Year: 2023

North East – Day 3 of 3 – East Rainton & Redcar…

We were lucky again to have found some really fab digs last night, and left there this morning for a fairly short commute over to East Rainton, where it was great to see Andy again and his ‘03 TF 135 in paint code JFV.

He’d noticed a problem with his clutch pedal and also with the throttle. As we suspected the throttle was due to the bushes on the pedal itself having worn, so a replacement pedal fitted (thanks to Phil Bell for supplying us with it). The clutch release-arm was extremely stiff, which had in turn taken out the seals on the slave-cylinder. Clutch release-arm duly eased off, took a while, but at least it moves by hand now. New slave-cylinder fitted, system bled and she’s all good to go.

Lovely to have a catch-up with Andy and many cuppas, plus fusses with his beautiful woofer Tobermory, aka Toby (forgot to get a pic). Shame not to see Stuart who had planned on popping over to say hello. Thanks to Andy for prepping for our visit with the gazebo!

From there we headed on over to Redcar, where it was good to meet Jon and his ‘04 TF 135 80th Anniversary (number 754) in paint code MBB. Jon had reported that the EML had come on, so asked if we could call round when in the area to see what was occurring.

On code reading it had random multiple misfires and catalyst below efficiency, codes cleared and misfires were checked for, but the car was running sweet. Checked the state of the cat and that was ok, checked voltages on the Lamba sensors and they were ok. Once deleted the faults never recurred. Great to meet him and have a chat before we headed back home with a call into the workshop for parts needed for tomorrow’s visit.

We got caught out in the clean air zone in Newcastle £12.50 for 300 yards! Apart from that, another fab tour in the north east, with big thanks to everyone for their warm welcomes and some really great MGs. – https://ift.tt/ItBlQCc

North East – Day 2 of 3 – Backworth & Washington…

A very short commute this morning just around the corner to see David and his fairly recent acquisition of a TF 135, which we used to look after when it belonged to Steve, good to see it again in its new home. We last saw David 6 years ago for work on his previous TF. He’s certainly got himself a good one here.

David had noticed that the door locks were emitting a machine gun like noise and a very loud buzzing sound so asked if we could fit him in on our next visit to the area.

We had taken along with us a couple of door-locking mechanisms (thanks to Phil Bell for providing these) so these were both fitted for David and the problem is now resolved. Lovely to see him again and have a chat. Thankfully, he had a garage for us to work in as it was a bit dismal this morning.

From there we journeyed on to Washington, where it was lovely to meet John and his wife Linda, who had asked if we could call round when next in the area to give the car a check over for a very minor coolant leak on his ‘02 TF 135 in paint code CMU.

On running all of our usual checks found a minor weep from the front of the cylinder head. Plus the thermostat housing proved to be leaking also on pressure testing. Date arranged to return to replace these, plus carry out a full cambelt service and a few other things.

The car certainly has some very nice stable mates. We look forward to our return to get everything sorted for John.

We’re now in our next lot of digs, not too far along the road from that there Angel of the North. I had a bit of a dark and soggy walk along to see her. – https://ift.tt/Pe4LprE

North East – Day 1 of 3 – Felling & Blyth…

Our first call this morning found us back in Felling where it was lovely to see Rachael & Tony as always for work on their ‘04 TF 160 in Nightfire Red, affectionately known as Katy.

Tony had sourced a stainless Toyo exhaust-manifold and a Daytona back-box, along with a set of quad tail-pipes. So we duly fitted these for them, unfortunately the Lambda sensor stripped its threads coming out the flexi, so flexi retapped and a new Lambda sensor fitted.

Katy now has a very smart rear, and sounds great. They couldn’t be persuaded to have any pops and burbles added though!

Big thanks to Rachael for her fabulous, as always, hospitality. We bid our farewells and headed on up to Blyth.

Tony wasn’t in this time as he had to work. He’d reported a misfire on his TF 115, so we set about with code reading to see what was occurring. It came up with P301 and P300 and misfire causing emissions. First check was to look at the spark plugs, one of which in cylinder was found to be cracked. All four plugs replaced, codes cleared and on firing up all found to be good again. Pleased to have this sorted for Tony without incurring any major expense for him.

Making the most of the last of the daylight and some very welcome good weather I had a super walk from Blyth to Whitley Bay. We’re now in some really fab digs, near Holywell with lots of horses and woofers as neighbours! – https://ift.tt/Pe4LprE

Yearsley, near York…

Thankfully the weather had made a slight improvement today, for our visit to Mik and Sarah, for work on Sarah’s P reg MGF 1.8 mpi (in HAM), with only 16k on the clock.

Head gasket replaced, the one on the car had been replaced with the previous owner and fitted with a Mk I elastomer and still had the plastic dowels in the block. So these were all swapped out for her. Cambelt, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt all replaced.

