So is it at all possible to put in a mr2 motor if I bought one with a stuffed motor as they do look good , in my eyes!
hairypup,
May 11, 2:51am
Stupedist idea I have ever heard off.
richardmayes,
May 11, 5:24am
It is definitely possible. I doubt it would be easy, cheap or quick unless you are skilled in doing engine swaps. I note Lotus have ditched this engine in favour of a little Japper in their cars.
(Honda Prelude H22a engine! 220 horsepower for $2,500. )
mgmad,
May 11, 5:59am
They are far from inherently unreliable, otherwise my race car would be blowing up every other weekend with the amount of abuse it gets. It doesn't.
The problem with any engine swap in an MGF is that the K series is so light, nearly any other engine conversion upsets the handling so be very careful with what you put in there.
BTW, Lotus went away from the K series simply so they could go to the USA - K series wasn't ever approved for sale in the states, primarily as BMW didn't want a Z3 competitor there.
jerichord,
May 11, 6:21am
race car,! i have yet to seeyou on the track, anyone can do skids on the grass,
toysky,
May 11, 6:40am
mgmad ---------- I prefer the mgf look over amx5 but everywhere i read google etc they have bits fall off them , heads blow , alighment of wheels go out , they leak water inside , and water gets into electrics , sparkplugs etc on certain angles and so on
kcf,
May 11, 7:07am
Oh, I had head that they didn't have the K series in the US market cars, because of the emission standard requirements there being tough.Was that just an e-rumour!
mgmad,
May 11, 7:29am
toysky, heads don't blow, nor do headgaskets go very often. Generally overheating problems are caused by minor things such as airlocks or thermostats but misdiagnosed and hence mis-treated. Misalignment! Any car can do that, MGF is no worse than others. Any convertible can leak, esp at the age of the cars now with the hoods starting to deteriorate. Very early cars (up to mid 1996) had a recall on the hood seals, and nearly all have been redone. Biggest cause of leaking in the MGF is misalignment of the windows as a result of broken window stops. Easy and cheap fix. Also watch for wear marks on the hood in the seams, a few are getting to the stage of leaking through there. New hoods are available, but something to consider when purchasing.
Haven't really heard of any problems with water getting in to the electrics, esp not the spark plugs as they are under a plastic cover and the caps are then sealed on the top of the head. Not to mention the whole engine is under a steel tray.
kcf - Yes, that was the official reason, the K series could almost certainly have passed the emissions requirements in the USA, but the time and effort to put the engine through the testing wasn't warranted, as far as BMW were concerned.
mgmad,
May 11, 7:32am
I've never seen you on the track either jerichord. So!
Come and try it a motorkhana. Bit more to it than just "skids on the grass".
I do all sorts of motorsport, and by far the hardest on the car are motorkhanas - the combination of high engine speed and low car speed (hence low air speed over the radiator) leads to perfect combination for overheating. The fact that my car doesn't overheat, when being driven my multiple drivers in a given day, tells a pretty good story for the k series.
jerichord,
May 11, 11:37am
little mg boy,ive been around motorsporta little longer than you think , not in morrisgarageseither
tgray,
May 11, 11:46am
Please don't base your decision to buy one from the above quote. Head gaskets ARE a very common problem with these and the DO leak rain water and they DO have electrical issues and they OFTEN leak oil. It's relative of course. If you are used to owning UK cars, they are not much worse than all the rest. if you have experience with a nissan or toyota however, they are a complete disaster. Owning one will give you the two happiest days of your life - the day you buy it and the day you sell it.
mgmad,
May 11, 1:16pm
sigh. here we go again. Head gaskets don't go by themselves (well, very very rarely). They are almost always a symptom of another problem with the cooling system, normally, as I said earlier, a cheap and easy fix which is overlooked come repair time, leading to the original problem not being solved (or introduced, in the case of airlocks), which inevitably leads to recurrence of the problem.
I've seen very very few K series engine leak oil, not something they are known to do. The only electrical issue of which I am aware is the interference of the remote signals from cellphone towers - hardly the fault of the car, and not something that has occurred for some time (to my knowledge - we have certainly had less inquiries regarding the problem of late). Other than that I've not dealt with any recurring electrical problems, nothing worse than most other cars.
Also, as I said above, not denying they can leak water, but also not a major problem to fix either. Upholsterers lhave made quite a bit of money out of people needlessly replacing hoods when a ~$5 clip is all that is required (that said, as I mentioned earlier, the hoods are now getting to the age where replacement is going to be on the cards anyway).
And if you've got experience of a nissan or toyota, you'lllove the way an F drives.
mgmad,
May 11, 1:17pm
you miss my point. I've not seen you out on the track, doesn't mean you haven't been there. and vice versa.
