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Keith dropped off his TF 160 (in HFN) to us as arranged, when we last saw him back in September, for assessment of the issues he had been experiencing with noisy VVC mechs.

The car had reached its 100k+ milestone and due to Keith’s attention to detail the car looks in such great condition he wanted to get the insides in as good a condition to keep her on the road to enjoy for some time to come.

Cylinder head removed this morning, which showed that it had definitely done it’s time. There was evidence of a degree of heat damage, as the oil had started to congeal and thicken throughout the head, this was most likely down to the oil pump not running at full capacity, so a new oil pump was duly fitted.

Whilst the head was off, it was easier to preempt the oil cooler issues that 160’s tend to have and fit it with a bypass.

Refurbished 160 cylinder head replaced, with all ancillaries cleaned up and refitted. Cambelts replaced along with water pump, tensioner and alternator belt.

Car back up and running nicely this afternoon and sounding a lot quieter!

Managed to get her out for a couple of photos despite the dismal weather, now all tucked up ready for collection and to be reunited with Keith at the weekend. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better by then for a topless drive home. 💚 – https://ift.tt/9FLX4np

Hundleby just outside of Spilsby today for work on Denis’s very nice looking and well cared for Steptronic.

Having done work previously such as the CVT oil and strainer service and fitting of a soft ride kit it was now time for the cambelt service.

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner, plugs, all filters and oil changed. New lambda sensor fitted as the existing lambda sensor was putting the orange light on on the dash and showing multiple error on code reading. Denis had also been experiencing a sticking accelerator when initially setting off, and thought the cable may need replacing, but we found it to be the accelerator pedal itself that the bushes had become worn on, so we fitted a replacement pedal and it now feels a lot easier. We went armed with new discs and pads, but found that the ones on it were like new so we saved him a bit of unnecessary expenditure there. Denis did feel that the braking wasn’t quite as responsive as his other cars, but this is due to the standard kit that was originally fitted to this model of 240 mm discs all round. We’ve advised that maybe next time he could move up to the kit that Will Naylor produces, which doesn’t require a bigger wheel upgrade.

We then popped over road to see David’s equally always fab looking TF 135. David had asked if we could swap out a couple of sensors for him when we were there as he’d noticed he also had Lambda sensor issues and a cam sensor issue on his code reader.

Lambda sensor replaced and the cam sensor was also replaced. All error codes cleared.

Great to see them both again briefly between walking and shopping trips, together with some favourable weather and a good couple of cuppas.

Busy day at the workshop yesterday, with the welding done on Jim and Karen’s TF and it’s mashed in sill, all ready for collection at the weekend.

Kevin’s Trophy needed a bit more work on the spheres as the car was looking as if it was permanently taking off! The car had previously been fitted with replacement spheres, which we found to be standard ones rather than Trophy ones when we measured them. Now that’s sorted the car looks a lot more balanced. MOT done and all ready for collection at the weekend. – https://ift.tt/jrwWXIJ

A welcome contrast with the weather where we found ourselves this morning in Redcar.

Bob’s TF 135 Spark in Sonic Blue (JHG) was due its cambelt service. Good looking car, that Bob has owned for 12 years and admits that it is very well pampered!

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner, platinum spark plugs, air filter cleaned up, oil and oil filter change, fuel filter change all done.

Lovely to see Bob and have a quick chat between his business calls. Thanks for the tea and cake!

We then went over to Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees as Gary had been in touch saying that ‘Madam’ his TF 135 that he bought from us 2 years ago was losing a bit of coolant intermittently and could we have a look when next in the area.

On pressure testing the system it was found that a couple of hose connections with spring clips had started weeping, therefore replaced these with jubilee clips. After refitting, pressure tested the system again to find all good and no further weeps. Shame not to see Gary as he was working, but hopefully will see him at an event later in the year.

We had hoped to pop over to see Terry and ‘The Chairman’, but he was still at work. Will get to see him on our next trip up and see what’s occurring with his fab MGF.

