Tigger

The symptoms:

Noisy gearbox when idling in neutral, noise goes away (pretty much) when clutch depressed (really must send clutch to counseling).

My diagnosis:

New clutch bearing

Am I right...?

Now is this possible as DIY (on a garage floor) or should I really run the car down to Redline....?

Tig

I had a 1.8K with 113 thou of lift without contact at TDC and that is somewhere close to 3mm (that is pretty close to the piston those and a mistake!!!.

Tig

Why is it that when I receive an email by blat mail I can't see a proper reply email....? This makes replying very difficult.....!

Tim N. I haven't used these before either but I'm working on the basis that other people have used them and recommend them they must be a decent solution for cycle wing fixing. I am trying to get a pic for both you and me unless anyone else can email one to us.

Tim

To make this work I need to order 36 of the little blighters,

They are £1.19 exVAT (£1.40inc) each ( Ref: 316-B12/cable tie wrap-15mm)

So with 3 people it will mean we each have 4 extras for a total of £16.80 Per person (inc VAT (p&p FOC)).

So do I have any more takers:

Me

David

Norman

TimN (each cycle wing needs 4 big heads, two at the top stay and two at the bottom stay) would you like 8?

If I can order 5 whole sets of 8 then it will work out to £11.20 per person.

Big heads will ship directly to individuals provided I pay one lump sum on a credit card (I'm trusting you guys).

Tig

So far me and David interest so I need at least one more.

Anyone else.....

Norman...!?

Tig

OK, thanks for the interest

Can those who would like to place for set of 'big heads' send me an email ideally I'd like to place the order either by the end of this week or the beginning of next (my new wings should be landing at the end of next week).

When I know the numbers I'll find out the final price and see if they can ship directly to individuals or whether I need to post them on.

For those wanting to know what they look like click http://www.bighead.co.uk/

Tig

tiggermail0101@aol.com

I've been having a trawl through the archives and have decided to fix my new cycle wings with Big heads and Sikaflex. However, there is a problem, Big heads now have a (newly imposed) minimum order of £50 so that's 3 sets of eight .

So..... would two other people like to club together with me to buy 3 sets.....?

Tig

Oh yes, That would have been those of us who were 26 hours late for the Sunday Blat... A cracking morning out.

'3 Mangos' - I prefer to think of them as Jaffa Cakes

Tony, many thanks for the offer, I think that I'll go for a pair of black wings, it doesn't seem that it's going to break the bank.

Tig

A pretty simple question from a novice. Now that someone has broken one of my cycle wings (Grrrrrrrrrr) is it possible to repair or is it a better option to caugh up and buy a new wing and have it sprayed. If the latter where is the most economical place to go to....and how much can I expect to pay....?

Many thanks

T

Franky,

Many thanks for the offer. If it's one of the tailored, outdoor, breathable jobbies then you have a deal . Can you email be the details, if you're in the South East then I should be able to collect otherwise will pay for postage. tiggermail0101@aol.com

Tig

Thanks for the replies, I currently have a 'Monsoon' cover on my other car, it's a 'breathable' type the only draw back with the 'Monsoon' is it is susceptible to being picked to pieces by the local fox cubs. What I'm looking for is something robust enough to cope with the local wild life.

Matt, what is the Redline cover like..... is it breathable and tough enough...?

Tig

Dear All, I must tell you that I tried my best to persuade Andy to keep the 7 and it's only through a completely selfless act that I'm buying the car from and supporting a Practice which is destined for great things. OK, that fact that the car is a little cracker is neither here nor there... Promise

The way things are going I'm sure Andy & Rosemary will be coming back to the 7 fold in the not too distant future, Watch out Norman......!

Tim

(nice to know that the car will have a full complement of nuts.....!

Thanks for the replies.

It's a bit tricky to see the bottom of the water pump flange due to the lower cam belt cover being in place. I don't hink that it's the HG or obscure leaking pipe but a trick which I will try at the weekend is to mark just below the suspect areas with a water soluble felt tip and see where it gets washed away. A water pump is on order....

