If the rest of the still newish downpipe is in good shape, cut out the fractured flexi section and replace it with one off ebay. They have clamps both ends. Available for about twenty quid posted last time I looked.
Posts by MGJohn
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No, I would not do that if still under warranty. The advice is for one not under warranty. I would do/done that for one that isn't. Invariably the rest of the pipe would be sound in my experience, only the flex-joint u/s. It works... well!
In my experience, that final sentence of your post is so very true.
As the song goes... Little things mean a lot......
Steve, what product did you use to proof the soft top?
Good to have a few spares available ...
Filthy old Expansion Bottles can be cleaned up like new. I shake a few drops of petrol around inside the very dirty ones, then follow up with cloths tied to rods or stout wire to fully remove old coolant stains and residue. Then fully submerge and soak overnight in a weak Bleach solution.
I removed a good used bottle from an MGF in a local yard, cleaned up well then did the swap on my F. :~
That's better.
It is essential to keep an eye on coolant levels of any engine. Not just MGs and Rovers of course as recommended by all manufacturers. When serious overheating damages engines, the early signs that something is wrong can be detected by simple visual regular checks of coolant level. Thus serious damage avoided.
Otherwise no checks can lead to something like this in any car being avoided. Yes, even by the laziest "never check nuffink" types.. Rocket Science it aint! ...
Plenty of those about ...AA/RAC and other rescue call out stats confirm that many, many times.:~
or this ....
The above are not my cars. These are :~
It takes a few seconds to lift the bonnet and do a visual check. Most Bottles have MAX-MIN indexes. Any signs of coolant loss should be investigated. Keep in mind that Coolant Expands when hot. So on a recently switched off engine it can be above the MAX level. Best to check engines when cold. Here's the Bottle on a 25 soon after hot engine switch off. :~
Best to keep an eye on those fluid levels... all of 'em...
That car site contains the highest proportion of "All MGs and Rovers are Crap" mindsets in the known Universe. I kid you not. Some real hateful nasty pieces of work over there. Very few there who do not have that negative mindset. However, most of those few are all members of this car enthusiasts' site and other MG and Rover ones.
One such nasty piece of work there accused me of being a liar when I posted having bought and MG Montergo Turbo out of the darkest depths of the Forest of Dean for ten quid. This one which had stood unused for four years. After some basic checks, fitting a spare Turbo carb as the original had been partly dismantled by her brother in an attempt to start it, with some fresh fuel in the tank and all other levels checked, engine fired up immediately. The rear brakes ( Handbrake fully on for all those years ) were seized solid. I nearly burnt out the clutch trying to reverse that car up the 1 in 4 slope ~ could not drive forward ~ and with lots of burning clutch smells, those rear brake shoes finally let go. :~
After a quick wipe over with an oily rag the car soon became this :~
OK I lied about the oil rag bit. Needed rather more than that. But car was a daily driver for a couple of years.
Why only a tenner? Some months previously I had driven out to view the car but, the lady wanted more than I was prepared to pay then. I left my card and if she changed her mind, give me a call.
Six months later, she phoned me asking if I was still interested. She said make me an offer. I jokingly said "A Tenner". She said done provided I removed the car by the weekend as her late father's property had been sold and the several vehicles there needed clearing away asap. The turbo with seized solid brakes on the steep slope was stopping their removal.
Here's another picture of the Turbo under those big Forest Oaks complete with Stinging Nettles growing in the leaf mulch trapped where the wipers park. You can just see the wing of a dead Land Rover in the right hand corner of the image. These were old prints and slides digitised.
I liked that car a lot. Here's another view of the engine after the oily rag treatment.
The lady who inherited it from her father last words to me when I bought it. "Be careful, it's very fast you know" ... Bless .... ...
Funny old game folks and their cars. ...
One of the finest postings on an MG or Rover enthusiasts' web site I can ever remember reading. Thank you Voice from Croatia. A real pleasure to read that.
Over the past twenty years or so, I have helped many owners of MGs and Rovers Worldwide by sending parts for their cars which are difficult to obtain in their own countries. Without exception, every one of those "foreign" owners of MGs and Rovers hold their cars in much higher regard than the average UK car consumer. Right that they do so.
UK Car consumers should not to be confused with car enthusiasts. The latter being hugely outnumbered by the former. UK Car consumers are increasingly buying cars in the same way as they do with various "White Goods" appliances. Been that way for many years now. Consumers using various media outlets, be that TV/Radio or magazines providing advice for the consumers. Being professionals, far too many assume their advice and opinions are gospel when in far too many cases, that is simply not true.
There are still many folks who tell me the reason my MGs and Rovers are so reliable and give near faultless service for many years and miles is because of their Honda or BMW engines. Yes, someone actually told me the K-Series in my car is a BMW product. A work colleague selling his car on the works Notice Board also highlighted the K-Series as a Hoinda. It must be, it's so reliable and powerful.
