Year: 2022

Our last day in Scotland, and now on the A1 heading home…

Lovely to see Bob again in Kilmacolm for work on his very nice looking 1999 MGF 120.

Both rear compliance bushes replaced. Three of the top ball joints replaced, we replaced one of them on our last visit in December. The underfloor coolant pipes replaced with stainless steel ones as we noticed these were looking a little crusty on the last visit too.

Thanks to Bob, for a steady stream of mugs of tea whilst we worked in a steady stream of rain! Bit of a contrast to yesterday. Lovely to have a pet with their fab dog Brodie before he went off on his walk, who came back looking rather soggy. 🐶 Didn’t get a pic this time. We look forward to our return in April next year for the annual service etc.

Bit of a shorter trip than planned, but it means we get to have an extra night at home before heading off again. – https://ift.tt/mQfVG0N

Back to Craigie, near Kilmarnock, a year after we carried out the head gasket and cambelt service on Jon & Fiona’s TF 160 ‘Spark’ (in CEV), when they asked us to return to carry out the minor service today.

Plugs and all filters and oil replaced. They asked if we could also fit a new expansion tank, and sort a couple of other niggles. We noticed that the exhaust hanger had snapped, which would have resulted in a melted bumper, so we welded on a replacement hanger we had on the van.

Lovely to see Fiona again this morning, shame not to see Jon. It was lovely to see their very friendly cat Leo again, who was very keen to get involved. We look forward to our return visit next year.

From there we headed over to Glasgow to see Robert’s TF 135 ‘Spark’ to swap out the water pump for him. Didn’t see Robert though as he’s still on his month long trip to Crete, not at all jealous of that. 😆 His mum came over to make sure we were supplied with drinks etc, which was much appreciated.

Making the most of an early finish and the welcome sunshine we went over to Irvine beach for icecreams and a walk, well I had the walk, to Troon and back, it’s such a beautiful coast line with views over to Arran in the distance. – https://ift.tt/1tMsjid

We departed from Lanark this morning, after staying in some really good digs, and headed up to Glengarnock for work on one of Alan’s fleet and Glenn’s TF 85th.

Alan’s MGF 120 mpi (in CDX) was suffering from coolant loss and overheating when sat at traffic lights etc. On pressure test the expansion tank cap was found to be good. Staining from coolant was found around the water pump and the inlet manifold gasket was leaking.

Water pump and inlet manifold gasket both replaced. If this doesn’t cure it then the next step is obviously head gasket replacement. Alan will see how it goes over the coming months and if need be we’ll get it sorted when we return in September.

Next up was Glenn’s very nice looking TF. Cambelt, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt all replaced.

What a really lovely day, with as always fantastic company, there was probably more time spent having a bit craic than working. Great weather thrown in too, but best of all, having cuddles with Molly and Bruce. 🐾 – https://ift.tt/1tMsjid

Work completed on Alan’s TF 135 (in HFN) on Friday.

Alan had the car couriered down to us from Scotland. We’d previously done the head gasket on it a couple of years ago. So now we had it into the workshop for a few things…

Full cambelt service completed.
Underfloor treatment carried out.
Front subframe mounts replaced with stainless.
Welding to 5 areas including rear sills. Drivers side window motor replaced. Quite a few other things sorted to get everything to rights.
A bit of a wash and brush up and then finally the MOT carried out.

Really nice to get ‘Noel’ all sorted and now ready to be reunited with Alan.

Up early this morning to head up to Ulverston, where it was great to meet Brian who had got in touch about his LE (paint code 293) one of the post LE 500 run cars that was having issues with the head gasket and possible water pump leak.

On pressure test it was found that the leak near the water pump was actually the stainless steel engine pipes not having an over sized o-ring fitted. The MGOC head gasket was found to be leaking externally all over the place. Unfortunately, the dreaded steel-seal had been added, so this was scraped out of the cylinder head, it has blocked several of the smaller channels and the return valve from the inlet manifold.

So head gasket and all other gaskets replaced, new o-rings fitted to the coolant pipes. All up and running lovely again.

What an enjoyable day in Brian’s company. Who is the owner of a very nice fleet of MGs, including an RV8 and having owned MGBs etc in the past.

So now we’re back on the road heading. further north to our digs in Lanark. Then we will be heading over to Glengarnock for work on Glenn’s LE and one of Alan’s other cars. – https://ift.tt/A2ktD8Y

Chris came to collect his wife’s TF 135 from us today. That sounds simple enough, but he came all the way from Acharacle in Argyll on public transport, his journey down was slightly less arduous than his trip back up when he dropped the car off. We look forward to hearing from him when he eventually gets back home tonight at whatever hour that may be…

Prior to Chris’s ownership the car had been fitted with a full Paul Jakabi body kit, which has been done really well and does look fantastic.

Chris asked if we could take the car in and carry out the work required at our workshop.

Full cambelt service carried out. All four solid brake lines replaced, both front flexis replaced. One of the front shockers replaced. SRS light issue sorted. Welding to both rear sills and jacking point. Which involved removing the side skirts obviously. Quite a lot of the bolts etc were either missing or incorrect so these were all replaced with standard. Really great to work on the car and get everything sorted. Then lastly the MOT carried out.

