Year: 2021

Absolutely fab to see so many friends and customers and meet new people at MGF 25+1, which took place at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon this weekend.

An absolutely fantastic turn out of cars! So good to finally get to an event. Big thanks to all the organisers. Such an interesting location and so much to see in the museums.

Shame we didn’t do our stand as planned, but time and energy levels just didn’t allow.

Fortunately, the weather forecast didn’t prove to be quite as severe and the rain held off.

Great seeing all the cars heading out for the anniversary run this morning before we packed up the tent and headed home. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

It’s always a lovely visit to Jon, wherever it may be, today found us in Gloucester for some things on his and his son Alex’s car, both of which are an MGF 1.8 mpi.

Both cars required a hydragas pump up and then we replaced the underfloor coolant pipes on Jon’s car with stainless.

Good to have a chat, shame not to see Alex. Great weather and such a beautiful location. One time we will stay at the B&B.

Well it was all going well, until our trusty steed decided it didn’t want to start again when we stopped off for provisions in Leamington Spa ahead of pitching up for the night at Gaydon.

After a sorting a few things ourselves it was still a no go. Euro car parts were brilliant and delivered us parts we needed, but unfortunately not the sensor that is at fault.

So we resorted to ringing the RAC at 4:20 pm and oh guess what we’re still sat here at 22:20. Deep joy.

We’re not infallible and now having to spend a night in a car park with the lovely £85 fine that’s incurred too. Hey Ho that’s life.

Anyway some nice pics of the cars today! Caught you peaking Jon! 😃 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

A bit of a cooler day in Hartlepool for work on this fab MGF 120 mpi Abingdon.

Elwyn had got in touch asking if we could come and do a few things having recently just acquired the car from a family member where it had not done a great man at miles down in London.

So we replaced the head gasket, carried out the cambelt service, replaced one of the rear control arms as this was a bit bent and a sorted a couple of other things.

Really fab car, that will be getting a bit of body work done and then treated to a full respray.

Lovely to meet Morag, thank you for all the cuppas and letting us have a look round your camper, which is great! Have fun on your travels. Thank you for the travel books, which I shall enjoy reading on our travels. 🗺

Mervyn had got in touch concerned about an issue with his MGF VVC 143 Anniversary edition that he is taking down to Gaydon for MGF 25 +1. As we were ‘passing their door’ we dropped by to have a look.

The car had been stood for quite a while during lockdown, and seemed to have developed a few unusual noises, all the usual serious suspects were checked and found not to be a problem. Wynn’s hydraulic lifter cleaner was added to free off slightly stuck lifters. The noise albeit it got quieter couldn’t tell 100% where it was coming from.

Have a lovely trip to Gaydon, let’s hope the weather forecast improves a bit for you. Great to catch-up with you and Janice, thank you for the bottle of wine. 🍷 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

An enjoyable days work in Brampton, near Carlisle today, where it was really good to meet David and his stunning looking TF 135 in Firefrost Red.

David had got in touch some time ago and was happy to wait until the summer, when the car was out of its hibernation, for the things he wanted doing, which were…

Underfloor coolant pipes replaced with stainless. Brake fluid change. Mike Satur slick-shift fitting. Window and hood adjustment, the usual on the seals needing a bit of packing out. Heater dials replaced with some very nice brushed stainless ones. Nearside track rod end replaced.

Bolts etc were just about as new, and if we had stopped for dinner we could have eaten it off it. You can tell that David’s job is as a car valeter, amongst everything else he’s done.

Really interesting meeting David and another baking hot day ☀️

Beautiful run back over the A66, we had hoped to pop in to the (Drama) Llama cafe, but sadly it was closed, we hope this isn’t a permanent thing as it’s such a great stop off on this route, with always lovely food and a very friendly welcome. 🦙

Massive hold up on the A1 for a couple of hours due to an overturned caravan, fortunately everyone was alright though.

Finally home after an essential shopping stop and feeling a bit baked! 🥵 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

A bit of a slow stop-start Monday morning on the M62 and M1, as we headed to Kirkby-in-Ashfield, where we met Richard, who had got in touch a few months ago, for some work on his TF 135.

