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Our first call of the day was in High Felling where as always it was lovely to see Rachael and Tony and to see what their TF 160 in Firefrost ‘Katy’ was getting up to with her intermittent none starting issue.

Diagnostics of the ECU and alarm unit, then reinitialised both key fobs, then checked all fuses, then set about checking the relays. The fuel impact relay was, although found to be working, had poor/corroded connections. Once cleaned up everything sprang back into life!

Thanks to Tony for a great cuppa and Jon’s big breakfast! See you later!

We then went over to Gosforth to carry out the minor service on Jane and Grahams TF 160. Nice to have a catch up with Graham and chat about the car. Date to be arranged for the cambelt service next year.

Now at our digs in Whitley Bay. Time for Jon to have a quick snooze ahead of tonight’s fun and I enjoyed a walk up to St Mary’s lighthouse that looked great as it is all lit up for the festive season. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

What should have been a simple day turned into a not so simple day, but as we all know that isn’t the case is it with these little cars…

It started out really well, nice early start at the workshop, with a welcome change in the weather, to move everything around and get ready for our first visitor of the day.

Great to see Alan and his LE500 that he had driven down from Cramlington in yesterday for a minor service and check over of the brakes. The discs were still in good condition, but the pads were sticking and corroded. An MOT was planned, but unfortunately our tester that we use had a very rare day off, they work the same silly hours that we do seemingly. Lovely to see Alan as always and have a chat.

Jim then came over from Harrogate. Having seen his TF 135 earlier in the year for a ‘health check’ he had asked if there were any things that could be done to improve the ride and had heard of the soft ride kit, so this was duly booked in for today, more of that later.

The TF 135 that we had in from Derby was collected this afternoon, by Jim the owner and his friend Steve, who had driven him up. Really great to meet them both and have a chat and a cuppa.

On fitting the soft ride kit to Jim’s TF, the first corner went as it should, but on the nearside front the shocker bolt decided to shear off! Great. Isn’t that a joy when that happens. Having fitted countless of these kits and what should be a 2-hours-tops job turned into an all day one. Grinder, welder, tapping device, help from our neighbour Steve all deployed!

Jon’s perseverance, technical knowledge and patience paid off eventually. All other corners replaced without any issue.

Offside rear control arm also replaced as this was found to be faulty on the health check. Reverse light switch replaced too.

Despite the wait and the cold Jim was great company and has a good sense of humour. Date to be booked in for some welding work to the sill.

Whilst Jon was cracking on with many hours on that annoying bolt I set about restocking the camper. We’re heading off to the north east in the morning for work and a stop over, before heading further north to Scotland. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Another clutch, but no storms today and we were back in the workshop…

Jim had driven up from Heanor, near Derby and left his TF 135 with us on Wednesday.

So this morning we got on with the task of replacing the clutch, plus we fitted a new uprated release arm and also a new slave cylinder. All done without any issues and ready for Jim to collect tomorrow.

Great looking car, that has had everything done to it and in Jim’s words he wanted it ‘future proofing’ to enjoy many more years of happy motoring. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Another clutch, another stormy day, but thankfully another garage to work in!

Great to meet Colin this morning, in Scotter, who had got in touch, back in June, having previously bought himself a TF 135 from Just MGs as a project for himself. The clutch had then subsequently reached the end of its life, not surprisingly at over 100,000 miles.

With big thanks to Neil and Leanne for their recommendation for us to carry out the work. 😉

New clutch kit fitted, the release arm was freed off, this one wasn’t bad at all and eased up nicely. A new slave cylinder was also fitted as this one was the original and had come to the end of its life. The over-gearbox support arm had been repaired previously and was definitely in need of replacing, we carry replacements on stock as standard as they are an MOT fail when heavily corroded and having holes in them, the name kind of gives it away when you look at their function, so not surprising really.

Everything put back together, resulting in a very nice feeling clutch pedal, which will make for a bit of an easier drive for Colin and his wife.

What an interesting day, chatting to Colin, we wish him the best with the rest of the work on the car, which will then go for some paintwork once everything else is done. Good to see another one saved. 😀 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Clutch replacement today in Holton-le-Clay…

Really great to meet Graham who had bought this TF 115 earlier in the year from Amanda, a previous customer from a couple of years ago when we replaced the head gasket. Thanks to her for recommending us to Graham, it’s always good to continue to look after these cars with their new owners.

Apart from the usual rusted and corroded bolts all went really well, with the gearbox going back on nice and easy. The gearbox support arm was in good condition and slave cylinder was good, just a new clevis pin needed as this one had a few steps in it.

