I played with it, now it's gone stiff !

As you may have noticed I'm breaking a TF ( Click here to view ) and had wondered how much of an effect the two bracing bars in the engine compartment would have on an F.

So a couple of days ago I fitted them to the F and over the last couple of days did my regular 80 mile commute on roads I now know like the back of my hand.



On the first morning driving with the new modification I thought it felt a bit stiffer, but thought maybe it was just me wanting it to be an improvement. On the way home after a very long day I had completely forgotten about the modification and going into some fast corners realised just how much quicker the car settled into the corner. On another section, which has a series of quick left-right-left bends, the F just felt so much more controlled.

I would have described myself as a real doubting Thomas about these two metal bars but I have to admit, what a great improvement in handling! :woohoo:

What are the fixing points for the other ends Paul?

they use 2 of the engine cover bolt holes but with larger bolts to secure into the bars

cairnsys wrote: What are the fixing points for the other ends Paul?

There are two additional holes and two additional bolts needed on the standard F engine cover. Mine is a Mk2 and already had the additional two holes in the body under the engine cover.

The boot bulkhead, unfortunately, did not have pre-drilled holes so I had to drill them out and fit a spacer to bridge the gap between the two skins and then used over-sized washers on the boot side of the bolts.

Thanks both Pauls, much appreciated.

May try to track down a TF or even buy the bracing bars new (£25 or so in Rimmers) as this seems like a worthwhile mod.

Cheers guys

I was going to do this mod on my old F I bought all three extra braces but abandoned the idea when a bolt sheared as I tried to fit the under floor ones at the front :slapme:

I noticed the xpower hoops having the same effect to my old F's stiffness. I liked the effect so much I have a set ready to go on my TF.

Interesting, are they flat at the other end as well? If so they should be easy to DIY.

The other end is flattened and has an extra metal piece which fits the groove on the underside of the engine bay opening (note in the photo the bar is upside down).

As mentioned Rimmers do the bars for just over £25 a pair but you will also need the bracket to fix to the boot bulkhead.

I have never driven my F without the Boxer MK1 hoops being fitted and feel that the 2'' box section that bolts onto the seat belt mountings braces the rear of the body a tremendous amount. the polyurethane bushes on the rear tie bars has stiffened the rear a tremendous amount. May just try the TF bracing bars and see if it makes any difference ??

Now you're getting it!

All you need is TF suspension fitted and you're on the way to a superior handling car.

While you are breaking the TF 160 you could make some great improvements to the handling of your F with some of the EX TF components:

Fit the other 2 cross braces (floorpan to dash X bar) and (front floor pan to front armature)

Fit the solid subframe mounts.

Fit the steering rack (ratios F = 19:1 and TF = 17.5:1)

You could go the whole hog and fit the TF subframes as the hydro-gas spheres will give up at some point.

Send the TF subframes to be grit blasted and painted/powder coated or even galvanised as Clive has done, fitting these with the TF suspension will give you a 10mm lower COG as opposed to the F. If you had the TF subframes fitted you could fit the sports pack 1 suspension option which gives another 10mm lower COG and on the MY05 TF's onwards there is a larger diameter front anti-roll bar that could be fitted.

What a great winter project; go for it.

You have probably seen the article regarding torsional stiffness on the TFon MGFulitimateMG by Rob Bell, link below.
http://mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/body/

Brian.

Some great advice there Brian

The front sub-frame is in a bit of a bad way and has a lot of rust, so much so there are large holes in it which is the main reason it failed the MOT.

Funny you should mention it but I started yesterday on removing.....

Badger wrote:
..... the steering rack (ratios F = 19:1 and TF = 17.5:1)

As for lowering the car, a properly set up F handles fantastic and gives such a comfortable ride. I've been on runs and watched some TF's with stiff suspension jittering about and shaking their occupants, so I will be sticking with hydrogas.

Brian, thanks again for the advice.