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V8 Newsletter December 2002
published in Safety Fast!

Oxford Blue 1133 owned by a longstanding V8 enthusiast in Devon, Tim Hipwell. (Photo: Tim Hipwell)

This month we have news of the continuing flow of new V8 registrations, details of the programme of events planned for the V8 25th Anniversary celebrations in 2003, a report on the Prix des Alpes from Al Barnett, an article from Tony Merrygold on his first six months with an RV8 and a report on the V8 Cotswold Tour from Richard Parker with notes from Gordon Hesketh-Jones.

New registrations
Registrations of Factory GTV8s have come from Barry Holmes (Glacier White 0129) from Kent with an early V8 previously owned by Dr Gerald Vaughan, Adrian Akhurst (Damask 0154) in South Australia, Peter Stack (BRG 0252) from Staffordshire, Warwick Gilbert (Glacier White 0310) from Queensland Australia, Graham Alldred (Teal Blue 0629) from Hampshire, Martin Ball (Glacier White 0633) from Australia, Susan Kent (Harvest Gold 1149) from Cornwall, Lex Franks (Glacier White 1717) from Queensland with the car formerly owned by Bruce Croft, Eric Simon (Flamenco Red 2272) from London N, and Roger Walker (Silver 2493) from London SW with a car fitted with RV8 mechanicals. We have also heard from Gavin Brown and Colin Shea of an immaculate Damask 0459 for sale in a showroom in Tokyo - the first GTV8 reported to be in Japan.

V8 conversions have come in from Richard Porter (BRG 3069) from USA, Ian Brown (Green 3071) from Fife with an BGTV8, Murray Arundell (Green/Black 4241) from Australia with a V8 Roadster with 4.4 and litres in a 1963 shell finished in XPower colours he has raced for most of its life, Tony Bates (Green 4242) from California with a V8 Roadster project, Kim Porter (BRG 4244) from Australia, Steve Newton (BRG 4244) from the West Midlands and Geoff Richmond (Vermillion 4245) from Hampshire.

New RV8 registrations have come from Colin Boots (Woodcote Green 0662) from Buckinghamshire, Maurice England (Woodcote Green 1191) from Yorkshire, Mark Laxton (Woodcote Green 1234) from Sussex, Geoff Lloyd (Woodcote Green 1242) from Leicestershire with an RV8 seen at auction in Japan in early October 2003, Yasuhiko Inoue (Nightfire Red 1314) from Japan, Salvatore Farruggio (Woodcote Green 1455) in Japan, Adrian Akhurst (Woodcote Green 1516) in South Australia, Gordon Reid (Oxford Blue 1584) from Hertfordshire, David Copeman (Woodcote Green 1682) from Yorkshire, George Hammnett (Woodcote Green 1743) from Avon, Stephen Kirby (Oxford Blue 1768) from Berkshire, Ray Lewis (Woodcote Green 1802) from Cambridgeshire, Christopher Hunt Woodcote Green NNNN) from Essex, David McKenna (Oxford Blue NNNN) from Herefordshire, and Allum Stuart (Woodcote Green NNNN) from Hertfordshire. The "NNNN" above indicates we have not had details of the VIN of those cars.

V8 25th Anniversary Year 2003
For many founding members of the V8 Register it is difficult to accept that 25 years have flown by but they have and 2003 will be the year when we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the formation of the V8 Register October in 1978. For 2003 we have a programme of V8 25th Events with the focus on the week before the Club's annual International MG Weekend meeting at Silverstone in June. That week starts with the second annual Don Hayter Talk on Sunday 15th June and ends on Friday evening 20th June with a V8 Dinner at Silvestone. The programme has been devised to enable our overseas members to join us during that week and over the Silverstone weekend. Summarised details are below but full details are on the V8 website at www.v8register.net or from Victor Smith on the number above or at the email address above.

