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A busy couple of days away…

Our first call on Thursday morning took us to Bugbrooke for work on a stepspeed that we used to look after with the previous owner in Spilsby, so it was nice to see this well cared for ‘02 Steppy in xpower grey again.

A full cambelt service carried out plus replacement of the window mechanism as the one on it had become a bit reluctant.

Great to meet Eric, who is going to be selling the car on as his driveway is a tad full! Thankfully he had made room for us to work in his garage as it absolutely tipped it down. It was a bit of a grim run down the M1 and somewhat slow going.

From Eric’s we headed over to Sandy for work on Daniel’s latest acquisition, another car that we had worked on once, about 8 years ago though. A 2004 TF 160 in JFM, that had been fairly heavily modified by the previous owner, Clive. Daniel had bought the car for his Dad to enjoy.

The cambelt service was initially booked in, but a couple of issues had just recently made themselves known. One of which, was that the car wouldn’t turnover and the other was that the drivers door had deadlocked and refused to open either by key or by fob.

The turnover issue was narrowed down to be a completely dead starter-motor. A new one sourced, which Daniel went off to collect, this was duly fitted, and got that problem sorted.

For the deadlock issue the door card was removed, in tact, the mechanism released from inside the door and then the central locking mechanism replaced with one we had with us, we’d gone armed with several contingencies, so that was that one happily sorted for him.

Next, on to the cambelt service, once the engine mount bolts were finally removed, after some amount of persuasion, when it came to refitting the forward bolt it sheared the threads inside the mount. So the mount itself was removed and a replacement one fitted, thankfully we keep these on board. All very time consuming and more awkward than is usual, but we were pleased to have everything sorted, though a bit of a late finish yesterday evening making it a very long, cold and damp day.

We eventually checked into our fab digs in Huntingdon for big mugs of tea and crisp sandwiches!

This morning found us over in Cottingham, the one near Market Harborough, for hydragas pump-up on a Metro Midas kit car owned by Sue and lovingly restored by her son Mark. Sue had owned one in the past when she worked for Riley’s, and fancied another to take along to shows and generally run about in. Mark is a mechanic and has his own garage and has done a fantastic job on rebuilding the engine. Really good to meet them both this morning and put this cracking little car to the correct ride height, after a bit of a chat between us all as to what is the correct ride height, there are a few theories out there involving fingers etcetera!

From there we headed about 3 miles along the road into Corby for work on Rob’s fairly new acquisition of a ‘2001 MGF 143 in LQW.

Full cambelt service carried out along with replacing one of the ball joints and investigation of an oil leak. Oil leak found to be coming from the cam oil seals, so these were replaced.

Lovely to meet Rob and have a chat, big thanks to him for lots of tea and for my goody bag!

Not too far from home now after a stop start journey back up the A1, an interesting couple of days. Plus the wet stuff stayed away today and the sun made an appearance, which was a welcome sight. – https://ift.tt/qTB890U

Our work took us over to Warrington this morning, where it was good to meet Graham who had, fairly recently, taken on the ownership of a TF 115 in paint code PBT, manufactured and first registered in 2007, with a mileage of just over 25k.

He asked us to carry out pre-emptive head gasket replacement, cambelt service and replacement of the underfloor coolant pipes with stainless.

All sorted for him and car up and running, sounding nice and smooth.

Thanks to Graham for many big mugs of tea to keep us warm, good have a chat with him and especially nice to have fusses with his lovely pup Flo.

Absolute drag of a journey this morning, even with our contingency of an added extra hour, we were 15 minutes past our arrival time. Better run back home this afternoon. – https://ift.tt/T0sieAz

Friends Round London 2024 in support of ‘UK Homes for Heroes’.

There’s such an amazing amount of work and effort that goes into this charity all year round by Michelle and Jimmy. We try to do our bit to support and help in any way we can along with many others who do their bit. Not to mention all the efforts that Lee puts in each year in organising this event.

One of which, is the annual run round the M25 in the middle of the night with tops down, no matter what the weather. Not the turnout seen in previous years, it was still great to see so many coming out and meeting up at Colney Park. Unfortunately, the weather proved just too much and a very hard decision was made to cancel the actual run. It would have been dangerous to send so many cars out on mass in those conditions. A very tough call considering the basis of the run!!

Nonetheless, the support and dedication was proved to be there from those who came along and stayed for a chat and a catch-up in the appalling conditions that our ex-servicemen and women have to endure throughout the year, on a daily basis out on the streets.

I don’t know at the moment what the final figure is, but someone mentioned just over £100,000 has been raised so far since the inception of the event. A valiant effort. – https://ift.tt/T0sieAz

First away trip of 2024 – North East – Day 5 – Carlton, near Stockton-on-Tees…

The cambelt service was due on this ‘04 TF 160 in paint code LQW, that Greg has owned following its spell as a demonstrator with only 900 miles on the clock at the time. He’s enjoyed many trips abroad in it to Italy etc.,
and is heading off on the NC 500 in a couple of months time, with his mates, so wanted to make sure it was all set for the trip.

