phil14140

Arrived, fitted and now running just fine, Thanks.

Your modesty is to be admired!!

Thanks for the helpful input.

Six months ago I posted an entry under the heading “Replacing the starter motor”, based on the “diagnosis” of the AAA man who we called out when our MGF ground to an unscheduled stop.
Now, many thousands of dollars later, our MGF is back on the roads and looking good. To all those who responded to my post and have offered suggestions and help over the past six months, I offer my sincere thanks.
If you happen to receive the MG Driver magazine then you may have seen in the March/April 2024 edition a letter from Mark Jones to Dave Brawn about our car’s travails, covering the earlier part of the saga. I have emailed both Dave and Mark a summary of the activity that has occurred over the past few months leading up to the car’s resuscitation, which may appear in a subsequent issue.
In summary: the engine was found to be in a really bad state due to pistons and valves not being where they should be, but the cause was not the infamous K-series head gasket leak that had been predicted by both our garage in the UK and most of the MGF community in North America. At first sight this was puzzling, as the timing belt was also intact, but on closer examination it was found that a ribbon of the belt had come adrift along some of its length and had become caught up in the pulleys and ground the car to a very speedy and unplanned stop.
So, “Cobber”, from Australia, was, sadly, correct that a) the timing belt failed and b) we would need to replace the engine; “Notanumber” kindly informed us that he had searched the Internet and found a replacement VVC engine for sale in the UK, which we snapped up quickly – but not quick enough to miss a significant increase in what was already a very steep freight charge from the UK to Texas!! The suggestion from “Airportable”, however. to save freight costs by putting the engine into a “fat suit” in a wheel chair and sending it across the ocean as a disabled passenger did seem just a shade over the top!
One aspect that had not occurred to me was that the replacement engine is a few years younger than the car, so we needed to a) “cloud the issue” as to the age of the engine when bringing it through US Customs and b) overcome the fact that the car and the original engine were built using MEMS2 technology whereas the replacement engine has been built under MEMS3 standards. This may become an issue for other F owners in North America, as it seems that we are now set up on a combination of MEMS2 and MEMS3 electronics.
So, thanks again to Mark, Dave, Tom (who, despite being a Triumph man, took on the task of fixing our car and must surely now be considered one of the leading experts in Texas on the workings of an MGF) and the many members of NAMGBR and AMGA who have offered advice and encouragement to bring our F back to life.

Emotional support is most certainly required currently..

You have some very entertaining thoughts, Airportable. I do hope that your moniker is not an indication that you send your time flying hundreds of people around the world.........

The idea of buying a replacement engine is enticing - but it seems that the cost of freighting it here from the UK makes an arm and a leg seem cheap, based on the quote from Gill at MGFnTFBITZ.

Does anyone out there have experience of using a US-based company to import car bits? I have contacted FreightCenter, Freight Specialist and Freightright so far and will continue to search for possible US-based companies, but any suggestions from past experience would be gratefully receved.

Cheers,

Phil

25 years after a car is first registered it is eligible for importation to the US without meeting any of the US requirements. As the MGF was never intended to be sold new in the US it was never put through the US requirements at manufacture. Thus, mine has sat in a garage for seven years awaiting its 25th birthday and was then shipped to Galveston, TX

I have waited seven years on a different continent to be reunited with my MG, Scrapping it is not any part of my plan - such plan as I have is more focussed on how to placate my very understanding and long-suffering wife! I do, however, wonder sometimes whether I have been selfish and the car would have had a better life staying in the UK, in the hands of an MG enthusiast, rather than being stood in a garage for the past seven years .

[attachment=30145]231023 spark plugs - 1.jpeg[/attachment]

Better late than never: herewith photos of the spark plugs that you said, some while ago now, could be useful to see.

Regards,

Phil