By most standards the V8 Register has been very successful. From our records we estimate we have registered with us around 77% of the Abingdon built V8s still on the road and an amazing 87% of RV8s outside Japan registered. But beyond mere numbers, the V8 Register has always been about two things - technical support with information on maintenance tips and spares availability and a friendly network of V8 enthusiasts who enjoy the programme of V8 Gatherings, not least the very popular V8 Gathering and V8 Marquee at the Club's annual Silverstone meeting in June. The original V8 Workshop Notes series has always been a practical example of how the collective experience of V8 Register members with maintaining their cars and hunting down spares can be brought together and published for mutual benefit. Well as we slip into 2003 the two series are thriving - the seventh volume of the V8 series has reached the 270th note and we are just moving onto a working draft of Volume 8 and the "new" RV8 series is well into Volume 5. Full details of both series are now published and regularly updated on the V8 website. During 2002 the launch of the V8 website has enabled much greater communication and participation in V8 Register activities. From the responses received it is clear it is popular and the hit rate has been rising each month .The online registration and feedback form has been very popular with around 75% of registrations are now coming in that way.

The contents listing and index for the RV8 Workshop Notes series is now live on the V8 website so members can regularly download a copy to keep their own copy of the notes up to date. Many of the more recent workshop notes in both series are published on the V8 website and they are helping members tackle service and spares matters as they crop up. The V8s and RV8s for sale pages have been very successful and popular with both members and specialist V8 traders and RV8 reimporters. The bulletin board on the V8 website has been very active with members raising technical queries or seeking help on various topics. Keith Baylis of Ames MG Rover at Bury St Edmunds regularly contributes helpful information on the bulletin board.

The V8 Register has been recognised as the leading group for V8 enthusiasts for many years but over the last twelve months news has spread rapidly amongst RV8 enthusiasts of the quality and scope of the V8 Register's support for this limited production model. The RV8 Workshop Notes have become essential and RV8 membership growth has risen dramatically. Over the last two years the management of the V8 Register has thankfully been well refocused and run under the able chairmanship of Peter Buckles with a compact well motivated team of eight enthusiasts. We are well set to continue to be the leading MG register for the next 25 years!

Now a summary of the V8 25th Events:

See Rolling V8 Calendar for details of the V8 25th Anniversary Events and other events in the V8 Register calendar. The calendar is "rolling" in the sense we try to keep it rolling out at least 15 months to enable members to anticipate events and possibly plan their diaries to take in one or more of the events, particularly overseas members making infrequent trips to the UK.

The contact for all V8 Register events is:
David Biddle
Tel: 01753 892714
Mob: 07803 131007
dwbiddle@brookes.ac.uk

V8 Cotswold Tour
Over the years, the V8 Tours have been very popular, based on a hotel in an interesting region of the UK. For 2002 Peter and Sue Beadle organised a V8 Tour based in the Cotswolds. Richard Parker (BRG 3028) from Derbyshire reports on an enjoyable long weekend, together with a couple of notes from Gordon Hesketh-Jones (Harvest Gold 1904) from Cornwall.

The recent V8 Tour of the Cotswolds was based at Stratton House Hotel near Cirencester which provided a popular and comfortable base from which to explore this glorious part of middle England. Peter and Sue Beadle had put together a very appealing itinerary, taking in many interesting routes to events and places of interest.

On Friday, Autumn sunshine made a welcome appearance for our gentle run down the Fosse Way, stopping off in the little village of Bibury to have a look round the trout farm. Throughout the afternoon members of the party gradually gathered at the hotel in time for dinner and a good social get-together.

Saturday morning dawned fine and bright. Fortified by a monumental Stratton Court breakfast, we embarked upon the first organised event - it`s a hard life!. A scenic route had been plotted to the Three Choirs Vineyard near Ledbury. Unfortunately this resulted in the first mechanical casualty, as Peter Beadle's gearbox succumbed to the unequal struggle and cried enough; this seemed rough justice for all the effort that he had put into the organisation. We were treated to a lively and interesting tour of the vineyard with tasting of course. Quite a few of us were surprised as to the origins of Champagne; in essence, it was originally devised as a way of enhancing fairly mediocre, still wine, with a second stage of bottle fermentation. The technique of freezing the neck of the upturned bottle to remove the resulting accumulated sediment seemed rather ingenious. The quantity of wine produced from this relatively small vineyard was quite a surprise, although it was very noticeable that grapes grown so far north produce a very dry and tart wine, which was not to everyone`s taste.



