Month: March 2024

Our first call yesterday morning found us in Leeds, where it was great to see Graham and his Mk I ‘96 MGF 1.8 in paint code HAM.

Graham had got in touch to see if we could replace the clutch, as he was experiencing a problem with the pedal. On investigation we found that there was a lot of free-play on the pedal, which was due to the clevis pin on the master-cylinder being very worn. This we replaced and also bled the system through with fresh clutch fluid. So, a bit of a result for Graham and a slightly easier morning for us.

After a chat we headed on our way over to Pudsey, where it was good to meet Gary and his 2001 Trophy in paint code JFV, which was sitting a little low and needed a hydragas pump up. The cambelt service is due, so a date is booked in for Gary to bring the car over to us at the workshop, in a few months time, and we look forward seeing him again.

An early start this morning for a further visit to Woolston, near Coventry, where it was lovely as always to see Bill and his MGF VVC. Bill had bought a stainless steel back-box, so we fitted this for him along with a homoligated CAT, that we had taken down with us. Great to hear from him later in the day to say that it looked great and sounded fruity, what a fab description! Pleased to have got this done for him on his pride and joy.

On the way back north we called in to Harthill, where it was lovely to meet Tony and his V reg MGF 75th Anniversary, in Mulberry, that had recently been misbehaving.

The symptoms were a random misfire, on code-reading several codes came up, of which none of them were really relevant, these were cleared and didn’t reoccur. There was a bit of a rusty connection on one of the coil-pack HT leads, so we cleaned up all of the coil-pack connections, and reset the ECU to learning mode.

Tony’s going to see how it goes, the coil-pack may have an issue, in which case he’ll come for a run out to us at the workshop, as he would like to get the speedo-cable replaced too.

Hope everyone can enjoy the long weekend where possible, and Happy Easter to all. It may not be top-down weather, but hoping it’s good enough for some enjoyable runs out. – https://ift.tt/anByzqo

Just on our way back home now after a couple of days in the Huntingdon area…

An early start yesterday morning and we headed over to Bythorn where it was great to meet Paul and his ‘04 TF 135 in Royal Blue (paint code JFM) that he’s owned for just over two years now and has been steadily working his way through getting the car in tip top condition. You can certainly see this with the care he has given it, and of which he is intending on being a keeper.

He was concerned that the clutch was on its way out, but on inspection and the fact it has only 44k on the clock we found it not to be the case. We freed off the clutch release-arm, which actually wasn’t too bad and bled the system through, which is all that was needed, clutch now nice and smooth and as it should feel.

The other concern was possible head gasket failure, but there wasn’t any evidence of this, Paul had recently also carried out a test, which proved to be negative. So for now all is well there too.

Thanks to Paul for a very warm welcome, along with mugs of tea and hot cross buns etc., plus it was good have a chat with him regarding everything MG. Date to be arranged for the cambelt service which is due next year.

We had a stop-over in Huntingdon last night as it was a bit daft to go all the way home again, when our call this morning was in Ramsey.

We’d replaced the head gasket on Brian’s previous MG back in 2016. So now his fairly new acquisition of a Mk II 2001 MGF VVC (in paint code MNX) was also in need of some work.

Head gasket replaced, as Brian had been noticing a few symptoms, and certainly on removing the cylinder head it was evident that it had gone into cylinder number 2. All gaskets replaced and ran up to temperature and running lovely.

The car had lost a bit of its bounce and having had many hydragas fills he thought it was time to replace the spheres. So we replaced all 4 with a set of our refurbed ones and the car now has a spring back in its step! All set for the summer months ahead. Great to see Brian, with thanks to him and his wife for the cuppas and choccie biscuits and offers of lunch.

From there we headed over to Turves to see what was happening with Matt’s 2004 TF 115 . Unfortunately, he’d come a cropper on the rather uneven roads round there and bust one of the shocker bolts, this had sheared off and taken out the CV boot too, leaving the threads stuck in the top arm.

