Topic

So a last update of sorts for anyone wondering whats going on with this project. At this moment in time i am still on track for a completion date of April in time for my 40th birthday. On Tuesday i will be heading up to the highlands of Scotland for some time alone to clear my head, before heading back down to Combat Stress on a 6 week intensive therapy program. Whilst i was saddened to hear about the end of Diesel Destroyers project, having spoken to him i can understand his reasoning and i will always be grateful for the help he gave me with my own project. As they say though one mans loss is another mans gain, and some of Diesel Destroyers hard work won't be going to waste. I have agreed with him to buy his triple exhaust and rear diffuser, his scooped hardtop, his rear boot lid, and will be now incorporating those parts into my own build. I've also decided on a change of colour for the respray as well. I'm looking forward to Aprils update and seeing how everything comes together.


New colour Ford candy black cherry:



The exhaust and diffuser for those who may not have seen it:

I'm pleased to see those parts going to someone who is as passionate as the chap who built them was.

Good luck with your clear head time and therapy course.

Yes, good to see that some of DD's parts are going to another enthusiast.
Good luck on your course & look forward to seeing your car completed

Got back from Combat Stress on Friday and it went really good, so good in fact that on the 16th of April i'm going to an open day at the University of South Wales to see about training to become a mental health nurse. I've managed to pay some more money to the bodyshop for the respray. Allan will be coming up on the 16th May and has offered to fit his exhaust onto my car while he's here I've got hold of another bonnet courtesy of mgfntfbitz, having decided against using my vented one. Although i won't be using it, If you've ever wondered what an MG bonnet could look like if you used a £30 boot lid engine cover from a Vauxhall VX220 as a vent, then:






I also had the good fortune to win a set of Mike Satur quad lights from ebay:





Then when i was trawling through pages of MG things on Ebay tonight i came across this listing which was ending in 2 hours, 0 bids and only £10:

You are bidding on a custom car dashboard for an MG F or TF. This started out life as an MGTF 2004 dash and has then been modified to accept the air vents and cup holders and centre dash consul from a 2004 facelift MG ZR. This will come with the four vents which may need to be rejigged as I have taken them in and out numerous times to test fit.

The centre top also has a built in LCD screen which is able to tilt up and down etc. This can be wired up to either a reverse camera or your smart phone etc. The plugs for this have been built in behind the speedo hood cowel. The picture shows the screen working.

The dash has been built using PV foam, and multiple layers of flexible lightweight bumper filler and fiberglass. So this dash isn't that much heavier than a standard dash and has the ability to flex which will hopefully negate cracking etc with road movement.

The car for which this was to be fitted had to be sold so never got to the point of being finished and fitted. The finish is currently in a textured grey primer which was per-treated with plastic primer so that any final finish will not peel off. The final finish is obviously a choice for the buyer. But maybe a leather or suede finish would look great.

The dash should fit straight away as nothing to my knowledge has been modified at the rear which may stop it fitting. But obviously please bid to buy as I will not accept any returns. I have spent a lot of money getting this to its current stage, but needs to go asap as it is taken up lots of space.













The seller was the same guy who sold me the quad lights. So I emailed him, and it only turns out that it was "Longbridge Loony" fellow T-Bar forum member who has just recently sold his TF. I won the auction and will now be incorporating his work along with Allan's into my build. He didn't say if he was inspired by adamelphicks efforts to make a ZR/TF dash but i'd like to think so, Adams doing some great work.

Finally some of you may have seen my photoshop Mods post and DRL's that i bought are bigger than i thought. So looks like they will be going here now:

Haha - two of us with a TF/ZR Frankenstein dash! WOOHOO

I've finally filled the cracks on the side skirts as well.. so hopefully I'll put them on Felix in a few weeks....

Haha I'm famous!! Yes Adam it's all your fault!!

Heheh it's fun to be a bad influence!

A while ago i mentioned getting some parts hydro-dipped. Well today i finally got around to picking them up, so that's another piece in the puzzle. They won't be to every ones liking i accept that, but i'm quietly pleased with how they turned out, see what you think:

Amazing!

What's that bottom pic of? A wing mirror?

Sorry i should have said, the bottom pic is of the side vent scoop, i should also say that the white patches you can see are just a reflection of the light, i haven't scratched it or anything. The pattern is called living flame

Really enjoying this build, keep up the good work!!

2 months since my last update well since then, the big news is that last week i made my FINAL payment for the respray and for everything to be fitted . It's a massive weight off my shoulders and such a relief to not have that hanging over my head anymore. On the flip side, the bodyshop where my car is, are fully booked with work up until the beginning of August, but fingers crossed all the bodywork and mods will be painted and fitted by this time next month. I'll still have the interior and underneath to sort out after that, so it won't be truly finished but there were many times when i didn't even think i'd get to this stage.

In preparation for the car getting stripped to be painted i had one last job to do and that was to fit Allan's exhaust, modify my rear bumper and fit the diffuser. So jacked up the car at the rear put it on axle stands and cracked on:







The exhaust fitted just fine, the biggest headache was fitting the new exhaust hangers. One side came off no problems, the other side however required a hacksaw and a blowtorch before i finally managed to get the bolts out.







The diffuser was also pretty straight forward, it's bolted through the floor pan and the rear, and that just left cutting up my rear bumper to fit around it.






The biggest thing here was that, my TF rear bumper is obviously different to Allan's F bumper. As you can see there is a small gap between the top of the diffuser and the bumper. However i'm pretty confident i can sort that out and it won't be visible when it's all finished.

Finally, the final colour has changed yet again and the car will now be painted Monogram Twilight. As of this moment in time i still haven't got anymore alloy wheels or tyres and even if i did i still need the spacers for them. Not sure when that will get done as it's time for a life change and i'm hoping to relocate from here in Lancashire to South Wales before September.