Month: October 2020

First call of the day was in Alcester and great to see Paul, who wanted some work on his new acquisition, a TF 135 that someone had wanted to go to a good home, so Paul took the car on not knowing really any service history.

Cambelt, water pump and tensioner replaced and a Mike Satur bell crank fitted.

Look forward to getting to Caffeine & Machine eventually and meeting up with you there at sometime Paul. Thanks for all the cuppas this morning.

We then went on to Sutton Coldfield for work on another one of Rob and Jane’s fleet. Their MGF mpi Japanese import had suffered head gasket failure some time ago, and they wanted the car back on the road for Jane to use over the winter. Head gasket replaced and great to hear ‘Holly’ spark back in to life.

Lovely to see you both today and have a catch-up. Fingers crossed for the events we talked about actually taking place next year. We look forward to seeing you in April anyway.

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Despite the grotty weather it’s been an enjoyable day on a couple of local calls.

First we went over to Horsforth, near Leeds, where it was lovely to meet Gerry and Marion for work on their MGF 1.8 mpi in Wedgewood. Minor service carried out and reset of the EPAS. What a very well cared for car through its life. A thank you, to our friend, Chris for the recommendation in a car park, in Otley, a few months ago.

We then went over to Scotter for work on Steve’s MGF VVC 160 in Copperleaf, with a beautiful interior (that I forgot to take a picture of). Unusual that it’s an MGF 160 running MEMS 3. Another interesting one for Mr Clifford!

Head gasket replacement and cambelt service carried out.

Lovely to meet Steve, big thanks to your MGB GT giving up its space in the garage for the afternoon!

Thanks to everyone today for your very welcome hospitality and company. Let’s hope for some crisp autumn days for you to get out for some runs. 🍁

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Great to meet Mike today in Leicester who had contacted us, seemingly ages ago, for some work on his fab MGF VVC (in CAQ).

So we went loaded up with the bearing press.

Cambelt service carried out. Wheel bearing nearside rear replaced. Both front upper ball joints replaced. Underfloor coolant pipes replaced with stainless. Radiator replaced as his was slightly porous! Hydragas pump up.

Great to have got this car back on the road, having been stood for a number of years.

Thank you, Mike for all the drinks and especially for making Jon a chocolate cake!

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Cannock this morning and nice to meet Darren for some work on his MGF mpi that we had done the cambelt service on 4 years prior with the previous owners Rob and Jo. Good to see the car again, unfortunately for Darren the head gasket had gone a few months ago.

Head gasket replaced and cambelt service carried out. Hydragas pump up and a few things replaced and sorted to get the car back to rights.

Thanks for the garage today Darren!

A welcome day off yesterday with only a visit to the workshop to hand over a hood we had brought up from South Wales for Pete to collect.

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Unhooked from Tewkesbury Abbey campsite and headed up to Bromsgrove, where it was really great to see Chris.

The gear cable had snapped on his very tidy MGF VVC that he has owned for almost 16 years now.

Only the short cable had gone so we replaced this.

Didn’t quite beat the rain!

Thanks for a cracking brew Chris, great to see you. Hope you get out on a run soon.

Good to be back home after another successful trip. The last of our big tours for a while. Pleased to say that we did the right thing with the camper, what a successful ‘Covid contingency’ it’s been.

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We bid farewell to Wales this morning, hoping everyone will be ok with the latest lockdown starting this evening.

Headed over to Cheltenham, to see Steven again for some work on his TF 135, which had quite a list of MoT failures to sort.

Both rear brake lines replaced, both rear calipers, discs and pads replaced. One of the discs completely split apart on removing, so the grinder came out to remove the rest! Rear subframe mount replaced with stainless. Front headlight replaced. Handbrake adjusted.

We went prepared for top ball joint replacement, but on inspection it was both front upper arms that the bearings had gone in (of all the things we usually carry we don’t carry these, as normally only very minor wear and need greasing at worst) an awful lot of movement in them, weirdly though, only one side picked up on at the test. So we will return with ones on stock and replace.

Cambelt service carried out plus a couple of other things done.

Fab weather all day with lots of brews from Steven.

Now back at Tewkesbury Abbey campsite and hooked up for the night.

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Back to Cardiff this morning to meet Philip and his new acquisition which is a very good example of a stepspeed.

Philip wanted us to give the car a good check over and replace the cambelt as was unsure when anything was last carried out. The inlet manifold was found to be leaking so the gasket was replaced. Full cambelt service carried out, plus some other things sorted. Some very good features on this car, he’s got himself a gem.

Lots of great chats and fab weather. Look forward to seeing you next year Philip for some further work.

Made the most of the early finish, due to change of plans, we went over to Pontypool to see our friends, Jan and Andy. So good to sit in their beautiful garden, amongst all Jan’s plants, in the sunshine and have a catch-up over a cuppa. Plus great to meet gorgeous puss Poppy.

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Porthcawl this morning,supposedly for clutch replacement, head gasket and cambelt service, but unfortunately, the chap we were going to see hadn’t let us know he was self isolating so we couldn’t do any work. To be continued…rainy horrible day anyway.

So we brought forward our visit to Chris, in Cardiff, who had wanted us to assess his very tidy MGF mpi for welding up of the sills.

We then enjoyed a semi day off with a bit of shopping, mainly to find a carpet for the camper, as I hadn’t shut the loo door properly yesterday and whilst in transit the barrel of oil in there fell out and landed upside down! Oops!

Jon then had a snooze while I went on one of my favourite walks up to the folly in Pontypool.

We’ll be going to see Philip a bit earlier than planned in the morning to see his new acquisition, which is great and then get to go and see our friends in the afternoon (at distance of course)!

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