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Warmley, Bristol & Harpole, Northampton …. Day 6 and the last day.

Another short commute this morning from our digs over to Warmley, where it was great to meet Neill for work on his 2002 TF 135 (in paint code HFF) called ‘Maggy’.

Cambelt service carried out along with the other annual service items, plus alternator belt and a new coolant cap.

Neill had noticed that the engine management light had come on last week and was bringing up a few error codes on his code reader.

On our investigation today found that one of the coil packs was faulty and the other one was the wrong one for that model, plus the HT leads were also old and tired.
When the garage had fitted his rear shockers they’d disconnected the lambda and forgotten to reconnect it, which resulted in the error codes that he was having issues with.

So we swapped out the ignition leads and coil packs for new ones, which then resolved the problem, and all error codes subsequently cleared, resulting in a nice smooth engine.

He’d asked us to carry out a health check and see if the underfloor pipes needed changing. They’ve already been done and the car is in really good shape, and obviously been well cared for with its previous owner. Neill had carried out a couple of upgrades, such as fitting Mike Satur roll hoops, swapping out the seats and the door cards, resulting in a very attractive looking interior.

With thanks to his lovely wife Annie for all the brews including a freshly baked lemon drizzle cake that has come away with us and has so far remained in its wrapper on the journey home. That won’t last long once Jon gets sat down with a brew!

From there we headed north and called in to Harpole to see what was occurring with Neil’s TF 135. On a 20 mile run the temperature gauge would suddenly rise and then drop down to normal. The fans would kick in, but take a long time to cool it down again. We found very minor leak from the outlet on the block, and a blocked return hose that we had previously cleared once already. System fully bled, and hopefully this will have resolved this issue, Neil will take the car out tomorrow for a test run. Fingers crossed that it has. Date to be booked in for the cambelt service.

Nice to see Neil again and have a chat before we departed to head back home.

Lots of hold ups on our travels today, but we should get back home in daylight, where it will be great to see the cat. A productive, enjoyable albeit tiring tour with some really great people and their fantastic MGs. Plus plenty of sunny weather thrown in too.

(On a side note we’ve had to adjust the settings on our group to try and alleviate some of the chronic and rather frustrating spamming that’s been going on. Let’s see how that goes. Sorry if this has caused any inconvenience). – https://ift.tt/lW9TqDZ

Day 5 …. Winterbourne.

After departing from our fab digs in St Mellons we headed over to Winterbourne, near Bristol.

John had got in touch regarding his MGF Freestyle (in paint code MNX) that he’d owned for a couple of years. He’d done quite a bit of work on the car himself and had the head gasket done locally, so everything was all done on the car and running smoothly, apart from when he took the car for its MOT, they noticed that the SRS light wasn’t working. After investigating all possibilities himself and then getting an auto-electrician in, who told him it was the control unit, which he replaced, but still had the same fault. Then following our advice via messaging John tested all the continuity on all of the wires and still couldn’t find the fault, so he asked if we could come over and take a look when next in the area.

On code reading today, it was narrowed down to a fault with the airbag, or that part of the wiring loom. So a replacement rotary coupler (squib) was fitted and pleased to have a positive result in that the light is now off. Great to meet John and have a chat.

It was a less busy day than initially planned, and a weirdly leisurely start to the day. Our first call that was booked in was cancelled just before this trip, and despite our efforts we couldn’t really find an alternative booking of a similar size to replace it in the area, especially as we didn’t know how long the work on John’s MGF would take. Plus we’re a bit pooped anyway.

We’re now in our last digs of this tour, in a place called Hambrook. I took myself off for a decent walk, over to Stoke Park Estate this afternoon, what a beautiful place, well worth a visit.

Not too far a commute in the morning. Let’s hope this fantastic weather stays for a while longer ☀️ – https://ift.tt/lW9TqDZ

Heath, near Cardiff …. Day 4

A fairly short commute from our digs this morning to work on Krishan’s MGF year 2000 143 VVC (in paint code CAQ).

He’d owned the car for some time, and had hoped for a local garage to carry out the work, but couldn’t find anywhere that would take it on. Then he heard about our mobile services and asked if we could come and see him on our next trip to the area.