The coolant temperature sensor was found to be dodgy when it came to running the car up to temperature, so this was replaced with a new one, gauges and readings now as they should be.

Good to have ‘Tess’ all sorted for Sarah to enjoy. Thanks to them for the cuppas and cake on a chilly day.

And just like that it’s Friday again! We’re not actually working this weekend, just have the van to restock and prep for our trip away next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. – https://ift.tt/XRkTZfv

Stockport & Macclesfield today…

An early and a soggy start to the day to head over for first call in Stockport, where it was great to meet John for work on his ‘01 MGF 1.8 mpi in Old English White.

Head gasket replaced and the cambelt service carried out, along with a hydragas pump up and this fab looking car, named Frank, in memory of John’s father, is now back on the road and ready to go for its MOT.

Thanks to John for all the cuppas, and despite deploying the gazebo the weather did improve quite a bit.

From there we went over to Rainow, near Macclesfield, where it was good to see Richard again having reported an issue with his ‘04 TF 135 80th Anniversary.

Although the car wasn’t over-heating, when the car was sat ticking over, after driving, the fans would come on but wouldn’t go off, and the car couldn’t cool itself down.

On investigation and running our diagnostics we tracked this down to be the PRT not opening fully. So we replaced this with a new 83 degree PRT and ran the car back up temperature again, subsequently the fans came on and off as they should do and also the temperature dropped as it should. Happily all now sorted for Richard.

We’re now heading back home on the M62, following an extremely slow crawl along an always stacked out M60, despite that an enjoyable and successful day. – https://ift.tt/O1sZSXz

Clutch fitted and all sorted with a nice smooth pedal again on Kathryn’s ‘02 TF 135 (in paint code LEF).

Kathryn had bought one of the kits supplied by Mike Satur, ‘Black Diamond’, which went in without causing issues any grief we’re pleased to say, the clutch release-arm freed off fully for her, old gear box oil all drained off and fresh oil put in. She’d certainly had her money’s worth out of the old one. So she’s all ready for Kathryn and Daniel to collect tomorrow when they drive back up from Baldock.

Thank goodness we were in the workshop today on such a miserable wet day, at least it’s warmed up a bit after a what was a very cold weekend for everyone. – https://ift.tt/pokx0AZ

Day 4 of 4 – Wednesday – Wigston.

A very chilly one today in Wigston, near Leicester for the head gasket replacement on Paul’s MGF VVC (in paint code CMU).

We had called by a few weeks ago to carry out the minor service and check out a coolant loss, which was found to be the head gasket. So a date arranged to return this morning.

A warm welcome awaited and his mum had been baking, plus a constant flow of cuppas from Paul to keep us warm. All gaskets replaced along with a new alternator belt as his had been squeaking a bit on start up.

I enjoyed an early morning dawn walk round a very frosty Burghley Park and Stafford, before leaving our lovely digs, with a very picturesque run across to Wigston.

Back home now, after a very successful few days away on some really fab MGs. Thanks to everyone for their warm welcomes and hospitality. – https://ift.tt/aTJRoHZ

Day 3 of 4 – Tuesday – Girton & Bourne.

A short commute to our first call this morning, from our digs, along to Girton, just outside of Cambridge.

Great to meet John who had taken ownership of a ‘96 Mk 1 MGF VVC (in paint code NAL) in August of this year. He got in touch last month to see when we would be in the area as he was needing a couple of things sorting on the car, which for now included replacing the underfloor coolant pipes, repairing the boot light and assessing the dodgy fog light. Having owned MGBs in past this was his first MGF so had a few questions about it, a date to be arranged for some further work.

An interesting morning chatting to John and some very welcome hospitality, we bid our farewells and continued on our way along to Bourne.

The next call was on a ‘02 TF 135 ‘Sprint’ (in paint code JFV) that Peter had owned for a number of years, having previously been owned by his son. The car was originally meant to be just a showroom car and never registered, but the owner of the MG dealerships wife liked it so much it was registered as a demonstration model.

We replaced the exhaust manifold with a new one as the existing one had a bit of a hole in it! (Forgot to take pic). Peter also wanted us to code read the car as he had been experiencing intermittent misfire issues with it. We found the fault to be down to the Lambda sensor. It had been replaced about a year ago with a cheaper alternative, hence why he was still having a problem. So we replaced this with a MG Rover one. All error codes cleared and car now running nice and smooth and a lot quieter for him!

Great to meet Peter and have a chat, who also makes a cracking brew! Thanks to him for the bottle of Rose too from his and his wife’s travels to the south of France. Hope he gets his wish and takes the car down there next year.

We’re now in our last digs of this trip, in Stamford, which is a cracking little self-catering house. A little chilly on the digits today, but a relief to have a dry day and some sun. – https://ift.tt/c6JymW8