Category: News & Updates

Day 11 – South West – Warmley…

After a stop over in Monmouth, last night, we headed back down to Warmley to get Steve’s TF 160 sorted for him, following our visit to him last Wednesday, as part of this latest trip.

There was also an issue to sort on his MGF, he’d got in touch a couple of days ago to say that he’d heard a loud bang coming from the engine bay. When he removed the engine cover he found that one of the forward rubber mounted engine bolts had sheared, which had compounded the fact that the mount didn’t have the upper retaining spring. Steve had managed to get hold of one so while we were waiting for the valves to arrive for the TF we fitted this and remounted the engine. It was in no danger of falling out, but it could move forward and back an inch.

Valves arrived shortly after that, so Jon got on with replacing these, two inlet and two exhaust valves had bent. Everything put back together again and we refitted the cylinder head. Car back up and running lovely.

Really pleased to have this sorted for Steve. Big thanks to him for many cuppas keeping us hydrated as it was a bit of a hot day, plus the freshly baked banana bread. It was great to have lots of fusses with their lovely woofer Bertie too.

We’re now a very slow crawl back up north to home, but at least we’re heading home, and looking forward to seeing Binx puss.

It’s a been a very busy and tiring 11 days, but very productive and we’ve found ourselves in some very nice locations with lovely people and their fab MGs!

19 MGs

1 lodge, 3 hotels, 1 pub and a shepherds hut.

1,200 miles ish. – https://ift.tt/rJLZM3X

Day 10 of 10 (11) – South West – Hereford…

From our digs in Bromash, we headed over to Hereford for work on Noel’s 2003 TF 135, in Trophy Blue. Noel had previously owned a MGF for a number of years. He spotted this TF for sale and fancied owning one, it came with little service history so he asked us to carry out a full cambelt service.

This went so well, no awkward bolts or issues and we turned the key on it at 10:30 am. Wouldn’t you know it would go well when we should have been heading home afterwards. Never mind, it’s just how things pan out.

Really great to meet Noel today and have a good chat with him, and meet his fab puss Fred, plus he makes a cracking brew, Noel that is, not Fred.

We made the most of the early finish and went into Hereford for some lunch, well actually it was an all day breakfast that Jon was fancying. Found a lovely place called De Koffie Pot right next to the river. We took in a visit to the cathedral too, which was pretty impressive.

So we’re now back in Monmouth for the night. The weather has definitely made a change for the better. I took myself off for a hike up the hills to The Kymin again.

The valves we ordered are arriving tomorrow, so we will head back to Warmley to get things all sorted for Steve. – https://ift.tt/rJLZM3X

Day 9 of 10 – South West – Haytor…

A departure from our digs in Plymouth bright and early this morning to head over to Haytor for work on Roger’s two MGFs.

One of which, we had done some work on four years ago. Today this one, a W reg 1.8 mpi in Nightfire was in need of hydragas pump up and the underfloor coolant pipes replacing with stainless.

The other one, a R reg 1.8 mpi, in Tahiti, which he had fairly recently bought, was in need of a head gasket replacement and cambelt service, hydragas pump up and underfloor pipes. Well that’s what we thought.

Unfortunately, on removing the engine cover we could tell that there was something definitely amiss. On further investigation and on removing the cylinder head we found that the engine had been well and truly cooked.

The cylinder head had deep indentations made by the fire-rings, once removing all the oil from the cylinders we found that the liners were all scored and rusty. The cams were rusted up too. Thick mayo had made its way into the inlet manifold, the air pipe, the air-filter box, the exhaust manifold, the original plastic allocation dowels were just melted blobs. The cambelt casing was completely melted. Part of alternator belt was missing, luckily this hadn’t caused any further problems. Surprisingly, too even in this case the liners still hadn’t sunk!

So the car is going to require, new piston rings, new liners, new covers etcetera, along with obviously all the gaskets, cambelt, water pump and everything else required to put it back to rights.

After liaising with Roger he’s decided to go ahead with all the works. So we’ll find a date to come back and get this sorted for him. He wasn’t sure of the history of the car when he took it on, it had been stood for doing nothing for quite some time, but he certainly wasn’t expecting things to be this bad. But, it’s nothing that a bit of TLC and time can’t put right.

We look forward to our return and getting it back up and running, as it should, for Roger to enjoy.

