Year: 2021

First head gasket replacement of the day in Looe, this morning on Hugh’s TF 135 (in LEF).

Hugh hadn’t owned the car for long when the car overheated and it was evident that the proverbial had occurred. So he had got in touch with us back in February and asked to be added to the list when next in the area.

On removing the head there was quite extensive fire-ring damage to it. Despite trying to clean it up, it was too far gone. Fortunately, we had with us, on the van, a refurbished 135 head. All ancillaries swapped over and head refitted.

Thanks to Hugh’s lovely wife for the tea and cup-cakes. 🧁

We then headed over to Plymouth, for the second head gasket replacement of the day on Al’s TF 160.

The expansion tank had certainly seen better days, so replacement secondhand one off the van fitted.

Shame not to meet Al, but glad to get his TF back up and running again for him.

A very drizzly day, all day today, it was that fine rain that gets you wet!We got finished in good time though, and headed back up the road to our digs.

I’m almost sorted on the admin, while Jon has a look to see what delectable delights are available on ‘Just Eat’! – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

We left our fab digs in Fareham this morning and headed west, through some beautiful places to another lovely village called Child Okeford.

Tim had contacted us to see if we could replace the window on his MGF 120 mpi (in HFF). While we were there we pumped up the suspension as the car was sitting a little low.

Really good to meet Tim, Zandra and Sparky, their gorgeous greyhound. They were really happy to see the transformation that these two things have done to their F. Really nice looking interior on this one too.

Making the most of an early finish, we headed over to Lulworth Cove, a place we have always wanted to visit. It certainly didn’t disappoint, what a stunning place. Just enough time for look around, enjoy an ice cream and purchase the requisite fridge magnet, before heading a bit further west.

More beautiful scenery on our run over to our digs just outside of Plymouth. Admin almost done now. What a good day with the sun making a welcome appearance. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

We headed east along the coast this morning to East Preston, where it was great to meet Alan and his fairly recent purchase of an MGF 1.6 in HFF.

Alan had previously owned MGBs in the past and really fancied a green MGF, so he bought this one, knowing it had head gasket failure, wanting to save it from being scrapped.

New head gasket duly replaced and all sludge cleared out from the system as best as can be.

Enjoyable morning in Alan’s company and meeting Lucy too.

Making the most of a fairly early finish we headed to Littlehampton to see the sea and partake of some seaside delights, hotdog and doughnuts (well Jon did!) Shame Mike had headed off to the MG & Triumph show this morning, otherwise we would have met up for a cuppa! – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

What an unexpected and enjoyable end to a busy day… more on that later…

We headed over to Southampton from our digs in Fareham for clutch replacement, on a TF 135, this morning. Good to meet Stephen and Ianto. The clutch hadn’t actually gone as such, but Stephen could feel it was on its way out, and the car was becoming an unpleasant drive for him.

New clutch kit fitted. The release arm had seized up too, taking out the seals on the slave cylinder, release arm duly freed off and new seals fitted to the slave cylinder.

We then headed a few miles, along the road, for the annual service on Mark’s MGF 120 mpi (in Copperleaf), shame not to see Mark this time, but lovely to see Joanne, who welcomed us with a much needed cracking brew! Thank you, both for your order of the polos and baseball caps.

We had a message from Leigh Crane, owner of a very good looking TF 135, who lives not far from where we are staying, and who had wanted to meet up with us at some point whilst in the area.

The ideal opportunity presented itself this evening, with a car meet at Lock Heath. We quickly got ourselves scrubbed up and headed over. So glad that we did, what an absolutely fantastic turnout of some amazing cars. Wow!

Lovely to meet Leigh, albeit it brief, thank you for the invite and thinking of us. Just so good to see people getting together again doing what they love.

Bit of a drizzly morning and not what was forecast, but at least there was a bit of a sunset to get some nice shots of some very well cared for cars.

Thanks, to Susan at, ‘Anne Thomas workwear’, for the quick delivery on the black polo, that was kindly delivered to us last week at Pateley Bridge. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Really nice to see Bill again in Wolston, near Coventry this morning.

Bill had thought the clutch had gone on his MGF VVC 143, but it was as we thought from his description, the slave cylinder had blown due the clutch release arm being a bit stiff.

This is quite common at the moment, due to many cars having been stood for a while during lockdown.

New slave cylinder fitted and the arm didn’t take too much to ease off. Minor service also done while we were there.

We then headed further south and are now in some lovely digs for the next few days, in Fareham, and the sun is out too ☀️ – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

John was there to meet us bright and early at the workshop this morning to see where his squeaks and clunks were coming from on his TF 160.

Found to be the front nearside wheel bearing that had gone, so this was duly replaced. Jon enjoyed the chance of getting to drive the car following all the recent upgrades that we had done.

Steve came over from Scotter with his MGF VVC 143 that had been having issues with the battery/alternator. Voltage regulator fitted and all back to running well again.

Stocked up the trusty steed ahead for our trip to the south coast and south west for a few days.

Enjoyable day having a chat and a cuppa with our visitors with a bit of sunshine thrown in too ☀️ 🫖 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

A productive and enjoyable day back in the north east again…

First call was to see Alan in Cramlington and his LE 500, that had sprung a leak from the t-piece on the engine bay coolant hoses. Unfortunately, this part is not available anywhere, despite an extensive search. So we used one of the 4 way split pieces on stock and blanked off one of the outlets.

We then went a mile down the road to see Jim, and his TF 135 that was still misbehaving when running at low revs. They’d had a good run on the NC500 recently, but during the last couple of days the issue started again. All wiring checked over to make sure there wasn’t an issue there, none found, so a new Lambda sensor fitted. Hopefully this will have resolved the issue.

Then on to Durham to fit a new ECU and 5AS alarm unit to Rod’s MGF to resolve a problem with the front fan continually running. Success! All sorted and fan now off. Shame not to see Rob again, but no point in disrupting his day at work.

Good day, great company. Thank you Jennifer for the cuppa and tray of treats, Jon thought the coffee and walnut cake was delicious! 🍰 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI