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(Hull), Wakefield, Leeds, Derby…

Whoosh and another week has flown by, with the beginning of it being an absolute wash out! We had received a couple of cancellations for this week, so I went through the cancellation list and filled a couple of slots. One of which, was a local ish booking in Bransholme, but it would have been a bad move to carry out the work, which was for head gasket replacement and underfloor coolant pipes, the car was in the street, which was just one huge puddle, along with flood warnings in the area, we literally had to take a rain-check. The owner understood and is happy to wait for a further cancellation.

We went over to Grange Moor, near Wakefield, on Tuesday morning, where, thankfully, it was dry, although a bit on the nippy side. It was lovely to meet Tony and his 2001 MGF VVC in British Racing Green – HFF, that he’d owned from new. Full cambelt service carried out. Good to chat with Tony while we worked, thanks to him for the cuppas and homemade cake.

We headed over to Roundhay, near Leeds, on Wednesday morning to carry out a full cambelt service on Mat’s year 2000 MGF 120 mpi in British Racing Green – HFF. It was lovely to meet Mat, who runs a classic car club, it was at a meet that he was given one of our cards by a friend of ours, thanks Chris!

Thursday found us over in Burnaston, near Derby, for work on David’s 1998 MGF VVC in Platinum Silver – MNX. Having owned classic cars in the past and also a current owner of two MGB GTs he fancied seeing what an MGF was like. He had found himself this excellent example, with very low mileage. Though everything else with the car was spot on, he’d found the ride a little harsh. So we swapped out all four of the hydragas spheres, hopefully he’ll notice a difference when he gets back out in it again, next spring. Small coolant leak, that he’d mentioned, traced and hopefully fettled. Great to meet David, with thanks to him for the cuppas and not to mention his garage, sheltering us from the grotty cold and drizzly rain.

We had the day off today for me to get on with some essential work needed at home and for Jon to get over to Rimmer Bros in Lincoln to pick up some parts required for some jobs coming up in the workshop over the next couple of weeks.

One of our enquiries this week came all way from America, now that would be great one to do, but I think we’ve managed to help him out remotely.

Have a great weekend everyone near and far, though looks a bit of a wet one all round, stay warm and dry. – https://ift.tt/uRhJ5nK

Workshop week and a bit of a chilly one…

Not the week we had planned as we were going to have a break away somewhere, but decided against it and thought we’d best get cracking with work instead, plus couldn’t keep putting off those essential DIY jobs.

Chris had brought down his 2003 TF Stepspeed, in xpower grey – LEF, all the way from his home in Acharacle, that we’ve enjoyed a few visits to now. He and his wife Sam made a trip of it and visited family and friends in the area. They picked a bad week weather wise as one of their stops was in Scarborough, where there was quite a big dumping of the white stuff! Glad that they made it over to us safe and sound to drop off the car and are now back up in the Highlands.

The car was booked in for replacement of the drive-plate, Chris had sourced the plate from DMGRS, who stock the correct one for this model. So we replaced this, which went well considering the gearboxes on this model weighs so much more than the standard PG1 boxes, so aligning it to go back on can be a bit a challenge.

Unfortunately, on Chris and Sam’s epic journey down they noticed that the temperature gauge had risen in traffic, with no significant loss of coolant. On pressure testing the system found coolant to be coming from the block and the thermostat housing. So we replaced the head gasket along with a new thermostat and housing.

Chris had also mentioned another strange noise from the rear. When it came removing the hub and drive-shaft the hub fell straight off the drive-shaft, the retaining C-spring on the end of the drive-shaft was in two halves. So we replaced this with one we had on another secondhand drive-shaft off a spare CVT gearbox.

The CV boot on the nearside rear also had a split in it and had deposited a load of grease in to the rear wheel. New CV boot fitted and grease cleaned up.

Couple of other small things to sort and then all ready for Chris to collect in a couple of weeks time.

Leona had brought over their MGF 120 ‘Princess’ for some further work, as she had been given a couple of advisories on a recent MOT. Welding carried out to the inner sill/floor area, replacement of the Lambda sensor and an MOT carried out by the company we use on the site. Pleased to hear that Laura is now fit to be able to drive her again, and they collected her last night. Let’s hope both Laura and Princess are able to get some miles done between them finally.

