Month: April 2022

Our last call of the week in Wigan today…

It’s always great to follow cars to their new owners, so it was really nice to meet Andrew today, who had fairly recently taken ownership of this TF 160, having previously been located in Jarrow, where we had done various things over the years, under George’s ownership.

The cambelt service was due and Andrew wanted to make sure everything was sorted before his trip to Germany, which also includes a blast round the Nurburgring, with his friends next month.

Cambelts, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt all replaced, all new filters fitted and oil change done. We spotted a couple of suspect hoses so these were duly sorted.

A welcome change in the weather, a cracking cuppa and really nice to meet and have a stroke of Andrew’s gorgeous Dachshund called Steve!

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing. There are a number of events on so will be a busy weekend for most. The weather forecast is looking promising too so will make for some top-down fun! 😃☀️🐰 – https://ift.tt/ZHaWuS6

– https://ift.tt/ZHaWuS6

A short hop over the Humber bridge this morning to Croxton, where it was lovely to meet Jason & Fiona, having recently purchased what they thought was going to be a get us through a gap in vehicles car, they have really fallen for it, and now want to make sure everything is sorted, with not having very much service history.

A TF 115 (in LEF) that originally lived in Wrexham. It had been fitted with MGF seats and door cards that really suit the car.

Today we replaced the cambelt, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt, alternator shied, spark plugs, all filters and an oil change.

Date to be arranged for further work at the workshop for underfloor pipes, front wishbone and full underfloor treatment.

Really nice morning, thanks for all the cuppas and cake! Not to mention fusses with gorgeous Minnie. (Didn’t get a pic sadly).

We then went over to the workshop where it was good to meet Andrew and to investigate what was occurring with his Caterham. Andrew had been experiencing a couple of issues with it, following it having been stood for a while, particularly on start up and on acceleration.

We swapped over the rotar arm, the HT leads and the spark plugs, the plugs that were in it weren’t platinum ones and were also quite loosely fitted and a bit corroded. Two of the leads weren’t fitting tightly enough on top of the plugs. Once all these were replaced the car started up without any issues and all hesitation when revving had disappeared.

What a fab car, resisted the urge to ask if we could take it for a spin!! 😃

Date to be arranged for it’s cambelt service later in the year.

Bit of a change around day, as Richard was supposed to be at the workshop with his TF, but he was away on holiday and had forgotten! We’ll get him squeezed in somewhere next week. But at least we got to get over to see Jason, with thanks to Xander for recommending us to them. At least they can have peace of mind and have some fun over the summer. 😀☀️ – https://ift.tt/ZHaWuS6

Great to meet Steve in Rugeley, Staffordshire this morning for some work on his fairly recent acquisition, a TF 135 (in CMU).

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner replaced, all filters replaced and oil change all done.

The accelerator pedal was a bit stiff so this was replaced with a secondhand one, with a marked improvement. Exhaust manifold heat shield was missing so fitted with one on stock. Rear caliper freed off.

Health check carried out, with only a couple of minor things noted to get sorted. He’s got himself a cracking car.

Pete came over for a cuppa, good to have a catch-up with him. An enjoyable mornings work, with the added bonus of Steves fab garage to work in, out of the rain and lovely hospitality, thanks Steve!

We then headed over to Coventry, where it was great to meet Martyn who had got in touch earlier in the year as when he had gone to turn the engine over on his MGF (in HAM) 1.8 mpi, during its winter storage, the alternator unfortunately seized up solid, emitting a plume of black smoke.

Martyn had got hold of a replacement alternator which we fitted for him this afternoon. Fortunately, no further damage caused other than a very shredded alternator belt. Date to be arranged later in the year for cambelt service.

Not too far away from home, should be back by 7:30, so I shall busy myself with the admin while it’s still daylight. – https://ift.tt/GXlNpPc

Back in the north east today, in Seaton Sluice, and can’t believe it’s cambelt service time again on Terry and Ian’s cars…

Cambelts, water pump and tensioner all replaced on Terry’s lovely Trophy and cambelt, water pump, tensioner, all filters and oil change on Ian’s equally lovely TF 135 (a post LE 500 production run).

Steve and his Dad, Bob came over from Houghton le Spring to have the K-maps remap done on his fab TF 135. He was very happy driving off with his subtle pops and bangs, with a trip back through the Tyne Tunnel on the way back. 😀

Lovely to see Terry and Ian and have a chat and a catch-up over a spot of lunch, very welcome, thank you to Katie for that.

