A brand new me

A few weeks ago Murray took me over to Leading Roding in Essex to see Jason Waller and the team at Classic and Sports Cars who were the people who reconditioned my engine nearly three years ago.

The experts there flushed my radiator and adjusted my tappets, checked and changed the timing and generally gave me the “once over”.  Just after telling Murray I was ready to be collected the observant lads noticed a water leak from the rear of my engine.  Unfortunately, there was no way to locate or, indeed, fix the leak without completely removing my engine.

So they set about that, took out my engine and installed it in a test rig, located the leak and replaced the faulty gasket then had to re-install my engine and make sure it was all just as it should be.  When they were sure all was OK the called Murray again and he came over today to collect me.

We then drove around 60 miles up to my winter hotel near Milton Keynes and Murray was extremely impressed with the way I was running after Jason and the team had worked their magic.

Trolling along the dual-lane roads at 60mph was no problem and there was not a sign of my radiator boiling and after a fairly brisk run of that length there was nothing in the radiator overflow bottle that Murray had installed back in May.

The lads at Classic and Sports Cars clearly know their stuff and Murray was very impressed with the results. 

A Pilgrimage

Murray and Christine's daughter was over in London for a visit so we all set off on a jaunt to Abingdon. Abingdon is a special place for us old MGs as it is where were were built and the Abingdon Tourist Office has produced a flyer showing the old routes that were used for test drives as each new car was completed.

These routes varied over the years but we went back to the same route that I was first driven over some 60 years previously.

To be brutally honest, after all the miles I have covered since, over 111,000, I can't really say I remember it all that well, but it was a lovely drive through the Oxfordshire countryside all the same.

2010 Y Spring Run

It is that time of the year again when I and all the other old gals get together with our owners and have our Spring Run.

This year it was a little further away from home base but Murray was confident we could make it there OK so early Saturday morning we set off for Ledbury, over 120 miles from home.  We set off on a route that Murray had planned along the backroads and lanes to keep us well away from the motorways and other busy roads. All was going well until about 75 miles into the journey I started my old trick of losing power and it was clear to Murray that we were not going to make the distance.

Murray made a quick call to Noel at Bewley Motors and discussed the situation and as a result had a look at the points gap.  it was clearly wildly wrong so Murray adjusted the gap and went to tighten the screw to ensure the gap did not alter again, only to discover that the screw thread was stripped.

A little lateral thinking had him swap the two screws on the points plate as one is only a fulcrum and therefore does not need to be tight whilst the other one does require being fully tightened. Fortunately the other screw thread was fine and the trick worked.

However, Murray then discovered that my hight temsion lead had fallen out of the coil. After a bit more work both issues were resolved and we were off again, making it to Ledbury without further incident and well in time for Murray & Christine to go off and enjoy their dinner with the other Y Type owners.

Early Sunday morning saw us all assembled at the start point of the run which was to end at Berrington Hall.  As the end point was even further away from London than Ledbury, Murray and Christine left the others partway through the run and we headed back to London on a gloriously warm day.

We stopped here and there for me to take a breather and for them to get some lunch and finally arrived home tired and happy after an enjoyable weekend. 

New bits

One of the problems that has beset my travels is the radiator using too much water or boiling dry so Murray had lashed up a very Heath-Robinson radiator expansion tank. It was very small and not very well secured. In the May edition of the Octagon Car Club Bulletin, Alan Wakefield had written up how he fitted an expansion tank to MaTilDa, his TD.

He used a bicycle drink bottle and holder and showed where he mounted it. Murray thought that was a very clever idea so rushed out the next morning and brought one from Halfords along with some other bits and pieces and a strip of aluminium bar to mount it on.

A couple of hours later I had a very professional looking expansion tank mounted out of the way of everything else and ready to test on the big adventure next weekend.

Regency Run

Every year, for last 27 anyway, The MG Car Club and MG Owners Club have arranged a run from the Brooklands Motor Museum in London to Brighton. In previous years this has clashed with the Y Register Spring Run so we have never made it. This year the Spring Run is later so Murray booked us on the Regency Run.

We headed down to Brooklands for the start and found, to our surprise, that we were the only Y Type among the 309 MGs that were making the run. I purred my way down along the marked route and we joined the other cars parked in a special area on the Brighton Parade along the foreshore.

After I had cooled down and Murray & Christine had enjoyed their picnic lunch we set off back to London via the byways and small villages.

Our stop on the way back was to be White Down where Christine had been told there was a great display of Bluebells. White Down was on the London side of the North Downs and the road up from Abinger Hammer was an 18% gradient. Boy, was I glad to take a break when we got to the car park, the hill was quite a struggle.

So I sat under a lovely tree and cooled down while Murray & Christine went and wandered through the Bluebells. Then it was time to head home and use my new lights as it was getting dark by the time we finally arrived. The round trip was nearly 200 miles and I performed very well.