Terry came down to the workshop today to collect his MGF 75th Anniversary, that was in with us a couple of weeks ago for welding, as mentioned on previous post, and then it had gone round to the paint shop next door at AM Paintworx. The work was finally completed on the car yesterday and does look pretty good! Well done to Aaron and his team for more of their sterling work. Really great to see Terry as always and meet his pal Dave who had kindly driven him down from Darlington.

Have a great weekend everyone near and far, weather is a bit of a mixed bag, but at least it’s no longer in the minuses… for now. 🥶 – https://ift.tt/sjkuO5m

SOUTH CAOST (etc) TRIP – 10th – 16th NOVEMBER 2025…

Monday 10th – Southampton
Our first call of the trip was for the minor service on Mark’s 2001 MGF 120 mpi in Copperleaf (CDX). Nice to see Mark as always for a quick chat before heading off to our digs, for an overnight stay, on Hayling Island.

Tuesday 11th – Hayling Island
A very short commute along the road where it was good to meet John and his 2002 TF 160, in Trophy Yellow (FAR), for replacement of the head gasket. The radiator bleed-screw was snapped off in the hole, but we have a knack of getting them out and carry replacement ones anyway. He’d not long owned the car when the head gasket went, so we’re pleased to have it back up and running again for him to enjoy, it’s a good example having recently had a full respray. Big thanks to John for all the cuppas, sandwiches and cakes, much appreciated.

From there we headed on to our digs for the next three nights in Goring-by-Sea.

Wednesday 12th – Patching
Another short commute, for work on Paul’s LE 500 (number 69) in Vibrant Orange. A couple of things had come up on the recent MOT. We replaced the nearside rear wheel-bearing. We’d taken a new high-level brake light with us, but it was the wiring that was at fault, so this was repaired.

One of the upper suspension arm pin-bushes was badly worn, while we going to be in there anyway Paul asked if we’d replace both sides. The faulty ones came out no problem and new one fitted. The offside one decided it was going to be a pain on one of them, it took about 2 hours to remove the old bush from the arm. We’d taken along a pair of the newly modified top arm pivot kits that Mike Satur produces, they don’t actually have the needle bearings in them, they have Oilite bearings in, see MS website for further interesting information.

Both rear brake calipers freed off, and the car is now good to go again and we got finished before the sun set! Paul does use the car as his daily so is pleased to have it back on the road.

Great to meet Paul, big thanks to him for the endless supply of tea and offers of lunch.

Thursday 13th – Pulburough
The first job of the day was to replace the head gasket on Paul’s fairly new acquisition of a ZR 160, cambelt service also carried out.

Next up was Paul’s wife Juliet’s LE 500 in Intense Blue, which was due for the cambelt service, service items and alternator belt replaced too. We also discovered that the 3-way connector on the coolant hoses was split, a common issue in the LE, we had a new one stock, so replaced this. Finally reverse-light switch replaced and car good to go.

Thanks to their mate Steve for making us a brew.

Friday 14th – West Worthing & Bordon
Another short commute and an early start for the first job of the day to work on Bob’s new acquisition of a MGF 75th Anniversary in Mulberry – CNF. Full cambelt service carried out without any issues. The gazebo had to be deployed as it absolutely tipped it down! Lovely to meet Bob and many thanks to him for the welcomes cuppas, biscuits and offers of breakfast. I forgot to get a photo of the car, as was slightly preoccupied with taking down the gazebo.

After a chat with Bob we headed off to the next call in Bordon.

It was great to meet Roger and his wife, owners of another LE 500 (number 267), this one in Scorched Red. Full cambelt service carried out and replacement of the underfloor coolant-pipes with stainless. Good to have a chat with them both before we headed off.

Saturday 15th – Basingstoke
We left our fab digs and headed over to Basingstoke, where it was good to meet Nick and his 2000 MGF VVC in Wedgewood – JBH. He’d bought the car after it had undergone a fairly major restoration to save it, having owned MGs in the past he wasn’t going to buy another one, but was tempted by this lovely example. He’d found a replacement hood and some seals, and had got in touch a couple of months ago to see if we’d be in the area anytime soon to come and fit them for him, so I added in an extra day on this trip.