Cambelt service carried out and other service parts fitted. Richard had been experiencing problems with the accelerator, which he thought was down to the cable, but, as is usually the case, it was the pedal that was at fault. So this was replaced with one we had on stock on the van, resulting in a nice smooth pedal. The only thing we didn’t get done was fitting a new reverse light switch, was sure we had one on stock, but couldn’t be found 🙄 Richard was also concerned that the car was suffering from the proverbial, but on investigation it seems to have been just a bit of condensation.

An earlier than expected finish there, as we headed back north we thought it would be an idea to have a slight diversion to Goldthorpe, where it was lovely to meet Nigel.

Nigel had got in touch a couple of days ago regarding coolant loss on his TF 135. Weirdly they actually called us anyway out of frustration, so were really pleased we could pop in today!

The system hadn’t been bled properly following the installation of the underfloor stainless steel coolant pipes, so system was bled and diagnostics plugged in, and the engine was ran fully up to temperature, with the fans cutting in and out as they should.

He had also noticed a strange squeal, which on our investigation was found to be the alternator bearing. The output was also just above 12 volts. New alternator fitted and initial voltage around a healthy 13.9 volts from starting up.

Great to have a chat with Nigel, who had owned a number of various models of MGs over the years.

Baking hot sunny day, good meeting Richard and Nigel and their really lovely looking TFs. ☀️ – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

What a fantastic run home this evening over the North Yorkshire moors, passing through Grosmont, Pickering etc following a lovely day at work…

Our first call was in Washington for annual service and replacement of one of the spheres on Stu’s fab MGF mpi. Stu had also asked us to give the car a check over prior to his and Mandy’s NC 500 run. Lovely to see Mandy, thanks for the cuppa. Shame not to see Stu, but a post from him later was good to see as they headed out for fish and chips at the beach.

We then went over to Billingham to fit a Daytona to Gary’s TF 135, that he’s been having such a lot of fun with since purchasing her last year. He wanted a stainless back box and loved the look of the quads. They really suit the car.

Our journey continued on to Loftus, Saltburn-by-the-sea where it was great to see Karl again. His TF 135 was losing coolant and Karl had suspected it was from the stat or the inlet manifold. His suspicions were correct with the thermostat, the union that connects it to the back of the water pump had sheared off. So we replaced this along with stainless steel engine bay coolant pipes. Date to be sorted for some other things. Lovely to have cuddles with Gizmo again, should have remembered to bring a carrot! Lovely to see Gary, who popped in to say a brief hello on his rounds, hope you have a lovely, not too noisy, run out in ‘Madam’ later!

Beautiful weather all day with lovely people and their fab cars.

We took the scenic route home, and enjoyed the drive. Bit of a contrast to the sh*t storm that was last night. Just want to say here though, ‘thank you’ for the massive support we have received from everyone on that post and in messages and phone calls. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Slightly distracted this evening, bit of a late finish and a long day…

But not distracting from the work we have just finished on one of the lovely John Prewer’s fab fleet.

The work was completed this evening on the conversion of his TF 135 to a 160.

Head and wiring loom and ECU replaced. Together with a change of the cambelts and the timing covers.

It’s always interesting doing these conversions and so good to hear the car start on the first turn of the key. Big thanks to John’s mum for a very welcome cup of tea!

The day started off in York and lovely to see Ruben again and his MGF Project, absolute credit to Ruben, as mentioned in a previous post, for everything he has done to this car that had been abandoned for 12 years. So the inevitable happened a month or so ago and Ruben asked if we could come over and sort it for him. The original gasket was an elastomer one with plastic dowels. The car looks amazing since we last saw it, recent spray job and the interior is beautiful. So good that Ruben can enjoy it again, his 21st birthday present from his family is one of the Jakobi tonneaus and he can’t wait to get it fitted.

We called in to Sowerby again, in between calls to replace the wheel bearing on Rachel’s MGF, the top ball joint was also shot so replaced this. Central locking mechs fitted, but still having issues with the alarm going off randomly, this was traced to be a problem with the boot wiring. Central lock mechs still not great so will source some more, which are proving hard to get hold of mk 1 mechs. Adjustments made to the new roof seals. Always difficult when on a 20 year old car with the inevitable perishing of rubber. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI