Hope all goes well

Yep - came flat packed but just three pieces. Hopefully it'll fit with no trouble - I'll try to take a pic tonight.

It is flying in, well done.
I need to find some energy to play around with my car

Fitted it yesterday evening, as well as refitting the driveshafts, reconnecting all the engine wiring and hoses and refilled the gearbox oil. One more evenings work and she'll be ready to thrash around Llandow on Saturday!!!

Edit - just looked at that pic - makes the oil residue look really black - it wasn't in the flesh - looked quite fresh and amber and what looks like sludge in the pic isn't!

Its all done and back together now. Took her out for a run yesterday evening after finishing the last few bits and getting the clam back on. seems to be working now so all ready for Llandow on Saturday.

Back to Roger's comment, I checked the length of the dipstick tube against the MGF filler/dipstick unit (was still in the back of the shed!) and the one on the broken engine was nearly 10mm shorter. I measured the oil that drained out (3.7l) versus what went into the replacement engine (4.5l) so even though the dipstick was showing at max I was actually 0.8l down from the max, so probably running at minimum.

That 0.8l may well have been the difference between oil starvation and getting away with it on track but I'm much happier knowing that I've now got a baffle AND the right quantity of oil. 10mm in level isn't a massive factor of safety and would be pretty marginal in a long fast corner.

For anyone else who has used an MGF engine and has replaced the dipstick tube I'd urge you to double check the calibration. The handle on the top of the dipstick (yellow "T" shape) was only just clear of the underside of the rear clam (Spyder - wouldn't be an issue on a Libra) so if it had been 10mm higher it would have been bent over by the GRP when the clam was shut - I suspect this is why the previous owner made the tube shorter - he may have taken this into account when filling the oil and worked on the level being 10mm higher - if so it would have been good if he'd remembered to tell me that when I bought the car!!! When I last changed the oil it was using up part of an old container and the rest was new so it wasn't obvious that I'd not put the full volume in.

My replacement engine was from a front engined Rover 200 BRM and this has a different dipstick tube/dipstick with a round top that sits much lower overall so no need to adapt.

Hi
I have just changed my engine and I used the old dipstick from my 1.6 .
as I had the same mgf filler thing .
at the time I did think are they the same but I thought it's the same block and sump.
they looked the same.
are you saying on your old one the pipe was cut down and the stick was not cut
I have the round top

Hope all is ok with the new engine

The previous 1.6 had a full length dipstick (MGF style with the T shape top), identical to the one that came with the MGF engine I fitted over the winter but the tube had been home made, basically an extension of the bottom section of the MGF bit from the block. I re-used that as there wasn't room for the filler tube. As the sticks were identical I didn't think to double check the tubes against eachother. The round top one is neater, easier to pull in and out, but much harder to read, especially with clean oil.

hi thanks

the new 1.8 mgf had this one on it
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131317568028? ... rmvSB=true

my old 1.6 was like this type
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rover-k-serie ... Sw~gRVwS5c
so used this one
if i understand you right i should be ok with my old one

I think so Paul, but measure in 4.5l and see where it sits on the dipstick!

How'd the new engine go Sanz?

Went great, thanks. Was still going strong right up to the chequered flag - towards the end of the day there were only about 4 or 5 cars on the track so plenty of space to have fun. Was out for about 25 minutes!! Not much of my left rear tyre left though Was nice to be able to drive it home and went out for a pootle with the Mrs this morning too.

Glad to hear all went well. Would have been bummer if the engine was a dud after all the hard work.