So, enough of that day-off stuff and up and on nice and bright and early on Monday morning at the workshop to get started on the work to Alan’s TF 135, that he had delivered to us last week from Scotland.
Good progress made, which continued on Tuesday, with a few more things to do… full report at the end of the week on ‘Noel’.
This morning found us in Wilberfoss, where as always it was lovely to see Derek and Margaret. Their much loved and very tidy TF 135 had a couple of advisories on the last MOT.
The minor movement in the top ball joints turned out to be the top arms requiring greasing and the ball joints themselves were only replaced about 2 years ago and only about 1000 miles since. The advisory on both front brake pipes having corrosion/debris/grease covering them, turned out to be, after a wipe with a rag and some degreaser, nothing but pristine green paint underneath. It was good to have a catch-up with them both.
From there we went over to to Stamford Bridge, where it was lovely to meet Gerald and Shirley, for work on their really good example of an MGF 120 mpi that they’ve owned for 16 years. They had suspicions that the head gasket had gone again. On initial investigation the expansion tank cap was found to be completely duff and the inlet manifold was leaking. So after a chat we agreed between us on taking the cylinder head off and seeing what else was occurring.
Unfortunately, at some time in it’s life the dreaded steel-seal had been added! Ugh! Hideous stuff. See pics below to see the extent of what this additive does. It does not cure leaks in k-series engines. Please don’t be tempted to try it. We’ve known heads to be completely trashed by it, resulting in the cost of a replacement head.
Fortunately, this one was cleaned up alright, after a long time digging it out. The inlet manifold gasket was absolutely solid, so not surprising it was leaking from there.
Everything put back together, all bled nicely and ran up to temperature with no further issues we’re pleased to report.
Bit of a soggy afternoon, guess who forgot to put the gazebo in the van?! Fortunately Gerald’s garage door provided enough of a canopy.
Note to self to pack the gazebo, but I suppose I’m being optimistic for some better weather sometime soon! 🌧 – https://ift.tt/I7USCc6
