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MG MGF Technical - fitting interior

I plan to fit my new carpets ,MK2 T bar and seats this weekend.
Can anyone tell me just how much I have to take out to do this......I have a day to complete ....
I've looked at SF's site, but that was a planned complete strip out. I'd like the minimum of disruption if possible.
I understand thet the Cubby/armrest has to come out...seats will be out anyway.

Also, I have the T bar & speakers does anyone know where I can get the connector and leads to fit the existing MG plug.

AND...I have TF doorcards with a tweeter...again is there a specific plug/lead and can I connect to my existing speakers without pumping 100watts of bass through the poor little things ?

Thanks in advance

Grahame
Grahame

Hi Grahame,

good news is that all these jobs are pretty simple - and Andy's site, as you've seen, covers most of this in plenty of detail :o)

To remove the T-bar, all you need do is unclip the rear of the hood frame. See http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/tbar_installation.htm Central cubby lids can remain in place :o)

The only thing not covered in these instructions are removal of the seat belt anchors - but since these are on the seat runner, and you're removing the seats, then this is easy too.

Door cards are a piece of cake too: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/door_panel_removal.htm
And fitting of MY2000 door cards in a Mk1 MGF is shown here: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/BRM_concept.htm

The Tweeters that come with the MY2000 door cards come complete with their own little crossovers soldered on (that little capacitor) - so just connect up in parrallel to the existing door speakers. Job done.
Rob Bell

Have you been on the 'happy juice' Rob? ;-)

>> To remove the T-bar, all you need do is unclip the rear of the hood frame. <<

Eh?

LOL :-)

------------

OK, to the point - Grahame what carpets are you planning to fit? There are three pieces in total, one for each side of the transmission tunnel and a third piece for behind the seats.

To fit the piece behind the seats you will need to strip out the following:

T-Bar
Cubby box and drop down bin lids.
Rear Console (drop down bin)

To fit the pair of moulded floor carpets you will need to strip out the following:

Seats
Door rubbers (partially)
Transmission Tunnel (just undo fixings, rather than remove completely)

-------------

As you rightly point out Grahame, the detail on the SOS site is primarily aimed at the strip down of the car, if i had completed the rebuild myself, at my own pace i would have included a similar amount of detail on the rebuild but we had a fixed deadline and necessarily a lot of planned modifications fell by the wayside, as did the detail shots - the rebuild section consists of stage shots rather than the individual processes involved (not that it was any more difficult, or involved anything more complicated than the stripdown).

From an advice point of view, changing the carpets is surprisingly easy to do. There are a lot of trim clips though, and it is easy to miss some (especially under the dashboard). In Scarlet the additional velcro that holds the carpet in place was useless and IMO not necessary so i didn't bother with it during the rebuild - this hasn't caused any problems.

The only other thing to say is remember to make the airbag system safe before removing the seats by disconnecting the battery (both terminals) and allowing a good 15-20 minutes or so for the system to discharge (you will need your radio code when you reconnect your battery later). I would do this first and whilst the system is dicharging, get on with some of the other jobs like T-Bar removal so as not to waste any time.

Tools needed:

Radio code :-)
Socket/spanner to undo the battery terminals (IIRC this is a 13mm)
T50 Torx bit and extensions for the seat bolts
Philips head screwdriver for the T-Bar
Flat bladed screwdriver for the carpet clips (may not be necessary - they tend to be removable by hand)

If you are doing the speakers as well then you'll also need a 10mm socket/spanner for the 4 bolts to the T-Bar angle

Have fun :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

Oh, i would also recommend the following items:

A pot of copper slip / copper grease - this will make putting the seat bolts back easier.

And an adapter for a cordless drill/screwdriver that takes sockets - Screwfix.com have some and this will save you loads of time refitting the seat bolts (this is a pain in the bum - one of those jobs i really hate - it just seems to go on and on and on and on - the bolts are unnecessarily long IMO and the rear transmission tunnel one is awkward and located at arms length making it really annoying!) Any power assistance here will really help :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

>> Have you been on the 'happy juice' Rob? ;-) <<

Yup, and I'm not sharing it either. Bah humbug! ;o)
Rob Bell

Thanks Rob

encouragement and reassurance is just what I need.

I fitted the door cards yesterday....couldn't wait.
But managed to drain the battery ...may have been having the doors open and winding the windows up and down..may have been a coincidence !