Morgans at Malvern - members of the V8 Cotswold Tour particularly enjoyed the tour of the Morgan factory. (Photo: Gordon Hesketh-Jones)

With the Beadles installed in their everyday car - at least they had the benefit of a de-misting windscreen during the following deteriorating weather! - we set off, via lunch at a nursery close by, to Hidcote Manor Gardens near Chipping Campden. A brief history was provided by one of the duty volunteers and we were then free to roam. For me, this was one of the most interesting gardens I have visited; a series of small, differently themed areas are individually enclosed with trees and hedges, and each narrow entrance opens into yet another beautifully kept garden area. It must be stunning in the Spring time. Well worth a visit. After a cream tea at Hidcote - by then it was close to two hours since food had been consumed! - the party headed back to the Hotel.

Dinner included an auction. With an imaginary gavel in hand, Peter Beadle did sterling service as our auctioneer, ably assisted by our two MGC members acting as floor runners. All lots were sold with the funds going to the V8 Register. There was an amazingly diverse range of items, not necessarily car related, with a prize for the most unusual item.

Next came the inevitable - Sunday morning on a V8 Tour, so it must be wet! Peter and Sue had laid out a leisurely Treasure Hunt en-route to the main venue of the day, Berkeley Castle, near Sharpness on the Severn Estuary. Several stalwarts stuck to the clues and managed to assemble a credible list of answers for entry into the scoring process later in the day. There were also one or two of us (myself included), who showed a rather less steely resolve - alright we gave up embarrassingly early and just enjoyed the drive! It was certainly a scenic route, although somewhat limited in views, owing to the gathering murk. It was a shame that the weather restricted our chance to appreciate the grounds of Berkeley Castle; however, we were treated to a fascinating guided tour around the interior; the rooms were all on an unusually human scale for such a large castle, somewhere you could actually envisage living - as the Berkeley family do. The historical links with English monarchs over the years makes for a rich heritage and an interesting tour; highly recommended. On completion of our guided tour, a cream tea (yes another one!) had been laid on for us in the Great Hall, a magnificent and regal setting for the serious business of another feeding frenzy!

Monday morning brought, if it were possible, even more rain. A pleasant amble through the lanes had been arranged, through some very scenic areas - what we could see through the mist and gloom anyway. The route brought us to the Bugatti Trust Museum and Prescott Hillclimb. This time it was my turn for mechanical maladies; the exhaust decided to partially detach itself from the downpipes, leading to a passable imitation of a racing Cobra! We managed to drive gently to Prescott, kindly chaperoned by Sue and Peter, but we decided that the risk of the exhaust ending up on the floor was too great, and so we returned home on a breakdown truck! At least we had plenty of time to look around the museum, which, though small, holds some intriguing exhibits. I had not appreciated the inter-twining of art and engineering excellence which was so much part of the Bugatti family ethos. There were a number of books on display showing some of the artwork creativity of the family, (sculpture, furniture etc), which helped to put the more obvious mechanical exhibits into context. It is obvious that a great deal of work is carried out from this museum in bringing the history of Bugatti to a wider audience, as well as helping to ensure the survival of many of the cars, through parts sourcing, manufacture and distribution. Some of our members stayed on for another night, completing their Tour with a visit to the Morgan factory at Malvern Link. Unfortunately I was not able to extend my stay for this.

All in all, a really enjoyable V8 Tour and only my second, so I am still a novice! I know that I speak for everyone present when I say a huge "thank you" to Sue and Peter for all their hard work in putting together a superb tour. The setting, the hotel and the variety and content of the trips arranged all came together to make a great weekend. Next year, Cornwall is being tentatively mentioned, so if you have not been before, I would strongly recommend giving it a go.

Gordon Hesketh-Jones particularly enjoyed the visit to the Three Choirs Vineyard and noted they "now have 85 acres of vines and produce 200,000 to 250,000 bottles a year from their own grapes. Originally the vineyard used German-style vines but with the effects of global warming they can now get good crops from the classic French vines. Inside their ultra-modern processing plant everything is stainless steel. Some of their wines are blended to become house or own-label products, others are sold under their own name. They also produce a further 200,000 bottles of wine using grapes from neighbouring vineyards. My wife, Jennifer, and I particularly liked their dry sparkling wine produced under the correct champagne method of introducing yeast to obtain the second fermentation. This sparkling wine is sold in ASDA at £6.99 and we now recommend it!".