Good run back home in the daylight and sunshine ☀️ Have a great weekend everyone. – https://ift.tt/4i1ot5B

Head gasket replacement in the snow this morning, over in Rochdale on this Rover 45 1.8.

Rich had got in touch a couple of weeks ago, on the recommendation of his friend Richie, to ask if we could come over and sort it, as it is wife’s daily car. As we were ahead on Kevin’s car we were able to free up the day.

The head gasket had been replaced with the previous owner about 4 years ago, with a Mk 1 elastomer gasket, so unfortunately had gone again. Rich had been keeping it going and topping up with coolant so was a little bit full of lovely caramel sludge which took a while to drain off. All gaskets replaced and everything cleaned up. Really pleased to get it back up and running again for them,
despite the blizzards of sleet and snow. Couldn’t deploy the gazebo as it may well have taken off! 🌪

Lots of welcome cups of tea to keep us going, thank you! ☕️

Mark had also got in touch recently, saying he had been experiencing coolant loss on his TF 135, that we had carried the cambelt service out on a couple of years ago, and was reluctant to drive it back home to Selby. So we called into his work in Castleford on the way back to carry out our usual checks, which confirmed that the proverbial had occurred. Date arranged for him to get it over to the workshop in the next week or so to get sorted for him in and around other work. If the weather had been kinder we would have just done it there and then, but we were still a bit frozen, good day despite that! 🥶 – https://ift.tt/pmXH8ix

Bit of a longer run this morning, down to Cleobury Mortimer, near Kidderminster for work on Tony’s fab Lotus Elise S1.

When we were there last he asked if we could do a preemptive head gasket replacement at some stage. The cambelt service was also now due. The car had originally been living in Perth when Tony bought it. He’s planning on a tour of Scotland with his son in August and just wanted peace of mind that all was sorted.

It was on its original elastomer gasket with plastic dowels. Head gasket replaced and cambelt, water pump and tensioner replaced, new alternator belt and set of platinum spark plugs. So she’s all good to go.

Really nice seeing Tony again who kept us fortified with a plentiful supply of tea.

We then pootled on over to Bromsgrove as Chris had got in touch saying something was occurring with his fab and well travelled MGF 75th Anniversary.

No error codes showed up, but on investigation it was found that it had very low fuel pressure, which points towards the fuel pump being on its way out. Replacement pump to be sourced and fitted. Lovely to see Chris and have a quick catch-up before we headed back north. On a very busy M1 now and time to do some admin and keep Jon supplied with chocolate at regular intervals 😄 – https://ift.tt/GUxRryq

Weather a bit better today, and nice to be out on the road, with a run through the Lincolnshire wolds to Old Leake near Boston, where it was good to see Jim again who wanted a few more things doing on his fab looking LE500.

New alternator fitted as his current one had zero bolts output and it had been repaired once previously. Braided hoses fitted all round and brake fluid flush through. Jim had bought one of the Mike Satur brake servo braces, but unfortunately this would have involved removing the aircon unit, as all LE’s are fitted with it as standard. So Jim opted for one of the braces we carry with us.

Good to have a catch-up up with Jim and enjoy many cuppas and biscuits. Glad we had his garage to work in as it was a tad blustery over there!🌪 Date booked in at the workshop later in the year for a few more things. – https://ift.tt/DxVPEr4

Kevin trailoured down his fab MGF Trophy to us last Saturday from Northumberland, as it was in need of some ‘TLC’ following the last MOT that he had done, which showed up quite a few fails…

Already being a day behind on poor Jim’s TF (see previous post) we cracked on with the Trophy on Friday afternoon…

Front subframe dropped, and all ancillaries removed and replaced with new on to a galvanized subframe. New front lower arms fitted, stainless steel subframe mounts fitted, anti-roll bar and brackets fitted with new bushes. Not a bad afternoons work and something of a contrast to the last one, especially as this was fitted in around the other work.

