Talking cars - blogging in 2013

[talkingcars]

As you may or may not know I have several cars that I look after, there's my ZS180 and T16 maestro, Mrs TC's ZR160 and MGF VVC (well I tell her that - LOL) and then there is Miss TC's R100, there is also James juniors R100 but he is slowly letting that rot and he CBA to a full licence so I'm ignoring that one.

I'm being selfish here and am going to blog what I do with my cars in a hope I do more this year than last. Might even include photos.

Please forgive me if there are refrences to other forums, I belong to too many.

[talkingcars]

New years day - inlaws coming over - yawn - however it is a lovely day and they aren't due until lunchtime so I tided and vacummed the MGF and fitted the £2 scrapyard bargin genuine mats, it looks loved again.

I tided up some of the stuff in the ZS and the ZR which also got it's tyres pumped, I must really sort the slow punctures.

[talkingcars]

Took the ZS down to MJS in Shoreham so they can fix the oil leak - Mike was as friendly as ever, also booked in the MGF for an MOT and suspension check.

Came back by bus, 2 actually, £2.30 for a 10 minute ride and then £5.20 for 1hr 10.

This afternoon I washed the ZR, only remember doing once before :sorry: so it needs some proper TLC.

[talkingcars]

And one last job for today - took down the christmas lights - car related? Yes, the outdoors ones were plugged into the extension lead that supplies the trickle charger in the MGF.

[LozMachine]

Look forward to more of these:) what was the cause of the zed's oil leak? From what i've read it became quite bad?

[daytona365]

Look forward to more tales...........Its ok cos we all petrol heads here, better than talking to a brick wall (my other half lol).

[talkingcars]

I don't know what the leak is yet, they are looking at it in the week.

[talkingcars]

Busy day, just not for cars, I hovered the ZR.

[talkingcars]

Got a call from the garage - cam and rocker seals are leaking - as they will disturb the cam belt to do these they may as well do the cambelt which is due in 12 months - and the thermostat - and as they are that far into it the head gaskets as well - £850 - oh, is the car worth it - a 2001 ZS180 with 118k on the clock and a few other issues????????

Some decsions need making.

And my head hurts :(

[petet16]

Yeah, tough call to be honest

[peterzs]

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dan1971]

Simple answer from the head - No.

You've been after a change anyway.

[peterzs]

Simple answer from the head - No.

You've been after a change anyway.

Thats not because its a Yellow one. is it Dan????

;););)

[Dan1971]

Thats not because its a Yellow one. is it Dan????

;););)

Yellow Mk1s are not my favourites Pete - it's fair to say, but no, not because it's yellow - because the cost IMHO outweighs it's value.

The issue for talkingcars is - is she worth saving ......

[peterzs]

Devil you know etc.

[Nobrainer]

Can you live with the oil leak?

[talkingcars]

Yeah, tough call to be honest

Agreed - apart from an oil leak she is generaly a good car apart from the oil leak, broken handles that I've got replacments for, a slight rumble on a cv joint and a sticking brake - she sailed through the MOT last month with an advisory for a tyre and better than new emisions - I have done loads to her over the years and she is the only car in over 40 I've owned that has been on the road constantly for this length of time and I still enjoy driving her every time I do.

Can I live with the leaks - I could until it considerably worse a couple of weeks ago.

Having slept on it I have decided to get a quote just to repair the leaks and ignore the future proofing works, if that is resonable I'll do it, if not I shall consider doing it myself or even doing my own engine transplant.

[stamford]

That is alot of money, the trouble is you could park it up to do 'another day' then buy a mk2 and then be overrun with cars. Maybe it is time to change, put the money into a good mk2 and dare I say it break the mk1?

[Dan1971]

.....dare I say it break the mk1?

Never thought I'd hear you say that mate ..... I didn't want to as I thought I'd get shot down.....

Still - not like there is a shortage of yellow ones .... ;)

[peterzs]

Bang!!!!!