He’d also noticed a slight issue with intermittent overheating, which needs further investigation. So a day needed to get back and sort these issues out for him and get him back on the road.

Almost home now with a steady run back up the A1. Oh and the weathers been really fab today too, with some very welcome sun. – https://ift.tt/G3DcMso

Workshop days…

Rich came over from York on Sunday (aka Pendas Lad) and left his ‘03 TF 135 in paint code HFF with us for underfloor treatment. So we got cracking with that on Tuesday morning (yesterday), not in bad shape at all underneath, but always a good and timely bit of maintenance to have carried out.

The underfloor coolant pipes were looking a tad ropey, so on checking with Rich we replaced these. He’d also noticed a strange rattle coming from the rear of the car, this, we discovered, was due to the fact the bolt that holds the alternator in was missing, new bolt duly fitted and rattle silenced.

He’d also noticed that the EML was flickering on the way over, on code reading it was code 1316 – misfire causing emissions, however no reason was found for it and once it was cleared it stayed off.

Car all sorted ready for collection on Friday.

Fiona had got in touch regarding her son Joe’s ‘05 TF 135, as the engine management light was coming on, as they were fairly local in Pocklington they popped over for us to investigate. Found to be the Lambda sensor that was faulty, so new one fitted and problem sorted. Lovely to meet them both and have a chat.

Great to see Chris again, who was working in the area, his TF 115 was still suffering from a squealing alternator belt, so some belt dressing was applied, which will hopefully solve this annoying problem for him! Nice to have a chat and a cuppa with him anyway, before he headed back over to Wirral, plus he came armed with a couple of boxes of biscuits. Thanks Chris!

Tom from Skipton was booked in for alternator belt fit, but he’s postponed for now.

Phil was supposed to be coming over from Knottingley in his ‘05
TF (that we’d last seen 2 years ago) for pre-MoT check and MoT, but had to cancel last minute, due to having discovered a large hole in the sill that would have been a fail straight away, so I believe he’s asked someone to step in and fit a repair panel.

Still it was a busy and productive couple of days despite that, it should have actually been a couple of days off in lieu of working the weekend and having a busy away-time, but who needs time off anyway!

Van duly stocked up and packed with the necessary parts in preparation of heading back on road again in the morning. – https://ift.tt/Plc8GqA

We returned to Acomb this morning to get everything sorted for Colin and his ‘02 TF in IAR, (that was originally a steppy in its former life with the previous owner, who had converted it to a manual).

We had initially visited a month ago for what was booked in for a straight-forward head gasket replacement. But, as of blog of 13th Feb this wasn’t to be the case, unfortunately so, for Colin.

Once we had the head back at the workshop we swapped it out for a refurbed head. The inlet-manifold was damaged so we replaced this with one on stock and Jon set about fettling all the dubious wiring and fitting new casings over it all.

Cylinder head replaced today, along with putting right many missing or incorrect bolts, fasteners and clips. Including tapping out and heli-coiling damaged threads. Good to have it all back to rights and running again.

Colin can enjoy his car again, that he’s owned now for 10 years, with many trips away, including one to Italy, amongst others. He and his wife plan to drive over to the south of France this summer.

Great to see Colin again, who was a lovely host, with lots of tea, biscuits and cake! Plus he surprised us with a box of Chocs and an Easter Egg, so kind of him, they will go down well!

It was lovely to have fusses with their dog Kelso and fab puss called Bruce.

A good run up this morning and a smooth run back home, with decent weather all morning too. – https://ift.tt/EUg8NzM

Our last call, this morning, of our latest away trip was in Costessey, near Norwich, where it was good to meet Phil and Helen for work on their ‘99 MGF VVC in paint code HFF.

Full cambelt service carried out along with replacement of the underfloor coolant-pipes with stainless and hydragas pump up. Not one awkward bolt, car ran up to temperature and sounding nice and smooth. So they’re all set for some trips away throughout the summer months.

