Genuine, MG Rover, OEM, Britpart, or aftermarket?
 

new timing belt/water pump, and head gasket for 1.8 - genuine, Britpart, MG Rover, OEM or after market?

Which would you use?

Same question for clutch etc.

Cheers,
Pete

Rover went out of business years ago, are there any of those parts still left anywhere or have they been made since the company went to the wall?

The topic of genuine has come up a number of times and everyone will have to decide on their view of genuine.

Borg and Beck seem to get good comments for clutches

macafee2

plenty of NOS around, I guess.

I've read a lot about the various head gaskets available, following threads and links here. I'm looking at the DMGRS Ultimate K series Head gasket fix kit.

Interested in peoples comments, based on experience, before I buy anything.

Cheers,
Pete

I think you need to take a look at the type of part you are buying. A belt if genuine will be at least 16 years old so I would suggest a newly manufactured part and probably the same with anything with seals in it.

Look at the part that comes with the best warranty. Some stuff is out there with a 36 month warranty. That would be my choice.

You also have to remember when MGR were going out of business they were unlikely to be buying the best quality parts but probably the cheapest.

So long after MGR's demise most of its liable to be the same manufacturer in different packaging.

The type of head gasket -Elastomer or MLS is dependent on the head surface condition and your liner heights - are they proud of the block?

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...d.php?t=177383

Where possible, try to find a high quality aftermarket that often supplies other OEMs.

I would generally use Gates for timing / auxiliary belts.

Clutches seem to be a bit pot luck, as a lot appears to be rebranded / re-boxed. I purchased Sachs branded parts. When they arrived, LUK part numbers on the components themselves.

Not too sure on gaskets and alike.

To me it's more complicated to answer this question than it used to be. :getmecoat:

all good points chaps, thanks.

I can't inspect the liners before I purchase. It's our daily currently, and we can't do without it waiting for parts to come over. I'll get two alternatives and decide which to fit when I get the head off.

It's a preventative action, 1999 car with 60K on the clock. No service record since the main dealer stopped servicing around 30K and 18+years ago.

As others have said try to use branded spares were ever possible .

A lot of those manufactures have supplied MG Rover with genuine spares over the years , The likes of TRW, SKF ,Delphi , Gates, Dayco to name a few.

As for your Head gasket , I would always preference the Elastomer Gasket over the MLS as it is more forgiving with liner heights and undulations in the head surface Apart from it obvious age failure with the elastomer the gasket gives good serviceability without a lot of problems. Premature failure is usually down to other problems such as overheating through coolant loss
K Series engines have a low coolant capacity so any leak soon manifests to over heating problems

Providing you monitor service levels regularly problems elastomer failure symptoms are easily picked up early and a few days running the car would confirm any problems I would be reluctant to change out the head gasket just as a preventative measure Unless displaying any problems

My advice would be to carry out your servicing including timing belt service , water pump, carry out good inspection of of all hoses and change coolant if no other issues are found

I'll probably do this. I am torn between not fixing something that aint broke, and just get on with it while I have my hands dirty, for peace of mind :)