Cambelts, water pump, tensioner, plugs, all filters and oil all changed. On code reading found that the Lambda sensor was showing two error codes, P0170 and P0655. Greg’s going to have a run down to us at the workshop at some point in the next few weeks and we’ll swap this out for him.

Great to meet Greg and have a chat a brew before we headed back home, with this being the last job on our first trip away of the year. Big thanks to everyone for their warm welcomes and fabulous hospitality. – https://ift.tt/q5FHuJN

First away trip of 2024 – North East – Day 4 – Washington…

When we were last in the area, in December, John asked if we could pop over and check out a coolant loss on his ‘02 TF 135, aircon model, in paint code CMU that he’s owned for the last 6 years. On pressure testing the system, we had found a weep coming out of the front of the block. So a date was arranged to return today.

Head gasket and all other gaskets replaced, cambelt, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt, spark plugs and filters replaced too, along with a new thermostat and thermostat housing.

Only one pesky bolt on the thermostat housing to the block decided it wanted to shear off, remaining part of it removed with the brilliant Irwin screw removers, absolute genius piece of kit.

Apart from that, everything else behaved and the car all put back together and running well, with a nice smooth sounding engine.

Great to see John again, with big thanks to him for the cuppas and offers of food. An enjoyable day in his company, with the advantage of a garage to work in to keep us out of the drizzle, a garage which also houses some very nice company! Didn’t get a pic of the Stag, silly me.

One of which, was his beautiful MGA that was having a problem starting, so asked if Jon could take a look and see if he could find the cause, which subsequently was thought to be down to a weak starter-motor.

Our last night in our digs tonight ahead of our final job of this trip, in Carlton, in the morning. – https://ift.tt/q5FHuJN

First away trip of 2024 – North East – Day 3 – Acomb, Ovington & Gosforth…

A short commute along the A69 to our first call in Acomb, near Hexham this morning. We had an enquiry from Colin only a couple of weeks ago asking for our help with his ‘02 TF 1.8 mpi in paint code IAR. As we were already in the area we were able to fit him in.

He had had the head gasket replaced by a garage only to fail again only two days after he picked it up, and unfortunately they wouldn’t warranty their work. So he cut his losses and asked if we could sort it.

We were all set to do this for him this morning and get him back up and running again, very sadly, this wasn’t to be the case with what transpired.

The head that he had been told had been skimmed certainly hadn’t, the fire ring indentations were way too deep, and there was no evidence whatsoever that it had been near a skimming machine. The inner timing cover was hanging on by a wing and a prayer, multiple bolts were missing and when in place were incorrect. The head bolts had been torqued down way too tight. The inlet manifold was damaged and had been replaced previously with incorrect wiring. The cam-rack had been silicone sealed on, the cam-shaft oil seals hadn’t been seated correctly, 90% of the engine sensors either didn’t have a clip holding them on or had been silicone sealed in place. We could go on. Needless to say that we didn’t get him up and running today.

So we’ve taken the head away with us for skimming and a date made to return next month, we have given up a planned day off as we just felt so bad for Colin having so much disappointment, in the space of a couple of weeks. He’s owned the car for 10 years and it’s never put a foot wrong, enjoying trips down to the Mediterranean etc. over the years.

We look forward to returning and getting everything put back to rights for him. Plus he makes a cracking brew!

So our next call should have been to Ovington, but unfortunately this was cancelled at last minute… again!

With an earlier than expected finish we headed over to Gosforth, where it was lovely as always to see Jane and Graham for the minor service on Jane’s TF 160 in paint code MNX. Good to have a catch-up with them. Since we saved this fab car for Jane, a few years ago now, they have enjoyed some great trips abroad in her and have plans to go further afield this year.

Not as Baltic cold today, with only the odd shower and it looks set to get a bit warmer as the week goes on. – https://ift.tt/tPEzgA5

First away trip of 2024 – North East – Day 2 – Whitley Bay

Work today on this ‘98 MGF 120 mpi, in paint code CAQ, that had been owned from new and loved by Fin’s Mum who had bought from Perrys in Huddersfield.

Fin and his wife are now custodians of the car and, therefore, wanted to make sure everything was in as good repair as possible for them to continue to enjoy as it was intended.

Full cambelt service carried out, along with hydragas pump up, underfloor stainless coolant pipes, alternator belt, handbrake adjustment, new expansion tank cap along with a replacement rear window as the one on it had become opaque as expected with the age of the car.

Originally it was thought that the head gasket had gone, due to bubbling in the expansion tank, but on our inspection it was, fortunately for Fin, found to be due to a faulty cap.

Really great to meet Fin, Louise and their son Tom. Absolutely Baltic day weather wise, but Fin provided us with a non-stop supply of very welcome warming cups of tea. Plus offers of soup from Louise.

As we were so close to the coast we popped over to take a peak and glad that we did, the waves were tremendous crashing in over the promenade! Love that coastline, but too late and tired for a walk though, so back to our cosy digs to thaw out. 🥶 Cracking day though, with good chats while we worked. We look forward to seeing them again for the next service. – https://ift.tt/F5vhUKO

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