An overnight stay in Teignmouth on Saturday night. What a really lovely spot, a new one for us, and the digs were fantastic too.

Sunday 16th – Newton Abbot
That brings us to today, and another day added on the trip to get over to see Alan and his LE 500 (number 353) in Intense Blue.

Engine-oil change, investigate coolant loss, and find the cause for the key fob not working. This will require the services of the genius Mark Brown aka Technozen.

After a chat and a cuppa with Alan we headed off on bit of a long schlep home, but with it being a Sunday the roads have been quiet.

So that’s our last big away trip of the year, and a successful one it’s been. Great to see old faces and meet some new ones too. We’ve been lucky with our digs too on this one. Apart from one dreadful day some decent weather thrown in, unlike many other parts of the country, we’ve been very sad to see on the news, our thoughts are with those affected by storm Claudia.

863 miles, (feels like more), 9 cars and 4 lots of various lodgings. Not long now before we get back to see the cat, and we can look forward to a few days off. – https://ift.tt/n8HyNZW

Our first job of the week found us on a fairly local one over in Kilham, on Monday morning, for work on Phil’s 2001 MGF 120 in Copperleaf (CDX). He’d actually bought the car after selling his Midget, as wanted something to replace it with. Having found our details he read up on everyone’s recommendations for us and bought the car on the strength of those, which was so great to hear!

Full cambelt service carried out and a check over, he’d bought it at auction from Matthewsons, although serviced regularly the cambelt service was overdue, on this very good example.

Great to meet him and his wife Lisa and have fusses with their beautiful woofer Sonny.

A bit of change to the original plans for the week, as a big job we had booked in to the workshop, over a couple of days, was cancelled a couple of weeks ago. So we fitted Terry in for the welding to his MGF 75th. Jon got cracking with this, which has taken a lot longer than expected, as is usually the way.

We went over to another fairly local call in Elvington, on Thursday morning, where it was good to see Jim again and his very nice year 2000 MGF 120 in Wedgewood (JBH).

Minor service carried out, along with suspension pump up, repair to the radio and a check over of a couple of things that were brought up on the last MOT.

Back to the workshop in the afternoon for Jon to continue the welding, and for me to pack the van with all the stock and kit required for our next big away trip, commencing on Monday, right through to Sunday. This will be our last away trip of the year, we don’t normally go away at this time of year, due to uncertain weather conditions and ultimately lack of daylight, but it was necessitated by demand.

We also fitted Laura’s MGF ‘Princess’ back in, as it is having issues with possibly the Lambda sensor, which we will need to swap out, plus it also requires some welding. It will have to wait a little bit longer for us to get sorted, but she’ll get done for Laura to enjoy driving again when she herself is back on her feet.

So that brings us to Friday and the welding is now all complete on Terry’s car, which has been taken round to the bodywork shop next door this afternoon (AM Paintworx), for Aaron to work his magic on next week. We look forward to seeing ‘The Chairman’ all painted and back to rights again for Terry.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, near and far. A quiet one for us, getting the bags packed ready to head off to the south, bright and early on Monday morning. – https://ift.tt/g1CjvyV

🕵️‍♀️ Had a very strange post to our Facebook page the other day, does anybody know who this is please? Tried replying and it won’t send. Seems a bit odd doesn’t it?! 🤷‍♀️ The reg number is of Jon’s modified MG that’s not seen the light of day for a number of years. There were 5 of these weird images (answers on a postcard for your suggestions!) 🤔 – https://ift.tt/40R1Z7Y

When I looked at the diary last Sunday evening I thought it looked quite scary, coupled with coming down with the lurgy it was looking to be a bit of a challenge to get going on Monday morning.

But, we just got our heads down and cracked on, as we do, with cars coming over to us from a few corners of the UK.

Rich had brought his 2003 TF 135 (in British Racing Green – HFF) up to us from Portishead, he’d been staying with his parents locally, so didn’t have too much of an early start on Monday morning.

Full cambelt service carried out, the offside front subframe mount was an advisory on the last MOT so we replaced this with stainless, underfloor coolant pipes replaced with stainless and clutch system bled. Great to meet Rich and his lovely Dad, when they came over to collect, on Tuesday. Good to hear later in the evening that he’d had an enjoyable run back home.

