towed a mgf today

[Captain_Muppet]

Big ends went on mine too. And the exhaust manifold fell off. And the sills and rear arches rusted through (when it was only 10 years old). The only thing it was good for was oversteer, but the chassis was so wallowy even that wasn’t fun. It was better after I locked up the rear subframe, but it still didn’t have any real feedback.

I bought it as a sensible family car, and it did seat 4 in comfort. You could sit there listerning to all the coolant falling out of the engine for hours, really comfy. Just dreadful if you wanted to drive around anywhere.

[LeighPing]

I used to work at Longbridge rover

… And you still bought one?

 

Not for what ‘they’ were selling them for.

[syecadelic]

I was going to buy a MGF, like the look of them actualy, dropped on the ground(loewred), looks well. Aksed a friend, what should i go for, mx5 or mgf, he replied. 

Unles you like changing head gaskets regularly buy an mx5… :) 

[LeighPing]

 Your friend’s a genius. So, I suppose he also told you that, if the head gasket does indeed fail, you only need to change it once as well. Did he?

Mine’s not failed in 10 years. It all depends on your definition of ‘regularly’ I suppose. Still, it is a general gripe with this marque I agree. However, they’re not as fragile as you might read or hear. No-one reports good news is the issue I think.

All the best

[taff_eunos]

 Your friend’s a genius. So, I suppose he also told you that, if the head gasket does indeed fail, you only need to change it once as well. Did he?

Mine’s not failed in 10 years. It all depends on your definition of ‘regularly’ I suppose. Still, it is a general gripe with this marque I agree. However, they’re not as fragile as you might read or hear. No-one reports good news is the issue I think.

All the best

Would have thought that if there was any joined-up thinking within BL/Rover then they may have learned something about how to design an engine and make it out of something with different characteristics to caramel from another major disaster the Triumph <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Snag</span> Stag

As if the company wasnt doomed already by the disastrous (for Honda) tie-up and the awful public relations from the likes of Red Robbo prevoiusly… (According to the BBC, “between 1978 and 1979 Mr Robinson was credited with causing 523 walk-outs at Longbridge, costing an estimated £200m in lost production”.) and the never-ending very public labour disputes, awful design, terrible build-quality and an all-round rotten reputation as a manufacturer, they had to go and commission the K-Series Engine

Perhaps they should have designated it the LN-Series (Last Nail in the coffin of Rover)?

Dr. Eunos

 

[LeighPing]

 Perhaps.

But you could say the same for many strikes now couldn’t you. Those people didn’t strike for no reason I’m sure. You’re from South Wales. Just ask that question down your local and maybe you will get an alternative, non tool of management, perspective on such matters. Lots of it went on in the 70’s and 80’s. But I’m not here to represent Rover group.

[taff_eunos]

I lived in Cannock through the 1970s my family had a Maxi, Mini, Austin 1800 (x2) and a Princess 2 (the shame of it!)

Dr. Eunos

[LeighPing]

 The cars were popular, inexpensive and always sold. I’ve owned a few, who hasn’t? The poorly managed workforce were just that. Anything of that volume is usually made a political feather in someones’ cap. But let’s not forget the bigger picture going on with landrover and mg still ticking over. Good luck to them.

[ast]

Poor industrial relations was hardly confined to BL; Vauxhall, Ford and Chrysler were also pretty notorious for “one out,all out”. An elderly Red Robbo was my neighbour during my PhD. I helped him on a land grab once.

British Leyland was formed for a good reason; all of the constituent companies were pretty much bankrupt (poor capitalization) by the time they were nationalised. The damage was caused long before BL was formed. But MG are still going, Longbridge is still making cars (sort of). Meanwhile Ryton has become a housing estate, Dagenham makes engines, but not cars, Vauxhall makes Opels and Renaults.

The MGF uses a Metro engine, the MX5 uses a pickup engine…

[muppet]

Well said Leigh

 

 

 Haha thankyou :). Just so you don’t think I’m a stick in the mud. I don’t mind a bit of rivalry and banter at all. It can be quite entertaining. Comes with working in a prison psychiatric unit I suppose. Just don’t bore me with stories of how you dismembered your victims. I’ve heard it all before.

Anyway, about the tow… I’m sure we’d all do the same for each other given the chance.

Here’s one I towed earlier. Just kidding of course… I love your cars.

No rush for these >>> http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/35288.aspx

All the best guys n gals

Leigh

Horses and courses! love the shape of the mgf/ft…driven a few, and still like them, you never know i might even got one, one day!

[LeighPing]

Horses and courses! love the shape of the mgf/ft…driven a few, and still like them, you never know i might even got one, one day!

 

Two things…

1. I didn’t know mx-5’s used a pickup engine… interesting. Which one by the way?

2. Cars break, gotta love em though.

[taff_eunos]

The MGF uses a Metro engine, the MX5 uses a pickup engine???

