Latest News

North East – Day 2 – Wednesday 8th May

Cramlington was our destination this morning for work on Susan’s fab TF 160 known affectionately as Racey Tracey!

Well it’s not the day we had planned, we left our digs this morning leaving a trail of power steering fluid on the way out of the car park, so thought no bother we’ll buy some fluid en route and get it sorted when we get to the job that morning, we arrived ahead of schedule and I got cracking unloading the van ready for the cambelt service on Susan’s car, while Jon set about seeing what the problem was with the power steering. Not to mention that we got the wrong row of garages too! Unfortunately, the power steering issue proved way worse than what we thought only for the pipe to blow off when we tested it after topping it up. Not good. After several attempts by Jon on the repair the decision was made to call the RAC to at least get back to the workshop where we knew there was another pipe on the donor van and then return for the rest of our jobs over the next couple of days. Nope not the case, long story short, they couldn’t get to us until ‘possibly’ 8 o’clock tonight.

So a contingency plan has been put in place and we will stay here and get recovered home on Friday morning, and having okayed it with the hotel people will come over to us instead. With only a couple that we will have to come back to another day. Thanks everyone for your understanding, it means a lot.

More importantly though, whilst we were over at Susan’s she told us about the terribly sad news she had just seen on a Facebook post from Terry Watson, that his lovely boy Craig had tragically passed away this morning. We’re so very saddened to hear of this and send our deepest condolences to Terry and the family. Craig was a beautiful sole and fabulous character, he was well known and loved throughout the MG community, who will be sorely missed by many, our visits to them will never be the same. Rest in peace Craig. They’ll know who you are. – https://ift.tt/BnLhmaP

North East – Day 1 – Tuesday 7th May

An early start this morning to head up to North Shields, where it was lovely to meet Dave properly, we’d briefly met him on one of our previous trips when he was then in search for a TF.

He found himself this one from near Hexham, a 2003 TF 135, in paint code JFV, with a very low mileage but no service history.

Today we carried out head gasket replacement along with cambelt, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt, spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter, oil and oil filter so all good to go for Dave to enjoy throughout the summer months. On our next visit we’ll replace the underfloor coolant pipes. Big thanks to Dave for his supply of cuppas, bacon butties and biscuits.

The car was a real pleasure to work on with only one casing bolt needing replacing, great to chat with Dave while we worked, he should have a cracking time enjoying runs out with the MG Northumbria Club.

From there we headed over to Gateshead, where it was lovely as always to see Rachael and Tony. Their 2004 TF 160 ‘Katy’ in Nightfire Red was newly back from having a bit of a pampering in the form of a new soft-top and ceramic coating.

Today we replaced one of the boot hinges, the reverse light switch, Piper Cross panel air filter and some new Lexus rear lights, so she really is looking proper posh and all ready for her outings this summer, the first one of which is to Scotland next week with some of the MG Northumbria Club’s members.

Big thanks to Rachael for the bulging bag of wonderful treats, how lovely! We shall enjoy some of those in our digs this evening. Thanks too for butties and cuppas.

Great first day of our trip, complete with welcome clement weather too. – https://ift.tt/BnLhmaP

Sports Cars in the Park – Newby Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Last minute decision to head over for the show today, and glad we did, what a huge turnout! The last time we were there was in 2018. Only saw two TFs though and one of those was in the staff car park. It was nice to have a bit of time out and the weather was fab too.

We returned to Cleethorpes yesterday morning and thankfully the rain had cleared to get Nigel’s Rover 45 sorted.

Head gasket replaced, a heck of a lot of mayo drained off. Nigel had asked ahead of the visit if we could replace the plastic inlet-manifold with aluminum. So we swapped everything over from the old one and replaced with aluminum manifold and plenum. Car back up and running again much to Nigel’s delight! – https://ift.tt/Hn4DYFk

Back out on the road…

Wednesday found us on a couple of local ones in Hull. The first call of the day was for work on Ray and Tina’s ‘03 TF 135 in paint code JFV. Cambelt service carried out for them this time. Really good to see them again and have a chat while we worked. Thanks to Tina for the bacon butty and a cracking brew!

