Day: 1 August 2026

A week away in the South of the UK – 27th July – 1st August 2026…

We went through a number of shires this week; Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire & Worcestershire with visits to the following:

Bedford, Aylesbury, Reading, Finchampstead, Fleet, Farnborough, Andover, Tidworth, Newbury, Stourport-on-Severn & finally Bewdley.

A very bright and early start on Monday morning found us in Bedford, where it was great to see Ian again whom we’d not seen for a number of years, his 2003 TF 160 in Trophy Blue (JFV) is still going strong since we replaced the engine in it about 10 years ago. We’ve seen it a couple of times since between then, this time the cambelt service was due, full service carried out along with a brake-fluid change. All done and ready for Ian to get some more track days booked in.

From there we went on to Aylesbury, where it was good to see Richard again and his year 2000 Stepspeed in Tahiti Blue (JRJ) that was also in need of a full cambelt service. He also mentioned an issue with the radiator fan, this was found to be due to a faulty relay, new relay fitted and problem solved.

Following an overnight stay in Aylesbury we headed over to Reading on Tuesday morning, where it was lovely to see Simon again and his 2001 MGF VVC in British Racing Green. Minor service carried out, along with repairs to the wing mirror and door panel. We noticed the header-tank was half empty and on investigation of all the usual culprits it was found to have a leaking heater control-valve, so we swapped this out with one we had with us. Hopefully that has solved that issue. Thanks to Simon for the cuppas in between his work calls. We look forward to returning next year for the cambelt service.

From there we went over to Finchampstead where it was lovely to see Frances again, his 2004 TF 135 was also due for a minor service. Thanks to Frances for the tea and cakes, good to have a chat with him before heading off to our next digs in Fleet. We look forward to seeing him next year for the cambelt service.

With a short commute on Wednesday morning we went along to Farnborough for work on Charles’ 2003 TF 135 in Xpower Grey (LEF). He’d found out from someone last August when we were in the area then and asked if he could be included on our trip this year. It’s fortunate we got there really early as he’d forgotten we were going, stating lack of communication from us, although he’d only just paid the deposit 8 weeks prior. He made us a cuppa, had a brief chat and headed off to work.

Full cambelt service carried out, along with alternator belt. A number of bolts etc. were wrong or missing so we replaced these. There was a strange configuration of a homemade air-hose going around the back of the engine and out the top on the drivers side. This was duly cut down and fed correctly.

After chasing the payment that hadn’t materialised a few days later we were told that the price wasn’t as quoted, we’re actually still awaiting his payment, something tells us that we won’t be seeing it appear.

This was our only job that day as a couple of people I’d offered the afternoon slot to hadn’t got back to confirm. However, that worked out well as Simon had got in touch so say following a drive in the car the heaters were blowing hot, so we headed back over to Reading to take a look. All that was needed was an adjustment to the cable, we normally adjust them so that you can get full heat, in this case we adjusted it so that it would go fully the other way. Pleased to have been able to get back to sort that for Simon. Thanks to his wife Vania for the cuppa.

After an overnight stay in Andover we went along to Tidworth on Thursday morning, where it was good to see Andy again and his 2002 TF 135 in Trophy Blue (JFV).
Full cambelt service carried out and a few missing bolts replaced. He’d initially thought that his clutch was in need of replacing, so we went armed with clutch kit. On checking we found that the clutch slave-cylinder had definitely done its time, it was well gunked up. New slave and clevis fitted, clutch release-arm freed off, new fluid bled through and he’s good to go, saving himself some money too.

Having an earlier than expected finish we made our way to our digs in Newbury, and noticed a sign on the way for the Flying Museum at Middle Wallop, so thought we’d have a look in, so pleased we did too, what a fantastic place, so very interesting, good job the tickets last for a year as it does need more than one visit, definitely worth going to if you find yourself in the vicinity.

Following a very noisy and disturbed night in Newbury we had a short commute on Friday morning, where it was lovely to see Roger again, his 2011 TF 135 (post LE run Chinese version) was also due for the cambelt service. Full service carried out, along with fitting one of the 3-way coolant-connectors that Mike Satur produces, a very worthy replacement for the plastic one that has a habit of snapping all too easily. Roger has a slightly annoying leak on the drivers side window that only shows itself in the rain, not when a hose pipe is held over it, so Jon did his best to pack it out, hopefully that’s done the trick!It was good to have a chat and a cuppa with Roger and his lovely wife before we headed off up to Stourport-on-Severn for our last lot of digs on this trip.

So we were up bright and early this Saturday morning to head along to Bewdley, where it was really lovely to meet David and Debra. David has a bit of a collection of MGs and usually does a lot of the work on them himself. Today we replaced the head gasket and carried out the cambelt service for him on his 1997 MGF VVC in Flame Red (COF). When running the car up to temperature the rad fan was coming on, on code reading found it to be due to the coolant temperature sensor, we had a secondhand one on the van so swapped it out, which has resolved that issue. Big thanks to them for the bacon butty, buns and many cuppas. A pleasant mornings work to round off this latest away trip.

We’re now wending our way back up the country to home. It’s been a long week, with not a lot of sleep so we’re definitely looking forward to our own bed and best of all seeing our beloved puss.

Hope everyone near and far is having a grand weekend! – https://ift.tt/8TjLUbq