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🇳🇴Norway trip – 7th – 11th August 2026

🗺️ Skein & Porsgrunn…

Gisle had got in touch with us earlier in the year as he had seen that we make trips abroad. He’s owned a couple of MGs in the past and had bought himself a 1998 MGF 1.8 mpi in British Racing Green that he was aware was in need of some work. It had been sat in his garage for over a year while he found the time to get around to it.

After a bit of planning and liaising with Gisle on whether he would come to us or us go over to him a trip was formulated.

We flew out on Friday morning from Manchester to Sandeford Torp airport, where it was really great to finally meet Gisle, who picked us up and dropped us at our digs in Porsgrunn, where we were booked in to for the next four nights.

We got cracking bright and early on Saturday morning and headed over to Skein, where the car was located.

Head gasket replacement carried out, as the one on it was a Mk II elastomer, which had done its time. Full cambelt service also carried out. Plus we also carried out a full clutch replacement, free-off of a very stiff release-arm, clutch fluid bled through and a new clutch slave-cylinder fitted, along with new clevis pin as the one on the car had a big step in it.

A few days before our visit Gisle had noticed some coolant loss underneath the car, which we discovered was due to a hole in the underfloor coolant pipes. Fortunately, Gisle still had a decent set on one of his old cars, so he removed them that evening and we went back over on Sunday morning to fit them. Car ran up to temperature with no issues and it’s now all set for the MOT on Thursday.

Gisle is really looking forward to getting out for a drive and enjoying the fantastic roads out there. The car is a keeper and the intention is for it to eventually be passed down to his children and to be kept in the family.

We enjoyed the afternoon on Sunday and had all of Monday to go exploring. With some very good recommendations from Gisle we visited Brevik and Kragero, both stunningly beautiful places, and of course we purchased the requisite fridge magnets and sampled the local icecream, it had to be done!

We flew back to the UK this Tuesday afternoon and are now on on the M62 on our way back home. What a great experience and so good to have the opportunity to visit Norway again. Big thanks to Gisle for his hospitality in providing tea and chocolate biscuits and best of all his fab little Suzuki Swift to get around in . We look forward to hearing from him on Thursday, with some good news!

Thanks Norway, you’ve been amazing, a beautiful country and beautiful people, plus the weather was really good too. 🇳🇴 😎 – https://ift.tt/Ej9Qbhd

Flaxton, Yesrsley, Eckington, Sheffield, Norway…

Following our week away last week we had Monday off in lieu to get our bearings. Tuesday back at the workshop for a few things on the doer uppers and to unload all the detritus from the week before and to get restocked for the rest of the week.

Wednesday morning found us over in Flaxton where it was lovely to see Mark again and his 1998 MGF 120 in British Racing Green (HAM). Minor service carried out, along with gearbox oil change and replacing the clutch slave-cylinder. Thanks to Mark for the brew, nice to have a quick chat before heading off to the next call of the day. This was in Yearsley for the minor service on Sara’s 1997 MGF 120 also in British Racing Green.

Thursday morning found us over in Eckington where it was great to see Peter again, we’d last seen him a number of years ago when he had a couple of MGs, he’s now sold those and bought himself this really nice example of a MGF 75th Anniversary in Mulberry (CDM) with only 13k on the clock. He’d noticed fluid from the offside rear sphere, so asked if we could replace it, plus the clutch slave-cylinder was needing to be replaced too. Thanks to Peter for the cuppa and chats with his lovely furry friends, before heading off a few miles up the road to the next call of the day in Sheffield.

It was lovely to see Tony again who we hadn’t seen for a while, his year 2000 MGF 120 was also in need of a sphere replacement, this one was for the front nearside. Minor service also carried out. Thanks to Tony’s daughter for a cracking brew and the boxes of biscuits from his very sweet grandson!