For Gordon "the visit to Prescott Hillclimb brought back memories for I often held the "hockey stick" there in the late fifties and sixties which operated the timing mechanism for the competitors, so always drove home after the events drunk on the fumes of Castrol "R"! The Saturday afternoon was free for shopping and the combination of Jennifer, Cirencester and a plastic card brought tears to my eyes!"

Bracken 1218 sets out for the V8 Cotswold Tour which turned out to be quite wet! (Photo: David Waterton)

For Gordon the high point of the V8 Tour was a visit to the Morgan Car factory at Malvern. "This small company continues to make cars in the traditional way and any worker from Abingdon in the 1930s would have felt totally at home their today! Of the 161 employees, 141 are involved in the factory - an excellent ratio. Currently they produce ten "traditional" cars (Plus 4s with the two litre Ford Zetec engine and the remainder Plus 8s with the 3.9 litre Range Rover engine) and four or five of the "new" Aero models. They still take on apprentices and 70% of the workforce is former apprentices. Their dedication and commitment to Morgan was clear when we stopped to ask questions - everyone there is an honest salesman or woman for Morgan. Many ash frame parts are mass-produced in the machine shop and then a craftsman assembles the complete ash frame for a specific car. Customers can choose any colour of paint provided it is on a list of 33,000 colours Morgan offer! The spray work is superb. The upholstery and carpets are made in-house too.

The memorable visit to the plant by the "television troubleshooter", Sir John Harvey-Jones, produced 400 sales over the subsequent three months as a response to his controversial recommendations of "improved" production methods. The Morgan family simply reaffirmed their commitment to building cars in the traditional way and the market responded. Long may they both continue to do so!"

Gordon and Jennifer have offered to arrange and organise a V8 Cornish Tour for Autumn 2003 - details will be announced in the V8 Column in Safety Fast! in the New Year.

Oxford Blue 1133 at the Highwayman in Devon. (Photo: Tim Hipwell)

BRG 4199, a beautiful MGBV8 Roadster conversion built from a Heritage shell in 1996 and owned by Michael Collins in Dorset. (Photo: Michael Collins)

RV8 power is a success in the Prix des Alpes
Al Barnett (BRG 1839) with his navigator Fiona enjoy classic car rallies and achieved success this year. Al reports the event was great fun, in good weather and enjoyable company, with excellent event organisation from the Brownings.

Back in the Summer earlier this year, we completed our fifth annual Prix des Alpes rally driving for six days through wonderful French mountain scenery in constant sunshine. We stayed in accommodation ranging from a superb lakeside hotel in Annecy to a monastery above Gap in the mountains, very different each night but all enjoyable. We finished with two nights in Cannes with the prize giving dinner in our hotel's splendid beach restaurant.



Fritz Jansen (BRG 0983) from Holland powers round a bend in the RV8 on one of the sections in the 2002 Prix des Alpes. (Photo: Al Barnett)

Al and Fiona Barnett (BRG 1839) from Luxembourg with their awards from the 2002 Prix des Alpes at their home in Provence. (Photo: Al Barnett)

There is a competitive element to the event with a driving test and two or three regularity (see below) sections each day. If you can vaguely read a map and use a stop watch, you will cope and can enjoy the spectacular routes based on roads used by the Alpine and Monte Carlo rallies. The roads are rewarding for V8 powered MGs with challenging climbs up to 8,000 ft and memorable views from the summits.

Peter and Sharon Browning run the event and their organisation is excellent. Peter is a former BMC Competitions Manager and ran the BRSCC Prodsports series back in the seventies and is now the Competitions Director for the MG Car Club as well as the current editor of Safety Fast! The marshals are all former sixties rally team members and their company and that of fellow enthusiasts makes for lively and entertaining evening meals. Entries range from Big Healeys to this year's new MGTFs. Although the entries are mainly MGs there were representatives of Porsche, Jaguar and Mercedes, and a very brave Paul Grade in a one week old RV8 engined Westfield. There were two RV8s - ours from Luxembourg (BRG 1839) and the father (Fritz Jansen) and son team (BRG 0983) from Holland.