Lit up like a Christmas tree

I have spent a bit of time with John and Noel getting all tuned up ready for the season and my engine is running like a top. New spark plugs, points checked, carburettor cleaned and so forth. We went for a short run last Sunday morning to check it out and I was purring along beautifully.

Over winter Murray purchased some new tail-lights for me. They are made of some new fangled gizmos called el ee dees or LEDs. They certainly were not around in my day. Here is a picture that Murray took with the job half done. (Both lights are illuminated.)

So now we will be able to go out at night and people will be able to see us clearly. The brake lights are very bright.

Murray had a few hassles fitting the first one after drilling some holes where the instructions indicated he found that the D-Lamp could not close so he had to move the mounting points back to allow the lights to clear the lens retaining springs. Then the rear of the new light fouled on the lamp body so he had to file the new light mounting board down to gently and carefully allow the lamp to close .

A milestone

Murray came and collected me from my winter storage at the beginning of the month and was told that the oil and water had been checked.

So off we set for London and about a mile down the road there was the smell of burning oil: "Clumsy, he spilt some oil, oh well the smell will go" and on we went.

Not very much further on I was engulfed in clouds of blue smoke. Time for a hasty stop at a very convenient pull-off.

Murray was under the bonnet in quick time to see the oil filler cap not in place and oil being thrown in all directions. The problem was easily rectified and we drove on in a blue cloud as the oil burnt off.

At least the underseal has been done for this season.

A few miles later Murray noticed that the windscreen was covered in water drops but the day was fine. Another stop to firmly tighten the radiator cap which was not even hand tight.

Hey ho! But we made it home OK and my odometer ticked over 111000 as we neared home.

Going wild

I have been out and about but have just not been on the blog keeping it up to date.

On 4 July, Murray and Christine had some good friends visiting from NZ and they were keen to take a trip with me so we drove into central London to collect them from their hotel and then set off to see some lovely English villages. The 'tour' started at Denham then Chalfon't St Giles, Old Amersham and Wendover where they had chocolate cake and coffee and I had water.

On to Startop End, where they had lunch and I had water; then Aldbury; back through Chesham and Beaconsfield, where I had more water and they had nothing; and finally to return John and Robyn to their hotel in London. We all had a great time.

Today we did not venture quite so far afield, just a little way north, nearly to St Albans where the Future Gardens have recently opened. The wild flowers on the drive in were simply fantastic.

Over the fence but down a long country lane is the Royal National Rose Society garden were I was met by one of my more modern cousins, an RV8, then it was home again for another fill of water.

Murray has purchased a new thermostat and housing and will get that fitted soon so hopefully that will stop me boiling away my water so rapidly and reduce the need for the contual filling of my radiator will cease.

Off to the Nether regions

Late on Tuesday night, Murray ordered a new regulator for me from Holden Vintage & Classic Ltd and it was on his desk first thing Thursday morning. Murray thought that was absolutely first class service.

So, on Friday afternoon he removed my original regulator and fitted the new one; a reproduction unit that looks exactly like the old one but made of newer materials. When he had finished, we went for a quick spin around the block and it appeared to be working as a regulator should.

So, today we set off from London for Nether Winchendon, in Buckinghamshire out near Aylesbury. It meant we got to go out past the Chalfonts along the A413 which is one of my favourite routes out of London.

And, if I may say so myself, I performed superbly. The new regulator worked as it should, even coping with a spell of rain requiring the windscreen wipers to be used. In fact, the rain was quite heavy for a time but the new regulator meant that my battery could cope with the extra load and the new wiper blades that Murray had fitted recently meant that he could see to drive.

It was a great day out; it is such a shame that this problem was not resolved before last weekend so that I could have enjoyed the Spring Run.

Murray still thinks I drink too much water: 2.5 litres for the trip today.

Oh no! Not again

It was time for me to meet up with the gang again at the Annual Spring Run. Murray had been very diligent and with the aid of the lads at Bewley Motors had decided that the rough running was due to my regulator not working and not allowing the battery to charge, thus not providing enough oomph to allow the spark plugs to perform properly at higher speeds.

On Saturday morning he collected me and the regulator was working fine. So, we all set off for Winchcombe where the dinner was to be held. We got as far as Oxford when my regulator stopped working and the rough running returned.


It was clear I was not going to make it through the weekend so Murray turned me round and we headed back to London.

And then, horror of horrors, they went off to 'my' weekend with that ghastly new upstart 'Crystal'. Oh the shame of it all!

Apparently they had a great time, there was wonderful weather and a great turn-out of Y Types and new friends to be made. Murray and Christine did the Y Spring Run in the TF and thoroughly enjoyed themselves even if they must have looked horribly out of place in the wrong type of car.

Clara girl, Clara girl, where have you been?