That brings us to today, Friday, and we’re all set for our next call tomorrow morning, in Norway! 🇳🇴 – https://ift.tt/SAQWT2c

A week away in the South of the UK – 27th July – 1st August 2026…

We went through a number of shires this week; Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire & Worcestershire with visits to the following:

Bedford, Aylesbury, Reading, Finchampstead, Fleet, Farnborough, Andover, Tidworth, Newbury, Stourport-on-Severn & finally Bewdley.

A very bright and early start on Monday morning found us in Bedford, where it was great to see Ian again whom we’d not seen for a number of years, his 2003 TF 160 in Trophy Blue (JFV) is still going strong since we replaced the engine in it about 10 years ago. We’ve seen it a couple of times since between then, this time the cambelt service was due, full service carried out along with a brake-fluid change. All done and ready for Ian to get some more track days booked in.

From there we went on to Aylesbury, where it was good to see Richard again and his year 2000 Stepspeed in Tahiti Blue (JRJ) that was also in need of a full cambelt service. He also mentioned an issue with the radiator fan, this was found to be due to a faulty relay, new relay fitted and problem solved.

Following an overnight stay in Aylesbury we headed over to Reading on Tuesday morning, where it was lovely to see Simon again and his 2001 MGF VVC in British Racing Green. Minor service carried out, along with repairs to the wing mirror and door panel. We noticed the header-tank was half empty and on investigation of all the usual culprits it was found to have a leaking heater control-valve, so we swapped this out with one we had with us. Hopefully that has solved that issue. Thanks to Simon for the cuppas in between his work calls. We look forward to returning next year for the cambelt service.

From there we went over to Finchampstead where it was lovely to see Frances again, his 2004 TF 135 was also due for a minor service. Thanks to Frances for the tea and cakes, good to have a chat with him before heading off to our next digs in Fleet. We look forward to seeing him next year for the cambelt service.

With a short commute on Wednesday morning we went along to Farnborough for work on Charles’ 2003 TF 135 in Xpower Grey (LEF). He’d found out from someone last August when we were in the area then and asked if he could be included on our trip this year. It’s fortunate we got there really early as he’d forgotten we were going, stating lack of communication from us, although he’d only just paid the deposit 8 weeks prior. He made us a cuppa, had a brief chat and headed off to work.

Full cambelt service carried out, along with alternator belt. A number of bolts etc. were wrong or missing so we replaced these. There was a strange configuration of a homemade air-hose going around the back of the engine and out the top on the drivers side. This was duly cut down and fed correctly.

After chasing the payment that hadn’t materialised a few days later we were told that the price wasn’t as quoted, we’re actually still awaiting his payment, something tells us that we won’t be seeing it appear.

This was our only job that day as a couple of people I’d offered the afternoon slot to hadn’t got back to confirm. However, that worked out well as Simon had got in touch so say following a drive in the car the heaters were blowing hot, so we headed back over to Reading to take a look. All that was needed was an adjustment to the cable, we normally adjust them so that you can get full heat, in this case we adjusted it so that it would go fully the other way. Pleased to have been able to get back to sort that for Simon. Thanks to his wife Vania for the cuppa.

After an overnight stay in Andover we went along to Tidworth on Thursday morning, where it was good to see Andy again and his 2002 TF 135 in Trophy Blue (JFV).
Full cambelt service carried out and a few missing bolts replaced. He’d initially thought that his clutch was in need of replacing, so we went armed with clutch kit. On checking we found that the clutch slave-cylinder had definitely done its time, it was well gunked up. New slave and clevis fitted, clutch release-arm freed off, new fluid bled through and he’s good to go, saving himself some money too.

Having an earlier than expected finish we made our way to our digs in Newbury, and noticed a sign on the way for the Flying Museum at Middle Wallop, so thought we’d have a look in, so pleased we did too, what a fantastic place, so very interesting, good job the tickets last for a year as it does need more than one visit, definitely worth going to if you find yourself in the vicinity.

