@boardinbob Thanks for the links.
Trophy Cars have some nice 'done' ones, but at a price! The one I've bought is, I think, a decent compromise - all hopefully(!) good in the important bits, just a few cosmetics bits that need attention.
I you do get one then keep it covered or in a garage.
I had one and while I loved it a combination of having a child plus rust killed it!
K
The one I’ve bought is, I think, a decent compromise – all hopefully(!) good in the important bits, just a few cosmetics bits that need attention.
This is how every new buyer of a classic car describes it 🤣
Your options from this point are either:
a) blissful ignorance, just drive it and enjoy it and sell it at a loss in a few years.
b) tear it apart to fix a minor fault, have a love/hate relationship with it for years, and sell it for what you paid for it (and ignore the cost of keeping it that way) to someone who will describe it as "a decent compromise – all hopefully(!) good in the important bits, just a few cosmetics bits that need attention.".
🤣🤣
If you're even remotely mechanically capable, it's actually a very easy car to work on. Despite the engine being in the back, access is quite good and there's plenty of room to work. The roof hinges up from the rear and reveals a panel that you remove to get access to the top of the engine. Other than a timing belt change, I did all my own servicing and spannering
I hope you get a steal, because a 3K MG is normally going to be a lot more rusty and knackered than a 3K MX5.
The raft of updates to the K series included head/block stiffening via assembly changes, head bolt torque changes, coolant system changes to reduce thermal shock and a few other odds and sods. If they've not been done, I'd try to retrofit them if you plan to keep it.
Welcome to classic car ownership.
One of the best/worst feelings is that one I get when I do a long journey or waiting to disembark the Channel tunnel.
It’s a sort of I shouldn’t be here in this feeling which is great and scary all at once.
Amusing moments like the car locking me in at a French service station or a rotor arm exploding in Aberdeen.
Also a small fire in Spain.
I'm under no illusion that it's going to be perfect - it's a 20 year old car. There's also an element of rarity - I see half a dozen MX5's drive past my shop everyday. Can't recall the last TF I saw.
But from everything I've looked at even complete front and rear subframe replacement doesn't look that horrendous in cost.
Then there's the nostalgic affinity to MG's - my mum had several MGB's back in the 70s, GTs and roadsters. Good ones of those are out of reach for me now though.
Very nice. It's amazing what you can fit in one - a mate and I drove to the alps and back in his MGF with 2 pairs of skis and poles and full ski touring kit. A bit cosy as a passenger!
K Series head gasket failures were generally thought to be down to the plastic dowel pins they used in the head/block. They used plastic as they decided it was less likely to nick the head gasket during manufacture. However the plastic pins allowed the head to latterly float on the head and this lead to gasket failures. Replacing the gasket and using metal dowels should be a permanent fix.
Nasty looking crack in that paving slab…
And there are weeds poking through as well…
😉
because a 3K MG is normally going to be a lot more rusty and knackered than a 3K MX5.
That's a bold statement as 3k mx5 are generally rotboxes.
4 months in and I'm loving it - it's pretty much my daily driver now. It squeaks, it rattles, heater is a bit dodgy, drivers window leaks if you don't quite have the hood in the right position, you feel like you are doing a 100mph at 50mph. This mornings misty commute... 🙂
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That looks really nice, quite Boxster-esque from that angle 👍
My mum had one for a while. Similar to that. Silver, same alloys.
Straight through stainless exhaust which made a nice sound.
Good fun on some of the Essex back roads.
Got rid just as the head gasket was on the way out.
I do love a good K, even if my Elise is on its second (cheaper to stick a vvc in than it was too repair the first). The VHPD is a beast, had the pleasure of driving a rare S1 190 on track. So much fun.
One of the issues in the Elise with a k is the poor flow rate of the water pump at idle or low rpm. Not enough water flows through the head leading to hot spots and softening. Also no post shutdown cooling resulting in the coolant boiling in the head. Addition of a Davies Craig ewp solves both issues.
I just sold my Boxster for just over £3k, they are a total bargain.
For less than that my money would go on a z3. not a rotten mx5
The MG is a little niche, but they did a great job given the budget they had.
Another year has whizzed by and the MG TF has just passed it's second MOT with me.
A couple of small advisories, but nowt major. All fine and dandy underneath, no sign of rot.
Total cost of maintenance in the last year... £255.00 which was today's bill!
Nice one !
My dad has had a 2009 TF as his daily driver the last ten years or so. Not sure of the mileage .Had one head gasket done. Other than that it's been fine.
