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Kiwi2001MGF wrote:

Today was de-rattling day.
Put the car on the stands, checked everything underneath, replaced the clips that hold the black trim below the windscreen as it was slightly loose, fitted the passengers side suspension hose back into its clip to stop the joint touching the car, adjusted the bonnet stops to get the bonnet lines right.
And just because cleaning always helps I cleaned everything and then greased the front suspension.
Then there was the inevitable extended test drive along some suitable roads to test for rattles ....and cornering
Somewhere in the middle of all that I have fixed the rattle so I am very happy as rattles really annoy me.

You need to tuck the left hand hydragas hose behind the the black hook as seen in the photo. Currently it is rubbing on the subframe.

Edit-Sorry I see that the photo was taken pre-work!

This week I have finally done something about the sticky throttle that my 2004 TF 135 has had since I bought it 6 years ago. I had already replaced the cable which made no difference, I sprayed the pedal assembly with silicone lubricant which made no difference and I cleaned the throttle body which also made no difference. I left it for a while.

Last summer, John (sworkscooper) mentioned the problem of a sticky throttle pedal in reply to a post - Hello from sunny Wiltshire. I discussed it with him and finally got around to sorting it out this week.

I started by releasing the tension on the throttle cable by wedging the throttle body fully open. Then it is a fairly easy job (if you are a contortionist) to remove the throttle pedal assembly. Undo two 10mm nuts and one 10mm bolt and disconnect the cable. See CJJ's guide to replacing the throttle cable for details. Once the throttle assembly is out of the car, it is easy to see the cause of the problem.

The pedal pivot is seized into the nylon bushes because it is covered in paint. The bushes can only rotate in the bracket which eventually causes wear and a sticky throttle. The pedal is easy to dismantle by first removing the spring and two circlips (don't lose them!). Take care removing the bushes because you cannot buy them. They are stiff on the pedal pivot and a worn groove jams them slightly in the bracket.

I carefully scraped the paint from the pivots and cleaned them up with emery cloth and some dry wet&dry paper. The pedal can now pivot in the bushes easily. I reassembled the pedal with some grease between the pivots and the bushes. I also applied a little Araldite Standard between the bushes and the bracket. Once the glue had cured, the pedal moves smoothly in the bushes and the bushes are motionless in the bracket. I think this is the way it should operate.

I refitted the pedal in the car and removed the wedge from the throttle body.

At first, using my hand on the pedal, it still seemed a bit jerky but when I sat in the car and drove it my foot could control the pedal much more easily than before. Smooth control is now possible - certainly as good as I could expect from an 18-year-old MG with 111,000 on the clock.

If your car has a sticky throttle, try this before spending £60 or more on a new cable,

The nylon bushes partly fitted to the bracket. Note the wear on the shoulders of the bushes.


The wear on the bushes can be clearly seen.


The paint has been stripped from the pedal pivots and polished with emery cloth and paper.


The pedal and bushes have been reassembled into the bracket. The circlips have not been refitted yet.

Dampers and spheres replaced. Broke out the new da sander polisher and went over the car with G3. That works! The whole thing looks much better.

I took the TF off the road at the end of November and it has lived/slept for 4 months under a cover. As previously reported I left it until late January when it started up OK but was misfiring under load. Anyway, on a couple of subsequent starts it seemed to be running better, though they were just standing warm ups. 1st April was road tax and out of hibernation proper day. Glad to report a sublime run up through the Yorkshire Dales then straight through the MOT test this morning..... (pic above)

Raised a glass to whoever thought to post that overtightening the wind deflector mountings might be the cause of poor seat belt retraction. Two turns on the Allen Key and zipp! it flew back into its reel nearly knocking my glasses off with the buckle. I was geared up to spend the afternoon stripping it out and soaking it in all sorts of cleaning potions for little reward so this was a pleasant start to the afternoon.
Pulled the console out to adjust the slack in the gearshift and greased it all up once done. A much tighter feeling shift for ten minutes work. Took all but 3/8" of the threaded portion off the top of the gear lever and drilled out the gear lever knob with a stepped cone drill, reducing the length by about an inch and a half. Not only does it look much better but it works much better, too. The electric mirrors and new window stops were fitted as well and tomorrow I shall drop the ride height by about 5mm. It has got better as it has settled following the sphere and damper replacement and it is now ready to fit a set of decent tyres.
I got fed up with the virtually unused but five year old Halfords battery going flat after a couple of weeks' inactivity but with a very meagre specification (56AH, 500CCA) it wasn't a great surprise. The best battery I could get was a Yuasa with a 640CCA and 60AH capacity as well as a five year guarantee. £78 seemed very fair. Should be here on Monday ready for a decent run to Bristol on Wednesday.