Not to London to visit the Queen, but to Windsor (where she happened to be in residence, but I did not see her) to see HRH Duke of Edinburgh. To celebrate 85 years of the MG marque, the Windsor Rotary Club and several MG clubs organised the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival to as fundraiser for The Prince Philip Trust Fund and other Rotary charities. (They raised over £50000 I'm told.)

The aim was to get a representative of every MG model from 1924 to 2009, the very newest 85th Anniversary Edition, which was unveiled to the public today. The earliest models that made it were two from 1925. Apart from the war years 1940-45 and 1947 & 1962 every year up to 1980 was represented by at least one variant. After that, with the fickle fortunes of BMC, British Leyland, MG Rover etc the representation was a bit lumpy.

However, it was a fantastic turnout of some extremely beautiful examples of the MG Marque down through the years and I was lucky enough to be chosen to represent 1950 and the sole YA.

We had to assemble bright and early for security checks and what-not and to get organised into the specific running order. I was number 77 out of 221 cars that had the rare priviledge of driving up Castle Hill and through St George's Gate into the private area of the Castle. We then drove around the Royal Quadrangle where HRH gave me a cheery wave and then out of the castle and through the private grounds into Frogmore Drive and down to a parking area by the cricket grounds.

Once we were all assembled there HRH drove himself down in his Range Rover and planted a tree, as did Mr He Xiaoqing the Chairman of MG Motors UK. Mr He then presented HRH with the keys to a brand new MG TF LE500 which will be auctioned as part of the fundraising. HRH then got back into his Range Rover and drove right past where I was parked on his way back to the Castle.

With the formal bits over, the public were allowed in to look at the cars so I sat there and soaked up the admiring glances and posed for hundreds of photos. I even had two young lads ask if they could sit in me for a while; they seemed quite amused by my opening windscreen.

Home again, is it summer already?

Murray came and got me from the car hotel this morning and look what I found in my carpark when I got home!

Apparently she is called Crystal. “Crystal”!!! What sort of poncey new-age name is that for a car? She has probably got power steering, ABS brakes, air-conditioning, air-bags, seat belts and all sorts of other stuff that we real girls never had and don’t need. These modern things … I don’t know.

She’s a 58 reg; 58 years younger than me – will she keep her looks for 58 years and turn heads the way I do? I guess I may not be around to find out.

Her older siblings were prone to head gasket failure (HGF) but that apparently has nothing to do with the letters on her number plate.

Hibernating

I had always thought that it was animals that hibernated for the winter but, apparently, Murray thinks that I should try a spot of hibernation as well.

So he has booked me a long-term stay at “The Hotel for Fine Automobiles”, as Storacar call themselves. This is me checking in, and in their loving care I will be dry, snug and warm for the winter.

So, until Murray decides summer has arrived and comes and gets me for another season of shows, runs and picnics – this is me signing off for 2008.

One last summer jaunt and another adventure

The MG Car Club Abingdon Works Centre’s final summer run was set to leave Abingdon at 10 a.m. so we had an early start from London in order to make it there on time.

Dropping over the Chilterns into the Oxford valley plunged us into quite dense fog and Murray was still not sure about whether my regulator was working and charging my battery, so turned on the headlights and wipers with some trepidation.

It was still quite foggy as we passed Dorchester when he noticed a problem on my gauges, not the charging but the oil pressure: there was none!

Fortunately a sign indicated a parking area ½ mile ahead so Murray pulled in there to have a look and it was not too difficult for him to locate the problem, he simply had to look above the drips that were rapidly covering the ground. The pipe that takes the oil from the oil filter and into my engine block was leaking.

After checking that it was not something really simple like a loose fitting, Murray called up his good friends at the AA; fully expecting that the day was over before it had begun and that we would all be going home on the back of an AA truck.

In 30 minutes the AA man arrived and had a look and said he thought he could make a temporary fix. He removed the pipe, which had a hairline crack across it, and after cleaning it up moulded some two-part epoxy metal weld putty and wrapped it around the pipe over the crack. He covered this with self-amalgamating tape and then wrapped the lot in another layer of tape.

After refitting the pipe Murray started my engine and the pressure gauge shot back up to 40 psi and there were no leaks from the repair.

Fortunately Murray had a 5-litre tin of 20-50W oil in the boot so he was able to replace all the oil I had so carelessly spread along the road and we were off again.

We pulled into the centre of Abingdon just in time to catch the other cars before they left. Once Murray had the route book, it was time to find a petrol station and head off for the run.

Keeping a close eye on my oil gauge for the 32-mile run we arrived to find the other 25 cars already there with their owners’ picnic lunches well underway. However, the trail of oil drips told another tale; the repair was leaking. So, after lunch and a look around the Museum of Berkshire Aviation, we set of early to find a Halfords and some more oil. Murray poured about a litre in to get the level showing again on my dipstick.