BTW (anorak on well and truly now) MG doesn't stand for Morris Garages, it stands for itself.
socram,
May 11, 2:39pm
Jerichord was last seen at Hampton Downs - pushing a car.
Early MGFs are now eligible for classic racing being over 15 years of age and I am very tempted to get one, as my old car is very heavy at the front end and is ripping through tyres quite quickly - especially at HD with its long 180 degree final bend and the hairpins.An early "F" can be purchased for a song and both parts and expertise are more readily available than for my 40 year old - and also much cheaper.
Been looking for two years for a replacement Volvo 410 manual gearbox - no luck.
geedubu,
May 11, 4:39pm
Leave mgmad alone, he knows of what he speaks.Sometimes these threads are mucked up by people with uninformed prejudices about cars they have never owned (who knows why they get so excited).At this point of time MGF's are an outstanding bargain in NZ.Of course the K engine had some head gasket problems, but an owner with half a brain ( or a buyer with an eye to history) could deal with this no problems.For older buyers, this is a bit like the prejudice against Triumph Stags - a car with when new deficiencies but by now either fixed or fixable.A good MGF is a great car.(And I don't own one, so not trying to pump the value).
lookoutas,
May 11, 4:49pm
Good to see you can't help it!
On a different note - I drove a glass replica MGTF today, and was very impressed with how tight it was. No rattles or shake like the proper ones.
ajlnz11,
May 11, 6:10pm
I have an MG ZR160, superb Car and love it, the head gasket did go just after 100,000 kms though but it didn't have the updated dual layer version, does now! Allow $1100 for new head gasket just in case when buying an MG, bit like cambelt, replace every 100,000 kms and you'll be fine.
ralphdog1,
May 11, 8:08pm
Well you have now. I have a workmate who will no longer drive his in the rain cause it always craps out and will not run properly if at all. He is an electronics tech and is struggling to get his head around it.
unclejake,
May 11, 9:18pm
Mate, you are a top bloke and a sterling peddler, but for the normal bloke (or barber) in the street, the MGF couldn't really be called a reliable motor car.
stevo2,
May 12, 3:49am
One mate has a 96 and has spent $4.5k in the last 12 months on all sorts incl a head gasket. Another mate had one for 6 months until it caught fire. Still a good looking car and fun to drive, worth a punt if you get it cheap enough! Cheers Stevo
mgmad,
May 12, 5:49am
Interesting. As I said, not heard of any problems of this ilk before with MGFs. Is it a VVC! The only half way likely things I can think of would be possibly water spray getting to the coil packs on the VVC which are mounted lowish on the back of the block, but would have thought that was unlikely. Possibly water is tracking from the engine bay vent to the ECU, although it is quite a long way to travel pretty much horizontally. Get in touch with Terry at Heritage Mechanical, if anyone's heard of that problem before, it will be Terry.
mgmad,
May 12, 6:01am
Thanks UJ, although this is a common misconception. We run one as a daily driver and don't have to do anything to it other than check water and oil from time to time. Quite a number of 'F owners in the car club own them as their only car and have no significant problems.
I'm not denying there are a few lemons out there (as with any car), but the point I'm trying to make is that if you check the oil and water once in a while they are a great proposition. In my opinion, one of the leading causes of overheating is caused by people not bleeding the cooling system properly/at all when changing the coolant, leading to airlocks; causing more of a problem in the K due to the small coolant capacity. The small bypass for the thermostat can also lead to significant thermal shock when it does open, which is easily cured with a couple of small holes in the thermostat, or more expensively solved with the PRRT thermostat setup as found on the 1.8T rover 75/MG ZT. Basically, if a K does do a 'head gasket', you need to work out why and solve that problem, not just assume it was the gasket as this is where people get repeat problems. Both very easy problems to solve, and will only lead to head gasket failure if the car is driven a long way while overheating.
The big problem people have is that when overheating does occur in an 'F (as opposed to the front engined cars) it tends to be worse as more often than not the driver doesn't notice the steam coming from the engine behind him until it's too far gone. Inevitably this leads to far worse damage than would otherwise have occurred.
jerichord,
May 12, 6:32am
electrical interference from a cellphone tower, thats a new one, probably possable,
ajlnz11,
May 12, 6:34am
My headgasket failure on the ZR was not due to overheating, it just went, it's likely cause was previous owner not using Oat antifreeze (the orange one), the green and orange ones if mixed or changed react with the head gasket. Other than this it's proven to be very reliable and travel from Henderson to Onehunga daily and out to Howick at weekends.
jerichord,
May 12, 6:41am
socram, yes i was pushing it, but did you see what it was!, it is so good all of our mates are grizziling like hell, reckonthat its to fast, farsuperior drivingi say,, the old kiwi tall poppy syndrome strikes again .funny i dontsee to many fast morris garages out there much. perhaps they are all at home fixing head gaskets.
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