Airportable

The other thing to bear in mind Peter is some of us are completely mad.

Thanks Cobber for adding such an important & salient point, your cousin Darren had completely slipped my mind. How long has he lived in Queensland now, it must be 40 years mustn’t it ?

Ahh, your new here aren’t you, we speak in code, you’ll soon pick it up. We throw in all manner of letters & numbers & it’s not because we’re trying to hide anything. On the contrary we are trying to make things clearer, only most of us have been at it so long we’ve lost the ability to call a body control unit a body control unit we say BCU & everyone nods sagely.
Darren is the man to speak to at MGFnTFBITZ & they are in Glossop 01457 248202 as I recall, just Google & all will become clear. You will note that they have a five star rating & from my standpoint they deserve it.
M

You can test anything anywhere if the leads are long enough. Sorry I'm being facetious, I doubt you would be able to do an assessment without dedicated kit & as I've said elsewhere we are blessed with Paul at Technozen when it comes to MG Rover electronics. I would contact Paul, explain your predicament & gauge his response.
I can't recall if your car is a VVC, if it is & has the coil pack mounted to the rear of the engine, I would change that & the plug leads. If you find yourself in North East Lancs at any time PM me & you can have coils, leads, airbag controller & any other bits in my bit box that might take your fancy. I'm not sure how much your catalytic converter would appreciate a gob full of shit, it might burn out whatever its ingested but that might need changing.
M
Oh & your idea regarding dehydrator plugs goes to the top of the ideas chart !

I would say fair enough, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, I was thinking more of getting the moisture out rather than displacing it & moving it elsewhere. If the outcome is the same your way is certainly less of a fag than mine.

I was looking at the photograph of the stripped interior & noted the notional water line. When you get around to rebuilding that do be conscious of the seatbelt pretentioners, these have a charge built in which when fired draws the belt tight as you are projected forward into the airbag. These will in all probability be duff. A short while ago I commented on parts bin cars being easier to get parts for & this could be a case in point. The connectors under the seats are poor & many owners have made alternative arrangements, explore other Rovers & see if their seat buckled are similar to your f. I would like to bet a set off a 25 or 45 will be easier & cheaper to find on a scrap yard. If you source a a set from a scrappy get the whole loom under the seat, the connector is better & this is a job for me when the weather breaks.

The usual suspects, probably Darren at “bitz is your best man, he could probably build large chunks of MG with what he shakes out of his overalls at the end of a day!

It could be condensation giving your piston crowns a decoke!
There’s dampness in there & it might do further damage. Under similar circumstances I might be wondering how to get silica gel into a container that would slip down a plug hole, changing it every few days whilst your on with other things. It might be a pain but it just might prevent rust forming, farting about now might prevent farting about with cylinder hones further down the line, with all the attendant fuss that that would entail.
M

I've just seen the photographs, you're making impressive headway. You've probably made more progress than the workers on the original line..

I would advise against anything that might trip the cam belt up. Even if you're familiar with the age & conditions of it & we're confident that the engine would crack up with no problems, some unforeseen gremlin could hop the belt more than an odd tooth & then you'd be miffed.
If it's coming out anyway do the jobs & then turn the key, besides won't you have water in the sump & would you want to change that & the filter before you start the jobs.

I understand your sentiment, you take away with one hand & you return with the other, using the spacer to return the track to within the odd mm. I also understand what Cobber is saying with regards to the regulations in Australia & my comment was intended to highlight the eccentricities our legislators foist on us. I suppose you would be able wander off, ill prepared into the outback with little more than a shrug but have the temerity to stick a half inch spacer to increase the track on your truck & every blue light in the area will be after you. Daft I call it!