The main worry is the explosives ......I may leave the seat removal for more than 10 minutes after I disconnect the battery.....I've heard horror stories.

I have the full interior carpets to fit... don't they go underneath the cubby on the rear panel? Do I have to remove what I think may be called the transmission tunnel, or can I tuck the carpet under there ?

Taking the drivers footrest off looks like fun !.

The tweeter seems to have a socket for a plug on it.
would I be able to get the leads for all the speakers from a dealer or would they come as a set with the speakers ?

A lot of questions...but I want to have all the stuff I need before i start.

Grahame
Grahame

Andy, thanks

Shows how slow my typing is.....asked more questions....
They'd already been answered !

I'm fitting the whole interior EXCEPT for the business end ( dash, steering etc )

New door cards in already, with leather seats to match and rear speakers ....christmas doesn't get any better.

Driving down to Devon for new year, I'm very keen to get it done for then. I'm very busy at the moment so it's Sunday or next year.

Grahame

Rob - has JohnP been sharing his 'dring' with you ?
Grahame

>>The tweeter seems to have a socket for a plug on it.
would I be able to get the leads for all the speakers from a dealer or would they come as a set with the speakers ?<<

Sadly, this part is part of the car's loom - and is not available separately. When I got my MY2000 door cards, I 'acquired' the loom and connectors thanks to judicious use of plyers whilst rooting around in the breakers yard...

You could try asking Victoria at the MGF Centre - or one of the other specialist autobreakers... or else remove the existing plug and replace with Lucar type spade or bayonette connectors.

>> Rob - has JohnP been sharing his 'dring' with you ? <<

Not yet, but I am told that 2003 is a good vintage ;o) LOL
Rob Bell

Should get it all done in a day - i reckon it's about 4-5 hours work tops and this can be shortened with a cordless drill powering sockets.

The most time will be spent on the seat bolts (putting them back especially). The driver's foot rest was awkward, but not really that difficult, IIRC it's three 8mm bolts, they are fairly short and don't take too long. I was worried about lining them up when i re-fitted it throught he carpet, but it all lined up perfectly in my case so was quite quick.

T-Bar speakers are simple, just unbolt the T-Bar angle, bolt in the new one with the speaker box and poke the cabling through the rectangular recess in the back of the transmission tunnel - you can remove the cubby box itself and reach inside to pull the cables through and from there it's fairly easy to go around the gear selector and up behind the fascia by removing one of the triangular footwell illumination panles. If you are pressed for time, tape the end of the cables to the under side of the top air vent so that you can wire it into the head unit at a later date. When the air vent is pushed back into place the cables are completely concealed but available locally to the back of the head unit for when you want to wire them in. These pictures show the cabling going in:

>> http://www.sfforever.co.uk/viewgallerypicture.asp?id=19-22-438-439-440-441-442-443-444-445-446-447-448-449-450-451-452-453-454-455-456-457-458-459&queryon=38 <<

and

>> http://www.sfforever.co.uk/viewgallerypicture.asp?id=20-22-438-439-440-441-442-443-444-445-446-447-448-449-450-451-452-453-454-455-456-457-458-459&queryon=38 <<

SF
Scarlet Fever

Andy & Rob

Thats great......practically step by step instructions.
I have all the new stuff to fit ..so the holes on that will show me where to look for fixing points.
I also have a choice of five cordless combis and drivers so that should even save ' bit changing time'.

The only hit or miss aspect could be when I get to 'tooling about' with the various speaker connections.
I take it I'll need to get hold of a four way harness ?

I may just take the speaker box into Halfords and explain what i'm trying to do....

I'll let you know how it goes. I have access to a large dry,undercover glass-roofed 'atrium'..Sunday, theres less chance of disapproval!!!!!! There's even a pub across the road to recuperate afterwards.

Grahame
Grahame

Andy and Rob

Interior now in place...... thanks for all the advice.

All went smoothly. Would have been quicker but I discovered a couple of leaks in the footwells.

Next step is to connect the rear speakers. I've run the cable, just need to figure out how to get the cd player out.

Very happy until this afternoon when I 'crumped' the near side wing on a sticky out bit of stone wall. I was politely backing out of a lane to let someone out....feeling very grumpy.........

Never mind...the inside looks fab !
Grahame

This thread was discussed between 16/12/2003 and 22/12/2003

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