A few miles along the road to the next call, which was for the minor service on Mike’s ‘03 TF 135, also in paint code JFV. Good to see Mike again briefly as he was busy working, couple of things noted to be done on our next visit when the cambelt service is due.

Thursday morning found us in Skelmanthorpe for the first call of the day, for work on Paul’s ‘01 MGF 1.8i in paint code CMU.

Full cambelt service carried out. While we were in there we noticed that there was quite a significant oil leak down the side of the block and going down to the sump and surrounding area. This was found to be the camshaft oil-seals, so both of these we replaced. The fuel rail was just dangling under the manifold and held on by a tie-wrap, not ideal! So this was fitted back to the manifold with the correct bolts. The water pump bolts and timing cover bolts were either missing or incorrect so we replaced all these. So the car is now all good to go. We didn’t see Paul, the owner, as he was at work.

From there we returned to Slaithwaite to get Jill’s TF back up and running again. On our last visit the garage she had had it recovered to advised her that she required a new ECU set, so we went armed with a replacement one, only to find that it was actually in working order and that it was the fuel pump at fault.

New fuel pump duly installed on our visit yesterday, only to find after a bit of a search that there was also a break in one of the wires that feeds to the fuel pump. This we repaired and car eventually sprang back into life.

While Jill had us there she asked if we could carry out a minor service too, so now the car is all sorted for her to enjoy and use again.

Cracking views today, not least the site of a day old foal with its mum in the adjacent field, good job I didn’t notice when we first pulled up!

Weather was amazing yesterday, which was so welcome, but a distinct lack of tea, not a good thing, it’s how we function.

This morning found us in Hilbaldstow for work on Andrew’s ‘05 TF 135 ‘Spark’ in paint code CEV and investigation into a slight coolant loss on Catherine’s ‘03 TF 135 1.8 in paint code JFM.

Cambelt service carried out on Andrew’s TF, along with brake-fluid flush through and coolant flush through.

The coolant loss on Catherine’s TF was found to be a slight weep from the heater-control-valve, so this will be sorted for them when we’re next in the area. Thanks so much to Catherine for the teas and biscuits. Plus it was lovely to have fusses with one of their woofers Willow, who is just so sweet.

The rain started just as we were leaving there and heading over to the next call in Cleethorpes, it really bucketed it down, so much so we had to take a rain-check on the job in hand, which was for head gasket replacement on a Rover 45, that had approx 12 litres of ‘cake mix’ in it! The owner Nigel completely understood and we will return tomorrow morning to get it sorted, who needs a day off anyway! It’s rare that we let the weather prevent us from doing our work, but this wouldn’t have been ideal, at all, given the circumstances.

Have a great weekend everyone, I see quite a few runs and events are on and planned, so have fun wherever you may be if you’re fortunate to get along to one of them in your fab MGs! – https://ift.tt/HjInEly

Do not accept a friend request from me someone has made copy profile it’s not me and the photo is copied

Let’s face it there can’t be more than one grumpy short balding mechanic – https://ift.tt/HjInEly

Workshop days…

Sunday morning found us getting cracking on work on Ben’s ‘04 MG TF 160 80th Anniversary, in paint code HQM, having driven over from Easingwold to leave it with us on Friday.

Nearside rear control arm replaced, nearside front track-rod-end replaced, offside front top ball-joint replaced, both top arms packed with grease. Fortunately, for Ben it wasn’t a wheel bearing that was also required, having sorted the other culprits first.

Lovely to see Ben and Ali again when they came over in the afternoon to collect. Fortunately, the torrential rain had eased a bit for their drive home.

Chris and Carol came over from Wirral on Sunday too so that we could replace the alternator on their TF 115 1.6, despite replacing the alternator belt, and subsequently adjusting it on another visit when Chris was working the area, it was still making a bit of a din in their neighborhood first thing of a morning. This was narrowed down to be the alternator itself, and thankfully this has resolved the issues, we did have various theories about trapped mice etc! Thanks to them both for bringing us biscuits and cakes, needless to say they’ve not lasted long.