Following a very noisy and disturbed night in Newbury we had a short commute on Friday morning, where it was lovely to see Roger again, his 2011 TF 135 (post LE run Chinese version) was also due for the cambelt service. Full service carried out, along with fitting one of the 3-way coolant-connectors that Mike Satur produces, a very worthy replacement for the plastic one that has a habit of snapping all too easily. Roger has a slightly annoying leak on the drivers side window that only shows itself in the rain, not when a hose pipe is held over it, so Jon did his best to pack it out, hopefully that’s done the trick!It was good to have a chat and a cuppa with Roger and his lovely wife before we headed off up to Stourport-on-Severn for our last lot of digs on this trip.

So we were up bright and early this Saturday morning to head along to Bewdley, where it was really lovely to meet David and Debra. David has a bit of a collection of MGs and usually does a lot of the work on them himself. Today we replaced the head gasket and carried out the cambelt service for him on his 1997 MGF VVC in Flame Red (COF). When running the car up to temperature the rad fan was coming on, on code reading found it to be due to the coolant temperature sensor, we had a secondhand one on the van so swapped it out, which has resolved that issue. Big thanks to them for the bacon butty, buns and many cuppas. A pleasant mornings work to round off this latest away trip.

We’re now wending our way back up the country to home. It’s been a long week, with not a lot of sleep so we’re definitely looking forward to our own bed and best of all seeing our beloved puss.

Hope everyone near and far is having a grand weekend! – https://ift.tt/8TjLUbq

Workshop week and a visit to the west coast…

A few cars were dropped off at the workshop over the weekend, so we got cracking with a bright and early start on Monday morning.

First up was Robert’s 2005 TF 135 in Ignition Blue (JGY) for full underfloor treatment and a couple of bits of welding. All done and ready for Rob when he can get down from Durham to pick it up.

Jane and Lee’s year 2000 MGF 143 in Nightfire Red (CAQ) had developed couple of issues and they’d dropped in on spec last week to see if we could take a look when we had a gap. Head gasket replaced, the cam sensor had fallen apart so we replaced this, along with a faulty coolant temperature sensor. The SRS light was on, which was down to a broken wire, all done and ready for them to come over from Rossington to collect. They do some fantastic trips in the car so here’s to many more amazing miles.

Justin’s LE500 (60/500) in Vibrant Orange had been noted to require some attention to the underneath at the last MOT. Our full underfloor treatment carried out, along with a couple of bits of welding. Work all completed and ready for Justin to come over from Cottingham to pick it up.

Bill took a drive over from Boroughbridge on Wednesday afternoon in his 2005 TF 135 in Firefrost (CEV) for us to give the car a check over, particularly to the sills as he was wanting to keep the car in good shape and prevent any potential issues as far as is possible. He’s now the grand age of 88 years and admits that his days of crawling under cars is no longer for him. What a lovely chap, it was great to see him again and have a chat and a cuppa. Minor service done, couple of things noted and off he went for a sunny drive back home.

With an early start on Thursday morning we headed over to Formby, the M62 was its usual clogged up self, so not surprisingly we arrived half an hour late, despite messaging Bill with our late arrival time he was in a slight panic that we’d forgotten and ran off with his deposit!

Bill was keen to get his 2009 TF 135 in Trophy Blue (JFV) back on the road as it had been stood for a while due to the clutch-release arm seizing up. Full cambelt service carried out, the clutch-arm took some freeing off as it was absolutely solid, clutch-slave cylinder replaced, full brake-fluid change and the car is good to go for the MOT. It was good to meet Bill, glad we’ve got his car back on the road, thanks to him for all the cuppas and chocolate biscuits.

As we were only a mile away from the beach and the sun was out we took the opportunity to have a look. What a beautiful place and the surrounding area is a National Trust site, definitely worth a visit. So after the requisite bacon buttie and a brew we headed back home.

Van all stocked up today with the parts and kit needed for our next trip away, commencing in Bedford with an early start on Monday morning.

We’re looking forward to one of our doer uppers being viewed on Saturday, we’ve been right through this car, it’s now finally complete and ready for sale.

