That cigar also blew up in my face...
The F with the HGF engine turned out to be blown.. the dork had sold it with a run of timebelt.. bye bye engine.. and the front had been involved in a collision.. out went the chassis..
At least the windshield, softtop, lh door and headlights are salvageable, as are the hydragas spheres, gearbox, driving train, rims and electrics.. it all will be cleaned and labeled before storing while the chassis and the lump of alloy wil be scrapped.
I've found a '02 VVC with 46K M and have the headgasket, timingbelt and waterpump replaced before it will be fitted in my trusty ol' F.
At this point also all the rubbers wil be replaced for polybushes, a slickshifter is fitted as wel as the airduct is replaced for a TF's and the coolant pipes are replaced for stainless.
I just as well had been better off buying myself another MGF.. but it's emotion..