We had a quick nip round the corner to Haytor rocks, and had an ice cream, I still couldn’t persuade Jon to walk to the top this time either! Maybe next time. So we’re now on our way back up the country to just near Ross-on-Wye for the evening. – https://ift.tt/45Um8Wr

Day 8 of 10 (11) – South West – Crapstone…

We ventured, not many miles, from our digs, this morning and found ourselves in this beautiful village for work on Simon’s 2003 TF 160, in paint code LEF, that he’d just recently taken ownership of as a bit of a project in his retirement, amongst his many other interesting activities.

A full cambelt service carried out, the car had been stood and unserviced for about ten years, so it was good to get it back to rights.

We also installed a K-maps remap. The car is having the MOT done tomorrow, so all should be good to go on the car, which is intended to be a daily runner. It does have a very nice stable-mate, one of my absolute faves, an RV8, just stunning!

It was a real pleasure meeting and chatting to Simon today. Plus it has to be up there for one of the best commutes ever, from town and industrial area, where we are staying and then, all of a sudden, you’re in stunning countryside, filled with ponies and their foals, not forgetting the sheep and their lambs too of course. Sorry, but I’m adding a few more pics than I usually do, of the locations we find ourselves in. 🐴

The weather has finally felt like it should for the time of year, so having an early ish finish this afternoon I took myself off for a walk through the streets of Plymouth and the park to the seafront, where Jon and I met up for a cuppa. – https://ift.tt/45Um8Wr

Day 7 of 10 (11) – South West – Abbotskerswell, Newton Abbot & Liskeard…

Our first call of the day was in Abbotskerswell, after leaving our digs in Exeter.

Warren had asked if we could take a look at his 2004 TF 135, that had creaky suspension, we greased up both front arms, one of them had been recently replaced, of which this one took quite a bit more grease than the other. Tops of the shockers on the rears were sprayed with lubricant and the car is now squeak free, including the noisy boot hinges. Minor service carried out too.

Great to meet Warren and his lovely Dad, we could have happily stayed and talked all day long to them both, but we had to be on our way to the next call.

This was only a few miles along the road to Newton Abbot, where it was good to see Alan again and his LE 500 (number 353), for replacement of a track-rod end and engine-oil and filter change. After a catch-up and a cuppa it was time to head off, we look forward to seeing them again next year.

The next call of the day was in Liskeard, to check out a couple of things on Ray’s 2002 TF 160, that we’d seen on our trip last year for the cambelt service.

The temperature gauge was working intermittently, so we replaced the coolant temperature sensor and this resolved that issue. The handbrake light kept coming on on the dashboard, so the free-play on the handbrake was adjusted, which sorted this out too. This car will be going up for sale due to Ray becoming the custodian of another vehicle. He’s owned 5 MGs in the past, so will no doubt return to the MG fold once again.

Tim had got in touch regarding his 2003 TF 160, that he thought was making a strange noise, coming from the back of the car and asked if we could check it out. As we weren’t heading as far as Redruth this time, due to the annual trip to Penzance being delayed until next year, Tim drove up to meet us in a car park in Liskeard.

The only sounds only audible were the usual VVC mechs rattle, but they’re really not bad at all on this car, and a little bit of vibration from the heat shield. It was good to see Tim again and we look forward to seeing him next year when we venture back down.

The weather made a change for the better today, and it actually got a bit warm at Warren’s this morning. Plus Tim enjoyed a top down run both ways.

A long and tiring Sunday, but a good one all the same and great to see everyone and the sun for a change. We’re now in some very decent digs, in Plymouth, for the next couple of nights with a cracking view from the window in our room. – https://ift.tt/dHUl8oS

Day 6 of 10 (11) – South West – Walford, near Ross-on-Wye…

Not too far a journey this morning from our digs in Monmouth over to Walford for work on Philip’s new acquisition, a 2002 TF 135, in paint code HFF. His other TF 135, that we’d worked on over the past few years, had finally come to the end of its days. It’s been a real workhorse for Philip, but now he needs another one to take its place. He certainly knows how to fill a boot space! Plus it just shows how versatile these fab little cars are.

Full cambelt service carried out as the history was a bit sketchy. We transferred over the underfloor stainless pipes, as the ones on the new car were the originals, the exhaust flexi-section was transferred over, he did want to transfer the back-box too, but the one on the new one was in better condition, plus it had the original CAT. Philip had swapped out the brakes, but the front ones were squealing. So these were sorted out for him too.