Tim

1.8K

After a bit of a 'spirited' drive at the weekend I found that I was a bit light on coolant, actually the expansion bottle was empty:( Initial thoughts were HG but on closer inspection turns out to be emanating from the pulley cover end of the engine. I can't see any leak from the water pump but there does seem to be some coolant bubbling from behind the oil pump flange. Could this be right? Does the oil pump seal keep coolant in as well as oil...? or, have I just missed a trickle of coolant coming out of the water pump....?

Tim

Tom, If poss would you be able to email a photo or sketch of the alternative location of the ATP I'd be interested to see the installation....

Tig

tiggermail0101@aol.com

Many thanks for the advice.... It looks like a new temp sensor will be the best place to start, though as Peter says the location of the sensor just behind the TB and near a very BIG heat source is a bit daft.

Tig

Firstly, hello to Blat chat.

A bit of a question regarding an Emerald Map (this was mapped by Dave Walker earlier in the year)

Over the last couple of months I have been noticing the air intake temperature creaping up.

For example :

Ambients temperature according the Michael fish - 23 degrees

Emerald Air inlet temperature at cold start 40 degrees

Emerald Air inlet temp once engine warm (coolant is at 80ish degrees) rises to 68 degrees.

According to the Lambda value the map also seems to be running rich thoughout the rev range.

Should air intake temperatures more closely reflect ambient air temperatures?

Might there be a problem with the Temp sensor....?

Is there a corrolation between the high air temp and the rich mixture?

tig

If thinking of getting an MGF it will be worth buying one manufactured after Y2K. These had a far better gasket and steel dowels which helped considerably. I have no experience of the triple layer gasket so really can't comment.

Another design weakness is that when the engine is turned off coolant stops circulating and can very quickly vapourise around the HG, needless to say this is a BAD thing to happen. At the moment Techspeed (Owned by the current Manager of the Honda BTCC team) is developing an electrical waterpump solution to maintain water circulation for a period of time after shut down. There is no price available yet but the a kit should be available later in the year. This may be a worth while up-grade.

In terms of performance, the MGF weighs in at 1075Kg so bhp/ton is about 115 for the mpi and 140 for the VVC (not too sure how this compares with the Honda). These figures can of course improve with a simple K&N and the VVC responds well to a 52mm TB.

Tim

Cam timing is spot on. Verniers fitted and set by Emerald.

I'm thinking more along the line of idle control or ignition timing around the lower load sites.

Tim

I feel that a minor tweek might be need to my Emerald map and just wondered if anyone here had any advice to give.

The Symptom:

When the car is warm it has a rocksteady idle around 900rpm which is fine, however, when driving along and lifting off the throttle and dipping the clutch (at junctions for example), the revs dip down as low as 400rpm before bouncing back up to the 900rpm position. A couple of times this has cause the car to stall which is a tad annoying.

Any ideas...?

Tim

James,

If considering an mgf you have the two choices of VVC or MPi. In terms of performance you should consider if the higher redline of 7250 (compared to 6750) is really going to be used. Although the torque curve is indeed flatter for the VVC engine the MPi is incredible close to it in performance until you get to 6000rpm when the engine really starts to wheeze and fade away.

There is also the matter of HGF in the MGF. The route cause of this seems to have been the remote radiator (in the front), something which MGR have been very thorough in resolving in the new TF's. Since Jan 2003 the TF have been fitted with a remote thermostat and water/oil cooler, this together with better HG and steel dowels have pretty much irradicated the problem. Not much consellation to someone buying an secondhand car though.

However, there are certain steps which can make a HG a considerably less agonising experience. The AA have a parts and labour warranty which covers HGF (and other failures) upto £500, which ideally is about the price of a HGF. I've unfortately had two failures but both paid for under this scheme. All I had to pay was £25 excess (and £1800 to Dave Andrews for the additional gas flowing :) ).

I must say in the cars favour, a well set up car does drive pretty well, and is cheap to run. Secondhand parts are easy to come by and servicing is at rover 200 rates. The K series engine as you know, is pretty easy to easy unit to work on, the only buggeration is the rather restricted access.

If buying an MGF be aware that the cam belt should be changed at 5 years or 60K which ever comes first. Some people tend to sell just before the service is due or may possible fib a little about carrying out the work. Ensure that this work is done otherwise it will cost you another £500 for the service.

HTH a little

Tim