Simon had brought over his 1998 MGF VVC (in Anthracite – LQW) from Birkenhead at the weekend, so we got started on this on Monday afternoon. Full cambelt service carried out, offside rear damper replaced, as this had come up on the last MOT, hydragas pump up, one of the tyres replaced and a few other bits and pieces done. Car then taken round for the MOT on Tuesday morning.

Great to see Simon and his family again and have a chat, when they came over to collect, on Thursday.

Rich had driven over from Tockwith and left his 2003 TF 135 (in British Racing Green – HFF) with us, also on Monday, for a minor service and to investigate an occasional misfire, plus have the boot-light wiring repaired. The misfire was due to a corroded HT lead and heat damaged coil packs, these we duly swapped out and the issue subsequently resolved. Car all ready for Rich to have his annual visit over to Flanders and the surrounding area next week.

Adrian had come over from Dalton-in-Furness to leave his 2002 MGF 120 (in Anthracite – LQW) with us for a full underfloor treatment. This was completed on Thursday for him, ready for him to come back over and collect today. Good to see him again briefly when he dropped the car off on Tuesday.

Stephen came over from Scotter, on Wednesday, to leave his 2001 MGF VVC (in Copperleaf – CDX) for a minor service, check over prior to the MOT, which was carried out at the station we use on Thursday morning, plus we pumped up the suspension as it was sitting a bit low. Lovely to see Stephen again and have a quick chat before he headed off to the local garden centre for lunch. The bracket holding the windscreen wiper-motor was looking a bit corroded on this, otherwise pristine, low mileage car, so I rust treated and painted it, as couldn’t see it being left like that.

And that brings us to today, Friday, we set off bright and early to head up to Consett, where it was great to see Andy again, and his 2001 TF 115 Freestyle. He’d noticed the coolant level dropping slightly after a run, we’d posted him a new cap, but the problem persisted so he asked if we could come up when we had a gap to replace the head gasket. On removing the head, found there to be a very slight leak into cylinder number four. Plus we’d taken up an alternator, as the one it had done its time and was squealing like a banshee. All sorted for him and he’s good to go. We look forward to seeing Andy again next year, when he brings it down to us, at the workshop, for some welding and then on into the body shop next door.

Lastly, we nipped over to the workshop, on the way back home this afternoon, to pop ‘The Chairman’ inside, as Terry had brought his MGF 80th anniversary down from Darlington for some tlc with us next week.

Now Jon’s got the lurgy, but of course his is worse than mine, at least we have the weekend free to get over it. Needless to say, I don’t think we will be heading out tricking or treating tonight! 🎃 👻

Happy all hallows eve and have a really great weekend everyone, near and far. – https://ift.tt/fTbg8IA

Kilburn, Norton, Bishop Auckland…

A shorter week this week, as we had a couple of days booked off, post our Essex trip, to get caught up on a few things.

Thursday morning found us in Kilburn for a cambelt service on Gareth’s 2002 MGF VVC in Copperleaf – CDX. They’d bought it last year as his wife had always fancied one, but the cambelt service history was a bit sketchy, the annual services had been done on a regular basis, but the car barely did any miles each year, with the previous owner, the cars only on 34k miles and in such good condition.

Thanks to Gareth for the garage as the weather was a tad damp. Great to meet him and have a chat while we worked, plus he makes a very good brew! We didn’t meet his wife, but hope she has some fun in the car, a perfect spot to enjoy it in.

A quick nip up to see the ‘white horse’ and then we were on our way to meet Dave in Norton.

Dave had got in touch some time ago regarding issues with a query misfire etc, on his 2004 TF 135, we’d suspected it was down to a faulty Lambda sensor, long story short. On code reading, we found it to be the case, plus it had been fitted with one of the cheap eBay ones. New Lambda fitted and problem resolved. Great to meet Dave finally, and see his impressive LEGO collection, the F1 cars were amazing! I know, we’re daft, but we love that kind of thing. We look forward to seeing him next year for the cambelt service.

