East Hunsbury, Warwick, Kenilworth, Solihull, Stoney Stanton, Horncastle, Scunthorpe, Barnsley, Holme-on-Spalding Moor…
Back at base on Monday to get restocked and unload all the detritus from the previous week, then a trip into Hull to collect parts and more oil, that thankfully wasn’t at an eye-watering price, all set for the week ahead.
Tuesday morning found us down in East Hunsbury, that we last visited seven years ago, golly time does fly by. It was lovely to see Gary and Chris again and for work on their ‘03 TF Steptronic in Solar Red (CMU). Full cambelt service carried out along with replacing the CVT fluid, unfortunately the strainers (filters) are still no longer available. Big thanks to Chris for her many cuppas and the box of fairy buns! Plus it was lovely to have fusses again with their gorgeous woofer Margo, (should have got a pic).
Gary’s friend Ade had brought over and left his ‘09 TF 135 (paint code 293) for us. Full cambelt service carried out, along with gearbox oil change. It was great to meet Ade and Sally when they came to collect their car, they’ve got a fab sounding trip through France in the car planned this summer.
An overnight stay on Kenilworth, as seemed daft going all the way back home only to return the following day for our next call near Solihull. We did manage a whistle stop tour round Kenilworth Castle just before it closed, which was well worth it.
It was a real pleasure to meet Richard whose ‘04 TF 135 in xpower grey (LEF) has been in the family from new, and Richard himself worked for MG Rover at some point in the past.
Initially he’d asked us to replace the head gasket and other service items, but on chatting found that the cambelt service was overdue, all done and sorted for him to enjoy many more miles in. Big thanks to him for a good supply of cuppas and choccie biscuits.
From there we went on to Stoney Stanton for a minor service and gearbox oil change on a ‘05 TF 135 in Starlight Silver (MBB). It’s a good job we did do the gearbox oil change as it had been previously filled with CVT oil! It was good to meet David and have a chat before we headed home, thanks to him for the brew.
Thursday morning found us in Horncastle as it was cambelt service time again this year on Gary and Trevor’s ‘02 TF 160 in Trophy Yellow (FAR). Always great to see them both and have a good natter, we wish them many happy travels throughout the summer, one of which is ‘The Highlander’ in a couple of weeks time, a shame we can’t attend, it’s such a brilliant few days away. Maybe next year, it’s a shame if this event doesn’t continue as it really is worth doing.
The next call of the day was over in Scunthorpe where it was good to meet Paul for a hydragas fill on his MGF Steptronic in Tahiti Blue (JRJ).
That brings us to the end of the week and our last call in Barnsley, that didn’t happen. We arrived bright and early ready for a full cambelt service on a car we’ve been visiting over the past few years only to find that a friend had done it for them. It’s a shame that they didn’t feel it necessary to let us know, a quick text is all it takes isn’t it, quite simple. I did have a fruitless search through the enquiries book to see if there was anyone nearby that we could have gone to last minute.
So anyway, we headed back to the workshop, stopped moaning and got ourselves motivated to crack on with one of our doer-uppers, and in the end it was a very productive day – completing; head gasket replacement, full cambelt service, rear bumper off and taken to AM Bodyworx for them to sort some dents and scuffs, we then welded on new brackets, rust proofed the rear subframe etc, fitted a replacement exhaust back-box, refitted the bumper, chemically cleaned the wheels and then ran it up to temperature, and all sounding good. There are a couple of other things just to sort and then it will be going up for sale very soon, a stunning 1.6 Spark in Sonic Blue with matching leather seats.
It’s been so welcome to see a change in the weather, and hope it continues for you all over the weekend, near and far, to enjoy getting out and about. 🌞 – https://ift.tt/oVj7UmP