Head gasket replaced, the one on it was a Mk II elastomer, all the other gaskets replaced. Gave everything a good clean up as we went along, as unfortunately, the dreaded k-seal had been added at some point. On removing the expansion tank, it was so blocked the coolant didn’t flow out! We didn’t know prior to our visit that it had been added so were concerned that it may have made its way to the heater matrix etc and then you’re in all sorts of trouble. The return hose was blocked, so this was cleared. Car finally ran up to temperature and pleased to see all good and running smoothly.

K-seal really is one of the worst things you can add to your k-series engine, Krishan was lucky that it hadn’t caused any further damage to the head, as we’ve seen before, by completely blocking all coolant and oil channels resulting in a trashed head and the expense of needing a replacement.

Cambelts, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt all replaced. Plus the expansion tank cap, please see pic below, these ones are renowned to fail and, subsequently, will cause all sorts of expensive problems that you really don’t want.

Baking hot day again, shame not to meet Krishan, as he was away, big thanks to his lovely partner Karen who kept us supplied with mugs of tea and muffins. We’re pleased to have got his MG back up and running again for him to enjoy as it should be. – https://ift.tt/HzkyYbW

Caerphilly …. Day 3

A day of welding and fabrication for Jon today over in Caerphilly on one of Gareth’s fleet of doer uppers. Front and rear offside sills needed some attention.

The rear was quite a big section to do, but is now solid, complete with rain channel and inner supports.

Everything etched primed, sanded and smoothed over with filler and then undercoated ready for the colour to go on.

Great to meet Gareth briefly as he was busy working. But he very kindly left out a stack of teabags and a kettle for us. Absolutely baking hot day and a long time on fire-watch for me. On the sanding stage I managed to sneak off for a walk up Caerphilly mountain, cracking views on such a clear day. Bit of a dingley dell run over this morning, but all the same some great views. Found a better and easier route back to the digs though. – https://ift.tt/lrtYGpP

Pontypool & Abertillery …. Day 2

One of our calls today was in Abertillery where it was lovely to see Steve again for work on his very low mileage ‘05 TF 135 (in paint code CEV).

This visit was for minor service, pre-MOT check, clear out of the washer pump and hoses as they were all gunked up, and needed a little extra cleaning other than with a pin! Two new key fob cases fitted as his Pektron ones had crumbled slightly around the buttons.

It was good to have a catch-up with him and his wife and have a look at their amazing garden, what an unearthed and hidden gem they have.

Unfortunately, the other call of the day didn’t happen. Car booked in for head gasket and cambelt service, but no one was at home, when we rang the number got an international dialing tone. A shame, but these things do happen. Ce La Vie.

But! It did mean that we were able to pay a surprise visit to our fab fiends Jan and Andy, in Pontypool, a little earlier than expected, whom we have not seen face-to-face for almost 2 years! It’s just crazy that it’s been that long, and definitely far too long. What with great weather meant we could sit for a couple of hours in their garden and have a brew or two. So lovely to be able do that.

We’re now in our new digs, for the next few nights, in St Mellons, where we’ve stayed before.

Also making the most of the change in the weather and our location I got up at the crack of dawn to have another decent walk through the beautiful space that is the Forest of Dean.

Not too far a commute in the morning to Caerphilly… – https://ift.tt/lrtYGpP

Up bright and early this morning to set off to Worcester, despite the early start hit very heavy Monday morning traffic all the way, eventually arrived just before 10, where Mark was waiting for us with the covers off his TF 135 (in paint code HFN) and a warm welcome. He’d owned the car for 6 years, having owned MGBs in the past.

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner and alternator belt all replaced for him, he was aware that it was overdue and was wary of taking it out too far, but now he’s all set for some fun over the summer months.

Great to meet him and have a chat and a cuppa. Hopefully we’ll bump into him again at an event or show somewhere this year.

From Mark’s we headed along to Walford, near Ross-on-Wye where it was lovely to see Philip again and his TF 115 (in paint code JRJ).

We were due to visit him for the annual service anyway, but he’d got in touch saying that the car was losing coolant and had white smoke. When we checked today, as suspected, the head gasket had gone, having been fitted previously with an elastomer Mk II gasket.

Head gasket duly replaced with one of our MLS gaskets and all parts cleaned up of the gunk, and car back up and running smoothly once more.