Many of those same folks having formed long queues to pay over the odds for foreign cars like Mercedes, BMWs, AUDIs and other stuff. Many having done so having cause to regret doing so following massive attacks by their superior foreign product on their personal finances. Best instance of that is my friendly always buys German neighbour who had to spend more on his Porsche to be repaired than I paid for my MG ZS new on the road. He also believes my ZS is so good because of the Honda engine. You could not make that up!
Folks will tell you they are not influenced by UK media negativity, especially the likes of Clarkson. Then merely listening to them discussing their next new car purchase shows they have been hugely influenced. Thanks to all those and the misguided agenda of successive clueless UK Governments, I can never again have the please of buying a new UK Built MG or Rover.
It's what Brits do ... or, just maybe, DID since June 23rd.
I live in hope.
Like the use of bolts and nuts to lever off the old possibly corrosion "welded" Brake Disc. Clever.
That sounds like remarkably good value. Or. was it an Insurance job?
I've got one just like that...
What mine does understand is that during over forty years of marriage, she has had a succession of very reliable daily drivers at her personal disposal which included Mini 1000s, MG 1300 Metros, Montegos and currently an nice MG ZS none of which have ever left her stranded by the road side except when rear ended by some inattentive plonker in a VW.
That does not happen by pure luck. There is a reason for such reliability. It aint Rocket Science.
Bad luck day at the car wash. ...'appens. Been there done that ...Not the best of weekends.
Kerbed an alloy ( see the shiny one from several posts above. )
Then temporarily removed my brain cells and put the car through a car wash. :/
Was at a friends in Swindon and decided to get the car cleaned.
I usually use a very good hand car wash near home, but as was away, decided to go to a local car wash instead.
Totally forgot about the ariel.
Now need to replace the ariel.
Bugger.
The Electric Aerial on my 620ti automatically lowers which does not happen when jumping into another car. False sense of security and so easy to drop your guard. Old habits die hard and can be costly.... Many years ago, distracted by my two young sons arguing in the back of my Montego, I dropped my guard and my long aerial was ripped out and coiled tightly around the rotating washers .. My sons are around thirty years of age now and still owe me a new aerial. :rofl:
Not very scientific true, but your evidence is quite clear.
Agreed! So puzzling that there are far more MGs and Rovers in dull as ditchwater colours like XPGrey.
I suspect dealership stock ordering colour preference blindness.
MG and Rover had some really special colours in their range. Not just the sooper-dooper variable colour change ones but the ordinary solid and metallic vibrant ones.
I've seen Rover 25s and 45s locally in that superb blue and they really look special to my old minces...
These are not always cost cutting decisions, often they result from what is available to supply the production line at any given time.
"start producing" ..
Not at the start, these things can happen well into several years of a production run.
Even in this age of "just in time" supply mullarkey, good planning by placing orders well in advance is no guarantee they will arrive in a timely fashion. Having run my own business for years back in the 1980s, best laid plans and all that where other factors can upset even the best run businesses. Impossible to have control of everything.
Cost cutting can play a part but, all too often it's an easy knee-jerk reaction and a favourite with those wishing to make some negative point with anything UK Industry related irrespective of accuracy. It's what far too many Brits do, get it wrong.
One of the many negative reasons I and many others will never again have the pleasure of buying a new MG or Rover ... built in the UK.
It's what us Brits do. Get it wrong in so many ways about the important things that affect the Nation's well being. Plus, altogether now cos it's been on TV and everything...
Funny thing though, none of mine ever did!Well known fact said:
Which can lead to necessary switches to other quick fix substitutes being obtained which are not as good as previous items supplied.
Do you still drive those big rigs James and were you ever given tight "just in time" deadlines?
Project drive was a poor decision no matter what constraints led to it.
Fitting only one horn instead of the previously fitted superior twin-tone two horn arrangements and other such so called money saving measures probably put so many potential buyers off. Yes put off as soon as they pressed the horn button on such cars. That single horn sounded beyond cheap and nasty. I have obtained the other tone from earlier scrap cars and restored the superior twin-tone "beep" ... like this :~
22:22 ...EDIT to add short video of twin-tone horn upgrade :~
View My Video
My regards to your good lady James. I know exactly what you mean. The "cheapy" noise that single horn makes is embarrassing. My wife drives a MK1 ZS and it came with those nice strident twin tone horns from new.
Four years ago, my old MGF had really poor gear selection action. 1-2-5 and reverse hard to select and eventually, 1-2 impossible to select.
I tightened all the various bolts on the Gear Lever Mechanism itself and guess what, I had one of the finest and smoothest gear selection on any car including new ones. Could even select reverse .... wait for it ... SILENTLY!
Before checking other things and looking elsewhere for a remedy. Check those various components in the above image. Over the miles, years and thousands of gear changes, things work loose.
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