The pressure held for the 38 miles home to London but the rest of the 5-litre tin had to be used to restore the level. Clearly a permanent part replacement is required but the AA man made a wonderful job of the temporary repair and enabled us to enjoy the day almost as planned.

Kent cruising

An Indian summer arrived and brought a beautiful cloudless weekend with it, so it was time to go cruising in Kent.

An early start meant that we could take the direct route through London without getting snarled in traffic, enabling us to be at Chiddingstone in time for the 11 a.m. Castle opening time.

After a picnic lunch we set off for the second stop at Titsey House.

There was no point attempting the cross-London route in the late afternoon so it was time to tangle with the trucks on the M25. As is apparently typical (I don’t go there often) the M25 was crawling for quite a long stretch so I had no problem keeping up with the flow.

What a busy place, though; the roads are certainly very different from when I first started out in 1950.

Wimbledon Windmill

Today's run, although relatively short at 14 miles, was not without incident. Murray and Christine had decided to visit Wimbledon Common, almost due south down the A219. All was going well until we got stuck in the traffic at Putney about three miles short of the destination. It was a warmish day and all the idling and stop-start driving must have been too much for me as I overheated and boiled dry.

With some very strange noises from under the bonnet Murray only just made it around a corner and off the busy main road before I gave up completely. This time, rather than call the AA, he simply waited until I had cooled down a bit, topped up my radiator and we were off again.

Going home in the afternoon was trouble-free and I still had a good supply of water in the radiator when we returned home. All very odd, really

They hadn't forgotten me after all

I have been languishing under my cover for simply ages. Apparently they have been all over the place: Moscow, St Petersburg, Edinburgh, Berwick-upon-Tweed and so on, leaving me alone at home.

So it was a pleasant surprise this morning to be fired up and on the road. Tackling the North Circular early enough makes it bearable and it was not long before we were out at Mill Green.

They left me there and went for a walk, returning for a picnic lunch.

After that we went to Ingatestone Hall, and then stopped at Mountnessing so that they could enjoy afternoon tea at the foot of the windmill.

Then it was time to go home so we meandered our way back to London via the back routes meeting some rather interesting other road users.

MG M Group Saloons Day

The day that Murray & Christine came to collect me last year was the day on which the MG ‘M’ Group had their saloons day gathering so, as I reported on the blog, we called in on the way home; and it was just after we left the Saloons day that all my troubles began.


The 2008 MG ‘M’ Group Saloons Day was held today and Murray considered it a bit of a challenge to make it there and back without incident as ‘proof’ that, for the moment, the troubles are over and I was behaving as I should. He also wanted to take me for a decent run to see if the water consumption problem had been fixed with the fitting of my new water pump.

So, bright and early this morning we headed north, out of London and on to the M1. Fortunately the speed limit through the road works up to Junction 9 is 50mph so we did not hold anybody up. From Junction 9 we went up the A5 to Milton Keynes then took the A508 through Northampton and up to the venue at Lamport House.

Although the weather forecast was for fine, sunny weather there were a couple of light sprinkles and it was quite chilly. I was the only Y there this year; the nearest cousins were three Magnettes – well down on the 10 that were present in 2007.

Because of the inclement conditions we slipped away early and headed home via Holdenby House and the back routes and byways to Winslow and then London.

Murray was very pleased with me today: cruising effortlessly at 55-60 mph; fuel consumption , 33 mpg, much better than in the past; and, in 160 miles, I used less than a litre of water, quite a change from the 1 litre per 10 miles problem that started my troubles a year ago.

Home again

Well, the pulley did not arrive in time for the weekend and when it did John discovered that the bolts holding it all together were the wrong size. It seems someone has done a bit of a 'bodge' job at some stage and the holes in the spacer have been bored out to the wrong size.

But the lads at Bewley sorted it all out and tonight Murray came and collected me and we went for a short run on the motorway. I simply purred along at 60mph and even made 65 for a short while and Murray was still not pushing me as hard as I could go. I haven't done 65 in years - it is really quite a rush for an old girl like me.

Hopefully this weekend we will be able to get back to the MG Saloons Day, a lot has happened since the 2007 Saloons Day - it has been rather an eventful year.

Man the pumps

The vibration was due to a badly worn water pump and the reason that it was becoming more obvious at lower speeds was that the wear was getting worse.

So I now have a brand new water pump to go with all the other new bits but unfortunately the old fan belt pulley was too worn to fit properly on the shaft of my nice new water pump. Hopefully the pulley will arrive in time for it to be fitted before the weekend, as Murray would like to take me on the Epsom Area MG Owners Club run to the Bluebell Railway on Sunday. We shall see.

It will also be interesting to see if the new water pump also solves the persistent but small water leak that is still troubling Murray. John said that when he took the old pump off there was some evidence of leakage behind it, so fingers crossed.