Year: 2024

Day 4 of 6 – South Coast & some other places too…

Might be the shortest commute yet, 1.1 miles (5 minutes)!

We left our curious digs in Worthing and headed along the road and round a corner where it was great to meet Ron and Su for work on their two MGs.

Su’s 2003 TF 1.6 (in paint code FAR) and Ron’s 2006 TF 1.6 (in paint code HFF) were both in need of a cambelt service and new alternator belts. All went really well on both cars, with the usual awkward bolts not causing any grief, but one bolt sheared off on each of the water pumps! Darn it. But, not to worry, the fantastic gets you out of the crap and a load of pain trusty ‘Irwin’ bolt removers worked a treat, plus the added help of the blow torch. New bolts duly refitted.

Couple of other little bits sorted for them and these two very tidy cars are good to go. What an enjoyable mornings work, plus Ron makes a cracking brew and the weather was perfect again. Thanks to them both for the pressies, after a chat we were on our way to start heading back up north.

We’re now in Fleet for the night, in a nice spot that we stayed in last month. – https://ift.tt/pRK3bCU

Day 3 of 6 – South Coast & some other places too…

We left our digs in Sarisbury, near Southampton this morning and headed over to Fareham, where it was really good to meet Mark. Having previously owned an MGBGT earlier in his life Mark fancied owning another MG and, after a search, found this one for sale on the Isle of Wight, a year 2000 MGF 1.8i (in paint code GUF), having previously been in the possession of one lady owner from new.

Today we carried out a full cambelt service, along with alternator belt, full coolant flush, new coolant cap and a couple of other bits sorted out for him.

He wants to bring it up to full spec, where possible, and asked if we’d give it a good inspection, we then discussed all the options for future work, such as brake upgrades, cold-air-induction etc. He’s done quite a lot of work on the car himself so far such as replacing the underfloor coolant pipes, swapping out the interior, fitting a snorkel and a few other things.

Thanks to Mark for the tea and offers of breakfast and lunch, plus it was lovely to have fusses with his very sweet woofer Snow. We look forward to our next visit.

We’re now a bit further east along the coast, in Worthing, for the evening. We had a short walk along the prom this evening hoping to have a cuppa on the pier, but unfortunately it was closed due to needing repair following the recent storms that have sadly given it a bit of a battering. Still it was a lovely sunset.

Hope you all have a good All Hallows’ Eve! 👻 🎃 – https://ift.tt/pRK3bCU

Day 2 of 6 – South Coast & some other places too…

Southampton this morning and only a few miles along the road from our digs. Really lovely, as always, to see Mark on our annual visit to him for work on his very well kept 2001 MGF 1.8 mpi (paint code CDX).

Minor service carried out along with hydragas pump up. Good to have a catch-up with Mark before heading on our way. Big thanks to him for all the bakery items, that will keep Jon quiet this evening.

Fishbourne, Chichester was our next location this afternoon. Geoff had got in touch with us as his 2001 MGF 1.8 mpi (paint code LQW) had over heated when having the MOT test done in the summer, and was losing its coolant, the tester suspected that the head gasket had gone. Having then carried out our head gasket calculator it seemed likely that this was indeed the case.

On removing the head this afternoon, we noted that it had been fitted with an MLS gasket, but that the saver-shim was missing, this has the heat-activated bonding agent on it, and without that is pretty much rendered useless.

It was quite some time since the last cambelt service was done so this was also carried out today. Plus a new alternator belt and expansion tank cap, and the car is almost back to rights.

Geoff had been planning on replacing the radiator and now needs an exhaust flexi as he suspected this was on its way out too, sure enough on firing the car up that was the case.

On one of our checks after replacing the head gasket is to check and see if there are any error codes that need clearing. One of these this time was for the radiator-fan control, the fuse had blown in the forward fuse box, so this was replaced, and then we disconnected the ECU temperature sensor, this should automatically put the fan on at the front, however it just blew another fuse. After checking the relay was ok, and unplugging the radiator-fan itself, then running the test again the fuse was fine. So it’s the radiator fan that’s at fault, so Geoff will replace this too when he replaces the radiator.

Once that’s all done he can continue to enjoy using the car on the track and have some fun again.

