Nice one.

Have you cleaned the throttle body, mine was seriously gummed up.

There isn't a Haynes but a mixture of the ZR (engine) and Rover 100 cover most things.
There is a reprint of the MG workshop manual available, at about £35.
There are lots of how to guides at www.the-t-bar.com and else where.

The official MGTF Workshop Manual is here for free As a PDF...
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&so...yigmSA9lfYivDg

First contact
 

Got some time to take some photos yesterday evening after the grind. :snap: So the photo in post #1 would be the "good side". The driver's side has more going on...

Two dents. Rear quater panel and above the side repeater. I think the rear quater dent should pop back out if I can get to it from behind.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050008.JPG

Ugly rust spot on front offside wing. Replace the panel.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050013.JPG

Small rust bubbles in a few different spots on the bonnet. Not sure what to do about those.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...?itok=18pLpVoJ

Soft top looks good. And no leaks in todays rain :) Clean and recolour.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050009.JPG

The usual faded badges. Get some inserts for these.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050016.JPG
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050024.JPG

Bumper not fitted quite right. Somehow it looks worse in this picture than it does in reality.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050017.JPG

No issues here. Just needs a really good clean! Some leather would be nice though :)
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...1/P1050030.JPG

http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...1/P1050033.JPG

Driver's side door lock makes a nasty grinding noise.
http://youtu.be/nzPTyz6zTv8

Heater control is broken internally.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050034.JPG

Yuck. Flush the system, clean or replace the bottle, replace with some nice pink OAT.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050035.JPG

Some other things:

• 4 different tyres on it at the moment and all the wrong size.
• Heater resistor pack is out. Fan only works on 3 & 4. Fixed this before on
  ZS105 with some new resistors. No stress.

Also found a small hole on the dash. I'll have a go fixing this with filler.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050040.JPG

I was about to remove the engine access cover to check the basic service items when the rain that was promised came down....

Centre console
 

...so had to hold off on the engine and instead, jump into the cabin and start hacking out the dash. You know as you do, on a car you've owned less than 24 hours! :)

Tasks:

• Remove the dodgy stereo.
• Remove the old Nokia hands-free kit.
• Determine what's wrong with the temperature control.

Nokia hands free kit.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050044.JPG

Centre console out.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050041.JPG

Nokia kit spliced into the stereo ISO loom. I have removed these and re-insulated the wires.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050042.JPG

Found the rest of the heater knob!
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050043.JPG

Heater knob's gear is broken. The cable mech behind seems to be jammed so probably some brute broke the knob by trying to force it. Still more digging to do here.
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...g/P1050053.JPG

Still delighted with the thing and fun to work on something different. Hopefully a good summer this year. I have a friend who owns a S2000 now but used to have MX5s. Interested to see what he thinks of it. Comparisons I've read seem to vary greatly!

I think they like each other :kissing2:
http://www.franks.ie/sites/franks.ie...1050008_0.JPG?

I do want another TF after the 135 spark we had. Think Id like a 160, that said it seems like you have got yourself a summer bargain :)

Not yet, but it's on the list.

There is indeed. The wealth of information out there on these cars is great. So far I've been using Google and often end up on the-t-bar and mgfregister. Every minor fault I've looked up so far has come up before and is answered :)

Brilliant! Thanks for the link

Great little yokes when the sun comes out! Very few 160s over here. If I do manage to sell this one on after a couple of months, I think I'd look at importing a 160. Trouble is at 700-1000€ importation tax, it's got to be one for keeping.

Ouch :(
Something like a Sunspot with colour coded hardtop? ;)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TROPHY-CAR...item2a4e4e0946

I was suggesting cleaning the throttle body as it is much easier than changing the accelerator cable, the problem (high tickover speed) on my VVC F turned out to be the throttle position switch but the idel control valve was gummed up and not smooth, the same for the actual throttle body.

Cleaning everything up made small openings much smoother.

The throttle itself seems free and smooth which is why I was pointing at the cable. I will try cleaning out the tb tho and see if it makes a difference. cheers!