John had driven up from Croydon on Sunday afternoon, to leave his 2010 MG TF 135 (post LE 500 run) in paint code 293 with us for underfloor treatment. Jon delivered him over to Market Weighton, where he had booked in for a couple of nights in the hotel there.

Monday morning came and we got cracking on John’s car, which was very timely as, we think, given another year it would be having some real issues in certain areas, unfortunately these cars are more prone to the perils of rust.

Work continued, with a very early start this morning, everything completed and ready on time for John to collect this afternoon so he could head back home to Croydon. What fab weather too for the drive.

It was really lovely to see Steve Gibson again this morning, and to meet his beautiful woofer Truffles, what a poppet she is, we enjoyed lots of fusses!

Cambelt service carried out on his fab Trophy that he’s owned now for 10 years and uses as his daily car. Great to have a chat with Steve and a long overdue catch-up. ‘Tigger’ is now all set for many planned runs out with his ‘MG F & TF Yorkshire group’ over the coming months ahead. You never know, we might actually make it on one of them, which would be great if we could.

One no-show, but not to worry it meant we had chance to unload the interim van, which has been a total and reliable workhorse, into the ‘trusty steed’, which is now back with us, having had a replacement engine fitted. The last one was on 516,000 miles! Shouldn’t take us too long to clock this one up.

So, we’re all stocked up for some fairly local calls ahead, over the next few days. Hope this fab weather stays with us all for a while longer. – https://ift.tt/Z3f8Cql

Minor service day yesterday, plus a couple of other bits. The first call was in Norton, where it was great to meet Paul and his MGF (in paint code HFF) that he’s bringing out of its winter hibernation, ready for the summer. Hydragas pumped up too, plus we took along a new battery as the one on the car had completely given up its last bit of charge.

Next call was over to Barnsley for the annual service on Lilian’s ‘02 TF 135, on firing it up found there was a misfire, which we narrowed down to be the coil packs, which were showing heat burns to the plastic, so a wise precaution to replace with new. The alternator belt was emitting a rather unpleasant screech! So this was duly replaced along with a new splash guard. Lovely to see Lilian again and have a quick catch-up before we headed on our way over to the next and last call of the day.

This was in Rossington, where it was great to see Jane and Lee again and their year 2000 MGF 143 VVC (in paint code CAQ).

On firing the car up following the service it had a slight and occasional misfire, the HT leads had crumbled and were showing signs of wear, so we replaced these with new, and the car now running nice and smooth. They have plans to take the car over to Italy again this summer, which sounds such a fab trip.

Today we went over to Drighlington, where it was great to meet Tony finally and his TF 135 (paint code LEF).

Head gasket replacement and cambelt service carried out, along with alternator belt and new expansion tank cap, as the one on the car was next to useless. Took quite some time to drain off sludge that was in the sump. The coolant bottle had seen better days too, so Tony had asked us to supply a replacement one ahead of our visit.

Really pleased to have this car back up and running for Tony to enjoy again, good to have a chat with him throughout the day, and who also makes a cracking brew!

Have a great weekend everyone wherever you may be. – https://ift.tt/sgn2Ojz

Scotland – Days 15 & 16 of 16 – Acharacle, Mull…

We enjoyed the last couple of days having a bit of well needed R&R and the weather was really good too! Went over to Tobermory, for a few hours on Friday, and which didn’t disappoint, what a beautiful place. Jon treated himself to local Gin and Chocolates, had to be done. Then I climbed a mountain yesterday!

A great trip, all in all, with totals of:

19 cars
7 hotels/lodges/B&Bs
4 ferries
1196 miles.

So now it’s day 17 and we’re on our way home and not too far from the border as I write this, 379 miles in total to home, quite fitting that’s its ‘Drive it Day’. Looking forward to seeing the cat 🐈‍⬛

Big thanks to everyone in Scotland for your warm welcomes, we’ll be back soon! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 – https://ift.tt/lWjDZKV