Not quite, I dont think the K-Series wafer-sandwich was a Metro engine (A+ Series)  The MX5 uses a normally aspirated version of the quite sucessful 323 turbo 4x4 rally car engine

[Reman]

and a Princess 2 (the shame of it!)

Don’t knock the Princess !

30 odd years back, Dad had a new one as a company car. We all loved it… Not because it was a good car, Far from it. No, We loved it because it caused us to have the best holiday ever one year.

Mum and Dad liked caravaning, All us kids didn’t though.

One year we went off for a little tour of Europe with the princess and a 4 berth caravan. A couple hundred miles into the trip the Princess decided that French petrol didn’t agree with it and decided to spit out it’s dummy (A fair few of it’s engines internal components became External components… Remember, At this point the car was still less than a year old !!!). Luckily, Dad’s boss was a nice bloke with strong “Family values” (And he was also an uber car nut… HIS company car a few years later ended up being a Lancia Delta integrale 16V !). When he heard that dad was planning to take a British car with a caravan for a couple thousand mile European trip he said “Good luck with that mate. I bet you a fiver that thing won’t make it all that way without falling to bits.”. When he realised that it was not just mum and dad, But all four of us kids going too he said “Look, Nothing would make me smile more than hearing that the Princess returned to the UK on a flat bead truck, But I don’t want to see your family get stranded out there. I’ve got personnel to beef up your AA cover a bit”.

Well, I don’t know what Personnel did, But we definitely didn’t get the service you get these days. Calling it “Gold+ cover” just didn’t seem to cover it, It was more like “VIP Gold plated Platinum ingot… With inlaid diamonds cover !”. When the AA’s representative met us at the garage we were told (In broken English) that our cover entitled us to a loan car to continue our holiday in, But they couldn’t find one that would tow the caravan at such short notice. They gave us a 7 seater Citroen CX estate (YAY !!! We each had a seat for a change !!! ) and a card with a phone number and a hand written reference number on it. We were told to give that card to the managers of any hotels we’d need to stop at as we continued our holiday.

We’d turn up at a hotel and hand over the card. The manager would phone up, Quote the number and we’d watch his face light up as he was told to give us a double room and 2 twin rooms at short notice. Each time after the call we’d get a message from the AA saying things like “Sorry, But your car is still not fixed. More parts are being dispatched to it from the UK”. It was great!

Apparently we went around the west of  France, Dropped into Spain for a couple of days, Along the south of France again to get to Italy, Then came back up via a little stint into Germany (I think Dad was looking for one of those “No speed limit autobahn” things that he’d heard so much about. ). Trouble is, I was only 4 at the time and my memory of the trip consists of loads of warm hotels with big beds, A big spacious car (That I thought looked like a space ship), Wondering why none of the other kids I met understood what I was saying, And throwing up for pretty much the entire leg of the journey over the Pyrenees. Whenever I think about that holiday I wish it had happened when I was a bit older so I could have appreciated what was happening a bit more. Mind you, Even the sketchy memory’s I have of that family holiday still make me feel glad we all got to go.

After 3 weeks the AA lost faith in the French garage and had the car/caravan collected and towed back to the UK. The caravan eventually came back home and the car went off to the dealer to have a new engine fitted under warranty.

As Dad had a company fuel card too (and a VERY lenient boss) all the holiday cost him was the price of our meals… And the fiver he lost in the bosses bet.

We had a wonderful touring holiday in a big comfortable car, Got to have evening meals in nice pubs and restaurants, And slept in nice comfy hotel beds,  All thanks to a communist worker that was too busy striking to check that he’d torqued up all the princesses main bearing caps properly.

I salute you, Comrade, whoever you are. 

Scotty B.

 

[english]

Scotty

       Thanks for a great read, great story and i bet your dad was well made up.

and told the story for years after.

   

[LeighPing]

 lmao at the communist worker quip on the last post. Nice one.

As for the metro engine… Well, he’s half right. Some metros did use k series 1100 and 1400 engines.

Interesting point about the mx5 NA engine being from a 323. Thanks.

[ast]

The MGF uses a Metro engine, the MX5 uses a pickup engine???

Not quite, I dont think the K-Series wafer-sandwich was a Metro engine (A+ Series)  The MX5 uses a normally aspirated version of the quite sucessful 323 turbo 4x4 rally car engine

The A-Series was only used in Austin-based Metros, from 1980 until 1990. The Rover Metro (100 from 1994) employed a 1.1 or 1.4 single cam (and one twin cam) variant of the K-Series until the end of production in 1998. The Austin Metro was made before the birth of many members of this forum, and thus most would associate the Metro more with the advent of the K-Series. Different versions of the K-series (all twin cam), some with variable valve timing, were used in the MGF/TF series.The MGF uses an engine that is clearly derived from one that was installed in the Rover Metro.

