JPSC Forum

An MGF donor, J15 body, looks interesting, anyone had a drive in it yet?

I guess it'll be quite weighty using all those doner suspension bits although the front is JP I seem to remember Should go well with the TROPHY engine when you consider the MGF's weight. If it were me building one , I'd sort out the stupid thermo sited on the water incoming flow , using a remote on the exit side , plus a better gasket and new spec head/block through bolts. Hopefully it would be an easier engine bay to access than the MGF too.

I've driven it, and very nice it is too. There is a lot of lazy torque to it and with the full screen it is extremely civilised. It had only been on the road for a couple of days when I drove it so it was still being fiddled with to get it set up. It was a very cold slippery day so I can't comment about the handling. The front suspension has gone to an outboard setup which creates more room to shift some weight up front. The rear picks up the MGF subframe mounting points. The MGF suspension setup is completely ditched.

It has the MGF heater which kicks out a ridiculous amount of hot air into the footwells and onto the screen. You could drive in in Baltic conditions a still be warm from the waist down!!

The screen, even though it is a bolt on option, really doesn't look like an afterthought. It could do to be a little more rigidly mounted to reduce flex, but that shouldn't be too difficult during the build.

The gear lever drops beautifully under your hand and the change is really precise and smooth. The clutch pedal needed a bit of adjusting for my preference, and it was nice to have a rear view mirror. The post IVA wing mirrors look cute but are completely useless in action.

The engine will more than cope with the extra 25 kilos of subframe assuming you are building a road or trackday car, and baring in mind the tuning possibilities of the engine I really don't see the weight as an issue. Jeremy did say that he was working on a way of ditching the subframe for his next car but didn't elaborate further. The chassis is capable of taking a lot of power as can be seen from both the Honda and Duratec engined J15's that have been racing and sprinting for the last couple of years

The amount of parts that transfer straight from the MGF is amazing so its worth shopping round for a good one. Even the standard alloys look pretty good IMHO.

As a J15 owner I would have happily bought a Vectis, and to be honest, may well have done so in preference, had both models been available at the same time, due to the big cost advantages the MGF/Vectis setup brings. No two kitcars drive and feel the same, and it is different to my J15, but out of the box, for my money, it's a cracking car

Hmm, I'd love to have the time/money to build another Sylva.
Still love the Striker though!
Edd

Article here:

http://www.mgenthusiast.com/features/sp ... ng-the-mgf

Pete