[grimmy]

It's a lot of money but you clearly have put a lot of time effort and some of "you" into the car James I would look at repair.what about an engine transplant.do the belts when at the same time engines seem to come up pretty often and you sound like you are pretty capable of doing an engine swap.maybe a do something meet could be in order.

[stamford]

Very true grimmy, there's a couple of engines for sale through here at the moment, must be worth considering?

[ZS]

Might even get an engine with the belts done ;) for cheaper than the belts cost to do...

[talkingcars]

5.5 hours just to do the gaskets at £50 an hour - still not worth paying for - I shall collect her and see how bad it is now I know what's leaking - once the F is on the road I'll decide if to do the gaskets or swap the engine (how much is a lightened flywheel?) or get that mk2 with its horrible dash and BCU. I can see me driving the F a lot more this year.

[talkingcars]

The double sided foam to refit the skirts on the ZR arrived today - job for the weekend after swapping the ZS and the F - assuming it isn't snowing.

There is a parcel waiting at the sorting office - might be the LEDs for the ZS door handles.

[talkingcars]

The parcel wasn't the LED's, it was a keypad for Gemmas wireless xbox controller :(

I ran down to the garage to drop of the F and collect the ZS, the F hasn't been driven (except changing parking places) since last June, still drives great except for the low suspension on one side, the noisy wipers and the lack of MOT.

They didn't charge me looking at the ZS and the apprentice will buy her if I decide to scrap, not sure he'd be so keen if the interior, induction, exhaust and other little bits are missing.

The main reason for the high quotes were the amount of labour involved, parts only come to about £150.

Drove her home, I do love driving her, much more "lift up your skirts and run" than on the VVC's of the ZR or F, I definatly don't want to get rid of her, not even if I get followed by police cars - long story - maybe more later - got to go out now - TTFN.

[peterzs]

Hello, hello, hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[talkingcars]

Been thinking about this here oil leak, garage only took the engine covers off, did he mean top and bottom or just the top? If the oil cooler is also leaking would they see this due to the oil leaking from the top of the engine, I doubt it.

Why do I keep going back to the oil cooler? Because there is a much bigger oil slick after I've driven a distance. - http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?p=291704#post291704

Think if it's not too wet tomorrow I shall have the top cover off and do a bit of a jet wash and see what I can find.

Just looked at the cost of gasket sets, Rimmers do a complete set at £114 or they are available on ebay from £49 for a top set and £30 for a bottom.

[bowthruster]

If it were me,with the amount of time/money youve put into you car i would be very tempted to keep her or him!The zs is a good car,it grips well,plenty of power,a few niggles here and there,but what car doesnt.I dont like all the new modern cars,i prefer something different.One of my work colleuges said you've got a rover 45,and i said yeah come for a ride,so i took him for a few miles drive,and let him drive back.......he was shocked,that it went that well and handled that well,he still keeps going on about it now.Its up to you but you will miss it,trust me,i found out the hard way i loved my zr160,but regreted selling it and my zr120,so this is the 3rd time ive come back to the MG brand and i just love it.

[talkingcars]

Don't worry, the ZS isn't going anywhere any time soon.

[talkingcars]

Noticed today that there is something strange today - I filled the ZS with petrol on the 29th of December in Chichester at 118375, today I still have over half a tank of fuel and she's done 118524 - thats 149 miles - even stranger - I drove from Chicester to Horsham, down to Worthing and back, down to Goring to drop the car off, collected her and did about 10 miles locally, that's only 110miles! Draw your own conclution.

[petet16]

Somebody borrowed your car for 39 miles ?

[talkingcars]

I noticed the fuel thing as I drove to Halfords to change my 11.5 month old portable powerpack jump starter as the old one had a loose connection meaning one had to hold the jump lead into the power pack while starting the car - they changed it without question - I've now got the latest version with USB charger port and LED lights.

I also went to get some degreaser and some of the oil they had on offer, should have bought that sooner, it's all gone.

