Wocha bin doin on your MG this week then?

Thanks Chris

Fitted Falken Ziex ZE310's all round, in normal 15" sizes today and managed to get a (second) insurance policy that wasn't ludicrously expensive.

Those were the most difficult tyres I've ever fitted, took 92 and 95 psi to get the rears seated, was expecting them to explode before they finally went on and hiding behind the tyre machine for cover. I think my compressor has fallen out with me.

4 hours to fit 4 tyres, although at least the old ones came off without a fight. Took about a million weights to balance up as well, are these alloys usually round on other people's cars, or do Falken have almost British standards of factory tolerance? Perhaps that's why they're recommended

Consequently I've just got home and won't have chance to properly test them until tomorrow. My OCD is more bearable anyway now I know it has correct tyres, and 4 of the same sort.

Car seems to have developed a creak from the rear suspension, presumably because MG Rover, so be looking into that and fitting new throttle cable after work.

Oh, and I'm not sure this is allowed here; my single mass flywheel and 6 - speed clutch kit turned up for my long term project mk3 Golf, so I'll be finally fitting that and a 300Bhp 1.8t engine this weekend, if I can stop myself doing bits on the MG that is

 

Sounds like you had a nightmare Joe!
I didn't do mine myself but the local garage did and quite normally placing the yellow dot at the valve and they balanced easily.
Anyway they are on now so let us know how you go!

Nothing left of the front brake pads and the discs where lipped, Fitted the AP's i had put a aside for a later upgrade, made more sense than sorting the current setup. re-discovered a sheared off Subframe bolt i'd forgotten about whilst doing those, something else to add to the pre-mot check list.

 

Those discs and callipers look great!

Finished fitting Goodridge hoses today, relatively easy job on the fronts, not so easy on the rears; the fitting on the factory pipes weren't moving for love nor money and ended up rounding before moving. I think they were originally 10mm fittings but one of them was now a 9.5mm and the other accepted a 9mm spanner after some persuasion, which tells you how bad they were.

Seeing as the steel hard lines themselves were starting to rust in places and the original rubber flexi pipes were looking very tired indeed, I cut the old hard lines off and made some new copper ones from the T block on the rear bulkhead to the rear flexi mounts. NS/R wasn't too bad to fit as it's closest to the T block, Took considerably longer to route the OS/R one into place, but just about doable if you have thin wrists and don't mind a few cuts and scrapes. A mixture of arm up from under the subframe and arm in from the boot, and a few pry bars in places.

Quite pleased I managed to get the new lines into all the original mounting points, although I must admit I was tempted to just run the OS/R pipe along the bottom of the bulkhead with some P clips and tech screws rather than going up behind the manifold etc. I'm sure that would work absolutely fine, if anyone is attempting it themselves.

Old brake fluid that came out of the rears looked like coca cola, as did the reservoir when I drained it prior to fitting the fronts, another reminder why I don't use Garages considering this car was apparently serviced every year. There's a difference between emergency maintenance / broken parts replacement and proper care and preventative maintenance, that most folk don't appreciate.

Brakes feel a fair bit sharper now, think it needs the bulkhead to servo reinforcement as well for proper sharpness although I don't think the Delphi Pads are doing them many favours. Probably gonna swap them out for Ferodo standard road pads, that I've had good results with on several vehicles, or EBC Yellowstuff based on a recommendation from a mate. And maybe a 280mm conversion. Interested to hear if I need to do fronts and rears, or just one of them and if it makes much difference - I imagine it does though!

Not considering AP's and 16"s for a while yet, keen to keep rotational weight down and getting the most out of the standard 15" setup. No point in being overbraked for a 2kg per corner weight penalty, I'm not racing it. Yet

Finished giving the rear end or the car a liberal coating of Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 and Dynax UB on any rusty bits, after a going over with the wire brush and a bradawl to see how bad it was - all rear links are fine, will come back with a shot blast and a repaint - mainly surface rust on the chassis, not gone through anywhere yet, but will need a few patches when it comes in for restoration over winter.

10 days in now and it's starting to feel like it's supposed to

Oh, I also stopped the doors rattling by wrapping a cover of Tesa loom tape over the fixings on the body where the lock striker hits, doors are a little sticky to open now but it's a temporary bodge and worth it to stop the bloody rattle until I can work out a more permanent solution!

Cheers

TA22 has a useful series of comments on “sound deadening on the cheap”. He used flash banding to suppress vibrations, it is a cost effective method of subduing drumming & buzzing. It’s worth a look.
M

Well Joe!
You are really going for it and it's good to see and I wish you luck with everything.
Brakes: Yellowstuff pads all round. Job done. I'm on 15 inch std brakes, dont want 16 for the same reasons as you and was going the 280 route too but I don't need to. With std pads two fun corners and no brakes..Yellowstuff and the car hauls to a stop every time.
I don't have ABS so I removed the proportioning valve and that makes a Big difference too. The car sits down when you brake instead of dipping because it was all on the front. They stop from cold ok, just feels different first press but stop just the same. Ignore "they are dangerous when cold"..these aren't race pads!
If you have fitted copper brake pipes flaring male ends to fit a Coupler is a doddle!
 
Sound deadening: I did a thread on it and spoke to Cobber about doing a "How To" and he said go for it so I will get that done this week.  Basically these cars have zero deadening pads anywhere. Not one. I used bitumen flashing and did the car. The difference is astonishing!!!
Before.
 

After.
 
£80 to go from a TF to a Rover 75.

Did you do your doors as well with this?

I used dodo mat and got partial coverage on the floor and doors and it made a decent difference, put some cheap adhesive roam roll on the floor as well for an extra luxury experience 

Can I nip in on this one & say yes. The stuff I used was 225mm x 3m bitumen flash band, the same type of stuff as TA & as with so much these days it came via eBay.
It was about £11, you can do above & below the rail, it’s a bit like hanging wallpaper through a keyhole but it’s doable. After you have it got it positioned, use a heat gun to get it thoroughly stuck.
There’s a nice thunk to the door closing after & most noticeable on an f over a tf ; don’t know why.
M

Ordered some new wheel nuts! Original ones are nearly entirely shot so I bought some excessively cheap Amazon replacements. 

HFoster wrote:

Did you do your doors as well with this?

I used dodo mat and got partial coverage on the floor and doors and it made a decent difference, put some cheap adhesive roam roll on the floor as well for an extra luxury experience 

Yes I did the doors first. I was replacing the door speakers and fitting tweeters and that's when I realised why the doors zinged!
I remembered AP saying something about bitumen roll and I had some left from a flat roof job.
I also fitted some luxury carpet in the boot floor under the carpet. 😁