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MG MGF Technical - What would be........

.....The Top Changes you would make to an MGF (In this case a 1.8i) to improve performance? The darkside is a mind bogglong & expensive place so I (we) would like your suggestions! Including prices (so what we are aiming @ when we start saving.) from the likes of MS, Techspeed, MGF Centre et al!

We have a few ideas.....

New stick shift (current one = pants)
Is there an alternative to the linkage cable ???

Do 'something' with the ridiculously heavy clutch....
(Some one here mentioned something involving WD40, but the fella is a little nervous about tackling it himself.)

Change the air filter, suggested by the peeps @ Mike Satur.

Suggestions, top 3's 10's etc. (Barring 'buy a new car' before the facetious add their two-pennath.)

Much appreciated.

Sally

(PS re an earlier topic about touring. We are booked & off to the South of France - Northern Spain also a possibility - in September, thanks for all the advice, it will be well heeded.)
Sally

Hi Sally,

After a trip to Mr MS...

One: A new 52mm throttle body

Two: Mike's Vader enclosed air filter. Not the cheapest but It has made a whopping difference to my 1.8 mpi.

Three Mike's slickshift again makes things a lot nicer none of the normal soup stirring.

To add a fourth I would get Mike to lower the car, again just done but I also got the shocks etc. sorted but it is now like a new car.

As a whole the above has worked for me. For prices I would give him a shout.

Hope this helps, Andrew.
AndrewMc

I've listed below what I would regard as being the order in which you should consider upgrading your F to improve performance. Each item listed also has a number of options generally going from the cheapest option to the most expensive. Naturally, the more expensive options giving the higher degree of improvement.

Bear in mind that upgrading should be done sensibly - there's no point in upgrading the engine performance with everything you can and forget things like braking in the process.

As to exactly what you should upgrade then that comes down to your own desires, depth of your pockets and an understanding insurer!...


Air filter:

1: K&N £90. Good value for money and gives a pleasing (to most people) induction roar. The cheapest way to increase performance from the engine.

2: PiperX Viper (or similar) £230. Improved performance over the K&N due to it's fully enclosed design. Less induction roar and considerably more expensive.

3: Buy a K&N and find something suitable to enclose it in - calling Rob Bell. ;-)


Exhaust:

1. My personal preference is the Phoenix system £330. Performance increases gained from aftermarket exhausts are limited to a few BHP, replacing the air-filter is much more worthwhile. Exhaust note are different from one exhaust to the next to basically going for the one you like the sound of most is probably the way to go! :)


Gear-shift:

1. Slick-Shift as available from Mike Satur, Techspeed also do a similar product I believe. Basically improves/replaces the existing gear linkage to give a much more positive shift. erm £150-200 ?


Handling/Suspension:

1. Have lowering knuckles fitted to lower the car and improve handling to a degree. £???

2. Go to Techspeed and have the suspension completely sorted: New dampers, nipple-job and lowered, erm £600ish ???


Brakes:

1. Changing to an alternative brake pad material is going to be the cheapest option and will naturally improve things to a degree. erm £30-40 per axle?

2. Next step and really in addition to 1. would be to replace the standard brake discs, but I would not expect this to tranform your brakes. £???

3. Braided brake hoses = firmer and more positive feel through brake pedal?

Beyond 1-3 above you are really looking at changing the brake discs and brake calipers. Larger brake discs = greater contact area from brake pads + mechanical advantage gained from the larger diameter disc.
Brake calipers = generally more pistons in the caliper giving you a greater force to push the pads against the disc. £???


Engine:

Anymore performance to be gained from the engine is really going to start costing you. Gas-flowed head/exhaust manifold £???
Turbo-charging £OUCH!!!
Paul Lathwell

For performance mods

1. K&N induction kit (best BHP increase /£) approx £100
2 if you want better power curve but similar increase in BHP go for a enclosed filter like the ITG maxogen approx £300.
3. the DIY enclosed system using the K&N filter.

To give small increases in gains on top of the filter a tuned exhaust (£200+) and 52mm TB (£110+)

Handling

1. Techspeed is my only choice here with there 4 nipple job and uprated shocks and lowered.

there are over options but have no real experience of them from the likes of MS and B&G.

Gear shift

Techspeed is a good upgade by improving the original one.
MS is a complete replacement and is good an in a MG world gear shift test there was not much difference between the 2.

For prices and techspeed products see http://www.tech-speed.co.uk/products.html

There are loads of different options out there.

Tom
Tom Randell

Strip the car out of all the dead weight to improve the power to weight ratio and it costs nothing! ;D (depending on how far you want to go that is!)

spare wheel out
boot emptyed!
replace oe components with lighter ones
seats out,replaced with lightweight alternatives
Hood frame out
all sound deadening materials, stereo removed
plastic bonnet & bootlid (?)
ultralight wheels
low-ish fuel level

Dave

> Strip the car out of all the dead weight to improve the power to weight ratio and it costs nothing

Anyone know how light an MGF has ever been?

I'd imagine the MGF Cup Cars or the Techspeed ones were pretty light. I would imagine it would be relatively easy to lose between 150 - 200 kg?
Bob Millar

Apert from stripping weight, there is one other way to improve performance without incressing insurance:

Advanced driving techniquies, Andy Walsh does training in your own car on a relativly empty airfield for just over £100 a day, great fun as well!
Will Munns

Thanks for all the information guys. I certainly think that the K & N filter & the new stick shift from MS will be in the pipeline. The brakes pads are relatively new so they will probably be changed as & when the need arises.

Beyond that it will be funds & time permitting. (@ the minute we certainly plan to hang on to our baby for a long time to come so there is plenty of time for the darkside to get its claws in!!)

Have ruled out the removal of all dead weight as the car is strictly a road car & we like our creature comforts!! I will just have keep dreaming about having the MGF track buggy!!

Cheers & happy motoring

Sally
Sally

not wanting to go against the grain too much, I had an induction filter fitted by MS last week, and apparently the K&N is old hat, if you go to MS for the slik shift and also go for the induction filter, expect to drive away with a vader enclosed jobby (if you want to pay in excess of 250 quid, or MS's own stainless steel cone filter at about half the price
Colin Ashworth

Colin,

The K&N has been around for a long time and has always been popular on the F. Sure there are newer and better options out there now and all come at a price in comparision to the K&N. However, the K&N still offers a considerable improvement of the MGF's standard air-filter arrangement and is still a worthy consideration when it comes to improving performance. £90-100 for 8 bhp? on the MPI and 15 bhp? on the VVC - can't be bad. :)
Paul Lathwell

Depending who supplies the filter depends on which is fitted as all have a benefit but why sell a K&N when you can sell a more expensive product which give the similar performance but makes more profit.

I am bias as I still have plenty of cold air pipe brackets to sell for the K&N, but never regretted getting the K&N fitted although it was expensive as it was my first mod which got me into the darkside.

The K&N is the most simple and best performance gain item you can buy for less than a £100 brand new of the shelf as far as I am aware.

Tom
Tom Randell @ work

This thread was discussed between 11/03/2004 and 15/03/2004

MG MGF Technical index

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