Thanks, to Graham, for clearing out his garage ahead of our visit, we had some shelter from storm Barra, which was very welcome, not to mention the constant steady stream of warming cuppas. ☕️

Workshop day yesterday to refit the back screen, which arrived back from Ireland, to DiDi’s MGF that we have in. Restock and prep the camper for the week ahead.

Sunday was a slight change in plan due not being able to return the MGF to Portsmouth, I had a day off and Jon fitted the nearside front lower suspension arm and steering column universal joint to the camper.

Clutch two of the 3 tomorrow that I booked in this week, I know sack the planner! Oops! 😬 Well, at least it’s local again, just over the Humber bridge. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

That was a busy and very productive week, with bit of a swap around in the plan…

Saturday didn’t happen due to storm Arwen, we had intended to collect a TF 135 from Grimsby, but weren’t allowed to cross over the Humber bridge with the trailer. So we went back over on Sunday when things had settled down a bit! This car had recently had some MOT fails, so Julie asked if we could take it away and get everything sorted for her.

DiDi had brought her MGF 1.8 mpi, in Alumina, up from Brighton, for what was a planned as a double subframe swap. Once up on the ramp we found the subframes to be some of the best condition ones we’ve seen, so a phone call made to the owner to basically say we would feel guilty taking her money! Underfloor treatment carried out instead and also a brake upgrade fitted, all round, with one of Will Naylor’s conversion kits. A few other things sorted and MOT carried out today.

We’re now just waiting the return of the rear window from the company that we use in Ireland. That is due back on Monday so the return trip to Brighton, planned for Sunday, will have to be delayed.

Julie’s TF 135 had the following done; welding to the sills, nearside wheel bearing, full clutch replaced, slave cylinder replaced, gearbox support arm replaced as the one we took off was well past its use, wheel and tyre replaced to the rear, new backbox and CAT fitted, underseal and then finally an MOT carried out today. We will be returning the car to Julie in Grimsby tomorrow.

Trevor popped over this morning with his TF 160 that had recently been throwing up error codes. We had previously fitted a sports cat, which would account for this, so we swapped it out for a regular cat and this will resolve the issue. Good to see him and have a chat.

Simon came over in his TF 135 as had been experiencing occasional hesitation while accelerating hard. Could be due to a possible Lambda fault, but no error codes were showing, so advised fitting a new Lambda sensor. Great to see him too and have a chat.

Bit on the chilly side this week what with Arwen and then quite a dump of the white stuff, so it was good timing to be in the workshop. 🥶 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

On our way back home now after a long, but enjoyable day…

First of all we went over to Dorridge, near Solihull, where it was lovely to meet Andy, who had got in touch to ask if we could come over and check out his 1999 MGF Mk1 VVC as it had been stood for a while and he was unsure whether to save it or call it a day.

List made of everything that needs to be done to get this fab looking car back to rights and date arranged to be taken to the workshop next year. Once that’s all sorted Andy will arrange for the bodywork to be done by a local chap he knows. Definitely one worth saving, looking good in Old English White with a red interior.

We then headed over to Stockton, Southam to meet Mick who had asked if we could pump up his suspension, next time we were in the area, on his fab looking Mk1 MGF VVC. Had a chat with him about an engine swap in one of the others that he owns, a TF 135, a possibility for next year. Great to meet him, lovely chap.

From there, we went over to West Haddon for work on a TF 135. Steve had got in touch as the head gasket had gone, so arranged to fit him to get him up and running. He then asked if we could also do the cambelt service and underfloor coolant pipes too, but given the other jobs, time of year we didn’t think we’d have chance to get everything done in daylight. As it turns out, the engine had suffered quite a bit of heat damage and had melted the seal on the water-pump, which was subsequently leaking. So this was replaced plus the cambelt and tensioner too.

Great to meet Steve when he got home from work, few other issues discussed with him, which we will return to sort out once the car comes out of its winter hibernation in the spring.

Weather was horrendous on the way down this morning with lots of hold ups, but thankfully it cleared when we got to the first call giving us blue skies for the rest of the day, well until it got dark anyway!

Bit of a stop start one on the M1 again now on our way back home, and the weather is turning really bad again, guess this is the arrival of storm Arwen. Batten down your hatches everyone! 🥶💨 – https://ift.tt/363HZbI

Keith and Sara had driven over from West Ashby near Horncastle to drop off their TF 160 with us.

Keith had been noticing a problem with selecting gears and had asked if we could swap out the gearbox, having sourced himself a PG1.

Old one taken out and all the ancillaries transferred on to the new one. Refitted along with a new clutch kit, gear box oil and fluid.

On removing the old gear box it was evident that CVT fluid had been used in the gearbox instead of the correct gear box oil, this may have accounted for the problems Keith had been experiencing.

All back up and running nicely again. – https://ift.tt/363HZbI