Month: February 2024

First away trip of 2024 – North East – Day 1 – South Cleatlam

Tony’s MGF 120 mpi ‘Bessie’ had developed a problem with rough running and then non-starting.

On investigation only one error code was detected, that didn’t have any relevance to the issue. Initially tried putting fuel directly into the throttle body, as it didn’t fire up it was obviously an electrical issue.

Checked the distributor cap and rota arm and found them to be corroded. So these were both replaced and pleased to hear Bessie fire back into life!

Great to see Tony, Caroline and Joe as always, and good to have chance for a catch-up and a cuppa.

We’re now in our fab digs in Gateshead for the next few nights. – https://ift.tt/TS0wVE8

Cars in from both ends of the U.K. this week from Brighton to Glasgow…

Saturday morning saw us on with both the cars left with us from Scotland. Aldo’s TF 115 was originally booked in for underfloor treatment, but had encountered a non-starting issue, having been stood over the winter months. So instead of the planned drive down in convoy with Glenn he had the car transported to us a couple of weeks ago and Jon has been working on diagnosing the problem in between other jobs. Whilst Jon carried on with that I got cracking on Glenn’s 85th Anniversary, that he had left with us, having driven down from Glasgow on Friday. Full rust conversion carried out and left to do its thing.

Chris popped over to see us from Wirral whilst en route to Nottingham to have his alternator belt replaced as it was squealing a tad on start up.

Work continued on Glenn’s TF on Monday morning, which included full underseal, replacement of all 4 subframe mounts with stainless ones, gearbox oil change, replacement reverse light switch, service items and replacement of the windscreen washer bottle as it had been pittling all over the floor and that’s this one all sorted and ready for collection.

It was good to meet Gary on Tuesday morning who had driven up from Brighton, the day before, to bring in his W reg MGF for its cambelt service. He was definitely living on borrowed time with the alternator belt! At first glance it looked like the wrong belt was fitted, but when we removed it only half of it was left, how it didn’t give way we’ve no idea! Yikes that could have been nasty. It will take place on our exhibit of carnage.

The inlet manifold had a snapped breather pipe, which was causing the car to have an erratic idle. So we fitted an alternative connector, which resolved this issue. All sorted for Gary to drive back down to Brighton that afternoon.

Jon very gladly solved the non-starting issue on Aldo’s TF after chasing faulty wires over a total of two and a half days and chats with Mark Stacey (Kmaps), Chris Flanagan (Retro cars) and finally getting to the route of it with the help of Paul Brown (Technozen).

Now that this was sorted we continued on with the list of things that Aldo had asked us to do whilst we had the car.

Central locking motors fitted, new door handle, window adjustment plus a few other things we came across. Full underfloor treatment carried out and that’s this one all ready to go too.

We look forward to seeing Glenn and Aldo tomorrow as they make their way down to us to pick them up and drive them back home to Glasgow. Let’s hope the sleet and snow don’t cause too many disruptions for them. – https://ift.tt/VlFzPpK

One of jobs we had in the workshop this week was this fab TF 160 that Andy had recently taken ownership of and had transported up to us at the weekend from Hertsfordshire. Already an owner of various other models of MG now and in the past he fancied owning a 160.

Having got the cambelt service done on Sunday, we cracked on with removing all the old Schultz from underneath, most of it falls off in chunks, but the rest has to be laboriously scraped off. Once this was removed, everything fully coated with rust-converter and left overnight to do its thing. Then fully coated with Upol Gravitex the following day.

Andy had treated himself to a Mike Satur ‘Daytona’ back box and quad tail finishers, plus a new CAT, so these were fitted. Both front wishbones replaced. Both front track-rod-ends replaced, the rears were on the list, but were still in good condition.

On running up to temperature found that the thermostat was stuck open and the gauge was reading low. So we replaced both the PRT and the sensor and subsequently everything behaving as it should. Car then sent round to the garage we use on site for 4-wheel alignment. Couple of other things sorted and she’s good to go.

Really great to meet Andy when he came up this afternoon to pick her up. We look forward to seeing him later in the year for some other things. Hope he enjoys a cracking weekend in the area whilst staying over with friends and the drive back home.

One of the other projects we have in is John’s ZR 160 race car. Clutch replacement carried out along with the cambelt service. Coolant flush, brake fluid change, engine oil and filter change. Then brake pads all round. A couple of other things added to the list as we went along, such as the rear calipers need replacing, so these are duly ordered. Andy’s left the car with us to get her ready for the coming season. Another one that would be brilliant to have a blast in!

Glenn drove down from Glasgow this morning to leave his 85th Anniversary TF with us for a few things. Really great to see him as always and have a quick catch-up before he headed back home. Big thanks to him for the huge bag of everything Tunnock’s! So thoughtful. We did share the love with the garage on site and our fab neighbours at Black Sheep Customs.

Another busy week with lots going on and here we are it’s Friday again! We’ll be back at it in the morning. Hope everyone has a great weekend. – https://ift.tt/ZDr8Mx2