Hope it’s a great weekend for everyone near and far. 🌞 – https://ift.tt/G3MhLSw

I gave myself the day off on Monday as it was my Birthday, which was great for us to spend it with family, doing as little as possible!

Back at it early Tuesday morning, which found us over in a very sunny Stockport, where it was great to meet Michael who owns a Caterham 7, that had been giving him some issues over the past couple of years. He’d done a lot of work himself and also had it in to various places, but rather than pull it all apart again himself he asked us to come over and help, as he was experiencing signs of head gasket failure shortly after the head gasket had been replaced.

We confirmed it was the head gasket that had failed so this was duly replaced. An enjoyable mornings work with Michael with lots of interesting chats as we did. MOT time for the car next week, fingers crossed that’s the end of the problems and he can get out for a proper blast round a track! We look forward to the update.

A bit more of a local ish one on Wednesday up in Boroughbridge on a bit of a chilly morning for work on Joe’s 2003 TF 135 in Trophy Blue (JFV). Full cambelt service carried out without any issues. It was really nice to meet Joe briefly as he was on a work-from-home day, he came out to offer us another brew and couldn’t believe that we were already packing away the tools.

The first call on Thursday morning was over in Tunstall, where it was lovely as always to see Mick for work on one of his MGFs. He’s heading off with Sammy in their 1999 MGF VVC in Mulberry Red (CDM) for what sounds like a brilliant trip to Portugal in a couple of weeks time.

Minor service carried out, along with replacing the coil pack (oof they’re an eye-watering price now) and the HT leads. Car given a good check over, spare alternator belt provided and spare coolant cap pressure tested. Unfortunately, between us we weren’t able to source the correct wiper-motor for it as the current one is a tad slow. Hopefully it will last the trip! Big thanks to Mick for more of their delicious chutneys. Hope he and Sammy have a fab trip, we look forward to hearing all about it.

From there we pootled along the road up to St Helen Auckland where it was lovely to meet Kevin. His 2000 MGF 120 mpi had been stood for a while and the inevitable had occurred with the clutch release-arm seizing up, the slave-cylinder was well gunged up with perished seals too. Release-arm eased off, new slave-cylinder fitted, all the old fluid bled through resulting in a nice easy clutch pedal once more. MOT time for the car next week and Kevin can get back to enjoying his car again.

With our last call of the week being in Appleby-in-Westmotland we had decided that rather than travel all the way back home we would stay over. So with having a couple of hours free in the afternoon we made the most of our English Heritage membership and took in a visit to Barnard Castle followed by a brew in the town centre. Not forgetting of course Jon’s obligatory call in to the chocolate shop!

After a stop over in a fab place in Greta Bridge we headed on up to Appleby-in-Westmorland this Friday morning, where we met Pete and his 2004 TF 115 in Starlight Silver (MBB) that he’s owned for 17 years. With pretty much trouble free motoring in all that time he’d recently been having the odd over heating issue along with a couple of other niggles. One of which, was a coolant leak at the front of the car, this was easily sorted as it was found to be a split in the bottle of coolant in the wheel well!

On code reading found that the Lambda sensor was at fault and the exhaust was blowing, Pete had asked us to bring an exhaust gasket, all of the manifold studs were found to be just finger tight, which wouldn’t have helped matters. Exhaust-flexi removed as the Lambda sensor would not budge. Lots of heat later and eventually it came out, so we retapped the hole and fitted the new sensor, exhaust-flexi and manifold refitted with new gaskets, which now sounds a lot quieter! We pressure tested the system, found one of the clips on the hoses not actually attached, the coolant cap wasn’t holding enough pressure so hopefully this has resolved the issue. Time will tell when Pete takes it on another run. Let’s hope that it hasn’t caused any further issues, but it may have developed a very slight weep. Nothing that can’t be sorted anyway. It was great to meet Pete and have such an interesting chat with him, we could have stayed and talked all day!