He's got the160hp version which he says is loads better than the 2004 130hp F it replaced.
Never could understand car meets. Went to one once at Ace Cafe. Dull as.
There was one on at Castle Combe circuit yesterday afternoon, for Triumph TR owners. Saw several as I was leaving Chippenham to visit a friend who lives on the Fosse Way the other side of Castle Combe, and I wondered where they were going to or coming from, then as I passed the entrance I could see quite a few in the paddock area.
They couldn’t have had better weather for driving around in sports cars with the tops down!
Never could understand car meets. Went to one once at Ace Cafe. Dull as.
There 3 types IME.
1) The obnoxious ones where hundreds of people meet in a supermarket car park in Bedfordshire to be obnoxious.
2) Paid for ones, sometimes attached to a village/school/charity/agricultural/county fair. Variable, but if the actual fair is worth visiting then it's usually cheaper than the parking/entry and you've got somewhere nice to sit for a nice picnic rather than a picnic bench next to the overpriced hotdog stand.
3) Car'n'coffee type breakfast meets. Usually at a local pub somewhere nice at 9am on a Sunday. Good excuse to get out, go somewhere, be sociable, have a big breakfast then everyone disperses, some people/clubs might have planned a day out and it's their meeting point, others it's just a more interesting way to spend that no-mans-land time between getting up and B&Q opening at 10.
Type 3 is always the best, you get an eclectic mix of everything from a brand new Aston, some unrestored pre-WW2 stuff held together by filler and chicken wire, some kids kit-car Cobra, and a Nissan Micra that thought it was a Type 1 meet. And you're not there long enough to get bored.
I've never understood the appeal of the Ace Cafe, you've got to drive in London to get to it, which is inevitably going to be awful, and made worse by the fact whatever you're driving probably doesn't have AC.
I was at a "loads of people in a car park" type one last week, Falkirk Cruise, it was ace. I was pretty surprised by how varied and inclusive it is now, there were a bunch of absolute shitboxes and obvious zero budget builds, lots of exposed filler and primer and tape and dents and rust and such and all getting as much attention as the supercars. I'm not social at these things but there was lots of good chat. Police in attendance but they did a good job of being visible but hands-off just to stop anything too unhinged. Lots of noise but that was the worst of it. Good stuff and you can see for some people it's all a massive deal.
(my Subaru's my more "showy" car but I took the mx5, just because it's probably getting sold soon and I wanted to give it a wee trip. It's a really boring thing to look at, standard looking mk3 in doom blue, the mk3 is the one nobody likes but I did a reasonably interesting engine swap in it (with blue hoses, gotta love some blue hoses) and despite its general shitness, every time I swung by there'd be people with their heads under the bonnet checking it out, loads of questions and interest and such, it's nice. I was parked beside an R32 ffs, but somehow people still took time to take an interest in all the little shitters)
I miss when it used to be in a supermarket car park, cos you could also go to the supermarket.
I've never understood the appeal of the Ace Cafe, you've got to drive in London to get to it, which is inevitably going to be awful, and made worse by the fact whatever you're driving probably doesn't have AC.
I used to do French car night occasionally about 20 years ago. There was a little collection of 306gti6 owners who used to turn up semi regularly, eat some ribs and have a chat in person instead of on the forum. All quite civilised but the drive in was a shocker. Moved on to more boring and functional cars soon after.
My daughter nicked the MG last night and took this photo - I rather like this photo with it sat there all alone! 🙂
I had an mgf back in the day. Despite the bad rep I loved it. Although it was downright dangerous in the wet, and the roof leaked.
Felt alot faster than it actually was and driving it always put a smile on my face
That was until I spun it 720 degrees coming off a round about and took the back end off hitting the central reservation
For a summer runabout it woukd be a great choice
I thought you meant a proper MG TF
That's what I thought too. Mine was red though.
Not much wrong with the XPEG engine.
Three years on and another MOT passed with little issue (a wiper blade!).
For saying how crap these are meant to be it's given me the least trouble and the most smiles by far of any car I've owned. 😀
It's left outside all year round, goes mouldy inside in winter and not polished to within in an inch of it's life.
Good on fuel too - which is a bonus now! ⛽️
Took the midget to a car meet on Sunday morning, it's a small one at a pub though so doesn't attract the doughnuts and ASBO crowd, it's more 1940's Rolls Royce and (original) Lotus Elan's than Fiesta 1.2's and MX5's with fart boxes and welded diffs. There's always one there looking lost but they usual leave when they find the only under-age girls hanging around are there with their dad and his Bentley.
