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MG MGF Technical - Lowering With Knuckles

Just a few questions regarding lowering the F with knuckles:

1) What is involved?
2) What would be a reasonable ride hight for an F with 16" wheels, Mudflaps and lots of country miles? 335mm? 340mm?
3) Where can i get it done in the South East coast or London area?
4) How much will it cost?

Really would appreciate any answers, suggestions or information any of you might have. Thanks.
Matt

I am having mine lowered using knuckles on Thursday, I have got 17'' wheels on and it is being dropped 30mm. I have got a mate fitting them for me so I will let you know how it goes after Thursday.

Also have a look at this site

http://www.lame-delegation.de/mgf-net.de/lowering1/index.htm



Al
Al

>>1) What is involved?<<

Removal of road wheel. Some experts don't bother with depressurisation of the hydragas system. Car is jacked up, the axle swings down. The OE knuckles levered out, and the new ones inserted. Repeat for other three wheels.

>>2) What would be a reasonable ride hight for an F with 16" wheels, Mudflaps and lots of country miles? 335mm? 340mm?<<

335-340 mm shouldn't cause too many problems. Nice height IMO.

>>3) Where can i get it done in the South East coast or London area?<<

If your local Rover garage isn't interested, try Brown and Gammons who do this on a very regular basis.

>>4) How much will it cost?<<

Knuckles themselves cost 100 quid. Then quarter- half an hour per quarter- so say 2-3 hours labour all in.

HTH

Rob
Rob Bell

I had mine fitted by G Kingsbury in Hampton. They admitted that they had not fitted these before but they did a great job and the car has been fine with the lowered ride for the last 12 month. I would not recommend going lower that 340. I had mine at 335 and the car kept bottoming on the damned fool speed bumps that the Council use to irritate their electors.

Bill was £574.11 that included the knuckles, lowering, 36k service and 4-wheel alignment.

I suspect both B&G and Mike Satur would be cheaper but they ain’t in London and I will happily pay a few extra notes to have the work done while I am at work rather than take a days “holiday” to trog up North.

Cheers

Patrick
Patrick

I'm also wanting to lower the F, using the knuckle joints, but i'm reluctant to pay stupid prices to have them fitted at a garage, so i'm really interested in what Rob Bell said about not de-pressurising the hydragas, so if anyone has any detailed info on this i'd be grateful
Cheers
Darren

? suppose there is a misunderstanding ?
Robe meaned IMO that some of use don't mind depressuring the system..... cause some of us own an own pump to do this works.
;)
Is it ?

Dieter

PS. with own home made pump developed in principals by Carl, 'the great' from Sweden
http://www.mgf-net.de/pump/index.htm
Dieter Koennecke

If you want a car which will handle and look better try Techspeed near coventry.
They specialis in lowering the F and there are lots off happy customers on the BBS.

Tom
Tom Randell

My car has finally been lowered properly by the lads at Techspeed and I am delighted with the result. :o)

>>i'm really interested in what Rob Bell said about not de-pressurising the hydragas<<

A question of pros and cons (isn't it always?)

Pros:
1. it's cheap (free if you do it yorself)
2. any height is achievable with practice.

I lowered my own car to approx. 335-340 mm on hydragas pressure and put close on 20k miles with it like that with no ill-effect other than problems with traffic-irritation measures that local councils delight in installing.

Cons:
1. Because the hydragas sphere is a combined spring and damper unit, depressurising the hydragas pressure has the direct result of reducing both the spring rate and damper rate- ie the car becomes softer (easier for the suspension to hit the bump stops) and has less damping control. Therefore, the lower the ride height, the worse the ride quality and more critically, worse the suspension control.
2. Suspension damage. Because the spring and damper rates are so much softer and the fact that the lower car has its suspension closer to the bump stops, more time is spent bottoming out. This is no good for the long term longevity of the suspension! There is also a theoretical chance that the hydragas spheres themselves may become damaged, but I know of no cases where a depressurised suspension has directly lead to a suspension failure.

So lowering knuckles are the way to go. At the recommended working pressure of 400 psi, knuckles will give a ride height in the range of 335-340 mm. Spring and damper rates are restored to standard-and therefore you will have far tauter control over the car as a result. The ultimate conversion is to uprate the standard dampers as well- and this is what I've had done with Techspeed and the result is simply superb. Quite frankly, this option is FAR better than a Trophy160.

HTH

Rob
Rob Bell

Rob

Really interested in lowering my F aswell as putting a decent exhaust on, problem is I've got a April 2000 VVC with the 3yr warranty etc. and am just paranoid that any mods whatsoever will give MGR the excuse they might be looking for if (and when!!) the HGF or something else goes. I know that sounds a little harsh but I'm on my third F and have been down a few of these roads before if you know what I mean.

What's the general opinion on mods to cars that have warranties? is it a complete non starter or am I worrying about nothing?

Any views would be appreciated.

Cheers Neil
Neil

Neil,

As for what mods you can put on without effecting warranty depends a lot on your dealer.

Speak to your dealer. Some have no problems with simple mods like K&N, exhaust and lowering while others will not like them.