On firing the car up it was running a little bit lumpy. On P-scan it was found to be due to a faulty cam-sensor. So this was swapped out with a good secondhand one that we had with us, and car now running as it should.

It was lovely as always to see Philip, and have a chat while we worked. Big thanks to him for the constant stream of welcome cuppas and homemade shortbread, very nice.

We’re now in Exeter at our new digs for the night, not a bad run down. I took myself off for a couple of hours this evening around some lovely green space, through the Riverside Valley Park, and along the River Exe as the weather made a change for the better. Really nice spot.

Not too far a commute in the morning for a busy Sunday ahead. – https://ift.tt/dHUl8oS

Day 5 of 10 (11) – South West – Llanelli, Burry Port, Porthcawl…

We left our digs, in Swansea, to head over to our first call of the day, in Llanelli, for work on Neil and Yvonne’s MGF Steptronic Freestyle, in paint code MNX, that we’d last seen at the workshop when Neil brought it up to us last year.

Today we carried out the minor service, investigation of an oil leak, which was down to the the cam-oil seals being the wrong ones fitted for that side of the engine, so we replaced these and that will cure that issue. We’d taken door mechanisms with us, but Neil had managed to resolve that problem. Shame not to see Neil this time, but lovely to see his wife Yvonne and their cute woofer Oscar. Thanks to Yvonne for the welcome cuppas.

Our next stop was over to Burry Port. Richard had seen that we were in the area and asked if we could, by any chance, come over to carry out the minor service on his MGF 143, that he’d owned from new. He’d been meaning to get in touch, but being so busy running the ‘Harbour Light Tearooms’ with his wife, Laura, he hadn’t got around to it.

We always carry over stock with us on a trip like this, just in case. Happy to do this for them, we’d last seen Richard and the car a couple of years ago when we’d had it in to the workshop and then delivered it back to them. Great to see them both today and have a chat, and thanks to them for the offers of lunch and cakes, sadly we couldn’t partake as we had to be on our way to the next call.

This found us in Porthcawl, where it was good to see Andrew and Claire, again, we’d last seen them, when they came up to the workshop.

Claire’s TF 160, in paint code HFF, was having some issues with intermittent heat in the cabin, plus the orange emissions light was on. On code reading found the light was due to a possible fault with the Lambda sensor, so that’s cleared and will see if it reoccurs. The heater issue was cured by carrying out an oil-cooler bypass, as there was insufficient flow getting through to the heater matrix.

Good to have a quick catch-up with them between their busy work calls, and pleased to have the car sorted.

So a productive and enjoyable day, with fab weather thrown in too.

We are now in our next lot of digs in Monmouth. I took a walk up to ‘The Kymin’ this evening, fabulous views!

The digs we’re in are great, but it’s a very busy pub on a Friday night, which holds live ‘Live Music til Late’. Hmm, maybe I should have checked those reviews, nay mind I’m sure it will be entertaining to listen to, it’s certainly full of people having fun so far! 🥴

Only a short commute in the morning… – https://ift.tt/l8kc5My

Day 4 of 10 (11) – South West – Swansea & Pontarddulais…

A very short commute this morning, in Swansea, from our digs over to Geoff’s house for work on his 2002 TF 135, in paint code LEF, with a very low mileage and not a great deal of service history.

We carried out a preemptive head gasket replacement, along with the cambelt service. The car is in really good order and Geoff wanted peace of mind that everything mechanically was sorted on it. Thanks to Geoff for the cuppas and the grateful provision of a garage, as the weather was pretty dismal today.

From there we headed over to Pontarddulais, to check out a couple of things on Mike’s MGF that we’ve been to see a couple of times over the years. He was experiencing a problem with emissions, on P-scan this was traced to be due to be three possible things; the ECU coolant temperature sensor that had an error code, the lambda sensor although giving a reading and being fine for the first ten minutes, when tested was coming back as not okay, the car also had what also looked like a cheap after market CAT.

Mike and his wife Carol had recently taken ownership of a very tidy looking BRM, that they’ve been having some fun in on auto-road trials. Shame we missed Mike today, but lovely to see Carol again, we look forward to seeing them again in the spring next year, when we return for the cambelt services on both cars.

Back to our digs, no fun-fair today as the weather continues to be truly dismal. Come on summer, where are you? – https://ift.tt/k5RJhns