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A trip up to Harrogate today to collect Elton’s TF160 to take to ‘Norris Garage’. Booked in for some TLC.

Van all restocked and sorted for heading off in the morning to Woodhall Spa, then on to Colchester, Northampton and Corby over the next few days.

Great to meet Roy in Corby this morning for head gasket and cambelt service on his MGF 143 VVC.

The car had been fitted previously with a Payen blue BW750 Elastomer gasket, plus new head bolts and lower oil rail, but unfortunately it failed, coolant had made its way into the oil. So we replaced this with our MLS gasket.

On changing the short cambelt we noticed that the roll pin had been replaced with a ground down part of a bolt. As the hole had obviously been drilled to a wider dimension we couldn’t replace with a normal roll pin.

Although registered in the UK in 1998, it is actually a 1996 exported car and then imported back. In charcoal grey fitted with aircon. Quite a rarity.

A really good morning, although very cold, but we had a constant supply of cuppas, thanks Roy!

We were supposed to have our second call in Corby too, at Kevin’s place of work, but unfortunately his car had decided to play up this morning. So we picked up the keys and headed to his house in Northampton.

Given the symptoms we code read the car, which brought up seven error codes. One was for the cam sensor, which wouldn’t clear, several for misfire related issues, when the car was running there was a smell of rotten eggs from the exhaust. We replaced the cam sensor and the coil packs. All error codes cleared and none returned, car was running nicely. Great looking TF 135.

A busy couple of days at Norris Garage. Having looked after Mark’s previous TF, he had bought another at auction a few months ago, a TF 1.6, which had some gearbox issues. Mark left the car with us yesterday morning, so we set about removing the old gearbox. Whilst we were in there he wanted a full clutch replacement, plus uprated clutch release arm complete with grease nipple.

We noticed when we undersealed the car a month ago that his front lower wishbone had one heck of a bend in it! He had been experiencing handling problems, the car had just been through an MOT and 4 wheel aligned and no one had noticed. So, this was replaced too. Great to see Mark drive away happy this evening.

We also had another TF160 in, Elton had asked us to look at. Few things carried out; underseal, rear discs and pads replaced, cigarette lighter repaired, oil and oil filter change. Plus investigation of a rattle.

Our neighbours, at Black Sheep Customs, had also been asked to do a ‘custom repaint’ on the hard top whilst we had the car (pics to follow, looks fab!) Everything complete and ready to be collected and swapped out with Elton’s newly acquired TF Stepspeed for some work, which will also be having some paint work done next door.

Nice to see Rodney today too and welcome him to the garage for a cuppa, as he had come over to collect his things from our neighbours, plus pick up some wings we had got for him.

Finally completed all the work, yesterday and today, on the MGF 75th anniversary we had in. We had originally gone to London for head gasket and cambelt service on this car, but unbeknownst to Rob part of the reason for the head gasket failure was that the oil pump had failed. When it came to firing the car up the engine ran for about 5 seconds and then seized. So we returned to collect the car and bring back to NG.

Whole new block fitted. We were asked while we were in there if we could replace the clutch. The over the gearbox support arm was completely rotten so this was also replaced. The offside sill had a huge hole, so this was welded up and repaired. In continuing communication we were asked to sort the suspension issues that had been flagged up at the last MOT, so top ball joints replaced, both front lower arms replaced, both rear track control arms replaced. Hydragas suspension pumped up.

Whole of interior cleaned out and polished up. Car now looking a lot happier with itself. Looking forward to the return trip on Saturday.

A quick nip into to Hull first thing this morning and great to see Kev again to replace the oil seals on his ZR 160.

