Author: Jon & Claire

Pilling in Lancashire was our destination this morning for head gasket and cambelt service on another MGF in alumina. On pressure testing the system we found that the radiator was also at fault, and could have been the possible cause of the head gasket failure.

Lovely to meet Chris and Sarah who provided us with plenty of warning cuppas. Fortunately, the rain ceased and the sun came out.

Now we can actually put away the spanners for five whole days and enjoy the festive season.

What a brilliant few days with Mark and Jamie in a garage in Carshalton. Mark’s very tidy MGF 143 VVC wanted a few things doing and Jamie wanted a few pointers on his fab project.

So on ‘Big Ears’ (Mark’s car) the following was carried out; replacement of refurbished hydragas spheres, fitting of lowering knuckles all round, new drop links, Schultz underseal after wire brush and painting with anti-rust paint, minor service, fit glass rear window, heater controls replaced, fit reprogrammed ECU, fit front and rear anti-roll bar polybushes, hydragas lift.

Some time ago Jamie had bought himself a Midget (Betsy) as a project and was only 14 at the time. He is now at Brooklands college and as a project is going to transplant a k-series engine complete with a ford sierra gearbox in to it. He bought Alan’s written-off MGF 143 VVC (Peppa) in order to do this. So they had wanted Jon to help him remove the engine and impart his knowledge on how it’s done. So the pair of them set about with the removal and also advising on which bits to keep as spares etc.

They also removed the bell housing today and clutch to see how the other gearbox will fit. Ford Sierra gearbox is interesting as it has also got a full hydraulic integrated slave cylinder that’s mounted inside the bell housing and around the drive spigot. The gearbox that Jamie got has also been adapted to be a slick-shift so as not to have the old Sierra massive movement on the gearstick. From mounting the bell housing it will have to take a smaller flywheel and possibly something like a Steptronic starter motor which is mounted just underneath the exhaust manifold and alongside the engine block, rather than the starter motor being on the other side of the engine and over the top of the gearbox. We look forward very much to seeing how this develops, it’s so great seeing Jamie’s enthusiasm and it was fab watching him get stuck in with his fab set of spanners despite feeling under the weather.

Great to see Alan again on Wednesday afternoon and have a catch-up, then all of us enjoy a lovely evening with the best curry ever!

Thank you so much Mark and Jamie for your lovely company, enjoying lots of chats and laughs, accompanied by festive tunes and a cracking brew!

Picked up this sorry looking car at the weekend. Andrew & his father had taken it on as a project following a rear side impact which had bent the subframe etc. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time to do it so called upon us to help.

We swapped out the rear subframe and all the ancillaries. Whilst we had the engine out cambelt, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt replaced. Engine and subframe back in and everything connected back up.

Full wire brush and Schultz to the underneath. Underfloor pipes replaced. New battery fitted, discs and pads all round. Spheres drained of old manky fluid and refilled with fresh. Clutch bled. Two new wheels fitted, with a big thank you to Jason at MG & Alpha Spares for getting these out to us with little notice!

Andrew had sourced a new rear bumper and had it sprayed to the correct colour. This was fitted this morning. MOT carried out this afternoon with a pass we’re pleased to say.

Lots of bits done that weren’t on the original spec, it’s just what we like to do. Full valet and all nooks and crannies cleaned out and polished up. Car now returned to its former glory and given a new lease of life. With a very low mileage let’s hope it will clock up many more over the years to come.

All loaded up this evening ready to return to Aike in the morning.

What a really interesting and enjoyable weekend spent in Dudley with Rob & Jane carrying out the mechanical part of a full restoration of ‘Nemo’, a pre-production MGF 143 VVC (special development vehicle as can still be seen marked on the subframe). Fantastic bit of history involved with this car, that was originally in Volcano but had been painted red. Rob & Jane will be getting a full respray back to original colour. It’s not known if this was actually resprayed at the factory or by someone else. There are so many subtle differences on this car that never went into production. Different coloured and different connectors for the wiring. Mounting bolts slightly different, not captive nuts, but standard. Great to see the original fitters signatures and dates even on internal parts.

We carried out head gasket, cambelt service plus general service, full clutch replacement, stainless steel engine bay pipes fitted, underfloor stainless steel coolant pipes, alloy radiator, refitted alternator, refitted the ECU, refitted exhaust (temporarily to run it up). It was also found that the underfloor coolant pipes one of the brackets had been welded about quarter of an inch in the wrong place so they had missed out the centre bolt to compensate, these were originally fitted from the factory.

Thanks to Rob & Jane for your lovely company and many cuppas! Really great to meet you both.

Macclesfield was our first call this morning and lovely to see Tony again for cambelt service on his TF135. The last time it was serviced was in the garage where he had bought it from many years ago. We found the bottom pulley bolt to be seized. Several tries with breaker bars, impact guns failed to get it moving. Even spinning the engine using the starter motor while the pulley was held by a bar didn’t shift it either. So we had to resort to locking the fly wheel, plus a 7’ bar! Starter motor bolts had also seized into the casting. So after a bit of a battle we succeeded.

Whilst there Tony asked us to look at a Mk II MGF in Sienna that someone had previously been trying to carry out a cambelt service on, Tony was concerned that there was damage to the head. After putting it back together again, Jon found that the timing was 170 degrees out on the inlet cam! He was very lucky that there weren’t any bent valves. Car turned over nicely with a big sigh of relief from Tony.

We then ventured on to Swinton and great to see David again who we had met a Pateley Bridge on our stand. He had called us asking us to come and investigate some clutch issues he was having. Slave cylinder seals replaced,
clutch back to rights again. Plus new alternator belt fitted.

Sun was out all day too!

We would just like to say what an honour it was to sponsor this years ‘Topless Around the Peak District’ run in support of the extremely worthy cause ‘UK Homes for Heroes’.

Always humbled to hear Jimmy Jukes and Michelle Thorpe’s accounts of their enduring support of our ex-service people encountering extremely difficult times.

Thank you Ruth Evans for including us and for all the amazing amount of effort you and Paul Evans put in. So admirable. You created a truly fantastic day.

What an amazing turnout!! Really good to see so many friends from near and far. Fantastic run through beautiful scenery in some fabulous cars!

Thank you to Jill & Darren for providing the venue for the start and all the welcome refreshments.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea was our first destination today, we met Phil on our stand at Pateley Bridge who booked is in for exhaust back box replacement and fitting of a wind break. Great to see Phil again and his immaculate, very low mileage 75th Anniversary. Thanks for all the cuppas, biscuits and letting us meet Paris, your gorgeous Rottweiler.

We then went a bit further north to see Rob and collect his lovely alumina MGF that we took back to the unit for lots of TLC. Safely delivered and on the lift this evening ready for work to commence in the morning.

Beautiful weather again for the first day of autumn.

Well that was a cracking day off! Spent it at the Yorkshire Dales Autograss Club’s BAS round 4 supporting Helen Blake and sponsoring Ladies Class 2.

Absolutely brilliant day.