Ended up pumping the ssuspension up and down a few times to get it as I wanted it and cleaned up the back of the set of Summer wheels with a wire brush on a drill and a quick squirt of epoxy primer. Spent some time fiddling with tyre pressures. One of the mirrors was the wrong side and I had to get a correct one. I drove out to a place an hour away and had a rather poor experience (but a jolly good run out in the F,) so I left a polite but fair review. The owner of the firm came straight back to me, apologised profusely and offered to send the part FOC carriage so I paid for the part on Ebay and marked it for collection. I had an e-mail from DHL to say it was on its way and shortly afterwards another, refunding me the cost of the part! The battery was out of stock and due Thursday, a new seat belt escutcheon kit tomorrow, a clutch slave repair kit and two litres of fluid on Saturday; a look in the master cylinder showed a liquid like mud and the clutch is near the floor but feels fine with a good over centre action. The cheap radio I bought does everything well but the display was illegibly dim so it got hacked and it isn't any more. The weekend will hopefully involve replacing the rough back end of the passenger sill with a repair panel. I chopped up some steel sheet to make some practice pieces to get my eye back in. If they work as they might, they could possibly end up the same shape as a servo brace! once that is complete, I shall send the spare wheels off for a refurb, swallow hard and buy some tyres.

Mirror arrived before lunch so I stripped it, changed the shell over and fitted it to the car. All working and back together in 45 minutes then a fun drive towards Bristol for a rock concert tonight. Stopped at a Toby for an early evening meal and now on to Brizzle.

Drove it back from the excellent Psychedelic Furs concert in Bristol quite briskly and found this morning that the ride height had risen again by an awful lot It was more than 380mm so today I decided to fully depressurise the suspension and pump it up again . I think a good scragging has probably loosened up the new dampers and removed some stiction. My zero loss connector simply would not tighten onto the valve once I had the car on its bump stops. I stripped it down and re engineered it. It will no longer come apart but it does seal and work so I measured the temperature and took the car back up to 362mm. The new seat belt escutcheon kit arrived so I fitted that and cleaned the gauze on the wind deflector, the new battery came and that was the chance to paint over the light corrosion from the acid fumes that I swabbed down with ammonia last month. While I was at it, the bonnet lock plate was pretty scruffy so it got wire brushed, primed and painted. The rear trailing arms need new bushes fitting so those got a good squirt of loos'nin' juice ready for tomorrow. If that goes well, I shall be happy to start the bodywork job. The clutch slave cylinder looks to have been replaced fairly recently and without dismantling it It seems to have freedom at the operating arm. I shall probably pull the clevis pin to have a good look before pulling a litre of fluid through from the master cylinder to ensure all is clean and fresh.

It is very satisfying to take a supposedly good car and to turn it into one. The rear tie rod bushes were allowing a lot of oversteer and a change to polyurethane ones has made a big difference to the power on and off behaviour. I still need to set the rear tracking up but the new lasers aren't here yet. I use the wheel centre cap recesses to mount a laser at one end of the car and a measuring board at the other end. This allows me to set up the four wheels easily and quickly but for today, being able to accelerate hard through a bend is a good result.

I rediscovered a stash of M10 rose jointed rod ends in a box marked “might be useful one day” & spent a merry day making & fitting adjustable drop links. It’s difficult to tell whether it is these which has contributed to the perceived increase in tautness in the old girl, but she seems more controlled from the last run in November.

Only just seen this post and the excellent photos from Bruce135 ! Well done Bruce for a superb 'How To'



John