 

The B6-ZE was developed for the Mazda Miata, though it shares a lineage with the B6T used in various 323s, Tracers and Australian Capris. The major differences, besides the use  CAS vs Dizzie cap; lower compression in the B6T, stronger conrods in the B6T,  different coolant routing on the head of the B6T, stiffer valve springs on the B6T,

This illustrates some of the changes, L-R, GTR (BPD), B6ZE, B6T

 

 

The 90hp B6 is based on the Mazda Familia engine.

 

The B6 was originally a single cam engine, and appeared in a variety of Mazda, Ford and Kia-badged cars prior to the MX5. Amongst these models were two 323-derived pickups that employed the B6; the Mazda Rustler and the Ford Bantam.

The MX5 uses a variant of an engine that clearly first saw use in a fange of economy cars, including commerical utility vehicles. Its not an exotic engine, which is the whole point of the MX5. For the same reason the designers chose a relatively old fashioned H4 7" Headlamp, instead of a more bespoke design that featured on many other Japanese cars of the age. Mazda designers drew inspiration from the Lotus Elan, which useda well developed Ford engine, from the MGB, which used a straight Morris engine, and the Spitfire, which used a Standard engine. I see nothing wrong with a sports car being specified with an engine with humble origins, and certainly won’t be in denial about it. It followed and resurrected a noble tradition in mass sports car design.

 

[LeighPing]

 It certainly did resurrect a noble tradition in mass sports car design. That’s for sure. It continues to be the best-selling two-seat convertible sports car in history and by February 2011, 900,000 MX-5s have been built and sold around the world (facts courtesy of wikipedia). Awesome write up, all of them very interesting and educational for a noob like me. Thanks.

[taff_eunos]

The MGF uses a Metro engine, the MX5 uses a pickup engine???

Not quite, I dont think the K-Series wafer-sandwich was a Metro engine (A+ Series)  The MX5 uses a normally aspirated version of the quite sucessful 323 turbo 4x4 rally car engine

The A-Series was only used in Austin-based Metros, from 1980 until 1990. The Rover Metro (100 from 1994) employed a 1.1 or 1.4 single cam (and one twin cam) variant of the K-Series until the end of production in 1998. The Austin Metro was made before the birth of many members of this forum, and thus most would associate the Metro more with the advent of the K-Series. Different versions of the K-series (all twin cam), some with variable valve timing, were used in the MGF/TF series.The MGF uses an engine that is clearly derived from one that was installed in the Rover Metro.

 

The B6-ZE was developed for the Mazda Miata, though it shares a lineage with the B6T used in various 323s, Tracers and Australian Capris. The major differences, besides the use  CAS vs Dizzie cap; lower compression in the B6T, stronger conrods in the B6T,  different coolant routing on the head of the B6T, stiffer valve springs on the B6T,

This illustrates some of the changes, L-R, GTR (BPD), B6ZE, B6T

 

 

The 90hp B6 is based on the Mazda Familia engine.

 

The B6 was originally a single cam engine, and appeared in a variety of Mazda, Ford and Kia-badged cars prior to the MX5. Amongst these models were two 323-derived pickups that employed the B6; the Mazda Rustler and the Ford Bantam.

The MX5 uses a variant of an engine that clearly first saw use in a fange of economy cars, including commerical utility vehicles. Its not an exotic engine, which is the whole point of the MX5. For the same reason the designers chose a relatively old fashioned H4 7" Headlamp, instead of a more bespoke design that featured on many other Japanese cars of the age. Mazda designers drew inspiration from the Lotus Elan, which useda well developed Ford engine, from the MGB, which used a straight Morris engine, and the Spitfire, which used a Standard engine. I see nothing wrong with a sports car being specified with an engine with humble origins, and certainly won’t be in denial about it. It followed and resurrected a noble tradition in mass sports car design.

 

According to popular folklore the MGF was never fitted with a 1.4 K-Series so no, the MGF does not have a Metro engine.

The Metro, when fitted with a 1.4 engine was using an engine from a Rover 214, not a specifically designed engine for the Metro, clearly…

Dr. Eunos

 

 

[muppet]

Dr. Eunos

you will not win, whether you are right or not.!

[taff_eunos]

and a Princess 2 (the shame of it!)

Don’t knock the Princess !

30 odd years back, Dad had a new one as a company car. We all loved it… Not because it was a good car, Far from it. No, We loved it because it caused us to have the best holiday ever one year.

Mum and Dad liked caravaning, All us kids didn’t though.