This morning found us fitting the galvanized front subframe back in. Spheres filled back up, new brake pads and discs fitted, rear subframe cleaned up, rust proofed and coated. Wheel arch liners cleaned up and refitted. Lots of other things sorted that we don’t even charge for, that’s just what we do.

Might not be colour coordinated parts underneath the car that no one ever sees and they soon get covered in grime, but actually make sure the car is sound and we do “a proper job”.

We can do pretty colours if that’s what people want. I personally want one of my cars doing in pink glitter above and below! (I’m not joking). 😄

So, this one’s done and what a contrast to the TF in the amount of work. We always say these cars vary so much and you can’t see what lies beneath. No glamour shots on this one. MOT booked for next Saturday when we’re back there. So just the true nitty gritty ones!

A good one to do as it is a great looking car, will get some pics when we can of her looking good in some sun hopefully and look forward to her being reunited with her lovely owner Kevin. ☺️ 💛 – https://ift.tt/DxVPEr4

What was originally booked in for what we and the owners thought for a clutch replacement, possibly just a slave cylinder due to being stood for sometime turned into a bit of a different story!

We collected the car on Sunday from Leconfield, a TF 160 Spark that hadn’t run for quite some time due to lockdown etc, so we winched her on to the trailer and took her back to the workshop.

Up and on bright and early on Monday to get cracking full of our usual enthusiasm…

The slave cylinder was completely blown, with plunger only just hanging in the end of the cylinder. We then attempted to free off the clutch release arm, but this was absolutely seized, the worst we’ve ever come across, and of course the inevitable happened and the end of the arm snapped off, we had already made the decision to replace the arm with new, so rotated the gear box and eventually removed the arm, this took 6 hours just to carry out this process, despite soaking with AC90, heat, and lots of effort from above and below. New arm fitted and gear box turned back in to place. New bearing and clutch fitted and gearbox back on. New slave cylinder fitted. New clutch line fitted as the existing one crumbled. When it came to bleeding we then discovered that the master cylinder was only pumping 25% of what it should, therefore new one duly fitted. System all bled and clutch all sorted. When we came to turn the key to test the car it wouldn’t start as the immobiliser had kicked in. We thought this was due to the Pektron unit being scrambled due to the car being stood and the battery going flat. So we gave up that night at about 9:30 pm.

Back the following day to get cracking with the other things on the list. Both front lower wishbones were shot so these were replaced. See pics below. Possibly the worst we’ve seen and will replace the one we had in our box of horrors for our stand at shows!

Rear pads and calipers replaced and front discs replaced. Drive shaft oil seals replaced on both sides. as discovered that they were leaking after everything put back together.

For the problem with the none starting issue we removed the BCU and boxed it up ready to send to Technozen. Fortunately, the owner did have another fob, which he brought over to us this morning and yippee the car started!

This car has certainly tested us this week, it’s been a love hate situation, every single nut and bolt was seized or corroded. You expect a degree of that on these cars, given their age etc. but we persisted with some late finishes, cuts and bruises and have to say a bit of grumpy moments from us both, which is rare. At the end of the day it’s a car that needed some love and needs a bit more. I gave her a Hoover and tidy up, but due to these awful storms we’ve all been experiencing couldn’t get her out for our usual wash and brush up and photo shoot!

Bit of break on working on this one on Thursday, when Tony came over to us with his TF 135 as the interior lights were staying on, and the horn button was faulty and he wanted a pre MOT check doing and an MOT. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our first thought of the micro switches in the door mechanism. Requires further investigation as it’s down to a wiring problem. Horn button repaired. Good to see Tony again who had a windy, but sunny drive over from Mattersey.

Really pleased to have Jim and Karen’s TF all done so far, MOT booked in on Monday.

Stay safe everyone through these dreadful storms! Batten down your hatches. We came home to carnage in the garden with broken fences etc, but we do have a well needed weekend off. ☔️ – https://ift.tt/UDywjc6