Year: 2023

Sunday saw us back at the workshop for drop off and collection day and it was great to finally meet Chris, his wife Julie, along their lovely dog Lucy, who drove up from Dunstable on Sunday to collect Chris’s TF 135, and enjoy a drive back home with some much better weather we were all relieved to see.

There then followed a very productive couple of days at the workshop, which found us completing work on Steve’s ‘05 TF 135 (paint code JHG), who had also left the car with us on Sunday.

Following a health check, earlier in the year, we carried out full underfloor treatment, replacement of the flexi section and the lambda sensor, that was throwing up error codes. Front subframe mount replaced with stainless, a few other things sorted and finally taken for the MoT. Great to see Steve again this evening when he came over from Beverley to collect.

Great to see Martin and Tim again and have an interesting chat when they came over from Ilkley to leave Martin’s Caterham 7 with us again for a bit more work, that we’d seen in December last year for some bottom-end work and a cambelt service.

Vernier cam pulleys and Piper fast-road cams fitted, plus a new sponge in the dry sump replaced. Between the last time we saw the car, it has been fitted with motorbike carbs, and on collection by Martin today he’s now going straight off for a race ECU and full mapping to increase the bhp to its best potential. We did take him up on his offer of taking it for a blast this time! Absolutely fantastic! We look forward to updates on the mapping etc.

Work has commenced on Nemo, with a bit of a list to do we’re already making good progress… – https://ift.tt/l0wvHuS

What a week that was and a full-on one since my last blog last Thursday!

Friday morning found us at the workshop with an early start to get cracking on the two that were left with us…

Chris sent his ‘05 TF 135 in Nightfire Red up to us from Dunstable, as was in need of a new head gasket, as he had recently taken it to another garage and unfortunately it hadn’t taken. Whilst in with us he asked us to also carry out a full cambelt service, fit a B&G coolant alarm kit, alternator belt and carry out a health check. On inspection found that the CAT on the car would not have passed through emissions, so asked us to replace with a decent one, a homologated one duly ordered and fitted. The expansion tank cap failed the pressure test, so a new tested one of ours fitted. A few other things sorted for Chris and his fab looking TF is all ready for him to collect at the weekend and we look forward to meeting him.

We also got cracking with the tests on Andy’s MGF 1.8 mpi that he had trailered over to us from Knutsford. Will do a separate blog on this one as it’s a bit more involved, gladly the car is now all sorted and we look forward to seeing Andy in the morning for collection.

Great to see Ray again who popped over from Beverley for a replacement key fob programming to his TF 135.

Tuesday found us back up in Shildon, to get everything sorted, finally for Fred on his ‘03 TF 135 that had suffered a bit of a calamity, he’d bought the car knowing it had head gasket failure, but when we removed the head earlier in the year found that there were a few more serious problems afoot. We returned with a refurbed cylinder head and a replacement piston. These were all duly fitted, along with full cambelt service and some other essentials and she’s all good to go for him and his lovely wife, Grace, to enjoy. An enjoyable day in their company and we fortunately dodged the rain.

Work continued at the workshop on Wednesday with another long day.

Then Thursday found us, with a very early start, to collect the trailer from the workshop and head down to our first call of the day in Desborough, where it was good to see Marcus again for the annual minor service, plus boot wiring fettling on his TF 135 (paint code JFM).

From there we headed a few miles along the road to Market Harborough, where it was great to meet Chris and his ‘01 MGF 120 mpi (paint code CMU) that he’d owned for many years. The radiator was shot so we replaced this for him, hopefully it hasn’t caused any of the proverbial problems for him. We pressure tested the system etc. as far as is possible, but should there be any subsequent issues this will reveal itself when driving the car and under load, as we say, hopefully not the case.

From there, we continued on to Wellingborough to collect a lovely little TF that goes by the name of Nemo, who is now safely tucked up with some pals in the workshop waiting for a little bit of TLC.

Thankfully we dodged the wet stuff yesterday, and were pleased to be in the workshop all day today completing the work on Andy’s MGF, dodging storm Babet, which has wreaked some havoc all over the country we’ve been sad to hear on the news today.