When I got home I got out the jet washer and the hose, put on my wellies and went out to blast the engine bay. One slight problem - jet washers don't like freezing when there is water inside - there was a nice spray from one of the seals and a dribble from the lance :( - had to use the hose, not quite as effective, spent nearly 2 hours and 3 buckets of suds washing her - still looks beautiful when she's clean, well from 10 feet she does, it'll be clay bar time again in the spring.

And oil leaks - had the car running the whole time I was washing her due to all the water I sprayed around the engine bay - no oil on the ground :huh:

I haven't forgotten about yesterdays police car - just saving it for later.

[talkingcars]

Somebody borrowed your car for 39 miles ?

Yes, but who, and when, car has been here with me or at the garage!

[petet16]

The garage when they were looking for the oil leak maybe

[MickUK]

I live in chichester & lived near Horsham? That any help?!

[peterzs]

Well we had to have an extended test drive.....................................

[talkingcars]

The funny thing is the garage owner said that there was no charge as all they did was take the engine cover off. I also noticed when I picked the car up the gauges on the scangauge had been changed. He also said that if I was scrapping the car their apprentice would be interested.

I'm not worried, more amused.

[talkingcars]

Not driven the ZS since before it snowed so I was pleased it started today, was a bit slow to turn over but did fire up.

Both cam cover gaskets and rocker box gaskets are leaking.
To get to them you have to take the cambelt off.
If the cam belt is off you may as well replace the water pump and the thermostat.
And while you are at it you may as well do both head gaskets.

8 hours work plus parts comes in at about £800.

The cam belt alone is a 6 hour job which is due in 12 months but I was considering to risk it as the car has already done 120k, or do it myself.

I had the cover off myself today, and yeah, the gaskets seem to be weeping but I'm not convinced that they are the only problem. I still suspect the oil cooler is part of the problem, if you have the car ticking over for an hour there is no oil on the ground, drive hard for 20 minutes and when you stop there is a patch of oil a 1950's Truimph would be happy with.

I did look at the breathers, if you disconnect the ones that go to the engine side of the throttle she revs faster, is this correct, I guess so.

However where the set that go to the filter side of the throttle join the connector is broken (I may have broken this as I touched it but I don't think so) and there is quite a bit of oil around here. Inside the hose there is quite a bit of mayo and once the engine was up to tempreture the hose was producing steam!

[petet16]

The idle increasing when you disconnect the breathers is normal, could some of your oil leak be oil getting blown out of the broken connector, the steam is probably just warm air from the breather condensing

[talkingcars]

The idle increasing when you disconnect the breathers is normal, could some of your oil leak be oil getting blown out of the broken connector, the steam is probably just warm air from the breather condensing

It is definatly one of the sources, I went to wipe it as there is a distinct patch of oil around it. I think it will be connected up to the catch tank that I fitted 18 months ago but still haven't connected.

[talkingcars]

Been driving the ZS this week - still love her............even after 5 years and that's almost half the time I've know the Mrs!

The most direct route to work is 9 miles, most of it is national speed limit dual carrageway with 7 roundabouts and 1 set of traffic lights, unfortunatly (or not depending which way you look at it) evening traffic means this takes 30-40 minutes to get home and has been made even worse by road works adding another roundabout and one of the cut throughs has been closed due to pipe laying, instead I've been taking the back roads - love it.

I've had a few packages arrive this week, couple of straps for the MGF hood, stainless steel under body coolant pipes for the F (they arrived at the garage), starter button (£2 delivered!), some brass fittings to repair the broken breather pipes and a new filler cap for the ZS.

The cap is going to make some difference, the seal on the current one is flush whith the cap so not doing much good.

And the best bit about this week?

Tomorow I'm catching a bus!

Why is that good you may ask?

Cos I'm going to collect the F, she's all fixed and MOTed and much more fun than the ZR to drive.

[peterzs]

I like driving the TF, but for travelling up to London i'd always take the ZS.

Much easier drive.

