Year: 2019

Grimethorpe was our first destination to see Geoffrey for more things on his immaculate and well loved TF135 and it was his birthday too! He had treated himself to a Daytona with the quad tail finishers and a set of Bilstein shocks and a new stereo. A very happy man came back from his test drive, car sounded great too as he had already had a remap by Mark Stacey. Look forward to seeing you again for further work in a couple of months, enjoy your birthday run this afternoon in the sun!

From there we went to meet Pete and his lovely wife in Belton to fit a Daytona with twin finishers to their fairly recent purchase of an excellent example of a Spark in x-power grey. They also had another super looking TF135 and a beautiful MGB in Flemenco. Great to chat and look forward to seeing you again in September for cambelt service.

Really good day, almost home now and the rain kept away!

What a really great day in Norfolk and lovely to meet Stuart. His beautiful looking MGF VVC, that had been quite heavily modified for track use, had been stood for 3 years and he wanted us to do everything necessary before turning the key. Full cambelt service carried out and check over of brakes, track rod ends, ball joints, subframes. Clutch was a bit sloppy so fluid change done.

So interesting to hear of Stuart’s accounts of many track days. Jon was especially interested as it is the same year and colour as his own modified car. Great to hear it try to spark into life at the first turn of the key, but with the Emerald race ECU it’s quite normal to have to sit in the car and keep the tic-over up until the engine gets warm. Trailer brought down with us as a contingency plan in case a lot more work required, but all sorted.

Thank you Stuart for making us so welcome. Beautiful hot sunny day with no rain!

Back on the A1 heading home after a busy day in the north east. We went to see Andy Brown in East Rainton as he had experienced some over heating issues, as suspected after pressure testing it was head gasket failure. On removing the head it was evident that coolant had been leaking into cylinder 2. At the MOT Andy had been told his rear bottom bushes on the shocks were worn so we took the bearing press with us and some new bushes, these were duly pressed out and in. Great morning with lots of chats and laughs, and a visit from lovely Stuart Clarke. Cracking catering too thank you Andy!

We then popped down the road to visit another Stuart who had called a few days ago, following a recommendation from Steve Miller, about the recent purchase of a beautiful looking MGF Trophy. The car was prone to overheating after 20 miles so asked if we could diagnose the problem. After pressure testing and inspection of the cylinders etc it was evident that although the head gasket had recently been changed there is a possibility of it leaking again in to one of the cylinders. Although not ruling out a thermostat issue. Date booked in to return to sort plus some other work.

We then went to see Ken in Spennymoor who had also called a weeks ago saying he had a problem with a stuck bolt in the subframe whilst replacing the front lower arms. After some time with the appropriate tools Jon successfully removed said annoying bolt. Good luck with the rest of the arms Ken, hope the rest doesn’t give you anymore grief!

Despite the continuing rubbish weather we had a really great morning in Harrogate with Patrick & Dan. Patrick’s very tidy MGTF 1.6 had shown signs of HGF, after pressure testing and code reading etc it was definitely the case.

No damage to the head and everything looking good. Stainless underfloor pipes also replaced and the clutch release arm was freed off.

Great chats and tons of cuppas, bacon sarnie and gorgeous homemade bread thank you! Fab to meet lovely Bertie too and have lots of fusses.

Thornborough near Bedale was our call this morning to meet Glen for head gasket and cambelt service on his MGF 143. The hose for the heater inlet/outlet was split so this was replaced. Pic of the gasket showing heat damage.

All done as quick as possible to dodge the next downpour! Lovely to meet you Glen, thanks for the chocolate shortbread.

Biggleswade was our destination this morning to meet Richard and his very lovely looking MGF 143 in Alumina for cambelt service.

All bolts came undone easily, car running great and on ECU check only some historic codes came up related to the Lambda sensor.

Thankfully we had Richard’s (fab!) garage to work in out of the steady downpour. Great to meet you both, thank you for the cuppas.

After leaving our lovely digs near Ross-on-Wye this morning we went over to Brecon to meet Anne, who had been experiencing overheating problems with her lovely looking TF160. After pressure testing and investigation it was evident that the head gasket had gone, so this was replaced and whilst there we carried out cambelt service. We were told that unfortunately the local garage had put steel seel in it!! After doing the head gasket it was apparent that it had blocked the radiator. So after enquiries with our contacts and resources we have managed to locate a rad and will be taking a planned morning off on Sunday to fit.

Following this we headed back to Gloucester to see Alex again as after we replaced the head gasket yesterday the car was still having temperature issues, as the car was bought as a project with known problems we had narrowed it down to a circulation issue which had caused the head gasket to blow. So after replacing pipe clamps on some of the hoses and replacing the thermostat the car is now behaving nicely.

What an absolute continuous deluge we had all day, soaked to the skin, but thankful of a steady stream of cuppas and lovely homemade scones from Anne and offers of food.

Gloucester was bathed in sunshine again which gave us chance to dry everything out! Plus charge my phone, thank you Alex to your lovely grandparents. Really fab to see their cars and have a chat.

A good start to the day seeing Kevin in the hotel car park in Pontypool for replacement underfloor pipes on his TF135, a good bit of planning! All went well with no awkward bolts. Great to see you Kevin, shame we couldn’t get Marcus sorted!

Having sourced a radiator for Anne we went up the hill to remove it from a car, thank you so much Andy for letting us do that!! You will make someone very happy tomorrow!