Hopefully it will calm itself down soon and provide better driving conditions this weekend for all the pick-ups and drop-offs over the weekend, safe travels to everyone. – https://ift.tt/IOu59VH

Day 5 of 5 – Tour of Lake District & a couple of other places…

Annan, Scotland…

Another short commute along from our fab digs, in Gretna, this morning to Annan where it was lovely to meet April for work on her ‘05 Rover 25 in xpower grey.

A bit of a frosty one this morning, but the sun was out and blue skies so we didn’t get too cold while we replaced the head gasket, and all other gaskets, plus carried out the cambelt service, power steering pump belt and alternator belt replaced. All nuts and bolts behaved and we’re pleased to have Aprils daily back up and running again for her, thanks to her for the welcome warming mugs of tea.

Thanks to her partner James for putting her in touch with us, who we saw a few years ago for head gasket replacement on his TF, he had at the time, in Castle Douglas. She had been quoted an eye watering amount at a local garage just to have the head gasket replaced, who also recommended adding the dreaded k-seal! So, all in all a good call by James.

Back home in good time this afternoon, to round off what has been a successful week, meeting some lovely people and their fab MGs, in many interesting locations.

Back at the workshop in the morning to get cracking on a couple of cars that have been left with us, both requiring a bit of an investigation. – https://ift.tt/ikuZI20

Day 4 of 5 – Tour of Lake District & a couple of other places…

Cockermouth…

Another short commute this morning from our amazing digs in Embleton along to a farm just outside of Cockermouth where it was great to meet Don for work on his ‘99 MGF steppy (paint code HFH) that he’d bought about 18 months ago, and had been spending time getting the car up to spec.

This morning we replaced the brake lines on both the rears with copper, plus we replaced all four brake flexi-hoses with braided ones. The plan was to replace the front to back brake line too, but this had already been done we found on inspection.

The door striker was worn out so a new one that Don had bought was replaced, this decided to put up a bit of a fight as the lower bolt had seized and rounded off, so grinder duly deployed!

Good to meet Don in such a beautiful location and have a chat, thanks to him for the brews and biscuits, and the kind offers of breakfast and lunch, but we didn’t realise breakfast was included at our digs, plus the valued provision of a barn should the weather be inclement once more.

After a run through very picturesque countryside, we’re now settled in our last digs of the trip, where we’ve stayed many times before, in Gretna, ahead of our call in the morning… – https://ift.tt/ikuZI20

Day 3 of 5 – Tour of Lake District & a couple of other places…

Whitehaven…

A very wet and windy one in Whitehaven today for another clutch by the coast, where it was great to meet Mark, who had got in touch earlier in the year for some advice regarding some problems with the clutch that he’d been experiencing on his ‘03 TF 160 (paint code IAC) that he’d owned, at that time, for 12 months. He set about freeing off the clutch-release arm as we advised, but was still having issues and just wanted the clutch replacing anyway for peace of mind knowing that it was done.

Full clutch fitted today along with a new slave-cylinder. The release-arm had seized up a little again, so this was freed off too for him, resulting in a very smooth easy pedal on this lovely looking Sunspot, which did put up a bit of a fight, resulting in a couple of mashed digits for us both!

Pleased to have the car all sorted for Mark, with huge thanks to him for his lovely hospitality, on a bit of a bleak day, with tons of warming mugs of tea, snacks and even sausage and chips for lunch!

Having spotted the marina from the hill we were working on we headed down there, when we we’d finished, to hunt out the requisite fridge magnet. What a really lovely and interesting spot. If you follow up from the top of the seagulls head in the pic to just about the top of the hill that’s where we were working.

Now in some more really fab digs, in Embleton for the night and time to get the admin caught up on. – https://ift.tt/NnSBExP

Day 2 of 5 – Tour of Lake District & a couple of other places…

Dalton-in-Furness…

A very short commute this morning from our fab digs, only a couple of miles along the road where it was good to see Adrian again and his MGF 1.8 (paint code LQW).

This time was to replace the clutch, as it was getting more and more awkward and juddering quite a bit. Full clutch fitted, plus the slave-cylinder had blown, so this was replaced, along with the uprated clutch-release arm with the grease nipple. A real pleasure to do, with no awkward bolts!

