Mods & improvements

Powerplant -
New head gasket (as a precaution, but it was still the original after 57k miles) with steel dowel pins.
Piper 4-2-1 exhaust, ‘cheapo’ replacement cat & MGOC Supersports stainless silencer, which is not as fruity as the Mike Satur version that it replaced. (Its innards were rather loose which maybe helped!)
Alternator, water pump, cambelt and cambelt idler replaced during engine out work (see Chassis below). Gearchange bellcranks replaced. Click for photos

Cool air intake system now installed - click here for a description and instructions for DIY.
Airflowed alloy throttle body and Pipercross air filter now fitted-
Click here for details
Gearbox replaced (due to worn driveshaft splines) with ex-VVC box, with 4.2 final drive instead of 3.94. Lower gearing improves acceleration but reduces max speeds in the gears.

Exterior -
Trophy headlights, clear lens auxiliary lights.
Bonnet, front wings & windscreen surround resprayed. New windscreen. Stainless silencer heatshield.
TF bootlid with its integral spoiler lip - click for photo.
Collapsing rear jacking points repaired - rear wings resprayed.

Chassis -
F subframes replaced by TF - be warned, it's a big job when all the bolts are rusted up.
Pre-2005 springs on MGOC/VHS Bilstein 'Comfort' dampers.
Large front brakes (280mm) and uprated rear discs, all with Mintex 1144 pads.
16 inch Cup wheels with Avon ZZ3s, 205/40 front, 215/40 rear.
TF X-braces on front subframe, engine bay and behind the dashboard.

What are the effects?
The first thing I noticed was when I started it up - the new manifold made quite a difference. Definitely more anti-social with the Mike Satur silencer I had at the time. With the MGOC Supersports silencer I’ve got now it’s a bit less obvious. If there's any small power increase it's not dramatic. Go to my Cool Air Intake page to see how that might also help!

Click here to listen to a start - and here for out on the road

The TF suspension conversion gives a generally similar ride to the previous (10-year-old) set-up. There's a detectable increase in pitch movement over bumps as one would expect, but not very much. After five track days at Silverstone with Mgs On Track I can report that it is very nicely balanced on the fast corners and very secure. See my Aero Splitter page to see why that helps.

Brakes are much stronger for a given pedal pressure, but the Silverstone sessions showed I could hit them pretty hard without locking up at high speed, but could lock a wheel at lower speeds - more benefit from the splitter? Also the initial tendency to squeal loudly disappeared after the first day there, so the session must have bedded them in nicely.