Obviously when I started it up after it's annual oil change the exhaust let me know that I REALLY need to track down whatever valve seal is depositing quite that much oil into the engine by spraying it up the driveway and garage door,. Then on the way there the exhaust half fell off when the lowered lever-arm suspension failed to deal with a small undulation in the road even at 30mph (pretty sure it went airborne, then bottomed out the exhausts onto the road). so Now all the rubber* mounts need replacing, again. And then it rained so I found another leak in the windscreen seal that's sending water inside the dash panel, which is steel so I'll have to fix it or it'll rust.
Quite a successful morning of classic car ownership really really.
*The problem with classic MG's is they are popular enough that parts are plentiful and cheap. Unfortunately that seems to mean the demand is met by the worst quality suppliers you can imagine.
[edit] turns out MG/Triumph didn't have oil seals, which means they just relied on the valve guide clearance to seal them, which likely means one (or more) of the exhaust valve guide(s) is shot.
So now it's the usual classic motoring dilemma of, do I tear it apart now fixing something that isn't right, but would probably quite happily go another decade before it became an actual problem. Or ignore it for another decade and just remember never to start it up with the exhaust pointing at the wall (or a nice driveway).
😀
Thankfully mines a mere youngster at 24 years old so probably doesn't even count as classic yet!
TBH Probably rarer than a Boxster now.
I think it’s probably a better car to repair than a boxster.
Ill probably eventually end up with some lotus Elise(I’m off cars ATM), interestingly a lot of people think the Elise with the K engine is better than the Toyota as it seems to be in character with the car more than the reliable Toyota which is also more expensive to repair ‘if’ it goes wrong.
I do still have a smart convertible that Mrs DoD has nicked as it’s a great thing in Spain.
Ill probably eventually end up with some lotus Elise(I’m off cars ATM), interestingly a lot of people think the Elise with the K engine is better than the Toyota as it seems to be in character with the car more than the reliable Toyota which is also more expensive to repair ‘if’ it goes wro
Not wanting to derail the thread, but have you driven a k-series car? It wasn't just the driving position that I dislike about the TF, I just never gelled with the engine. Maybe a tuned one from Hethel has more zing, but I found the 130 really uninspiring. I love a small NA engine, but compared to something like the Mx5's 1.6, (or the wonderful 4AGE) it just seemed to lack any real character.
I’d agree on the engine - I had an ‘07 Type R a few years ago and it’s certainly no Honda K24 - that just begged to be revved!! 😀
The K Series seems reluctant to approach the red-line in comparison.
I may get a new exhaust and see if that helps it breath a bit better. KMaps remap is another popular mod.
Ill probably eventually end up with some lotus Elise(I’m off cars ATM), interestingly a lot of people think the Elise with the K engine is better than the Toyota as it seems to be in character with the car more than the reliable Toyota which is also more expensive to repair ‘if’ it goes wro
Not wanting to derail the thread, but have you driven a k-series car? It wasn't just the driving position that I dislike about the TF, I just never gelled with the engine. Maybe a tuned one from Hethel has more zing, but I found the 130 really uninspiring. I love a small NA engine, but compared to something like the Mx5's 1.6, (or the wonderful 4AGE) it just seemed to lack any real character.
No,but tbh I’m not expecting to be blown away by the k-series engine :-).
Don't forget the Elise is 200+kg lighter than the TF and er handles.
(I have real bugbears about driving position though, tbf, it's the thing that killed the Puma for me)
Is that the original Ford Puma from the late 90’s - early 2000’s? I loved mine, the seating position was perfect for me, as is my EcoSport, which is why I bought it.
I had driven Mercedes which were horrible things, the seats were dreadful!
Hold up, don't be too hasty. It's all in the cams and cam timing.
A very, very easy change of cams, a throttle body, a timing advance pin and a good tune up made an absolute world of difference in my S2 Elise. Very characterful, rev happy engine afterwards.
Markedly nicer than anything Mazda have ever done pre skyactiv (owned and tuned them all!).
This is where you go... Refreshingly old fashioned.
The K series is a superb 4 cylinder engine, only the Japanese K a few decades later really moved things on much more!
And yes, the K series S2 Elise is way closer to the original than the fat federalised one that followed!
TBH that’s not insanely priced and compared to that modern headlight that someone had to replace.
