Topic

A total loss lubrication system. Similar to a steam engine & a Land Rover, my son refers to the engine oil system as a continuous but very slow oil change.

I can see you have a Workmate, you are not afraid of mixing battery types, you have used Cliffe products 4mm binding posts , you have a roll of brown packing paper & scissors, if the board on which the lens is mounted isn’t a match for the lens, then you can cut a good circular hole, but I’m buggered if I can recognise the origins of the lens. You also have a MES batten holder under the lens, probably with a 6.3v bulb.
M

Well spotted. For those interested the lens is from an MG Midget front indicator - the remnants from a damaged light cluster from my first MG.

TF out of hibernation for a nice 280 mile round trip to see my son in Cambridgeshire. The hard top really paid off for the trip back on Sunday in heavy rain on the A1.

First plug change in my TF ownership. Previous plugs had rusty threads, the pointy gap was way too large and non-branded.
New NGK Iridiums really felt different. Well worth the £40.

Very sensible and always worth doing if there is doubt they have been changed for a while.
Its remarkable (ok, lets actually say it's bloody stupid) that owners of petrol driven cars fail to change the spark plugs at regular intervals. My first TF ran quite poorly at first but a change of plugs transformed it into a little great runner with less than an hour's work.
A friend recently bought a tiny Toyota IQ, a very small car with a very small 3 cylinder engine but tall gearing. It had no grunt at all in the lower gears and I couldnt believe it was made to run like that. A change of spark plugs and air filter immediately changed it back into the nippy runabout it was designed to be. Now i can understand someone shying away from a plug change on a V12 Jaguar or something exotic that needs half the engine dismantled to get to the plugs but it beats me anyone sane would put up with crap performance on straightforward cars for the sake of less than an hour's work with basic tools.

Notanumber wrote:

Very sensible and always worth doing if there is doubt they have been changed for a while.
Its remarkable (ok, lets actually say it's bloody stupid) that owners of petrol driven cars fail to change the spark plugs at regular intervals. My first TF ran quite poorly at first but a change of plugs transformed it into a little great runner with less than an hour's work.
A friend recently bought a tiny Toyota IQ, a very small car with a very small 3 cylinder engine but tall gearing. It had no grunt at all in the lower gears and I couldnt believe it was made to run like that. A change of spark plugs and air filter immediately changed it back into the nippy runabout it was designed to be. Now i can understand someone shying away from a plug change on a V12 Jaguar or something exotic that needs half the engine dismantled to get to the plugs but it beats me anyone sane would put up with crap performance on straightforward cars for the sake of less than an hour's work with basic tools.

Nah that bit about the Jag V12 plugs is just an old wives tale, usually told by pub mechanics who’ve never seen one.
I’ve had Jag V12s and as is my won’t did all the maintenance, repairs and modifications myself and never had to resort to anything but the right tool for the job to easily remove the plugs. It’s those same pub mechanics that parrot away about how terrible our Fs and TFs are………the stupid bastards, wouldn’t know the difference between their arsehole from their armpits without having a sniff!
Jag V12s came with a spark plug wrench in their tool kit, whilst not a fantastic tool of professional quality it could adequately be used to remove the plugs without all that much difficulty. Of course I always used tools of the highest professional standard, so I never had any difficulty at all!

You’re sounding a lot better thank goodness, you could pass as 100% fit.
Don’t get too grumpy yet, you don’t want to have another do.
M

Im not singling out a Jaguar V12 as especially challenging to work on there. Just a well known example of an engine with more cylinders than a cow has teats hence it's a more serious task for someone to buy and swap 12 spark plugs. Whereas just having 4 on our cars is beer money and 10 minutes work hence no excuse not to do it.

A short while ago I spent a very pleasant & instructive day at the Shuttleworth Collection at Biggleswade. This is a collection of vintage aircraft right from the first heavier than air era up until & just after the Second World War.
If changing spark plugs daunts you, be thankful you are not called to change those in an early aero engine, nor would you enjoy choosing the correct plug, most of which could be stripped down to component parts for cleaning.
The Shuttleworth has displayed case after display case of spark plugs that encompasses the entire history of aviation.
I don’t recall a display of plug spanners but they must have been many & various.
Part Two.
The footwell carpets are much better at staying put since changing to the later pattern but they still try & escape around the rubber trim.
A chap has designed & made, probably 3D printed, plates that coral the recalcitrant bit & are allegedly effective. But not loose change in cost.
A good idea requires a response; so a piece of A5 size Perspex was butchered & some MG Rostyle wheel centres bought. After the application of an amount of craftsmanship I ended up with these, as illustrated.
M

Where’s the bloody pictures gone!

Those look rather fine and at a fraction of the cost.