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I had a long but unattributed conversation yesterday with someone much more experienced than me on this topic.

He's aware of the re-gassing option being offered in the UK. His problem with it is that and old sphere re-gassed is still an old sphere and it's completely unpredictable as to how long it will last.

He likes the Australian kit but thinks it's not suitable for UK roads because of all the salt we use in winter - the totally exposed alloy parts will corrode quickly (still an option I suppose for those summer only users).

He made the well know warning about using harder dampers on the F and was insistent that if you go down that route, you must reinforce the rear upper fixings first.

He was a supporter of Suplex but apparently the German owners have pulled the plug on the MGF kit! Too niche for them it seems. However, the ex-UK manager who was the lead on the kit development hopes to launch an improved version if the copyright issues can be sorted. It will have a medium in the canister to reduce the amplified clunking sounds and to keep the spring in place. He also was keen to say that to get the best out of Suplex you need to change suspension bushes and probably the knuckles which he acknowledged are too expensive for what they are.

It's another opinion of course and don't shoot the messenger but I thought it was worth sharing. I'm hanging in there with my original hydragas for the moment but would certainly look at son of Suplex if it happens.

Richard

Don't fit Suplex...

Hi mates!
I've a 2000 mgf, 95.000km, and a suffering suspension ( and a bad back! Lol)
I was going to buy today the suplex kit available on uk eBay.
Had it on my chart, and decided before paying to see what we're the reviews......
Spoink!!!! All stop ! Reverse engine! Lol
I've been reeding your reviews and, suplex is not an option anymore!
I live in Portugal, MADEIRA Island, and have to consider importing or a subframe of a TF or the Aussie kit....
Importing outside EU, even with brexit, costs me 30% over the price, importing a couple of us frames costs me only the transport.
As for the Aussie kit, where can I buy it besides the rv8 site?
The sub frames I have to see on eBay, what is available from scrapers on uk.
Word of advice mates?
Cheers
Geraldo

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

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!