Leamington Spa this morning for work on a BRM. What a brilliant piece of history associated with this car. Sam had recently bought it at auction quite by chance as had been after something completely different. The car hadn’t run since 2012 as had been a museum exhibit, and prior to that was in a private car collection of over 500 vehicles. So, we were asked to go and do a cambelt service and pre-emptive head gasket replacement, as Sam is planning a tour of Europe. Sam now works with the lady who actually did the original upholstery as one of her first employments. The interior of these cars is amazing, and so comfortable, akin to a Chesterfield sofa! Absolutely immaculate throughout, with the original jack kit still in it’s cellophane, a rare parcel shelf as an added extra plus a teddy bear!

Prior to starting additional oil was put directly into the head, over the cams and lifters, and then the engine was turned over by hand a few times, then cranked, with no ignition and then fired up, to make sure, with it being stood for so long there was plenty of oil around the vital parts. After starting, it was found that a new alloy throttle body, that had been fitted prior, had not been set up correctly. While it would run with a slight bit of accelerator, it wouldn’t tic over on its own. We then manually set up the throttle body and reset the idle air control valve, it then sat ticking over nicely at 900 rpm.

Great to meet you Sam, look forward to seeing you and the car at ‘Pride of Longbridge’ in April.

We then continued a bit further south, to Broadway, to see Liz and Marc for the annual service and some other things on ‘Little Red’. Liz had reported a couple of issues, one of which on code reading proved to be the Lambda sensor, so we replaced this. When the car was taken for the MOT the tester noticed a slight coolant leak, so on pressure testing the system it was found to be from the thermostat. So we replaced the thermostat housing with a new one. The minor misfire was traced to a dodgy HT lead so this was replaced too.

Thank you so much for your lovely hospitality, plus you made Jon a happy man with bacon butty and chocolate cake! We look forward to seeing you and Little Red again in a few weeks time at ‘Friends Round London’.

Should be home for about midnight. Bit foggy now on the M1.

GTM Libra k-series 143 VVC kit car was interesting to work on yesterday morning. Great to meet Jim who had asked us to carry out cambelt service.

Really good to see how another vehicle manufacturer has different approaches to mounting the engine. The whole rear of the car is formed into a triangular box section using the engine itself to make up part of the frame.

We also noticed that they used MGF front hubs in the rear. It has great little features such as a rear clam shell with an engine window and a removable roof panel that can be stored behind the seats.

The whole car only weighs just over 800 kg.

Desborough was our first call this morning and great to see Marcus again for full cambelt service on his TF135. We were due to go in March but Lorraine asked if we come a bit earlier as the alternator had completely seized, snapping the alternator belt. Fortunately, no further damage done! New alternator fitted. Had a bit of soaking, was a tad chilly but at least everything behaved itself and we soon got thawed out in the trusty steed en route to the next call.

From there we went back to Roger’s MGF in Northampton to change the heater matrix that had sprung a leak. System bled and back up and running nicely again.

We received a phone call first thing this morning regarding the Rover 45 that we had done the head gasket on a couple of days ago, saying that the car was misfiring. So, for our own peace of mind we tagged it on to the end of the days work so ‘popped’ down to Amersham, where it had been driven to work. After code reading and listening to it misfiring, the customer admitted it was no where near as bad as it had been. We narrowed it down to coil pack number 1. It is quite common with coil packs when they go when warm, they tend to run a lot more rough than on cold starting. As a precaution, we also changed the full set of plugs, together with replacement coil pack. Instantly ran a lot smoother. Bit of a longer day than anticipated but that’s what we do!

Bit of a late start also due to massive hold up on the M1 this morning. Had a wave and a hello from Mick Welch whilst stuck though, great to have a chat at the services, look forward to seeing you at Blythe services for the run down to FRL 😀

Great to receive a visitor at ‘Norris Garage’ this morning and lovely to meet Peter. He had recently bought a TF135 and wanted us to carry out a health check and discuss any issues that needed addressing if any.

Couple of bits needing doing and date booked in to get everything done and make the car sound.

You’ve got a good one there Peter. Sorry we were late! Hope you had a good topless run back to Leeds.

A few more bits completed on the steppy we have in, not too much more to do now and then all complete ready for return to its owner.