We have no Halda or Brantz (see below) or the like and just rely on the very accurate RV8 speedometer and a couple of stop watches. You get the opportunity of checking the accuracy of your speedo just before the start of the event. In 1998 after a couple of disasters on our first ever regularity event, my wife Fiona wanted to go home immediately but since then has become both a skilled and enthusiastic navigator. This year we finished second overall to a well driven Healey 3000, averaging no more than three seconds out on the regularities, and were the lead car in the winning team comprising an RV8, MGF and a new MGTF.

We will be entering again in 2003 and do hope a few more V8 Register members will be tempted to join us. Anyone wanting more details or a discussion of what is involved is very welcome to contact me by telephone on +00352 333144 or at Al-FionaBarnett@uunet.lu by email.

Footnotes: Now a brief clarification of a couple of the technical terms used in this note for any readers unfamiliar with rallying. Regularities: These are short road sections, often around ten kilometres, where you have to both navigate and average a precise, but not fast, average speed. You know where the start is but you do not know in advance where the section will end but around some corner you will find veteran rally ace Willy Cave or one of the other marshals checking your time to the second. It sounds a little daunting but you soon get used to it and enjoy the challenge. Haldas and Brantz: These are devices which measure time and distance very precisely - nice to have if you are seriously into rallying, but not essential as we proved this year.

Six months with an RV8
Tony Merrygold (Woodcote Green 0551) from Warwickshire runs a classic car hire company called The Open Road and here he relates his experiences and pleasures of running his RV8 over his first six months.

My company car for the past four years was an MGF and at the end of its lease I opted to take an allowance instead of a car. That way I could buy a car that I wanted - an RV8. I also wanted to add the RV8 to the fleet of cars we hire out so that it would enable other people to experience an unusual car, and it would help pay its way. It took several months to find a suitable RV8 as very few come up for sale in the winter. I made numerous phone calls and viewed a few cars. It seemed that some people wanted unrealistic prices for their cars. I guess they had paid top price a couple of years ago and wanted to recoup as much money as possible. The few I saw with high mileages (over 40,000) were not in brilliant condition. I resolved to pay the higher price for a low mileage car, particularly as both myself and my hirers may be clocking up a reasonable mileage on it over the next two or three years.

I looked at a couple of reimported RV8s, including one with the rare option of power steering. The mileage on this car was a little too high otherwise I would have bought it. Eventually I found a reimport in good condition at a reasonable price. I won't divulge the dealer's name for reasons which will become clearer later - but it wasn't one of the re-importers listed by the V8 Register in each volume of the RV8 Workshop Notes and on the V8 website. The car drove well, had done only 19,500 kilometres (less than 12,000 miles) and there were only a few minor problems. The brakes were not up to the standard they should be, the pedal was a bit soft and they pulled to the left under hard braking. A couple of times I could not get it into fifth gear, but I wasn't sure whether this was me or the gearbox. The windscreen rubber wasn't completely flush and the heater control broke off in my hand. There was no spare wheel or wheel carpet in the boot but it had a complete tool kit, including torch and wheel chocks. The dealer agreed to check out the gearbox and complete a full service and supply spare wheel and tyre, but would not budge on the asking price. This seemed reasonable to me so a deal was done. He said he would drive it for a week to identify any other problems and would then give it a full service. A week later he phoned and said that he had been having the same problems with fifth gear and would get the gearbox replaced as well as doing the full service. On collecting the car and checking it all over it seemed OK. The fifth gear problem was definitely resolved but he said he only been able to make small improvements in the braking.

Woodcote Green 0551, part of The Open Road fleet of classic cars. (Photo: Tony Merryfield)

Over the next few weeks I resolved a few other minor problems as they occurred. I stripped out the seats and cleaned the whole car properly, cleaning and feeding the seats. I fitted the UK spec distributor advance and retard pipe and had the Japanese radio replaced with a new Kenwood one with a six CD changer at Halfords. The car didn't come with any alarm plips - and after checking with the V8 Register that all RV8s were fitted with an alarm, a pair was sourced from the local MG Rover dealer and programmed in OK.