Tom
Tom Randell

Tom is right Neil- sound out your dealership. TBQH I don't think that many garages would even notice that you had lowering knuckles fitted! Replacing dampers is however out of the question- this mod would certainly invalidate your warranty for a number of reasons that you are probably already aware of.

The exhaust is a bit too obvious- too difficult to hide! But- as MG-R already fit an 'after market' exhaust to their own Trophy 160, I think that it would be a little unfair to invalidate other similar systems. Again- worth negotiating with the dealership. You could even consider fitting the Trophy system to your car! You could certainly do worse...

Basically, the situation regarding 'sensible mods' and warranties is variable and often open to negotiation. Sometimes a warranty issue can be resolved by consulting a different dealership...
Rob Bell

Does anyone know if the trophy exhaust is available for fitting to non-trophy cars? If so, how much do rover want for it?

Chris
Chris George

wonder whether it will fit to older MGF.
I suppose it will also have the new design without the bend to the catalyst.
So only applicable for MY2001 cars with VIN above 1D522572.

HTH
Dieter
Dieter Koennecke

Thanks Tom , Rob for your thoughts. Going in to see the ealer on Friday anywat to get the 4 wheel geometry checked and set up, will ask the service manager re the mods.

Regarding the Trophy exhaust, does everyone know that the car is actually delivered to the dealerships with a standard exhaust and the "Trophy" pipe comes under seperate cover from somewhere else. (Presumably not the factory!).

I had the same idea of simply getting a Trophy exhaust on the basis they couldn't reasonably invalidate the warranty etc., and was met with a great deal of "well we don't really know much about the exhaust sir.." it didn't seem to have a MGR part number when I enquired, this was about 2 months ago. Dealer didn't seem to think he could order one separately then? Maybe part numbers etc. have been published by know.

Cheers

Neil
Neil

So has the catylist moved on the trophy? Is it the same cat as the standard cars?


Chris
Chris George

No, the catalyst has not moved on the Trophy and in fact shares the same pattern as all exhausts on MGFs pre-2001. The reason that they can be sold in the post-OBD era is that, in the UK at least, the 160 is a low-volume special, and therefore is exempt from full EU regs :o)

Neil, you are quite right about the dealerfit exhaust- aa way of circumventing drive-by noise regulations that the standard Trophy system could not hope to meet ;o)

ANY part can be ordered, so long as the catalogue number, and you have the sympathetic ear of someone in the Rover parts department ;o)
Rob Bell

>>>Neil, you are quite right about the dealerfit exhaust- aa way of circumventing drive-by noise regulations that the standard Trophy system could not hope to meet.

Crazy - is it really that easy to get round the rules!?!
David Bainbridge

perhaps we Brits are learning. It's about time we played the game of 'EU rules' the same way as most of our mainland neighbours....
David

'cuse my ignorance, but what is a post-OBD era?

So are we saying that the trophy system could be available from a friendly dealer? (Rob, go back to Diamond, all is forgiven ;-)


Chris
Chris George

Rob,

Was talking to Trident Ottershaw and they were given a new parts list that should include trophy parts yesterday.

Cheers

John

PS Trophy front spolier is £230 approx +Vat +Paint (comes in a grey primer)

John

>>'cuse my ignorance, but what is a post-OBD era?<<

On Board Diagnostics Chris- the latest requirements for homologation require that the ECU logs all faults, including those with emission equipment etc so that they can be rectified. Moreover, the ECU software needs to have the facility to be updated.

The problems start if you want to add on a few tuning goodies- the emisions sensors aren't calibrated for them... :o(

But yes, a Trophy exhaust could be purchased from a friendly dealer, as can the Trophy splitter ;o)

230 quid unpainted John? Ouch! Still, at least that's better than getting the whole bumper/splitter painted assembly- which is what Rob @ Diamond ended up with when he ordered a replacement splitter...
Rob Bell

Off to Priests of Chesham Friday for my 4 wheel geometry check, gonna ask how much the Trophy exhaust is and whether they can get hold of one seperately.

Will let you know.

Neil
Neil

>On Board Diagnostics Chris- the latest requirements for homologation require that the ECU logs all faults

Rob, not the complete truth in this case. That EC agreement on ODB requirements got canceled or better said delayed for the EC. Any of the members compained and it didn't get introduced as far as I know.
The develepments for most of the cars is ready, as also at the MGF, but who cares.

Regards
Dieter
Dieter Koennecke

But to my knowledge Dieter, it is already a requirement in the UK- unless someone can correct me?
Rob Bell

1st January 2001 it was effective!

The Trophy exhaust is in the Feb 2001 parts list! (See archived threads on the Trophy) Note that not only is the rear section special for the Trophy, but that the downpipe from the manifold to cat is specific. This is factory fitted and the manifold and cat are as pre 2001 cars.

The exhaust is a standard Rover supplied spare part as far as replacmenet parts go and is listed under part number GEX 33779 and the downpipe I mention is found under part number GEX 33778. A simple phone call quoting the part number will find the price.

Rog

Roger Parker

This thread was discussed between 04/08/2001 and 09/08/2001

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.