Nice Mk2 Kitted Diesel Hatch

[Dan1971]

Some nice bits on it and decent value I reckon despite the relatively high miles -

http://www.gumtree.com/p/mg/-mg-zs-/1087722874

[petet16]

Looks pretty decent all round.

[peterzs]

Think its one you would have to give it a test drive.

Bet its not just driven to the shops and back.

[theboynoz]

Just what I am looking for, and round the corner too, only problem all my money is tied up in the deposit for my new house in the next few weeks, damn it!

What would you guys, Peter especially, look for in the diesel version as I may be tempted back to the ZS family after a few years away, and only had the petrol 1.8 derivative so far? Also please tell me if I should take this sort of discussion to a separate thread/forum or PM's etc?

[peterzs]

Belts should be done every 4 years or 48 K and with the torque you get with a tuned one its worth doing, sooner rather than later.

My one had a new clutch at 75k, cost about £330.

The MAF sensor goes and they wont pull and feel flat, the MAF sensor is £130 ish, I think.

Normal brake problems, sticky sliders/calipers.

Tyres at the front can wear on the inside edges, so worth checking all four and get down and look at inside edges. From outside the car tyres can look perfect.

Dont have many HGF but just check the colour of the coolant, go for a run should be on half way on temp scale. It can take 5 mins or so to get up to temp.

Just remembered we have a guide as well. http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=11326


Bleed off pipes are worth a quick check, only pence for new pipe and a push fit.

Nothing beats a test drive, should go well and redline almost as quick as you can change gears, 1 to 3rd.

:whistle::whistle::whistle:

[theboynoz]

Cheers Peter, will have a look and see what the boss says about getting rid of the Astra (which I really do not like)

[ZS Phil]

I think it is a car which was on here briefly: http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=21608

Had a different interior and wheels since though. Gearstick, dash rings, boost gauge, pedals, TF wheel and wing badges give the car away.

The original owner posted more on .org by the same username if you have a search.

I remember when he was selling it I had the money in my pocket and was going to buy it but he wouldn't let me for some reason, wouldn't even let me go and look at it which I thought was a bit odd. Thought at the time it may have been because I had inquired about his turbo set up? Weird.
Furthermore he made many claims about the power but would never share info or pics of what was actually done to it in terms of manifold set up and turbo family/ size.

If his power claims were true then it was/ is highly modified with bigger turbo but I always remember in a post he made after it sold that he felt "he had ruined a good car". Whatever that means.

Go and have a look at it and take some pics of the alleged turbo set up just to spite the old owner (the secretive bug*er) :P

[petet16]

Yeah, I remember him as well

[dmc123]

I've been to look at this and test drive it, but going to get a lower mileage one ;)

[ZS Phil]

I've been to look at this and test drive it, but going to get a lower mileage one ;)

What was wrong with it other than the mileage? Did you have a look at the turbo install?

[petet16]

It's appeared on fb, bought buy a guy in NI, he's claiming 220 bhp, I'm smelling bs personally, it replaced another zs td which he managed to destroy in less than 2 months by blowing the engine up.

[Skillen]

It's appeared on fb, bought buy a guy in NI, he's claiming 220 bhp, I'm smelling bs personally, it replaced another zs td which he managed to destroy in less than 2 months by blowing the engine up.

Don't even think Dakta on .org could get anywhere near that!

[ZS Phil]

Got a link?
I'm doubtful too but would like to see what spec they are claiming unless its still "top secret"

[petet16]

You're right, at least Dakta makes realistic claims.

[petet16]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mgzsoc/10152764918097850/?comment_id=10152765339237850&notif_t=like

[peterzs]

Wonder if we will ever see a Rolling Road read out?????

[ZS Phil]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mgzsoc/10152764918097850/?comment_id=10152765339237850&notif_t=like

Nice one, just sent a request :)

[peterzs]

My one is 159 bhp and 236 ft/lbs torque, and been like this for 3 or 4 years now.

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm214/peterzs/CAR%20MAP/DSCF0706.jpg (http://s297.photobucket.com/user/peterzs/media/CAR%20MAP/DSCF0706.jpg.html)

Happy with that.

:yay::yay::yay:

[ZS Phil]

Wonder if we will ever see a Rolling Road read out?????

Go to post number 9 in this thread, from when the original owner had it (eastwood29).
More like 184bhp and 261 ft/lbs. Still pretty good though!

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=704945&highlight=rolling+road+thread

[peterzs]

Loved your one Phil.

:wave::wave::wave:

[ZS Phil]

Loved your one Phil.

:wave::wave::wave:

Cheers Pete :), some strong figures from yours considering the standard turbo!

The electronically controlled VNT has been put aside in favor of a significantly larger wastegated turbo for now. Also running the SDIs again so its currently in "sensible" mode.
Need to put the hybrid injectors back in and see what the new turbo can do on the rolling road at some point but just enjoying being able to use the reliable power for now without worrying about causing an accident behind me due to the smoke!

[peterzs]

"Cough", smoke?????

I usually am very careful, less its a white Audi pushing me along. ;);)

;););)

[dakta]

Just seen this thread, I need to pop on here more!

I've always had reservations about this, if it is the chap im thinking about's car because I've tried (as have a few others) to get some decent dialog going enthusiast to enthusiast about his car spec, and he's saying nothing.

It got my suspicions even further raised when i started pushing towards the 200bhp barrier myself and found there were some architectural limits in the ecu that really needs an enthusiast mapper to solve (not saying going to a tuner and paying for a remap won't get you some result, but there were things that needed some serious rolling road time to find in the ecu, and I can't really see most tuners wanting to give a car of this type the time). It's not an impossibility but it doesn't ring. Very few tuners want to spend several days searching through raw binary, testing switches and limits on the dyno for a couple of hundred.

That said I don't want to call people out as liars because as I've found out myself, being too open about your builds is a recipe for being ripped off. Getting me to part with a dyno graph when it's pioneering stuff is quite difficult, unfortunately tuning has gone that way because of people lying etc etc.

Personally though, it would take something special to break 200bhp, highest i've got to date is 212 and that was with a one off turbo (GT1856 vnt if anyones interested). Torque curve wasn't very pretty though because the exhaust side was leaking so took forever to come on boost :(