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Back up to the north east this morning and our first call of the day in Blyth to source a coolant leak on Tony’s TF 1.6 (in MBB) that shortly after buying it in May had developed some problems.

He’d taken it to a local garage that wanted an eye watering amount to replace the head gasket. Plus he’d had someone suggest he added the evil k-seal. So he hung on to wait for us to come. Glad he did, as on pressure test the inlet manifold was evidently the problem and coolant was pouring out everywhere along it. The coolant cap that was on it wasn’t the best make, so this was replaced too.

New gasket fitted and all cleaned up, plugs out and inevitable ingress of coolant cleared from the pistons. Correct nuts refitted along the manifold and tightened, which helps spread the load, especially important with the manifold being of the plastic type.

All up and running nicely, and good to hear from Tony this evening that he’d had a lovely run out, making the most of top-down fun in the sun.

Great to meet Tony, and we look forward to seeing him again next year for the service.

From there we went a couple of miles around the corner to see Les’s fab TF 160 as the rear window heater wasn’t working. Traced to be the rear demist relay, new one fitted and all sorted. Good as always to have a cuppa and a catch-up with him and Pam.

Then, from there, we went a bit further south to Seaton Sluice to see what was occurring with the hydragas on Terry’s MGF Trophy (in FAR). We think it’s down to one of the seals being old and degraded on the pipe. The car is getting tucked up for the winter months now, so when we return in the spring for the annual service we will replace the seals.

Mixture of weather with a sea fret that had rolled in, made the coastline look very different. Unfortunately, not enough time for a walk along it. But, as always a good trip up there, with welcoming hospitality.

Jon’s now having fun fitting a new ignition barrel to the van on the drive.

Pictures aren’t my usual posing ones, but you get the idea! The engine bay one is interesting.

Hope everyone has made the most of the weather again and had some lovely runs out and about. ☀️ – https://ift.tt/Jrkg2Cs