MGB281

Mike Satur's repair panels are really good, I did the two rear sills and they fit really well, however the two front ones are now beginning to rear their ugly head so a job for 2024. When I bought our TF the sills looked pristine, amazing how someone welded a rusty patch to rusty sill then got filler to cover it up. Now that you have repaired it and presumably rustproofed it then you have a car ready for another twenty years plus. A good job well done.

We went to a MG’s on track at Castle Coombe two weeks ago and rode as passengers. My first ride was with a supercharged TF, the second was in the 350bhp Honda powered TF that features on Maidstone Sports Cars website. http://www.maidstonesportscars.co.uk/projects/honda-powered-mg-tf/
The third was in a MG ZS fitted with a Chinese 1.8 turbo engine, again about 250bhp and the last was a 4.6 litre MGB V8 which had been totally stripped of all the interior. The best car? The supercharged TF, but the driver made the difference, he was a racer through and through.
The V6 cars were built by Retro Sorts cars: https://www.retrosportscars.co.uk/v6-mgtf
I think it is far too much money and work for too little gain though.
I have discovered that on non ABS cars a single sensor was placed on the rear nearside hub to supply the engine ECU, apparently the engine has a tendency to misfire if it cannot tell whether the car is stationary or moving. The information that I had also said that the ABS only monitored the offside rear wheel due to the ABS controlling the two rear wheels as one. There is only one brake pipe to the rear.

When I first saw it on eBay my thoughts were that if it sold at a reasonable price then it would be a cheap parts car. The almost new TT exhaust would cost more than half the purchase price.
Having collected the car it is far too good to break, the car was wax oiled in 2012 so the underside and subframes look like new.
On the other hand it does need quite a number of small repairs and replacements. The rear calipers are partially seized and the discs front and rear need replacing and a bit of rust each end of the sills.
My retirement has been put back for another month or so, I have a MGB to restore then I will set to work on this TF, by then I will have formulated a plan. I am thinking about the possibility of a power upgrade, plenty of small powerful (non Rover) engines these days. I have ridden in the Honda powered TF that Maidstone Sports Cars made and a supercharged K series, so who knows?

I bought a 2004 TF 135 earlier this week for the princely sum of £467, I collected it yesterday and today I have had a good look at it. It's a basic one with part cloth part vinyl (leather?) seats. A previous owner has fitted the wood effect trim, various bits of stainless steel trim and an almost new TTMK9 exhaust. To me the one thing that I cannot understand is that the nearside rear wheel has an ABS sensor that is properly wired in and the driveshaft has an ABS ring on it. None of the other three hubs have sensors or ABS rings on the drive shaft CVJ's, neither is there any wiring for any sensor to plug into. There is no ABS pump although there are three stainless steel bolts where it would be fitted. All the brake pipes look original and plumbed for a non ABS system. So what is that single sensor for? As far as I know both the EPAS and speedometer get their signal from a sensor on the gearbox.

Airportable wrote:

I’m pretty sure the ECU in the modulator block talks to the other controls it has intimate relations with.
I’ll look at the diagram after, unless someone wants to jump in with the definitive answer.
M

You may well be correct but I recently read that until the Pektron was introduced the individual ECU's didn't talk to each other. Having said that the immobiliser talked to the engine ECU or did it just supply it with power.

When you read various questions and comments regarding twitchy handling, importance of tyre choice and the TF's bad ride I cannot believe the tracking made so much difference, nothing else changed to alter so much. Initially I thought that the polybush's had made it so noisy and after the first time at ATS where effectively only the rear toe was wrong was resigned to the noise. Whether the improvement in perceptive ride quality is due to noise reduction or whether it has actually improved is difficult to tell. After Friday's return visit not only did I notice the improvement but my wife changed from driving it to wanting to drive it.

I forgot to say that I went to a local cash machine and gave him a £20 tip, Unless you have seen the tracking done you would not believe how a small adjustment to the tracking makes a difference to the camber and vice versa. He started with two degrees toe in each side and and one degree negative camber one side and over two the other, as the toe became correct the camber got worse, then the camber was corrected and the toe became worse. The problem is that the rear lower link is not placed vertically below the centre of the hub, as you adjust the toe with the two long radius rods at the back of the subframe the hub pivots on the lower link. If that link was below the centre of the hub it would just rotate but because it is forward it both rotates and moves in or out as well.

EDIT
Replace with ordinary steel pipe then
Why not apply some waxoil over those brake and clutch pipes including the nuts and exposed threads, in twenty years time they will still be good although the MOT tester will not like it.

The tracking was done again today, same place but a different manager, what a difference a change of personnel makes. I took a printout of the correct settings with me and he explained that they use the setting programmed into the computer and presume it's correct. Anyway they spent an hour and a half and got the toe and camber spot on. Although he is also a MOT tester he had no idea about adjusting the camber.
Back on the road the difference is unbelievable, the handling is transformed and the knocks and bangs from the rear suspension have gone. I had put those knocks down to the polybushes but it is almost silent now.
With the experience that I have had then I would recommend taking the correct setting with you when you have alignment done.

I did this recently, first remove the air vents, they pop out quite easily. Then remove the gear-lever knob, then the gear-lever gaitor which is held in with four moulded in clips, they are placed at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. Then remove the radio. The console contains the two gauges and window switches etc is removed, it has five metal spring clips, one each side near the top, one each side ear the bottom. You need to be careful because you need to slide the consol forwards and upward to disengage the bottom lug. Disconnect the wiring remembering which plug goes where. The remove the two panels that contain the footwell lights (2 screws each side) then two screws each side at the front and one each side accessible by sliding the seats forward. Replacement is the reverse of removing. I swapped the oil temp with the clock and put the low coolant light in one of the dummy switches.
I hope this helps.
EDIT
This https://www.the-t-bar.com/forum/22-cjjs-guides/5155-centre-console-how-to-remove explains how to remove the centre console, it is an excellent guide has very good photos.