I turned my attention to the brakes. The brake fluid was a horrible colour and consistency and didn't look as if it had been changed at all. I bled the brakes which gleaned some improvement but not enough. While bleeding these I noticed that one of rear wheel cylinders was weeping slightly. I dismantled them which proved difficult as one of the pistons was sticking, and replaced the seals. The brakes were now much better but still pulled to the left under hard braking. I then removed and cleaned the pistons and re-bled the brakes. For good measure I also fitted green stuff pads. Now the brakes match the performance of the car - so much for a full service! It makes me wonder what else wasn't done!

The new mph speedo is misreading - by about 10 mph. At 70 it reads 80.
Courtesy of Brian Ditchman I now know the car does 28 mph per 1,000 revs so 2,500 rpm is 70 mph and 3,000 is 84 mph. Armed with this snippet and a radar detector I have left the speedo as it is.

Unlike those RV8 owners that have removed the aircon I intend to keep mine as installed to Japanese spec cars. My MGF also had aircon and while this may seem a bit pointless in an open top car, it does have two benefits:
o " The RV8 is my company car and sometimes I need to use my mobile phone - which I always use hands free on a headset. Obviously I can't hear anything with the hood down so sometimes in the summer I have the hood up and the aircon on.
o " The aircon proved extremely useful on the MGF in the winter, removing all the condensation from the inside of the car very quickly.

So, following the advice from RV8 Workshop Note 124 I removed the trim panel from the passenger foot well and cut off the last bit with carpet. When re-fitted, with foam to protect the aircon pipes, the passenger legroom has been improved somewhat and no-one can tell.

View from the cockpit of Woodcote Green 0551 (Photo: Tony Merryfield

The veneer on the glove box lid had cracked and lifted in a couple of places and the lacquer on the door cappings was cracking. I stripped off the lacquer, injected glue under the veneer and clamped it down and then re-lacquered all three pieces. Not a difficult job, but it just took a lot of patience. There is now only one thing left to fix - the heater won't turn off completely.

So after having driven the car regularly - completing over 4,000miles - what do I think of the RV8? The acceleration is truly awesome and the brakes are now working properly. Unlike our MGB it doesn't under steer and so far the back end hasn't stepped out at all. You can power into and through bends and it feels as if it squats down on the suspension. It bears no resemblance whatsoever to an MGB in that respect and is much firmer than our MGF. The suspension is hard in comparison to the MGF which just absorbed all the bumps it came across. The ride is very good on long runs on motorways but is very harsh on poor quality roads. When we did the local MG run on the way to Gaydon and Elaine felt car sick after navigating for two hours. In all the years we have been doing runs, including on some really poor roads in Ireland, East Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary she has never felt car sick before.

That aside I think the RV8 is great fun to drive, enough power to get past anything I want, enough road holding not to lose it, the hood doesn't leak and it has an excellent sound system. All in all an excellent future classic!

The Open Road. Tony Merrygold's classic car hire company is based in Sherbourne in Warwickshire and can be contacted by telephone on 01926 624 891 or by email at openroad1@attglobal.net with a very attractive and useful website at www.theopenroad.co.uk with further information on the various classic cars in The Open Road fleet. Any overseas V8 members visiting the UK in 2003 needing an MG for a day, weekend or week, do get in touch.

Now some recent workshop notes from the working drafts of the two series.

RV8 Workshop Note 152
RV8 brake hydraulic system and master cylinder
Bryan Ditchman (Caribbean Blue 0265) from Hampshire, the Editor of the RV8 Workshop Notes series, has sent in a note reporting essential news for RV8 members. It was first published on the V8 Register website in view of its importance to RV8 enthusiasts. (Sep 02)

The brake master cylinder for the MG RV8 is no longer available from MG Rover or Lockheed Girling. Should you experience problems with your brake master cylinder, then do remember that these units can be restored to full working condition, so do not let your local MG dealer or garage throw the old one away if it is shown to be unserviceable. It is therefore a very good idea to obtain a spare seal overhaul kit under part number LK11209 (Lockheed) or GRK901093 (MG Rover). Should the piston bore have corroded, this can be re-sleeved - contact Clive Wheatley if you need help in this respect.