So after a slow Friday afternoon run back along the A66 we’re now home. What a good week with fab people and their fab MGs in some beautiful locations. I did manage to get an evening walk in when we stayed over in Greta Bridge, which took me to ‘The Meeting of the Waters’, what a stunning place, apparently it’s a painters paradise, you can definitely see why.

We’re looking forward to seeing Mat and his Dad tomorrow when they come over from Leeds to pick up Mats TF. We’ve a couple of people dropping off their MGs on Sunday ready for us to get cracking on next week.

Have a great weekend everyone, and hopefully some top down fun in the sun. ☀️ – https://ift.tt/pRzuhnH

Workshop week and an interesting one too, but by gum hasn’t it been warm! 🥵

We originally had John’s TF 160 booked in for a subframe swap both front and rear, but he’d recently looked at the front one and decided it didn’t need doing, so asked for our thoughts regarding the rear once we’d seen it. In the interim he’d also been chatting to Mat about his other TF, that we’d carried out a conversion on a few years ago from a 135 to a 160, Mat was keen to have this done to a 135 he’d recently bought. So John asked if he could share the week with Mat to get this done for him.

Mat set about sourcing all the parts he wanted for the conversion and had the car delivered to us over the weekend loaded with everything, apart from the wiring loom that hadn’t arrived.

We got cracking first thing on Monday. Cylinder head off and replacement cylinder head fitted, which was in fact a 143, not a 160, which had arrived not fully assembled, which seemed strange at the time, so we set about installing and timing the VVC mechs, all ancillaries swapped over on the inlet-manifold to the new one he’d got and everything put back together so far as we could without the loom, new belts, water pump, tensioner, oil, oil filter, alternator belt, plus a previously remapped ECU from a ZR.

Mat and his Dad managed to arrange collection of the loom and after a bit of a schlep came over with it on Tuesday morning. It was good to see Mat and meet his Dad, and enjoy a chat over a cuppa before they headed home to Leeds.

Loom duly fitted and car fired up, unfortunately the dubious cylinder-head sounded absolutely dreadful, to the point that we’d only run it for 30 seconds max for fear it would cause further damage.

After talking it over with Mat he decided he wanted to go ahead with making it right. Car stripped down again and one of our 160 cylinder heads fitted. On firing up we found on code reading there were further issues with the Lambda sensor and then also found to be issues with the ECU. After contacting Mark Stacey at Kmaps it’s thought that the supplied ECU had a pirated degraded copy of Mark’s software.

We then replaced the Lambda sensor and the ECU with one we had on stock and all now running as it should. So pleased to have this done for Mat, he’s going to get the bodywork sorted, he’s got new black leather seats to go in it. We gave it a bit of a blast with the jet wash and a removal of twigs etc., it will be great to see it once it’s back to its former glory. I’m sure Mat will enjoy it amongst his other MGs and hopefully his Dad will enjoy the ride in this one. It’s got the potential to be a good car, someone has obviously spent money on it in the past. Good to see another one saved.

Work all completed on John’s TF 160 in a 1 of 1 paint colour that I’m sure many of you will have seen at shows and features in magazines. It’s fairly recently had a respray and looks great.

Full clutch replacement carried out, along with freeing off a very stiff release-arm. John had bought some upgraded stronger anti-roll bars for the front and rear, along with new drop links. He’d also bought a couple of new window mechs, on removing found that the wiring wasn’t compatible, so Jon soon had this fettled. They’re really nice and smooth now.

The rear subframe we found to be in really good condition, so after a chat with John he was happy to go with our recommendation. Both subframes wire brushed, rust cured and painted with black Hammerite. Plus we treated the whole of the underside with Upol Gravitex. Looks really smart underneath the car as it does on the top!

Then finally a Kmaps remap put on the car and all good to go for John to enjoy many more miles in. It was lovely to see John as always when he came over from Selby this afternoon to collect.

