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Well that was a bit of a longer day than thought, but all good…

We ventured to Sutton Coldfield for some work on a couple of Rob & Jane’s amazing fleet!

First up was ‘Holly’ their MGF mpi 120, on which the cambelt had slipped, so we went armed with a replacement head. On removal of the head only two of the valves had bent. Refurbed head fitted, new cambelt, water pump and tensioner. On firing the car up it wouldn’t start. Code reading told us it was crank position sensor out of sync. Sensor replaced, but although now syncing it still wouldn’t fire. Distributor cap and rotor arm replaced, main HT lead and the coil pack. Holly now up and sounding really good.

Next up was ‘Zip’ which was an early race car, which has been modified now to have a 160 VVC engine with mems 3. Cambelt service carried out. Zip didn’t want to start either, but was just down to flat battery.

Lovely to see Rob again and have a catch-up. Really good day, despite the length and slight frustrations.

Now at some, again, amazing digs, we managed to find last minute. Dinner is in the oven and now time me to do my admin.

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.

We had a very local one in Welton this morning, for what was thought to be a simple head gasket replacement…

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. Phil had bought the car for his sister, a very tidy TF 135, but soon discovered evidence of a problem and suspected it to be the proverbial.

On removing the timing cover it was obvious that there was a bit more going on. The tensioner had collapsed, which had in turn allowed the cambelt to slip over the pulleys, bending all 16 valves. The engine had suffered a lot heat prior to the belt slipping, which resulted in the inner and outer timing covers melting.

Head taken back with us to the workshop to swap out all the ancillaries on to a refurbed head. Date to be arranged to refit.

Simon had dropped off his TF 135 yesterday evening for us to investigate coolant loss and a stiff clutch etc. On running our usual checks, this afternoon, it was found to be leaking from the head gasket, above the thermostat. Clutch arm eased off. Simon had also been experiencing starting issues, by not firing, so crank sensor was removed and cleaned.

Camper restocked ready for another few days away, starting off in Sutton Coldfield in the morning.

Posted today to the
Rough Luck Racing Facebook page.