[talkingcars]

It really depends on what we are doing, the ZS is definatly better for carrying more than 1 passanger and driving around town but the F is great fun.

[talkingcars]

I've now paid 18 months rental so have 4 legal running cars - choices, choices.

[talkingcars]

Sorted the damaged breather yesterday, involved brass tee peices and couplers and bashing one into the throttle body and some cloth braided hose and lots of heat shrink tubing.

Also replaced the oil filler cap, the seal on the old one was almost flat.

And then last night I hit a bit of a bargin - complete KV6 gasket set, timing belts, thermostat and oxygen probe bought from a land rover dealer for the princly sum of £50 and the guy brought them to me at work as he was nearby today. I was almost out there in the dark dismantaling engines when I got home from work.

Been driving the F now for a couple of days, forgotten how much fun it is and comparing speeds on regular roads I think it's almost as quick in a straight line as the ZS, definatly faster than the ZR despite officially having more than 10% less power.

[peterzs]

I reckon the F feels faster, cause you are almost sitting level with the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[talkingcars]

LOL - I was looking at the speedo to find that I was going faster than I thought...........

[talkingcars]

Spam post to change the title of the thread.

[talkingcars]

This weekend is not going to work out as I planned, was going to do the rolling road day and then come home and start replacing gaskets on the ZS.

Phone call at 1 a.m. was the first problem, "We've tried all the usual suspects but no one's available, could you just pop these pipes to Reading?".

That means I'll loose the morning sleeping.....

And on the way home it starts snowing......That will make it fun stripping engines down.

[talkingcars]

No updates for several weeks as I've been totally ignoring the ZS until last week, story in this thread - http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=24536

[talkingcars]

And a brief summery of last weekend for those who can't be bothered to follow the link in the previous post.

After non use for a few weeks the battery decided to stop holding charge for more than a few seconds so I ended up in Halfords at 6.30pm as they were the only place open on a Saturday evening and I needed the car working the following day.

The following day I planned to drive to Manchester to collect 3 of my daughters and my grandaughter to return them home down here in the south. I got as far as Birmingham and the fuel pump died so the car was recovered to a local garage who replaced the pump the next day for £206 all in.

In the meantime my 22 yr old arranged for the 16 and 13 yr olds to come back by train and she opted to stay another week. I collected a loan car from the company doing the repairs and drove to Euston, met the girls and drove home.

Today I drove up to Brum and collected the ZS.

[petet16]

Running well again now ?

[talkingcars]

Running well again now ?

Most of the way back I was driving for ecconomy doing around 60 most of the way but the last 25 miles from the M25 reminded me how much I like the 180 :oops:

In the last 7 days I've done 297 miles in the ZS, 394 in the 25, 3 days driving at work (2 days in transit sized flat beds, 1 day split between a 20 year old fiesta and a 26 tonne crane truck) and yesterday 554 miles to Falmouth and back in the ZR and only about 50 miles of that was motorway.

[talkingcars]

Not updated for some time - 2 days after I last posted the car appeared to run out of fuel while parked on a slight slope, however she didn't take a full tank full to the brim if you include the jerry can's worth I added.

The same has happened parked with the N/S on the kerb here a couple of weeks ago.

And I've been using the F a lot since replacing the soft top.

Finally I've just bought "ZS Sam's" mk2 last weekend so look out for the project thread about that one.

[peterzs]

Could it be an air lock when you fill up, my derv sits there gurgling after it shuts the fuel line down. I'm sure it will take more fuel if it settles down.

Sams car looked sorted last time I saw it, be interesting to see what you do.

:smile1::smile1::smile1:

[talkingcars]

I think the new pickup for the pump sits slightly higher, it's just a bit disconcerting after driving the car for nearly 5 and a half years and 65'000 miles.

[POMPSKI]

Just read the whole topic, been an interesting year :)

Please keep it updated it is very interesting :)

Looking forward to seeing what happens with one of the forums other Black Beauties.