Year: 2022

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

We left our digs in Bromley this morning and had a short commute down the road, where it was great to meet Barry, who had got in touch back in November having recently purchased a TF 135.

Quite a few things needed sorting on the car, some of which he has done himself. When he took it in for the MOT it failed on a couple of things.

So this morning we replaced one of the front lower arms and both forward front subframe mounts. They had definitely seen better days!! Minor service carried out too. Only one of the subframe mount bolts was awkward, as it had obviously snapped off on a previous repair, and the head of which had been welded in to place. This was drilled and tapped out and new bolt fitted.

Bit of a wet and cold day, but fortunately Barry had borrowed a gazebo, which was very welcome as we forgot to transfer ours over from the camper!

Really good day apart from that.

Now at our new digs for the next couple of nights in Croydon. Had a bit of a walk around the place. Admin time now and room service steak is on the menu for Jon tonight. 🥩 Think he deserves it after lying in the wet all morning 🌧 – https://ift.tt/hCR5qPj

A very early and frosty start to travel down to Welling this morning, where it was good to see Simon again and his definitely not Eww TF 160…

Simon had got in touch as the car had suffered from coolant loss while out in December and had called upon the RAC, the chap who arrived to assist was a 160 owner himself and located the leaking hose and carried a roadside repair to get Simon home again, which included bypassing the oil cooler. A cracking repair, using a bit of ingenuity, which involved 2 long sockets used as coolant pipe joiners. As it was just a temporary repair Simon asked if we could come and see him when we were next in the area to refit the pipes with proper pipe connectors. All our usual tests carried out to see if everything else was ok and any signs of head gasket failure, but all found to be good.

The last MOT had advised on the brake lines, so the two front ones were replaced also while we were there. Had a chat about fitting a soft-ride-kit later in the year.

Now at our digs in Bromley. I enjoyed a lovely long walk around Beckenham Place Park this evening, what a fab place, well worth a visit. – https://ift.tt/nAl9Y5P

We managed to dodge the snow and hail fairly well today…

Great to see Lorna again in Yeadon for work on her fab TF 135, ‘Madge’ that was needing the discs and pads replacing. The reverse lights weren’t working so we fitted a new switch and got that working again. Pre MOT check done ahead of the test next week.

Thanks for the cuppas Lorna, nice to have a catch-up and hope you had a nice run out this evening.

From there we headed over to Keighley to assess what was occurring with Steve’s fab TF 160. He had noticed intermittent coolant loss, slowly getting worse and the engine management light had come on.

On pressure testing the system we found that the head was weeping externally and the oil had mild emulsification. Head gasket duly replaced and car back up and running lovely again. The EML codes were showing that it was down to the lambda sensor, but once cleared didn’t seem to be coming back again, but if it does will be looked into.

Great to see Steve and have a chat while we worked and we look forward to seeing him and the car again later in the year for some further work.

Almost home now, and thawing out, with a few more roadworks and hold ups, but it’s still light and lots of squalls to see over the hills. 🌨 – https://ift.tt/xgDo3FU