two caliper to add to the confusion. As Mike was taking an age to supply at that time I ended up talking directly to AP Lockheed and ended up dealing with a main distributor so the cross over pies, bleed nipples and rubber caps and the remaining wear plates cost a fraction of the ones from Mike Satur.

I would personally be more careful in buying used AP's in future now after taking these apart to refurbish and I will be pulling the pads out on those fitted to "Elsie" and taking the calipers off the hubs to clean them inside before the winter sets in and probably part way through to stop the dust build up and the corrosion it causes. There were some new AP's on offer a while back but again they were beyond my available budget at the time.

Also hope to get some 280 mm discs on the back of "Elsie" over the winter. Will see what I can knock up spacer wise for the rear caliper and find the drill guide for the T-bow drilling rig so that the discs can be re-drilled accurately. Just need to pope the last ball joint and take the rear hub off to clean up from the spare rear sub frame so the hub can be on the bench to get the spacer right. Have been wondering about making one up out of 1" think HE30 alloy to hold the caliper. Have some left over from the days of making slab yokes for motorbikes.

Funnily enough I bought the spark plugs that are now in "Elsie" from "Glen" at mgmanialtd.

That was the last Panther to be converted and the only Mk2 one, the other 5 were Anthracite and wet all ordered from Longbridge at the same time . I have searched for two that still exist, the third is on SORN and the other two have evaporated. The owner didn't give me the VIN for the MNX Mk2 Panther.

Evening,set about the interior on the panther today,the green and black trim not to my taste with the silver body colour.,the dashboard binnacle cracked ,the centre console as pictured.In short a mess.
The carpets are teared that start stop button that only starts the car but doesnt cut it out had to go,the electric roof that doesnt work coming out and the scruffy wiring for roof, led interior lights, and ICE all removed stripped it back to basics.
Will be fitting very shortly new genuine MG roof with heated glass screen,new dash,black and silver trim,TF one piece foam backed carpet and a mg standard radio.

Over the weekend i have stripped out all the unneccesary wiring all the wiring is now back to OE spec and the ignition now works off the key. I have removed the daft start button, a lot tidier.
Fitted a vgc 2010 complete dash with the piano black heater vents and piano black dashboard fascia and LE500 heater controls.
Black ash interior windscreen surrounds and sun visors have replaced the old beige ones.

Brand new Genuine TF carpets one piece foam backed fitted.Brand new silver centre console trim with 2010 switches.
2010 centre console,chrome ashtray,leather handbrake with chrome button, front and rear cockpit seals replaced fitted a MG UK clarion radio.
Brand new genuine piano black LE 500gearstiick surround and LE500 gearknob.
Also fitted the TF snorkel upgrade inside the front scuttle it is easier to remove the old duct that causes water ingress with the dash out.

Engine inspection cover renewed.A inspection from the top reveals a dry engine with a recent alternator and belt fitted a check of the timing belt reassures me of the previous receipts it had been changed,however the subframes will be coming down for overhaul after the summer of 2015 once my green one reassembled.
I also fitted a brand new speaker box and brand new MG UK seatbelts fitted as one of the speakers was pushed in and torn.

Brand new genuine black leather seats and door cards,the interior as been completely replaced and is now at a high standard i am happy with.
Brand new leather steering wheel and airbag fitted with a 2010 airbag coupler clock ring.

After viewing the rather untidy job of the wiring for the electric roof,various ecus and and the fact it never worked i decided to replace it.
When i purchased the panther the advert described and i was told two wires needing joining together?
The roof had not worked electrically for some time as part of the folding framework had been bent where it had been pushed hard against the fluid in hydraulic rams to fold up and down it was very stiff to manually operate.
I have removed the hydraulic rams and ram mounts, pump, micro switches,ecu ,up down switch relays and all wiring complete i may investigate further when time allows i much prefer the manually folding roof so i may sell the old set up in need of attention.
I have fitted a brand new genuine MG UK roof, (i have a few in stock for sale ) zipless and the heated glass rear glass screen for winter.Have also fitted the smaller height genuine MG UK windstop that folds up and down with the roof up.
Will upload some better pictures of this weekends work when in daylight and out of the unit.