One year we went off for a little tour of Europe with the princess and a 4 berth caravan. A couple hundred miles into the trip the Princess decided that French petrol didn’t agree with it and decided to spit out it’s dummy (A fair few of it’s engines internal components became External components… Remember, At this point the car was still less than a year old !!!). Luckily, Dad’s boss was a nice bloke with strong “Family values” (And he was also an uber car nut… HIS company car a few years later ended up being a Lancia Delta integrale 16V !). When he heard that dad was planning to take a British car with a caravan for a couple thousand mile European trip he said “Good luck with that mate. I bet you a fiver that thing won’t make it all that way without falling to bits.”. When he realised that it was not just mum and dad, But all four of us kids going too he said “Look, Nothing would make me smile more than hearing that the Princess returned to the UK on a flat bead truck, But I don’t want to see your family get stranded out there. I’ve got personnel to beef up your AA cover a bit”.

Well, I don’t know what Personnel did, But we definitely didn’t get the service you get these days. Calling it “Gold+ cover” just didn’t seem to cover it, It was more like “VIP Gold plated Platinum ingot… With inlaid diamonds cover !”. When the AA’s representative met us at the garage we were told (In broken English) that our cover entitled us to a loan car to continue our holiday in, But they couldn’t find one that would tow the caravan at such short notice. They gave us a 7 seater Citroen CX estate (YAY !!! We each had a seat for a change !!! ) and a card with a phone number and a hand written reference number on it. We were told to give that card to the managers of any hotels we’d need to stop at as we continued our holiday.

We’d turn up at a hotel and hand over the card. The manager would phone up, Quote the number and we’d watch his face light up as he was told to give us a double room and 2 twin rooms at short notice. Each time after the call we’d get a message from the AA saying things like “Sorry, But your car is still not fixed. More parts are being dispatched to it from the UK”. It was great!

Apparently we went around the west of  France, Dropped into Spain for a couple of days, Along the south of France again to get to Italy, Then came back up via a little stint into Germany (I think Dad was looking for one of those “No speed limit autobahn” things that he’d heard so much about. ). Trouble is, I was only 4 at the time and my memory of the trip consists of loads of warm hotels with big beds, A big spacious car (That I thought looked like a space ship), Wondering why none of the other kids I met understood what I was saying, And throwing up for pretty much the entire leg of the journey over the Pyrenees. Whenever I think about that holiday I wish it had happened when I was a bit older so I could have appreciated what was happening a bit more. Mind you, Even the sketchy memory’s I have of that family holiday still make me feel glad we all got to go.

After 3 weeks the AA lost faith in the French garage and had the car/caravan collected and towed back to the UK. The caravan eventually came back home and the car went off to the dealer to have a new engine fitted under warranty.

As Dad had a company fuel card too (and a VERY lenient boss) all the holiday cost him was the price of our meals… And the fiver he lost in the bosses bet.

We had a wonderful touring holiday in a big comfortable car, Got to have evening meals in nice pubs and restaurants, And slept in nice comfy hotel beds,  All thanks to a communist worker that was too busy striking to check that he’d torqued up all the princesses main bearing caps properly.

I salute you, Comrade, whoever you are. 

Scotty B.

 

Nice story  my dadsPrincess 2 was a 2litre (O-Series) HLS on aVreg, a company car, I as a 9 year old kid had pleaded with him to have a Renault 20 instead but he decided to have one more go at saving Britains car industry. Two days after delivery we went to show it off to a pal of his in Stafford, when we left their house my dad did a U turn on an A road and literallytouchedthe sloped kerb on the other side of the road. There was a huge noise and wobbly vibration and we ground to a halt, it seems the hard-working and diligent workers of BL had neglected to weld the centre and rim of that wheel together. Un-believable but instead of totally rejecting the car on the basis that other bits of it may not have been assembled properly according to the supposedlyidiot-proofinstructions system at Longbridge, my dear old dad decided thatlightning cannot strike twiceand decided to keep the wreched heap ofBirmingams Finest.

As it happens, we grew to quite like the car and its soft hydra-gas suspension seemed to mop-up the pot-holes and under-maintained highways of Mrs Thatchers` Britain.

I went on a 3 week exchange holiday to Florida and had a great time, my American mate Mike came back here with me for his 3 weeks of miserable British weather and poverty (his mum had a 450SL and a Lincoln Continental, his dad had two customised `50s pick-up trucks)

My dad picked us up from Heathrow in the Princess (how embarrassing) and proceeded to burn large amounts of company 4* fuel in persuit of making the trip back to Cardiff as brisk as possible, Mike looked up at the dashboard and inquisitively asked is that speedometer reading in kilometers? my dad replied no, miles per hour, why?

Mike looked decidedly worried…

Turns out that the Princess might just as well have been Concorde, Mike had never been faster than 65mph in a car, and Old Man Eunos was sat there at 110mph!

Imagine if he only knew about the build-quality of the death-trap he was hurtling westwards in

Dr. Eunos