Year: 2020

Leeds this morning for head gasket and cambelt service…

Georgia had rang us a few weeks ago saying her Stepspeed, also her daily car was in need of some tlc, plus she had no service history whatsoever when she bought the car. Few other things sorted to get it back to rights. Date to be arranged to return for the CVT oil change as the oil is on back order at the moment from Rimmers.

Thanks for the cuppa Georgia, see you again soon!

Swap over from The Beast to the Trusty Steed, restock and reorder just about everything this afternoon!

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

Lands End to John O’Groats!

Back home after a successful and enjoyable week working in Devon and Cornwall.

Thought we would make the journey to Lands End once we’d finished at Nicks yesterday. It’s some years ago we were working a little bit further north than John O’Groats at Dunnet Point, great photo opportunities.

So we’ve done the full length of the country now and everywhere in between! 😃 🛠

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

After many months of waiting we finally got to see Nick in Upton Cross, near Plymouth today for work on his MGF.

Head gasket and cambelt service carried out.

When we removed the head we found that the timing was out by 4 teeth in the crank pulley. If it’s out by 5 teeth in the crank pulley you start to bend valves, so Nick had a very lucky escape.

Unfortunately, at some point in the cars life k-seal has been added. Absolutely awful stuff and all the way through the system. Prior to carrying out any work Nick had told us of a leak from under the car, after investigation it was found to be coming from the underfloor pipes. So these were also replaced. When running the car up to temperature, it was still not behaving as it should so we replaced the thermostat and all found to be good. Few other things sorted to get the car almost ready for its MOT.

Really great to meet Nick, and have a chat.

Thanks for all the cuppas!! Will post a sticker when I finally get them ordered again!

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

What an amazing location for work this morning at Haytor…

Really good day and lovely to meet Roger, whose beautiful MGF in Nightfire had suffered from head gasket failure. Head gasket and cambelt service carried out. The car hadnt run for some time, so we went armed with a new battery as his was dead. Discovered he had no clutch too, so the slave cylinder was replaced. The car also has a matching Heritage hard top. Great to get the car back up to rights again and for Roger to enjoy these amazing roads. Great weather and a cracking brew!

Got finished in good time so I had a climb up to the rock and got over my fear of heights and climbed to the top, jelly legs coming down! Whilst Jon had a snooze in the camper.

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

We went over to Brixham this morning for work on an MGF 143 VVC for what was originally booked in for head gasket and cambelt service. The owner decided he only wanted the head gasket replacement as the car is going up for sale. Few other bits done to get the car to rights.

As we had an earlier finish than expected we went back over to Bradford-on-Tone to do the head gasket and cambelt service on Mark’s TF135. So thoughtful of him he had left us a flask of tea! For good measure we replaced the thermostat too.

Just as we were finishing Mark returned from work, so we enjoyed a good chat and a cuppa. Great to see you again, really enjoyed your company.

On our way back to the campsite we called in to the local supermarket for our provisions and spotted a chap under the bonnet of his ZR having a head scratching moment, as he couldn’t locate the solenoid wire, so Jon popped over and got him sorted! It’s what we do!

Just as a footnote from our website…

“Our normal practise is to take one booking per day in order to give you and your car our full attention. However we do appreciate travel costs can be costly and so can take group bookings, spread over the several days with overnight stays, in order for the travel and mileage costs to be shared amongst several owners.”

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

We left our fab campsite this morning and headed over to Weston-super-Mare.

Simon had got in touch asking if we were by any chance anywhere near him in the near future to check over his MGF that had been stood for a while. Fortunately, for him we had a gap!

Cambelt service was due etc, but he didn’t want to get anything done if it wasn’t financially viable. Well, he has an absolutely great example of a VVC 143; bodywork great, underfloor really good etc. So full cambelt service carried out. Full health check and pre MOT check done. Bulbs replaced in various places. Alternator belt replaced. Other bits done, but unfortunately not being in the usual van we have limited stock, and needed a coupler for the horn. Great to meet Simon.

From there we went over to Bradford-on-Tone near Taunton to meet Mark, whose fairly recent acquisition, a TF135 had been overheating, local garage had pressure tested etc and said the head gasket was fine. Mark had also contacted us on the off chance to see if we were in the area.

Mark wanted a minor service carrying out and investigation of the overheating. So, we carried out all our tests, pressure of system and cap (which was faulty), swapped out the PRT, ran the car up to temperature and all behaving. We advised Mark that it may still be the head gasket at fault as was such a minor weep and discussed coming back at a later date.

Unfortunately, on his test drive this evening the car overheated again. Not a problem, we’re in the area so will return on Thursday to replace the head gasket, plus we found that the cambelt was replaced 9 years ago so well overdue, will be good to get the car sorted properly and give Mark peace of mind as he intends to use it as his regular car.

Good day, meeting lovely people again.

Now on another touring campsite in Newton Abbott.

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.