All in all it’s been a full on week and glad to have everything completed on Mat and John’s cars. Have a brilliant weekend everyone near and far, those that aren’t working that is, try and stay cool those that are, it’s set to be another scorcher!😎 – https://ift.tt/y8BRFpM

📭 📝 When enquiring via email please do check your junk/spam folders as many of our replies are annoyingly dropping into there. 🗑️ We’ve had a number lately where we haven’t received any replies and have since found this to be the cause. 📧 💻

⚙️ Best regards as always, Claire & Jon🛠️ – https://ift.tt/GbNSKv7

North East trip – 29th June to 3rd July 2026.

Taking in; Gosforth, Wideopen, Cramlington, Blyth, Bedlington, Newcastle, Gateshead.

Friday and back home after a successful week away in the north east, it seems yonks ago now our start of the week on Monday morning in Gosforth, where it was great to meet Colin for work on his 2003 TF 135 in Le Mans Green (HFN). The car had been overheating since having a split in a hose. First off we had to fettle the bonnet release, once that was done we cracked on with replacing the head gasket, the fuel filter as it had been fitted upside down, plus a new coolant cap and now all good to go.

A sunny Tuesday morning found us in Wideopen, where we met Duncan and his 1998 MGF VVC, in British Racing Green (HFF) for a short cambelt service. The expansion tank was snapped at the base, therefore explaining the loss of coolant, so we replaced this with one on our stock in the van.

We then went over to Cramlington, where it was lovely as always to see Alan. His 2010 TF 135 (post LE run) was booked in for the annual minor service, he’d also been experiencing an issue with intermittent non-starting so we’d taken along a new starter motor. Minor service delayed as he’s not really been doing the miles, so may as well keep his money in his pocket and we’ll see him next year. Thanks to Alan for the big pot of tea! Plus, it was lovely to have fusses with his woofers and Frank kept a close eye on proceedings!

A short commute up to Blyth for work on Ian’s and Terry’s MGs on Wednesday morning.

First up was Ian’s 2012 TF 135 (another post LE run), which was booked in for a full cambelt service (where do the years go?!). He’d also been experiencing some issues with the car where it was becoming too unreliable to drive. He’d had it in to a coupe of local garages who despite many tries couldn’t resolve the issue. On code reading, the main culprit being the Lambda sensor, so this was replaced. Following a test drive, all seemed good. As we were still in the area we advised a further test drive the following day for the car to relearn its fueling.

Next up was Terrys 2001 Trophy in Trophy Yellow (FAR) that he’d dropped off at Ian’s that morning. Cambelt service carried out for him, again where do the years go! Good to see him and Katie again and have a quick catch-up when they came to collect. Big thanks to Ian for the regular supply of welcome cups of tea and his new recipe rock buns!

A very windy Thursday morning found us heading up to Bedlington for a full cambelt service on Paul’s 2009 LE 500. Great, as always, to see Paul and have a good chat while we worked and thanks to him for the many cracking brews and of course the chunk of chocolate fudge cake for Jon.

From there, we trundled a few miles up the road to Morpeth, where it was lovely to meet Ian for the minor service on his 2005 TF 115 in Starlight Silver (MBB). Good to have a chat and a brew, hope he has a grand time at the MG Northumbria show on Sunday in his MGBGT.

Following a message from Ian to say that all still not right with his TF we went back over to see him in Blyth. This time we replaced the throttle body with one on stock and following a test drive everything seemed to be right. Good to hear later that evening, following a further run out, that his car was running as good as. Really pleased to have this sorted for him as he uses it for his work.

That brings us to our last day today, Friday morning and we left our digs to head a few miles along the road into Newcastle. Nigel had got in touch regarding his son’s recent purchase of a 2001 MGF 1.6 in British Racing Green (HFF) that was well overdue its cambelt service. Full service carried out, along with a full suspension pump up as it was very low on its stops. Lambda sensor also replaced as they had experienced a combination of mis-firing and stalling.

Have a great weekend everyone where you can, we just realised it’s the British GP this weekend, so I think we’ll be sat watching that on Sunday on the tellybox, maybe one day we will make it in person, it’s on the to do list! 🏎️ – https://ift.tt/VzMnUAh