Adrian had noticed that the temperature gauge had risen slightly a couple of times, whilst we were underneath the car we noticed that the union on one of the heater pipes was leaking as the spring clip had lost its springiness, so a couple of new jubilee clips fitted to both of the hoses for good measure, this would have accounted for the temperature gauge rising, on pressure testing the system we couldn’t see any further leaks. So the cars all good to go for him once more with a nice light, smooth clutch pedal.

Thankfully the weather was a lot warmer than our last visit, when it was around -10!

We now find ourselves in our next digs of the trip in Seascale, with another beautiful coastline, although there is a bit of a sea fret going on. – https://ift.tt/zaX62V8

Day 1 of 5 – Tour of Lake District & a couple of other places…

Knaresborough…

Great to see Stafford again and his ‘05 TF 135 (paint code PBT) for a couple of things. We last saw this car 4 years ago for head gasket replacement. Stafford asked if we could call by and sort out his drivers side window as it stopped working, he’d tried the fuse, to no avail. After testing the switch we found that it was the window motor itself that had packed up, we’d taken replacement ones with us and so got this fitted for him. Oil and filter change carried out for him while we were there.

A nice pot of tea and a chat with Stafford before we headed off on our journey, and now find ourselves in Dalton-in-Furness, where we have some very lovely digs for the night.

Thursday morning found us over in Chesterfield, where it was lovely to see Donna again and their ‘04 TF 135, that we’d worked on earlier in the year for head gasket replacement, we’d arranged at the time to return to replace the underfloor coolant pipes as we’d noticed these were a bit of the crusty side.

They had also recently noticed a couple of rises on the temperature gauge. We did all our usual checks and found that the spring clips, although still in place, had cracked into two separate halves on the PRT, so deduced that under pressure this would cause it to leak, resulting in over heating. This was duly replaced with a new PRT and new clips. The expansion tank also had stress fractures, so a decent secondhand one was fitted. All good to go, the car will Donna’s daily drive now for a while. Big thanks to her for the thoughtful flask of tea and biscuits that she brought down to us in the car park.

From there we went over to the workshop for a restock ready for our week ahead. A day off yesterday enjoyed to recharge the batteries. – https://ift.tt/vriudzw

Tuesday and Wednesday spent in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire…

After a fantastic long weekend away in the North East for a wedding, where Kevin’s Trophy had a starring role of whisking the Bridge & Groom away from the church following the ceremony, we had a very early start on Tuesday morning to head south for a couple of days…

Sandy in Bedfordshire for work on Daniel and Kathryn’s MGs.

First up was Kathryn’s ‘02 TF 135 for a full cambelt service. Then next up was Daniel’s MGF 120 mpi for a full cambelt service. Daniel’s car had recently been into another garage for some work and for some reason the gear cables had been removed to do the clutch (we couldn’t fit him in unfort), after having been refitted Daniel was having problems in selecting reverse, and stiffness in other gears, this was sorted by us reinstating the Mike Satur bell-crank and cable ends, that were originally fitted to the car, then we adjusted both ends of the cables to allow the correct movement.

Both cars all now sorted and up to date on their servicing. Good luck to both Kathryn and Daniel on their many projects that they have going on, we look forward to seeing the progress especially on the SVR and the respray on his MGF.

With a stopover in Wyboston last night, we headed over to Kimbolton where it was great to meet Andy for work on his ‘97 VVC Abingdon (paint code HYF), that he’s been gradually putting back to rights having bought it 5 years ago, where it had been somewhat neglected in its former life, sadly.

Having always had a problem with the clutch, he thought this was the issue and so got us in to replace it. But, the issue was down to a very seized up clutch-release arm, a blown slave-cylinder and blown master-cylinder. So we set about freeing off the release-arm, replaced both the slave and master-cylinders, which has resulted in a very nice smooth clutch pedal for him.

The cars looking really fab, with its new roof etc, few more things to be sorted and it will certainly be a cracking little car.

After a good chat and a cuppa with Andy, we bid our farewells and headed a few miles along the road to Ellington, near Huntingdon for hydragas pump up on Neil’s ‘98 VVC MGF (paint code HFF). Good to meet Neil that we shall hopefully be seeing again next spring for the cambelt service.

On our way home now in good time, with a localish one tomorrow in Chesterfield. – https://ift.tt/VxW39YJ