Year: 2021

Harrogate MG Club annual show.

What a fantastic day spent at this always lovely show. Brilliant seeing everyone today and having long overdue catch-ups!

Great turn out of cars despite the awful weather forecast, which wasn’t too bad in the end.

Wouldn’t be right if we had stayed clean for the day, a couple of things to sort… hydragas pump up, coolant cap failure, hose leak and a couple of diagnostics done.

The stand had many visitors, which was so great to see, observing the tables laid with carnage! Plus a place to shelter from the showers. Thanks to Tony, Maggy and Phil for looking after it while we went off to do repairs! 😀 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Busy day at the workshop…

Mike came over from Hull to have the wing mirror refitted to his very nice TF 160 in Le Mans green. Always good to see Mike and have a chat.

Col and Anna then came over. Great to meet Col who had recently purchased an MGF 120 mpi in Aramanth and wanted us to carry out a health check. Being new to the MG scene, having driven Anna’s fairly recent purchase of a TF 135 (as featured a couple of months ago) on a run with the North Yorkshire group he was hooked!

What a fab car he’s got himself, which originally started off in Japan and then relocated to France. Look forward to seeing the car and Col again for a few things.

We then had a visit from a really fab looking Metro for hydragas pump up. Ross had contacted us on behalf of his Dad, who it turns out works on the same estate! What a stunning car, so great to see.

So that was our work day, we just felt we should add the following …

Now that everyone knows we just wanted to say how shocked we were to hear of Adrian Clifford’s decision to sell his beloved Pearl, and to leave the MG scene. Although we understand his reasons, we’re saddened to hear of this massive loss to this amazing community. You’ve only to read through all the comments on his post.

Adrian is our friend and we will of course stay in touch, but it just won’t seem right without his presence at the events and his input, help and advice that everyone has become accustomed to. Not to mention the absolutely amazing travels that he and Dawn have enjoyed over the years in beautiful and faithful ‘Pearl’.

Don’t go Adrian, you will be missed, you have more travels and adventures to come. 🖤 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Daryl was very pleased to see us arrive this morning at his house, just near Telford, for investigation of a problem with his TF 135.

From his description we thought the engine may have hydra-locked, so we carried out our usual checks to determine what was going on. Borescope down into the pistons showed that there wasn’t any coolant in there, but evidence of something not good…

Cylinder head removed, which showed damage to 10 out of the 16 valves. All exhaust ones snapped or damaged and 2 inlet ones bent. 2 pistons damaged beyond use and 2 of the liners cracked.

Nothing that can’t be fixed though. After discussing with Daryl he wants to keep the car. There were also a few recent MOT failures, plus we found a couple of other things that need to be sorted, so a date arranged to get his car up to the workshop to get everything done.

Despite the bad news with his TF it was great to meet Daryl and have a good chat!

Another interesting and enjoyable trip, good be back home and be welcomed by a very vocal cat 😻 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

A beautiful location today in Tirley, Gloucestershire, where it was lovely to meet Julie finally and her fab looking MGF 120 mpi.

Julie had contacted us as the clutch pedal had gone flat to the floor thinking that clutch itself had gone, but on investigation, and the fact that the car only has 35k on the clock it was found to be blown slave cylinder, due to the release arm being seized up and the master cylinder seals had also gone, so subsequently wasn’t pumping fluid through.

Release arm freed off, slave cylinder seals replaced, master cylinder replaced, resulting in a nice and easy springy clutch pedal.

The car has all its original features, including a tape deck that Julie would like to get working again, once we can find the code for the radio. Unfortunately, all the documents relating to the car were stolen prior to her ownership. Further investigation required by us…

What an enjoyable morning, chatting to Julie and her husband.

Thanks for the cuppas Julie, Jon loved the cake. Look forward to seeing you next year ☺️ Fingers crossed for the MOT tomorrow🤞

So an earlier than expected finish, I donned the walking boots and made the most of the beautiful weather and had an enjoyable 8 mile walk up to Cofton Park. Yep Jon put Quest on and ate chocolate 🍫 😃 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

That was a busy day and a really enjoyable one, with fab people and their fab cars!

First call was to see Graham again, in Hampton Magna, for cambelt service on his TF 135, other service items replaced, new alternator belt. Brakes checked, handbrake adjusted, clean up of green mold/moss along the scuttle panel etc.