At last sun made an appearance today so after a wash and a brush up it was time to take some photos whilst Jon went to collect Chris from Selby train station.

Really great to meet Chris finally and have a chat over a coffee before bidding him a farewell as he headed back north.

It was good to meet Nick this morning who came over in his wife’s very lovely looking MGF Abingdon (HYF) for a hydragas pump up.

Work continues on Alan’s TF with more good progress made with another early start this morning.

A very productive day and good to see some sunshine at long last 🌞 – https://ift.tt/I7USCc6

So, enough of that day-off stuff and up and on nice and bright and early on Monday morning at the workshop to get started on the work to Alan’s TF 135, that he had delivered to us last week from Scotland.

Good progress made, which continued on Tuesday, with a few more things to do… full report at the end of the week on ‘Noel’.

This morning found us in Wilberfoss, where as always it was lovely to see Derek and Margaret. Their much loved and very tidy TF 135 had a couple of advisories on the last MOT.

The minor movement in the top ball joints turned out to be the top arms requiring greasing and the ball joints themselves were only replaced about 2 years ago and only about 1000 miles since. The advisory on both front brake pipes having corrosion/debris/grease covering them, turned out to be, after a wipe with a rag and some degreaser, nothing but pristine green paint underneath. It was good to have a catch-up with them both.

From there we went over to to Stamford Bridge, where it was lovely to meet Gerald and Shirley, for work on their really good example of an MGF 120 mpi that they’ve owned for 16 years. They had suspicions that the head gasket had gone again. On initial investigation the expansion tank cap was found to be completely duff and the inlet manifold was leaking. So after a chat we agreed between us on taking the cylinder head off and seeing what else was occurring.

Unfortunately, at some time in it’s life the dreaded steel-seal had been added! Ugh! Hideous stuff. See pics below to see the extent of what this additive does. It does not cure leaks in k-series engines. Please don’t be tempted to try it. We’ve known heads to be completely trashed by it, resulting in the cost of a replacement head.

Fortunately, this one was cleaned up alright, after a long time digging it out. The inlet manifold gasket was absolutely solid, so not surprising it was leaking from there.

Everything put back together, all bled nicely and ran up to temperature with no further issues we’re pleased to report.

Bit of a soggy afternoon, guess who forgot to put the gazebo in the van?! Fortunately Gerald’s garage door provided enough of a canopy.

Note to self to pack the gazebo, but I suppose I’m being optimistic for some better weather sometime soon! 🌧 – https://ift.tt/I7USCc6

Not quite the weekend off as planned, Jon had to return to Spilsby to see neighbours Denis and David, this morning to investigate issues with a couple of Lambda sensors, that we fitted back in March, causing the malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) to come on, on both cars.

Denis had reported that his stepspeed was running lumpy since fitting the sensor at the beginning of March, and also David’s car saw the amber light come back on once or twice. Jon returned with replacement Lambda sensors and in Denis’s case it was a faulty part. The lambda sensor was replaced and in addition we installed a k-maps remap, (as we’re now a franchise for them) with an MIL eliminator, just to make sure the problem doesn’t reoccur. Although, if the issue should return the ECU will now log the problem, but it won’t put the amber light on. That cured car No. 1 of today.

Car No 2, David’s TF 135, on checking the Lambda sensor condition it was found to be working perfectly well in the way of its use of the heating element, also the voltages were varying in the way of the sensor readings, and the condition was classed as ‘ok’. Finally it was logging; rich, normal and lean and switching between those perfectly well. The code that the ECU had logged when putting the light on was P0420, which means that the catalytic converter was failing, most likely due to saturation from the previous sensor, causing over fueling. The catalytic converter ideally should be replaced, as it the original, but the addition of cataclean may help with this issue, if not then a new cat will be required.

A bit of a long day for Jon, with a visit first thing this morning in Hull to have a set of Falkens fitted to Andy’s cars’ wheels that he will be collecting next week.

I had a day off to go wedding outfit shopping. Very strange being in clean non work clothes! Poor Jon’s a bit worn out, but we definitely have a proper day off tomorrow. 😀

#kmaps – https://ift.tt/3Np46nK

Colin’s TF 160 ‘Kev’ was returned to him in Yeadon this afternoon, that he’s owned for 8-9 years, and done a lot of things himself to the car, which shows, as it is a very nice example.

Yesterday saw us replacing the clutch, slave cylinder and master cylinder. Plus an uprated clutch release arm, made of stainless steel and having a grease nipple.

Today we replaced the timing belts, water pump and tensioner. Quite a few bolts etc were missing or incorrect so these were all replaced. The engine mount bolts did not want to come undone so we had to resort to our Plan B.

All good and back up running lovely and delivered safely back to Colin. Nice chat and cuppa with them all.

‘Kev’ will be enjoying a good run out on Sunday, just hope the weather improves a bit. ☀️

The modified TF went through its MOT this afternoon, whilst we were out. Too late to take any pics by the time we got back to drop off the trailer.

But here’s some pics of Colin’s pride and joy, with a fab interior, with seats done by the very talented Maggy. It does look really good. – https://ift.tt/2LhPcJV