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MG MGF Technical - Engine cover plate and other F-investigation impressions

Hi,
I had some 'investigations' on saturday morning at my little old 1996 MPI.
- fitted the cat saver nuts
(IMO a must ! I had no problem to act the old nuts because I changed already to a sports exhaust this spring)

And as next...
- wanted to remove the airfilterbox, as Rob suggested to get the K&N a little cooler.
- wanted to have a look at the engine valve cover because my dealer wrote something of a leak to the last bill.
- wanted to look for probably reasons of the still lasting fuel smell and how the dealers try to fix looks..
- wanted to look for coolant leaks because of a small stain at may garage floor and new realised little waterloss.

And that was the start for a long and tuff job.... <g> including photos
The engine cover plate ;-) The first time I tried to remove it .. .;-)

Incredible job! not the because of the screws but it was totally 'glued' to the chassis with this flexible mastic which is used for sealing chassis parts.

Is that standard or did anyone earlier try to get rid of the fuelsmell in this way ?? I thought the cover is sealed enough by the all around leading rubber sealing. ??? :-/

Anyway, after pulling, bending etc. I got it removed. It looked really poor after that violaance from my hands and I had to bend it back a lot to get it 'original' plane.

Other results of an old F...: (service is 8 weeks ago)
- the screws of the valve cover (under the spark plug cover) where loose.
I tighened them and hope that was the reason for the small oil leak at the valve cover.

- The lower fabric hose of the air filterbox was not fitted to the filterbox. It did only lean against the filterbox pipe. I think the hose swapped off from the filter hose at any time ... the clamp stuck still on the fabric hose. (see picture)

The cable tie which holds this hose to the rear panel was so much tightened that the hose lost a lot of its diameter. (see picture)
No problem these little things because I have a K&N fitted above directly to the intake manifold.

But what do none modified F'ers ?? How much does this strangled air intake influence temperature
etc. of the engine ??

See the pictures on my little damadge collection (not only mine) ;-))
Special row 14 and row 15!!
To prevent from any flames: I like my car !!!! and enjoy my time in it and under the F :)))))

http://www.fortunecity.de/hockenheim/senna/253/defects/index.htm
(try the link twice or more, It must work)

Cheers
Dieter
PS. I beleave I found the reason why i.e. Scarlet Fever has only a few MGF problems .... Must one lay each weekend for 2 hours in and under the F to find smallest and little niggles ? ;-)
http://home/t-online.de/home/dkoen/mgf_part.htm
Dieter Koennecke

>Must one lay each weekend for 2 hours in and under the F to find smallest and little niggles ? ;-)

Er, no, I can't say it...
Dot

Small oil leaks do occur with settlement of the cam cover. The gasket between this and the cam carrier is actually rivited to the cam cover and is a reusable item. It follows that this will over time squeze down slightly. As a result most will find that when the engine has done 10k or more miles the 15 or so 8mm headed bolts will take a half turn to retighten. These must not be given anything other than gentle tightening otherwise you WILL strip threads.

I have been working with the idea of reducing intake temps and in a controlled test recently I was recording 10 to 12 degrees lower on a small but possibly significant mod to the standard set up.

Measured torque in the mid range was higher.

Rog
Roger Parker

>These must not be given anything other than gentle tightening otherwise you WILL strip threads.

Thanks Rog,
I did so ! But wondered why only the middle row of the cam cover screws where 'not tightened'. I recall having turned them for nearly one round. The outer cam cover screws where tight.
http://www.fortunecity.de/hockenheim/senna/253/defects/engine1.jpg
Dieter Koennecke

Hi,
I did the oil change and oilfilter change (60k km) today.
Recall on my first question:

The engine cover plate:
- mine is glued with flexible mastic as sealing
Is that standard on other MGFs too ?

I thought the cover is sealed enough by the all around leading rubber sealing. ??? :-/

Dieter

I'm just thinking of fitting wing bolts.
Tony Smith

>I'm just thinking of fitting wing bolts.

Yep, special for the three srew positions under the t-bar. should be availiable in racing stores. Let me know if you found something useful.

Tony, I removed that crap mastics between cover and chassis and glued self adhesive foam tape (4 mm thick for window frames) all around to the cover, parallel to the rubber sealing.
Dieter Koennecke

Dieter - my very early 1.8i had no sealant between the engine bay cover and the bodywork. Lifts off nice and cleanly every time.

jt
dsk155
John Thomas

>>Dieter - my very early 1.8i had no sealant between the engine bay cover and the bodywork.<<

Nor mine Dieter, nor of any other MG I've taken the cover off of.

Rob
Robert Bell

Yep,
thanks to both.
Now I know that 'someone' of the earlier owners or any workshop did this crap. Obviously to get rid of the fuel smell ;-)
Dieter Koennecke

Ditto to Rob's last and this includes a full range of cars from under 2000 build to Mk2.

Rog
Roger Parker

Scarlet never had any mastic on the engine cover.

"I've said it before & i'll say it again"

The main reason Scarlet is so midified is that when things break or wear out i like to replace them with IMO better components. This is also the reason why i have learned so much about the car. Curious to prevent any future problems i took it upon myself to get hold of a workshop manual & find out as much as i could about the F (a never ending process!) This has meant that i can/have stripped/rebuilt the majority of the external components of the car & a large amount of the internal ones too!

Not that i recommend this course of action to anyone, i have also stated in the past that i believe Scarlet to be one of the early "rogue" MGF's & the normal MGF owner should not experience even a tiny percentage of the problems i have had.

Still, this BBS is a godsend for anyone who is having difficulties (me included from time to time) Thanks people, your occasional help is most welcome & anything i can do to reciprocate i will.

Regards
SF
Scarlet Fever

This thread was discussed between 24/10/1999 and 07/11/1999

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