Day: 18 September 2026

Bicester, Banbury, Rushwick, Barton, Peterborough…

A very early start on Tuesday morning to head down to Bicester, to carry out full clutch replacement on Alan’s 2003 TF 135 in Trophy Blue (JFV). The clutch-plate certainly was a bit worn. The release-arm was very stiff and the clevis pin had a large notch in it. New clevis pin fitted and arm freed off, resulting in a nice smooth clutch-pedal once more. We didn’t get to meet Alan as he was at work, but thanks to his lovely wife for the cuppas.

Following an overnight stay in Banbury, where I did get to see a lady on her horse, we headed over to Rushwick, near Worcester, on Wednesday morning.

Here we were due to meet Martin for work on his 1996 MGF VVC in Flame Red (COF), which due to him working abroad hadn’t had the cambelt service done in some time, though Martin had carried out all the general servicing himself. Very sadly, though, when we arrived we learnt from his wife, Rebecca, that he had passed away very suddenly only a few days prior. Rebecca still wanted us to carry out the work as she will be, regrettably, having to sell the car, but wants it to go with an up-to-date service history. It really is a very good example with a relatively low mileage of 43k. Big thanks to for her and her lovely friend for their amazing hospitality and warm welcome despite what they’re having to go through. Please, if anyone is interested just drop us a message to the usual number or email address and we can pass on your details to her and supply you with some further information on the car.

A local call on Thursday morning when we headed back over the Humber to Barton, to see Chris and his MGF again that we’d last seen a couple of weeks ago when we went over to replace the underfloor coolant pipes and found that all wasn’t as it seemed.

Head gasket replaced, the elastomer had been well cooked to the head, fortunately no damage done. At some point in its life someone had added the dreaded k-seal (NOT for k-series engines!) and the skinny return hose was full of caked old stuff. We fitted a new coolant bottle to the car last time, but still solid crud was making its way back round. We also replaced the thermostat and housing. When running up to temperature the car was still overheating, after some time hunting for the culprit we found the pipe to the thermostat was solid with the stuff, so this was removed cleared out and all other related hoses blown through. The coolant temperature sensor was also faulty, so this was replaced with new.

Finally, car ran up to temperature with fans coming on and off as they should. Brilliant to hear from Chris, later in the day, that his run over to Hull for the MOT was a success. He’s really looking forward to enjoying the car again. Thanks to Chris for the provision of a cuppa and cake, good to see him again and have a chat.

From Barton we headed over to the workshop in the afternoon to unload and restock the gear ready for our next away trip, commencing on Monday morning.

That brings us to today, Friday, and for our last call of the week down in Peterborough for work on Gary’s 1998 MGF VVC in Nightfire Red (CAQ).

Full cambelt service carried out, one of the roll-pins on the exhaust cam was crushed, so this was replaced. One of the boot springs had snapped and the other was under some strain, Gary had managed to find some in the correct paint, so we got these fitted for him while we were there. It was lovely to meet Gary, who makes a cracking brew! It was really lovely weather too, though not so sunny in Hull now.

Hope everyone near and far has a wonderful weekend, and can get out and about weather permitting. 🌧️ – https://ift.tt/ZYm28Tl