Great to meet Geoff and have a chat, thanks to him for the cuppas and biscuits. Oh and not forgetting fusses with his lovely woofers when we first arrived.

We’re now tucked up in some very nice digs for the night, got a bit of bargain here and forgotten that I’d booked it, so a nice surprise as we came down the drive this evening. – https://ift.tt/EafpV7w

Day 1 of 6 – South Coast & some other places too…

We find ourselves in Southampton for the evening, having travelled down from sunny Yorkshire this morning.

We had a call on the way to pump up a very tidy and low mileage, year 2000, MGF 1.8 in paint code CMU belonging to Colin. The car was very low on its stops, and Colin had been unable to find anyone in the area with a pump, a common problem these days, sadly.

It was lovely to meet Colin and his wife have fusses with their beautiful woofer Jas.

Next call, in the morning, not too many miles along the road. – https://ift.tt/7NkAxjr

A very foggy run up to Butterknowle in County Durham today, where it was good to see Ken again, who had got in touch as he’d found an issue when servicing his TF 160, unfortunately, one of the spark plugs had stripped the threads in the cylinder head. So we removed the head and will take it back to the workshop to heli-coil it. We’d replaced the head gasket on this some years ago and it was interesting to see that the heat-activated saver-shim had adhered evenly to the head, thereby doing its job perfectly. Date booked in to return and refit next month.

A productive day yesterday on ‘Princess’ (MGF – see previous blogs) and pleased to say she’s almost there, couple of other tweaks and she can go for her MOT.

We also had chance to sort the two cylinders heads we have in that required skimming. One from Roger’s MGF in Haytor and the other from Rob’s TF 160 in Hartlepool. They were ready this afternoon, so Jon will set about replacing the valves and new stem-seals. Dates arranged to refit both of these. As mentioned in a previous blog, we’re bringing Rob’s 160 back to the workshop as we suspect there may be other problems, hopefully not, but makes sense to get it all done in one go.

There’s another week that’s flown by!

Hope a good weekend is had by all, wherever you may be, near and far.

Talking of far, it’s been interesting following the latest travels of Adrian Clifford and his lovely wife, Dawn, this time to Australia to visit their son, (obviously not in the also well travelled ‘Pearl’ this time) and setting a challenge for the furthest, highest and longest that a Rough Luck Racing baseball cap has gone! – https://ift.tt/jRkBceI

We got cracking on Monday morning with Steve’s 2005 TF ‘Spark’ (paint code JHG), that he’d left with us over the weekend. Full cambelt service carried out and then taken round for the MOT, great to see him again when he came over to collect.

Richard came over from Northallerton to leave his 2010 TF 135 with us. Full cambelt service carried out and we then got started on the underfloor treatment.

Stephen and his son Simon came over from Wistow, near Selby on Tuesday morning to drop off their year 2000 MGF 120 mpi (paint code CAQ) for a full cambelt service. Lovely to see them again, Simon popped over this morning to pick it up.

Underfloor treatment and a couple of other bits all completed on Richard’s TF, this is now all ready for collection at the weekend.

This morning Greg drove down from Teeside in his 2004 TF 160 to have the Lambda sensor replaced, pleased to say this one was in complete contrast to the last one we had in! All done in no time at all, and after a chat Greg was on his way back home.

It’s all the Steve’s this week, good to see Steve again who came over from the south side of the river to leave his 2001 MGF 1.8i VVC 143 bhp (paint code CDX) with us this morning, minor service carried out, passenger side window-motor replaced and then sent round for the MOT this afternoon. Car all ready for collection tomorrow morning.

Laura is dropping off the replacement soft-top for ‘Princess’ this evening, so we should be able to put the finishing touches to her tomorrow now we have the full day free, having got a bit of a wriggle on!

Think we need a bigger workshop though! – https://ift.tt/7T6rWtx

Another week has whizzed by! I’ve been meaning to do a blog, but it’s just been too busy, work wise, and the admin has been even busier, head spins, but I’ll get there. 😵‍💫

A frosty start on Monday morning found us up in Hartlepool for work on Rob’s 2003 TF 160 (paint code LQW) that he’d recently taken ownership of in July of this year.