We then went over to Bishops’s Tachbrook to see Keith and his TF 160. Keith had tried to resolve the issue of a coolant leak by replacing the thermostat and the water pump, following which the car started to overheat on runs out. He asked if we could come over and change the underfloor coolant pipes and bleed the system, thinking that may have been the issue. Prior to any work being done, we did our usual checks and found that the radiator was bowing at the bottom and had been leaking. Underfloor pipes replaced. Simon managed to source a radiator and went and picked it up. This was duly fitted.

Although bled in all three points the coolant didn’t seem to be circulating as it should. With it being a 160 and having a rear mounted oil cooler it was found that the flow that goes through the oil cooler to the thermostat was restricted. Therefore, the thermostat wasn’t getting the heat required to fully open. We then put in a bypass pipe to increase the flow to the back of the thermostat to ensure it opened up fully.

So good to hear from Keith earlier this evening to say that on a test run everything was behaving and car running really well. 😃 And no Jon you still can’t have the boat!

We then went over to Stourbridge, where it was great to meet Simon and have a chat. Minor service carried out on his TF 135 and new stainless exhaust, new cat and Lambda fitted. All done without any awkward bolts. Bit of a late one in the day, but great to get everyone seen and sorted.

Just managed to dodge the rain too, good to have the sun for most of the day.

Dates booked in for next year for some further work on Graham and Simons cars at the workshop.

Back in our fab digs, time to order some tea and crack on with the admin.

Thanks everyone for your company and hospitality today. ☺️ – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Back on the road this morning as we headed to the West Midlands and beyond for a few days…

Scott had been in touch some time ago regarding some work on his really fab looking MGF VVC that had been converted to a mems 3.

Walsall today for head gasket replacement and cambelt service. A few missing pieces fitted and replaced to get the car back to rights. One of which was the fuel pressure regulator had been totally blanked off.

Shame not to meet Scott, but lovely to meet his Dad who kept us fortified with a steady stream of cuppas and nice conversations.

We then headed over to our digs for the next 3 nights. Hmm not good! Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem on the booking sites. Let’s just say we didn’t even go in the door and rebooked another place pronto! A relief to be in a tried and trusted place now instead. Guess we’ll just take the hit, certainly an alternative to seeing our livelihood disappearing overnight. 😨 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Well what dismal weather that was, no top-down runs for anyone collecting their cars today!

Robert and Chris came over first thing, after staying in Beverley for the last few days, and drove back over to Stockport in their TF 135.

Ricky came over from his lodgings in York to collect his TF 160, and will be heading back up to Glasgow tomorrow.

Great to see you all and let us look after your fab cars. Safe onward travels and adventures.

Lovely to see Mick and Linda who came over from Acaster Malbis, near York, for a couple of things on their very nice looking TF 135 in Ignition Blue.

One of our bookings today didn’t show up, which was for a clutch replacement. 🤔

So, having found ourselves with some spare time, we carried on with the list of things to do on Rob’s TF 135. Almost there with this one, after some extensive investigation we’re pleased to report. Full report when this one is ready to head, also, back to Glasgow. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Monday morning found us back in the workshop where we received our first visitors of the week…

Robert and his wife came over from Stockport with their TF 135 for a few things:

– Full clutch replaced including updated clutch release arm
– Internal heater pipes replaced with stainless
– Both gear cables replaced
– Heater control valve replaced
– Bell crank replaced
– Gear shaft oil seal replaced
– Gear linkage bracket replaced.

All done by Wednesday lunchtime, despite some annoying bolts, wouldn’t be right if there weren’t any!

We had the pleasure of the company of Jeff on Tuesday, who very kindly came over to fit a new hood for Les. His brilliant skills will transform Les’s car, looks amazing on our doer upper! Looking forward to getting it fitted to Les’s TF 160.

Massive thank you to you Jeff, really lovely to see you! Great news the following day that your fab looking MGF passed its MOT.

Today we were pleased to greet Ricky and Una, who drove down from Glasgow.

On our last trip to Scotland we had gone over to see Ricky for cambelt service on his TF 160. Unfortunately, we couldn’t remove the engine bolts on the main belt side, and plan B wouldn’t work either, or plan C! So plan D was put into place and date arranged for the car to come into the workshop.

The forward rubber mountings for the engine that cushion the torque from the engine twisting had to be cut out with a reciprocating saw. Then the engine could be raised on the lower rubber mount and the cambelt could then be removed. New one fitted and the mount was replaced with a new one.

Really good to have got these done, looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow for the collections of their fab cars. Hopefully everyone will have enjoyed their stays in the surrounding area. 😀

P.S. Happy to report that the trusty steed is finally back to rights, after sourcing another sensor and resolving a crank wiring fault, and Jon working until late on Monday night. 😮‍💨 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI