Category: News & Updates

Bromsgrove & Kingstanding…

Up and on early yesterday morning to head down to Bromsgrove, only to get held up multiple times in traffic so it was mid morning before we arrived at Keith’s house.

First job of the day was to fit a soft-ride kit to his friends and neighbours, Wayne and Claire’s ‘02 TF 135. They took it out for a test drive and came back to report how great it was and a big difference to the comfort. The front nearside shocker bush had totally gone so they will notice a difference with the handling. Great to meet them both.

Next up was to program a new key fob for Keith’s MGF 1.8 mpi, (in Volcano) he had wanted a remap on it, but as it’s a MEMS 1.9 they can’t be done by k-maps.

Remap carried out on his ‘04 TF 135, and plus programming of a new key fob on that one too.

As always an enjoyable day in Keith’s company, with lots of warming cuppas and good chats. Thanks to him and Karen for the huge box of chocs, that was Jon happy for the evening!

A stay overnight just along the road from Keith’s and not far from our call this morning, in Kingstanding, where it was good to meet Gary for work on his ‘02 TF 135.

We set about replacing the head gasket, and found a few odd things whilst in there. What should have been a 135 head had at some point had 120 cams put in it. One of the cams actually had a smaller thread size for the pulley. It had been converted to have an aluminum manifold on but instead of exchanging all the studs for bolts it had just been left with all the studs which makes it very awkward tighten everything up properly. Everything where possible put back to rights. Unfortunately when it came to filling back up with coolant discovered that one of the hoses was split, so this was swapped out. Couple of other bits sorted and Gary was very pleased to have his car all back up and running nicely again.

Thanks to Gary for many welcome cuppas on a bit of a chilly day, fortunately though we didn’t get the snow that was forecast.

Heading home now, bit of a slow one on the M1 at the moment. Back in to the workshop in the morning to get cracking on the cars that have been delivered to us while we’ve been away. – https://ift.tt/JIkRCvt

Back to it!

Monday morning found us in the workshop first thing to get cracking on Stephen’s ‘04 TF 115 that he’d dropped off yesterday, when he drove up from Milton Keynes. Full underfloor treatment carried out over 2 days to give it full protection and preventative maintenance. A bit of welding needed and all ready for when Stephen came back on Tuesday afternoon to collect.

Sally had driven over from Skelton to drop off her ‘03 TF 135 for MoT and minor service. After a pre-mot check it required a bit of welding and new wipers. Minor service carried out and all ready for Sally to collect.

Paul drove over from Barmby on the Marsh on Tuesday morning to leave his Abingdon with us for its MoT and check over of a couple of things. Good to see him again and have a cuppa and a chat.

The cars rear high-level brake light wasn’t working, which was found to be due to faulty wiring, which Jon set about fettling. The SRS light kept coming on, which we found to be a problem with the rotary coupler/squib, this was swapped out with a replacement and problem solved. Couple of other bits sorted, including hydragas lift and the car all set ready for Paul to pick up.

Lovely to see Gerald again who brought over his MGF, in Wedgewood, from Horsforth for the minor service. We’d worked on the car when it was previously in his ownership, he’d then sold it and when it came back up for sale again last year he decided to buy it back, and a good decision too as it’s a cracking example.

After taking a few well needed days off over the festive season to recharge the batteries we thought we would hit the ground running with a fairly big list of a job booked in for 3 days, only for the car not to appear. At least I managed to get a couple of others booked in in its place so not a totally wasted week. Let’s hope this isn’t indicative of the year ahead! 😕

At least we had time for a well needed clean up of the fleet so it looks less like a scrap yard!

Hope everyone had a good festive season wherever you may have been and are looking forward to what lies ahead for your MGs in 2024. – https://ift.tt/anNHOvi

🎄🌟🎄SEASONS GREETINGS🎄🌟🎄

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year wherever you may be. 🥂

It’s been another absolutely amazing year, with our extensive travels throughout the UK and at our workshop, with visits from far and wide, including an international visitor from Sweden.

Can we just say a big big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us and welcomed us into your homes, driveways and car parks alike, to work on your pride and joys. It’s been so brilliant meeting new people and always interesting discovering new places. 🗺️

We didn’t manage to get to many events this year, we’re hoping to next year. One we did get to was Pateley Bridge, run by the Harrogate MG club.

It’s been another challenging year again for so many, let’s hope 2024 brings about some well needed changes for the better.

🌟 Here’s to a prosperous, healthy and happy new year. May you continue to enjoy your MGs with daily commutes, weekends away, tours to places near and far, social gatherings and events.

With our very best wishes,
🎄🎅🧑‍🎄 Jon & Claire 🧑‍🎄🎅🎄 – https://ift.tt/fXvyxcI

ZR 160 – Head Gasket Replacement – Holme in Spalding Moor…

Our local garage were a bit pressed for time and the owner of this car was in need of it back in time for Christmas, so they asked if we could step in, which we gladly did, more than happy to help out. So we nipped over to the workshop this morning and replaced all the gaskets etc on this fab ZR 160, all back up and running as it should with no issues. – https://ift.tt/fXvyxcI

Day 4 of 4 – Last Trip Away of the Year – Wereham…

This ‘03 TF 135 in paint code MBB, was initially booked in for a clutch replacement, as the symptoms that the owner, Mark, was experiencing and had read about had lead him to think that the clutch itself was on its way out.

Mark has done an absolute ton of work on the car in the 18 months he’s owned it, including replacing the clutch-slave and clutch-master cylinders. But, with only 47k on the clock we set about making some checks.

Following a test drive it was felt that they may be a build up of crud inside the bell-housing, after running the engine and flushing brake and clutch cleaner into it we noticed after a while the fluid coming out of the bell-housing turned from black to clear, indicating that there was no further crud left in there.

On ECU code reading it detected a misfire, and on inspection of the coil packs found that they had been subjected to heat damage, so these were swapped out, along with a new set of spark plugs, a couple of which were showing signs of age and corrosion. This misfire would account for the intermittent juddering that Mark had been experiencing on driving the car rather than the clutch itself.

A process of elimination has ruled this out, resulting in a very nice smooth engine.

It was great to meet Mark and have a chat and a brew, he’s got himself a very sound car after all his hard work, so we’re pleased to have got this issue sorted out for him, plus it was slightly less costly than the alternative for him, which is a bonus.

We left in good time for the drive home, and even had time to call into Rimmer Bros for some parts on our way past. An interesting and enjoyable last trip away, with some really great people and their fab MGs, with thanks to everyone for their hospitality. – https://ift.tt/Sb0avmM

Day 3 of 4 – Last Trip Away of the Year – Halstead & Sudbury…

We’d visited Eamon earlier in the year, when he asked if we could call round and investigate some strange noises coming from the rear of his ‘03 TF 160, in paint code HFN. It turned out that the engine-mount bolts weren’t tight and just sitting in there loosely, so we tightened these up at the time, but also on further investigation found that the torque-tamer bushes were worn. So we returned today with the parts and replaced these for him, resulting in a stable engine once more, always a good thing! Great to see Eamon again and have a chat before we headed off up to Subdury for our next call.

This ‘02 TF 160 in paint code JFV was well over due it’s cambelt service, the last one being in 2014, so Steve had got in touch earlier in the year to see if we could come over and do this for him.

Belts, water pump, tensioner, spark plugs, all filters replaced and cleaned up, plus code reading and clearing all error codes carried out. Good to meet Steve and have a chat while we worked and glad to have got his car all up to date for him, we look forward to returning next year for the minor service.

From there we drove on up to our next digs, in Brandon. Actually last nights digs weren’t that bad, the room and bathroom were just a bit ‘tired’, the staff were really lovely and the food was very good and cheap!

Tonight’s digs are very good, we did get a room upgrade as we were left waiting for over an hour, which we didn’t complain about at all, but they insisted on giving us their best room. No food at this one so Jon will be seeing what delectable delights ‘Just Eat’ can offer.

While we were waiting I took myself off on a walk, along the Little Ouse, sun just setting when I got back, lovely area in the Thetford Forest.

Not too far a commute, in the morning, to our last call in Wereham. – https://ift.tt/Sb0avmM

Day 2 of 4 – Last Trip of the Year – Basildon…

Our travels took us over to Basildon, this morning, for work on Andy’s ‘03 TF 135 in paint code MBB.

Cambelt, water pump, tensioner, alternator belt, platinum spark plugs, fuel filter, oil and oil filter all replaced. The engine mount bolts didn’t want to play and come undone, so we resorted to our Plan B, which was successful and the car is now all sorted for Andy to enjoy.

Shame not to meet him, but his lovely wife kindly made us a couple of brews. Thankfully a drier day today too and not as cold.

Making the most of an earlier than expected finish we took advantage of the fact that we were only a few miles along the road from Adrian Clifford! So we had kept it as a surprise to pop in and visit him and Dawn. Really great to see them both and have a cuppa and a catch-up and meet the beautiful Molly, I should have got a pic of her.

It was a reluctant departure from our really fab digs in Harlow this morning, wish we were staying there again this evening, one to keep on the list for next time, tonight’s digs in Halstead not so good, bit of a contrast, suppose you need a bit of balance! It’s a lovely area though and I managed to get a walk in before sunset. Plus it’s only a mere hop of a commute in the morning. – https://ift.tt/Gdqibfk

Day 1 of 4 – Ely – Last Trip Away of the Year…

An early start to head down to Ely to see Philip’s Y reg MGF 1.8 mpi in paint code GUF.

The minor service was due, plus Philip had noticed a slight coolant loss and had been topping it up every so often. From his description it sounded as though it was coming from the inlet manifold, and sure enough on pressure testing the system coolant was indeed coming from the manifold on the passenger side. Manifold removed and a new gasket fitted. System pressure tested again to check for leaks, problem now cured. The expansion tank cap was also faulty so a new tested one fitted.

It was good to see Philip again, with thanks to him for the cuppas on an extremely wet day, and big thanks to him for the very thoughtful Chocs and Beers for Christmas 🎄

We’re now in Harlow for the night in some fantastic digs. – https://ift.tt/ngdu9Zj