An enjoyable afternoon chatting to Philip while we worked with some very welcome sunshine thrown in too.

We bid our farewells and headed further south to our digs for the night in Coleford. Such a beautiful evening I made the most of it and headed into the Forest of Dean for a walk. While heading down the hill back to the digs spotted a very nice looking TF Anniversary in Anthracite out having some top down fun, perfect evening for it. ☀️ – https://ift.tt/jxISz53

Saturday morning found us local in Goxhill, a short commute over the Humber Bridge where it was great to meet Rob for work on his MGF 120 mpi (in paint code JRJ).

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt, all filters and oil replaced as it was slightly overdue.

The slave cylinder seals had gone, thinking the release arm would need freeing off, it was actually nice and free, so a new slave cylinder fitted, system bled through to get rid of some very old fluid and the clutch is good to go again, with only 37k on the clock he should be good for a clutch for a while.

When it came to firing the car up, it was cranking, but wouldn’t turn over. So the distributor cap was taken off and the rotar arm and terminals cleaned up. Rob would like us to return and fit new ones just to ensure that the problem won’t recur. The battery was completely dead so with our jump pack eventually got the car started, resulting in a nice sounding smooth engine.

Rob will now get the car in for its MOT and has plans to get the bodywork sorted where needed.

From there we went back over to Dinnington, as Noel had reported a slight coolant leak under their LE 500, despite it finally getting sorted for its non-starting and intermittent cutting out issues (all on previous blog). On pressure test and investigation we found it to be coming from the water-pump, the seal hadn’t taken unfortunately. So water-pump duly removed and refitted. Thanks to Melanie for the tea and kit-kats.

We had arranged for Dave to come over to the workshop for replacement of his back window, but unfortunately the day wasn’t long enough! Jon went over to his place in Hull this afternoon to fit it for him, thanks for your patience Dave! Glad we got you sorted. This window will be sent off to Ireland for replacement screen ready for the next one.

Van all stocked back up and all parts required for next week packed, ahead of an early start in the morning to various locations, for a busy week away, with the first stop in Worcester.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend and enjoyed the fab weather where possible. ☀️ – https://ift.tt/Yq3UvVy

Workshop days yesterday and today…

Absolutely great to see Ewa and Kenneth who had driven over from Sweden in Ewa’s ‘97 MGF 1.8 mpi (in paint code HAM) that she’s owned for 16 years.

They are on one of their, many, trips to the UK, and the last time we saw and met them, for the first time, was in Bakewell in 2019, when they were on a tour with Steinar and friends from Norway, when we carried out a few cambelt services.

It was time for the cambelt service again so we carried this out, plus all other minor service items, and also fitted underfloor stainless coolant pipes. The drivers side window had decided to stop working just before the trip, and not wanting it to stop their fun managed to pack it out with some wedges to stop it going all the way down. So Jon set about fitting a replacement mechanism (thank you to Phil & Maggy for supplying it) as the old one had definitely done it’s time.

Lovely to see Ewa when she came over to collect her beloved MG this morning and head off to continue on with their voyage, we look forward to seeing the updates.

Brian and Sue came over from Cumbria to drop off one of their cars with us for some work yesterday afternoon.

His post-LE 135 had undergone a load of modifications a few years ago, such as; ported head, high-lift cams, vernier pulleys and a Kmaps remap, the car had been burning oil. Brian had then got in touch with us to ask if we could replace the head gasket as he thought this was the issue, which we carried out last June. Unfortunately, this didn’t resolve it. So he asked if we could further investigate at the workshop, as we advised it was more than likely to be due to the valve stem seals being at fault, given the ongoing symptoms. One thing and another with their commitments and wanting to wait for the better weather to drive it over to us it was left until now.

With only 13k on the clock and the liners showing no marks or scoring on the block it was found to be down to the stem seals. A pic is below showing the difference between the old and the new, which is quite significant. The old ones were still pliable and not hardened as you would have expected. So Jon set about the laborious task of replacing all 16 of the seals. We then put everything back together and all up and running smoothly again this afternoon.

Really lovely to see them both again, when they came over to collect, this afternoon, so pleased that they had a good trip to the area and make the most of their trip.

A busy couple of days, with fab people and their MGs. At least the weather made an improvement for some good top down runs back to their destinations. – https://ift.tt/SYwERgu