He’d experienced a problem with overheating, so asked when we could come up and sort, initially we had to turn him down as we didn’t have an opening, but then one came up due to a cancellation, at the workshop, for a subframe swap. So I got back in touch to let him know, and he asked if we could do the cambelt service too while we had the chance, which makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, things weren’t as we were all expecting and something had definitely been going on a while long before he’d noticed any issues. We couldn’t even remove the cylinder head as the inner timing cover casing was melted on to the head and the block, and had to be literally chiseled off. Not a good sign.

When we, eventually, removed the head it had been skimmed many times before, and had fire-ring indentations. Despite Rob’s, understandable, disappointment it would have been completely unethical to refit it.

Plus, given the severity of heat and Rob’s subsequent explanation of how things went, we suspect that there may well be other issues further down in the block and sump. Therefore, situation discussed, a date arranged to collect the car and take back to the workshop. Nothing that can’t be sorted, although the respray that he had booked in, for next week, will have to wait a little longer.

Lovely to meet Rob, we look forward to getting his car back to rights for him, which is actually employed as his weekly commute to Scotland and back.

We called in to Tockwith to see Rich, on our way back home, as his TF 135 was still playing up. The air pressure sensor had been damaged when he’d had the cambelt service done, elsewhere on the car, earlier in the year, so we have tried to resolve this issue, Rich has since reported back that it is still causing an intermittent problem now, so next on the list is to replace the wiring loom on the fuel rail, which we have, and will wait for him to report back further.

On Tuesday morning, we hauled the big old bearing press out with us and headed back over to Swinton, near Manchester.

Front offside wheel-bearing replaced along with the top ball-joint, front top suspension arm packed with grease, reverse-light switch replaced and drivers door lock replaced on this visit.

Really great, as always, to see David, Juliet and bouncy Bodie dog! Some really interesting chats, along with cracking brews. Plus we were honoured to receive our BAFTA award for our upcoming TV show! 🎭

Thursday morning found us hooking up the trailer, and heading up to South Cleatlam, in order to collect ‘Jugs’ and take back to the workshop for some welding. Unfortunately, she’d had a slight mishap with a jack, so needed some attention. Sill repaired this morning and then sent round for an MOT this afternoon. So ‘Jugs’ their MGF 75th (in CDM) is all ready for Tony and Caroline to collect tomorrow, we look forward to seeing them.

Work has continued at a pace in the workshop on ‘Princess’ and she’s almost there, we’re pleased to report. Leona is popping over tomorrow with the new inside bits, so it will be nice for her to see how she’s coming on.

Hope you have a really good weekend everyone. 🌞 – https://ift.tt/5k0jtsA

Workshop days…

Dave tailored over his ‘05 TF 135 (paint code LEF), from Poulton-le-Fylde on Wednesday to leave it with us for full underfloor treatment to be carried out.

We set about doing this yesterday morning, a really nice one to do, we’d last seen this car a year ago at his home for the cambelt service. All finished off today and ready for collection.

Work continues on the list of things on ‘Princess’. Making the most of the sunny weather the seats and carpets were all removed and left out to dry. The cars interior will be then be dry enough for fitting of the replacements, that Leona and Laura have sourced.

We had a visit from Ian this morning who came over from Gilberdyke in his ‘05 TF 135 (paint code MBB) for investigation of a coolant loss from one of the hoses noticed by the tester at the last MOT. Leak traced and sorted for now, but he really needs to replace the underfloor coolant-pipes, Ian and his pal, Stuart, will set to with this task at some point.

Rich came back over to us today in his ‘03 TF 135, as he’d noticed an intermittent problem, that was occurring shortly after first starting the car in a morning. As we suspected, it was down to the Lambda sensor being faulty. So we replaced with new, and on code reading, all error codes had cleared. Good to see Rich again and at least he had good weather for a top down drive both ways.

Nice to see Dave this afternoon when he came over to collect his TF.

Have a great weekend everyone, hope this decent weather stays with us. Apparently there’s another Aurora to be seen this evening, not as good as last nights though, but saying that we didn’t see it anyway as we were fast asleep. – https://ift.tt/PNY7Gy6