While there we had a couple of messages from Malcolm Hall who had got into a spot of bother on his way up to see his Mum in Jarrow yesterday with his MGF VVC ‘Trigger’. Adrian had recommended he try us and as luck would have it we were only 20 miles away. So we called in on our way back to assess what was occurring with the car. Long story short, we think it is likely to be the oil pump, possibly further damage, but won’t know until the pump is replaced to start with. Steve’s arranging for it to go to a local MG garage as we unfortunately wouldn’t be able to see to it anytime soon. Hope he manages to get it resolved soon and look forward to hearing the update.

An enjoyable start to the week. – https://ift.tt/xaizrJW

That was a nice end to a busy week, a local one down the road in Beighton, Sheffield…

Great to meet Eric who had got in touch back in October, having owned his TF 160 for 7 years, it hadn’t had the cambelt changed since 2007! So definitely well overdue, as the car was SORN, as usual,
over winter he was ok to wait until our next slot ahead of summer fun.

A number of nuts and bolts that were incorrect and missing were all duly replaced. A couple of which, were on the fuel rail that attaches to the inlet manifold. The exhaust heat shield was missing too, so this was replaced. Both belts, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt all replaced without any issues.

Really nice example of a 160. Hope Eric has a great outing in it on the Daffodil Run on Sunday with the Yorkshire MG club. 🌼

We had planned on going, but, as we have a rare weekend off, we have a list of things that we really need to do 😕

Weather was contrary to the forecast and a very welcome bit of sun. Hope it continues for the weekend for everyone to get out and about in your MGs! ☀️😃 – https://ift.tt/Ip50BiY

We left our digs in Lickey Hills this morning and went a few miles along the road to see Chris again and his MGF Anniversary (number 598 of 2000) that had been having a few issues with rough running…

We had previously been over with a replacement fuel pump, which was faulty and we all thought this had cured the problem, but on driving to the MOT station a couple of days later it started playing up again.

So this morning we went armed with a new coil pack, HT leads, various sensors. A bit of a head scratcher; coil pack, crank sensor, HT leads and coolant temperature sensor all found to be ok. Compression test showed that there was good compression on all 4 cylinders. Changed the spark plugs again, that we swapped out last time, and these were were quite sooted up. Valve timing was all correct, but one thing of concern was the bottom pulley bolt, which was quite loose, a timely find, thus avoiding an ultimate potential catastrophe.

We then checked out all the connections on the ECU and the fuel pump shut-off relay it seemed to spring into life abs behave itself.

A definite strange one as not one specific thing was at fault, it was a combination of things. At over 146k miles and 23 years old the car hasn’t done too badly!

So pleased for Chris that he can finally get the MOT done and start looking forward to getting out and about again. Thanks for the welcome warming cuppas Chris, great to see you!

Good run back home, with hardly any traffic chaos, with a quick stop off at the workshop to drop off a load of stuff and refill the oil etc ready for tomorrow.

Good to be back home in daylight and see our very chatty cat. – https://ift.tt/TUGnoeJ

What a really great couple of days spent in Carshalton…

Yesterday was spent working on Mark’s MGF 143 (in HFF). Initially booked in for cambelt service and a few other things we noticed that the coolant had dropped and there were signs of mayo on the dipstick. Having a bit of long trip planned to go to Le Mans Classic in the car this year, the right decision was made to crack on and replace the head gasket, and sure enough it had leaked through the fire rings on 3 cylinders on the inlet side. Cambelt, water pump and tensioner and alternator belt all replaced.

While we had the head off we replaced the rubber seals on the VVC plunger as this was leaking quite a bit and the seals were found to be quite brittle and past their best. Mike Satur slick shift also fitted.

Next on Marks list is to fit some Lambo door hinges, but just not enough time on this visit. Bit of a late finish and too tried to go out for a curry sadly, next time…

Alan drove up in his TF 135 (in HFN) this morning…

Front nearside wishbone replaced, with all subframe mount bolts behaving nicely!

Undersealing carried out too, great to have the pit to work in, made things so much easier. Now all looking as good underneath as it does on top.

Really nice examples of both of these models, which are very well cared for.

Excellent catch-up with Mark and Alan, lots of good conversation and laughs! Made the most of the excellent bakery round the corner for our lunches and cakes. Thanks, Mark for the ginger bread person! It’s become a requirement on these visits.

Now we’re on our way to our next destination… – https://ift.tt/TUGnoeJ