South Wales trip 2026 🏴
Taking in en route Waltham, Oldbury-upon-Severn, Ross-on-Wye then on to Trellech, Caerphilly, St Mellons, Pontypridd, Abertillery, Pontypool…
Our latest visit to South Wales started off with a call into Waltham on a very sunny and warm Monday afternoon for work on Phil’s 2002 TF 135 in Le Mans Green (HFN). Minor service, flexi-exhaust, front shocker bolt, aerial replacement and handbrake adjustment all carried out for him. Great to see Phil as always.
Following an overnight stay in Ross-on-Wye we headed a couple of miles along the road on Tuesday morning where it was lovely to meet Ewan. His 1999 MGF VVC in Solar Red (CMU) was due for a cambelt change, so full cambelt service carried out for him.
From there we went over to Oldbury where it was lovely to meet Mandy and Martin for work on Mandy’s 1998 MGF 120 mpi in White Diamond (NAL) that’s she’s owned from new.
Both rear adjustable arms replaced, as one was a tad bent and the bushes on both had done their time. Distributor cap and rotar-arm replaced as they’d been experiencing an intermittent non-starting and misfire issue. The cam oil-seal had been leaking into the cap so this wouldn’t have helped with the misfire. Oil-seal also replaced. Then finally a pump up to the correct ride-height. After chatting to Martin discovered that the cambelt service was in fact due, so a date arranged for later in the year when we’re back down that way. Great to meet them both and their lovely woofers, we look forward to seeing them all again on our return.
Following stopover in a beautiful quiet spot in Trellech we were up bright and early on another sunny morning on Wednesday to head over to Caerphilly, where we met Ness and her 2005 TF 135 in Xpower Grey (LEF) for a full cambelt service. Unfortunately, the wheel nuts had all been windy-gunned on at some point and were ridiculously tight, so-much-so the locking wheel nut stripped. A quick trip round to the local tyre centre soon had it removed, saving us a lot of time and trouble removing it!
We then headed over to St Mellons to our digs for the next two nights.
Thursday morning found us over in Pontypridd for the first call on Paul’s 2001 MGF 120 mpi in Platinum (MNX). Minor service, front brake pads, new dipstick bracket and finally a pump up to the correct ride-height as the car was sitting slightly wonky. Good to see Paul, thanks to him for the brews and we’ll see him again on next years visit.
We then headed on to Abertillery for the minor service on Steve’s 2005 TF 135 Spark in Firefrost (CEV). Shame not to see Steve this time, but thanks to his neighbour Steve for doing the honours with the keys.
Our last call of the day was in the Asda car park off junction 32 on the M4, to meet Paul who drove over from Porthcawl. He’d got in touch a couple of weeks ago to see when we’d next be in the area as he was having a bit of a problem with some new key fobs he’d bought. Turns out all that was up was the metal tab that sits round the battery had become too flat and was not connecting to the circuit-board. Glad to give him an easy and inexpensive fix! Great to have the opportunity for a catch-up with him anyway. Hope he and the club have a great run in the Cotswolds next month.
A departure from our digs this morning to head over to Pontypool for the cambelt services on Jan’s 2002 TF 160 in Typhoon (IAB) and Andy’s 2004 TF 160 in Moonshine (IBB). Andy’s TF did have a slight coolant loss, which was found to be a split in a hose, which was duly fixed.
Really great to see them both again for a very long and well overdue catch-up. Good to reminisce on the many gatherings of the past! Thanks to Jan for the cracking brews and choccie biscuits.
So that rounded off nicely a productive week away, with some great people and their fab MGs in some lovely locations with some sunny weather thrown in too. We’re now slowly making our way back up north to home.
Have a great weekend everyone near and far. 🌞 – https://ift.tt/ChPwfGi