Nice to have a chat with Phil before we headed back home in good time. A successful 5 days away, with some really cracking MGs and lovely people in some fab locations, a bonus too that all our digs have been really good. – https://ift.tt/S8pUQe7

Beckenham this morning for our penultimate call of this trip…

John had asked if we could take on the care of the three MGs that he owns, 2 MGF mpi models, one of which is modified and the other a ‘10 plate TF, one of the Chinese post LE run cars, of which we worked on this morning.

Cambelt service carried out on this, obviously, very well cared for car with the previous owner, and a check over of the underneath, as John would like to bring it up to us at the workshop for underfloor treatment.

On bleeding the car, it had some sort of repair to the heater matrix bleed screw, so we erred on the side of caution and left this well alone, knowing that the Chinese ones are prone to snapping off, resulting in lots of pain and expense! Car ran up to temperature and all running as it should.

It was nice to meet John who sat and chatted to us while we worked. He’s certainly got himself a very nice example there, we look forward to seeing him and the car again, up in East Yorkshire.

From there, we headed on to our next destination for the night, what a long journey that was, so many hold ups with road works, and a couple of break downs. We eventually arrived in a very lovely village, East Harling and a really fab little place to stay, for the night. Spotted a TF 1.6, a Rover 25 and a ZS on my walk round the village. – https://ift.tt/jspJYSo

Westcliffe-on-Sea and another very short commute this morning, from our fab digs, for work on Gary’s ‘00 MGF VVC in paint code LQW.

The cambelt service was overdue, so this was carried out, along with replacement of spark plugs and all filters and oil. Gary had bought a Vadar cold-air-induction kit some time ago, so we fitted this for him. Hydragas pump up and the car is all ready for the summer months. Good to hear from Gary later on that he’d enjoyed a good blast out this afternoon.

Great to meet Gary and also meet and have fusses with his lovely woofers, Noodles and Roxy.

With an early finish and fab weather, we made our way down to the sea front and enjoyed a trip along Southend Pier, well Jon got the train and I took the pedestrian route. Sandwich and a cuppa at the end of the pier before heading off to our next destination. We’re now in our next digs, right next to the Dartford crossing with a view of the ever busy bridge. – https://ift.tt/jspJYSo

Leigh-on-Sea…

‘Pearl’, Adrian’s TF 80th anniversary TF has done a phenomenal amount of miles, throughout many countries, giving himself and his lovely wife Dawn so much pleasure throughout the years, and they plan to have many more adventures in her, with 4 trips abroad, already planned, for this year alone.

That said, Adrian wanted to take the precaution of replacing the wheel-bearings, with them being the original ones, and didn’t want to risk one going, on a mountain pass, in some remote location that they, very often, find themselves.

We travelled down yesterday, with a call in Great Doddinton, near Wellingborough, where it was nice to meet John and his S reg MGF VVC in JRJ for hydragas pump up.

With a very short commute, this morning, from our digs, we set on with replacing all four wheel-bearings, plus both rear drive-shafts and both front stub-shafts, all of which Adrian had sourced. The offside-rear was very stubborn to get the drive-shaft nut off, when it finally did come off, it was evident that all of the grease had come out of the back of the bearing, so it was a timely change for this one.

Minor service carried out, along with hood and window adjustment, as his new hood, (which looks fab), was still being awkward around the new seals that he’d also had fitted, so hopefully now, after a bit of fettling, it will now be water-tight. Couple of other things sorted for him, and Pearl is now set for many more adventures ahead.

Big thanks, to him and Dawn, for their, as always, warm welcome and hospitality. Plus, great to have fusses with Molly dog, too cute! (Meant to get a pic).

Back to our digs, with another short commute planned in the morning for work on Gary’s MGF, who had popped over today to say hello.

I managed to get a walk in, yesterday afternoon/evening, over to Two Tree Island, weather not the best, but as always good to make the most of the area we’re in. – https://ift.tt/mHIeM7R