Topic

cairnsys wrote: wrote:

We're all looking forward to the How To James

Which one?
How to break a car, how to swap sub frames, how to lift a car with a hi-ab fitted with a brick grab?

talkingcars wrote: wrote:

cairnsys wrote: wrote:

We're all looking forward to the How To James

Which one?
How to break a car, how to swap sub frames, how to lift a car with a hi-ab fitted with a brick grab?

Well I was thinking about the sub frame swap but now that you mention it, maybe the lifting the car with a HIAB might be more entertaining

Sorry, no pictures as I had told work I was collecting 2 sub frames but forgot to mention there was a car attached, and the depot manager and my line manager were around yesterday so I was under pressure to get it off.

talkingcars wrote: wrote:

Sorry, no pictures as I had told work I was collecting 2 sub frames but forgot to mention there was a car attached, and the depot manager and my line manager were around yesterday so I was under pressure to get it off.

I suppose what would be most interesting for others who might be considering such a swap is what parts are required (in addition to the sub frames themselves) and what process do you need to go through - degassing, removal of old subs etc. Not that I'm thinking of it for the moment but you never know.

What do you expect Mr Insurance to say?

I guess if a person just sees the MGF has an old car, then spending that sort of money to sort out the suspension doesn't make any sense, but if you see the MGF has a fun runabout, soon to be classic sportscar, then isn't it worth an extra £488? I sure am glad not every MGB owner back in the 80's didn't see the B as just a cheap, old car, there would be none left. And if people continually won't spend money to maintain the MGF, then it will be just a memory for most people.

I spent last week at MG2016, where there were around 800 MGs of all ages, a great showing for North America, and for many people it was their first time ever seeing an MGF. In 4 years time Americans are going to be searching the UK for 95 MGFs; I hope there are still some on the roads, not all parted out. I know I'm not selling mine to them.

Cobber wrote: wrote:

If something at a lower price point doesn't work, then it's very expensive.............So if the Suplex kit costs you 812 quid and it doesn't work then your a damned side poorer and you still have a broken car........not a good result and a total waste of time & money..
But if, for an extra 488 quid you have a car that works.........then that strikes me as better value.

Look at the Triumph TR-7, it was an orphan in the second hand market, no one would give you tuppence for one, they were stacked ten deep at the scappies.........but now they're starting to come into their own, values are nudging up, and there are already previous owners regretting, unloading or scrapping them.

Has the MGF hit the bottom of the market yet, I think it pretty well probably has, I suspect it will now sit stagnant for a while, and then start to make modest gains, slowly gathering momentum, until the penny drops with the buying public and they start elbowing each other out of the way to get one.

And then those of us who stood by our cars through the dark years will have a smug smile on our faces that couldn't be knocked of with a bloody 10lb sledge hammer!

Ian S wrote: wrote:

What do you expect Mr Insurance to say?

I have a very understanding insurance company.

Well I'm certainly standing by my car and not breaking another MG to keep it on the road.

Looking forward to receiving the £488 just PM for my PayPal details.

The TF is only really fit for the scrap yard anyway, I bought it unseen fully prepared to put the effort in to keep it on the road but it is past it.

Don't forget that I also have a mk1 MPi that I am renovating despite it having no great value at present and don't forget that butchering a dead TF will not only keep a mk1 VVC on the road but also help keep other cars on the road.

Blow-in wrote: wrote:

Looking forward to receiving the £488 just PM for my PayPal details.

?

If every F made was still on the road the prices would be even lower as well as the enthousism of owning something special... So it's a balance...If i'd studied math it would be interesting to find a model of this balance (you can make a lot of money if you had a correct model)

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G920F met Tapatalk

Just checked the post Brexit price and it's now £1138.23 landed so about a £78 increase - not as bad as I'd expected. The tax element is now £221 and parts & P&P are £916.45.

Anyone going down this route?

Richard

Blow-in wrote: wrote:

OK so Sally from RV8 Cars has confirmed that the $1400 AU is the tax free price.

UK import duty is applied to the cost of the items plus the cost of P&P + any insurance. For car parts over £135 this would appear to be 3.5%.

VAT is then applied (20%) to the total above (ie you also pay VAT on import duty!).

Using www.dutycalculator.com and putting the price in in $AU and the result in £ for $1400 AU parts and P&P of $240 AU the results are:

Import duty £29.89
VAT £176.78

Cost of parts + P&P £853.99

Total landed costs: £1060.55

On top of this of course is the cost of the GAZ dampers plus any installation costs if it's not DIY. The GAZ MGF adjustable dampers sold by the MGOC (which may not be the right ones for this application) are £69.95/corner so a rough calculation is £240 for dampers plus delivery.

So the kit cost will be around £1300 in the UK. For comparison, the Suplex kit via the MGOC is £795 plus delivery (£812 delivered to the Scottish Highlands).

Factor in the market value of the car and it is easy to see why so many are broken for parts when something major fails. I want to keep my MGF on the road but I also need to be sensible about the costs and also my own ability to do work (some jobs are beyond me and my 'workshop' - a gravel driveway!).

So for me the choice is to either run on with the hydragas which is still working OK after 15 years & 100 000 miles and hope for the best or go down the Suplex route despite all the known issues to pre-empt a displacer failure. I suppose the other option is to wait for a failure then go down the Suplex route but that could prove to be very inconvenient.

Richard