As RV8s are in general low mileage cars, lack of use will gradually result in the hygroscopic nature of the brake fluid corroding the cylinder bore it is therefore recommended that one renews the fluid in the system every 18 months to two years - and similarly the clutch system as well. MG Rover workshops have pressure systems that do this quickly and efficiently.

This brings me to the final point, something I am repeating again, please hang on to the old parts if they are replaced! I have already found two RV8 owners who paid £300 for a new starter motor and threw their old one away! Normally £30 cures the problem - see RV8 Workshop Note 28.

V8 Workshop Note 263
Have you got a screw loose?
Workshop notes like screws still come out of the metalwork! Bryan Ditchman (Caribbean Blue 0265) has found another useful part which is used on the RV8 which can be used equally well on the MGBV8. (Oct 02)

During the reassembly of my MGBGTV8 (Bracken 1012), now coming to the end of a full rebuild, I found that the screws holding the inner door seal retainer strip on to the inner sill did not tighten. Over the years wear and a little corrosion have eroded the holes. However the same set up exists on the RV8, the holes for the screws have been drilled out to take nice little plastic rawlplugs, part number ACU5431A, which come as a packet of ten. To fit them to the MGBGTV8, use a 13/64 drill bit (but no bigger) to enlarge the holes in the sill (lift the sill cover first of course) and then press in the plugs, then use the nice little stainless screws from the RV8 installation, part number ZKC6179, and there you are "tight again"!

RV8 Workshop Note 156
RV8 back axle reconditioning service
This note is reproduced from the RV8 Spares Update as a sequel to RV8 Workshop Note 155 recently added to the working draft of Volume 5. It describes a back axle reconditioning service provided by Clive Wheatley who adds a footnote. (Oct 02)

Clive Wheatley launched an RV8 back axle reconditioning service earlier in 2002 at a time when several RV8s have been experiencing noisy back axles and showing signs of wear. The service is based on complete reconditioning of members' own back axles, including both the crown wheel and pinion and limited slip differential. An exchange service is not available.

The RV8 back axle was a one-off unit for the RV8 whereas the LSD was not so. The availability of crown wheel and pinion parts have been a concern whereas the LSD components less so. Recently Clive found the original supplier for both the crown wheel and pinion and the LSD for the RV8. A new batch of crown wheel and pinions has bee produced and has been available from the end of July 2002. So Clive has solved a potential difficulty which might have become an increasing concern for RV8 enthusiasts with back axles needing repair. Clive says "there are twelve gears in the RV8 LSD so it has always been a little noisy rather than the other type of LSD with a clutch. Recently I have had two RV8s needing treatment on the back axles - the most recent was a 70,000 mile RV8 with a noisy back axle so I thought it was time to do something as many cars are approaching or beyond that mileage". In terms of cost, Clive indicates "it will very much depend on the amount of reconditioning work and new parts that are found to be necessary, but as a guide reconditioning a back axle is likely to be in the range £500 to £1,000 including labour and materials plus VAT". On top of this you will need to add the costs of removing the back axle, freight both ways and reinstallation. As a guide, the price for a new RV8 back axle from MG Rover's spare parts supplier is reported to be around £2,000 including VAT so a complete reconditioning service is a worthwhile option for an RV8 enthusiast!

Footnote: Clive Wheatley indicates the new crown wheel and pinions are available from stock at £275.00 plus VAT and carriage. Since announcing his back axle refurbishment service earlier this year, Clive reports he has done three RV8s, including that of Lowell Smith described in a recent RV8 Workshop Note 155, one of which had 95,000 miles on the clock. That unit in that high mileage RV8 was not too bad but Clive urges members to check the oil levels in their RV8 back axle. Clive generally recommends replacing the CWP if the back axle is being refurbished although there may not appear to be much wear on the CWP. The new batch CWPs is well up to the job of handling the RV8's 190bhp power output as the CWP is also used in another sports car generating 400bhp and in a van. Clive has noticed that one item which is not mentioned on the MG Rover parts fiche is the back plate and this is an item which may need re-sourcing in the future.

Please note: a detailed Index to the complete RV8 Workshop Notes series is available on this website. This will enable RV8 members to copy the latest Index to keep their copies of the notes up to date. A similar index to the whole of the V8 Workshop Notes series will be posted just as soon as the project to update the series is completed - projected to be mid February 2003.