Jon went up to Bishop Auckland today to carry out a diagnostics check on a Lotus Elise. Adrian had asked if we could help out with an issue of non starting. He’d recently had a new engine fitted, and then after some time the battery had gone flat, it would fire up for about one second and then shut off, unfortunately even though it’s running a k-series 160 VVC the immobiliser and ECU on the Elise S2 is a Cobra immobiliser and a Lotus ECU, meaning the P-scan couldn’t connect fully, only as an ordinary OBDII reader.

After some investigation, eliminating some more possible faults, it was found that the ECU was the only thing that could be faulty. A Rover 160 ECU could have been fitted, which would have got it running, however, the speedo and the rev counter cluster would not run with the Rover one.

The owner now has three possible options to cure the issue; replace the ECU with a stand-alone ECU, such as an Emerald, run dual ECUs with the Lotus and Rover ECU, or bite the bullet with a main dealer for a Lotus one. 😯

We have a few cars being dropped off over the weekend, ready for a busy week ahead. Have a great weekend everyone, hope the weather isn’t as grotty as forecast for some. 🌧️ – https://ift.tt/giRNCm5

Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire…

An early start on Wednesday morning to head to our first call of the week in Bythorn, where it was lovely to see Paul again and his 2004 TF135 in Royal Blue – JFM. Initially booked in for the cambelt service he’d subsequently got in touch to say he noticed a few symptoms with the car after the last few runs out. As we suspected, it was the proverbial, so we carried out the cambelt service along with replacing the head gasket. Paul had wanted to watch us while we were doing the cambelt service anyway, as was curious as to what’s involved, well he ended up seeing a bit more of his car than he’d anticipated! Thanks to Paul for cuppas and biscuits.

After a nights stopover in St Ives, we headed over to Stansted on Thursday morning. We had two bookings initially for the day, but the owner in Chelmsford had got in touch a few weeks ago to say that he’d reluctantly had to sell his car. Then, unfortunately, the booking in Stansted had given us the wrong address. So, not wanting a completely wasted day we had a hunt through the enquiries book to possibly find someone in the area, that we’d recently had to turn away, and we got in touch with Bob, in Chelmsford, who was delighted that we could come over.

Bob had owned his 1999 MGF VVC in British Racing Green – HFF from new and hadn’t been using it for a couple of years, but wanted to get it back on the road and just wanted the brake-fluid and clutch-fluid changing and a quick check over. Lovely to meet him, glad we managed to get to him at such short notice.

We then had a stopover just outside of Hullbridge, with a short commute on Friday morning to Hockley, where it was great to meet David and his 1997 MGF 120 mpi in Charcoal – LVD, that he’d owned for about three years. He’d been told at a recent MOT that the head gasket had failed and had also thought that the thermostat was sticking.

We arrived really early, and just as well we did, from what we thought was a straight forward head gasket replacement, (cambelts etc all up to date) it turned into a bit of a different story. We removed the head and found that the head was completely full of oil and coolant mixed, which as some of you know turns into a sort of cake mixture, type sludge, this is fairly common. But we then discovered that the hoses weren’t just blocked with the stuff, there were some that were absolutely solid with crud! We removed every one of the coolant hoses, the engine bay pipes and cleared them all out. We replaced the thermostat as that was definitely not going to work again.

When it came to firing it up found that it was still overheating. So we then removed the hoses to the radiator and the radiator itself. These were all flushed out and refitted. What an absolute nightmare. But, us being us just cracked on with good humour and got the job done. Car eventually fired up and fans coming on and off as they should. We’re really pleased to have this one back as it should be for David. Big thanks to him for a plentiful supply of tea! And nice to meet cute Monty dog too who kept an eye on proceedings! With a much later finish than anticipated we headed on up to our digs in Stevenage.

We should’ve actually been heading further south to Gravsend, for a call this morning, but the owner had got in touch last month to say that he’d also sadly had to part with his TF. So I’d had a bit of diary juggling and brought Sundays call forward to today. So we had a short commute up to Little Wymondley, from our digs in Stevenage this morning, where it was great to meet Mark and his LE 500 (paint code 106).

A short cambelt service carried out along with alternator belt all done without any issue. After a chat with Mark we were soon on our way back home.

Not the full on week originally planned, but glad we got everyone sorted, plus we have gained a day off tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a good weekend, near and far. – https://ift.tt/bvCjgeU