wheres the rust?

I bet there is some behind the suspension in the front drivers arch.

the rust is every-where at a surface level.

Matt can't explain it, but thinks i may have driven through something pretty corrosive at some point. the whole underside and anywhere not painted is showing signs apparently... I not stuck my head under so dont know for sure though :(

Thanks for the pointers Drew, I'll have to find out from Matt what we have got on there at the moment and any settings we decide on in time....

Well the Zs is finally home and on the drive... it has not been a cheap holiday for it this time though, and she nearly decided to have an extended holiday due to me managing to break the suspension top mount within 500m of the workshop. thankfully it just pulled the topnut through the rubber bung, so a nice big washer (rover 25 suspension setup raided) and that should solve it - it isn't pretty but it will work :)


So this triup it has had custom brembodge carrier/caliper brackets made up, new springseats and associated gubbins for the adjustable suspension, new alternator as mine seized solid, new starter motor, new rear calipers (yearly refurb was getting ridiculous) rear disks/pads, and other ancilaries....

However I can say the car is sitting nicely lowered a touch, springs are 450lbs rated (front that is not known the rear as no number stamped on it), so quite stiff, but it feels a lot less crashy than before, even if i do feel more back through the bum as it were....

Brakes are simply mind boggling how well they stop compared to the OE setup, running on DS3000 pads and the grooved disks i picked up from sneakyparrot.

On a plus not the lumpy idle has been solved as the cambelt balance weight had been sheered, or a bolt associated with it (wasn't listening too carefully) so finally the ZS is starting instntly and sitting nice and smoothly idling for the first time in years.

Just need to either be patient with the turbo side, or cast caution to the wind and get another untested unit fitted and see what goes pop first this time ;)

Hopefully 2104 will see the project in terms of new mods finished.

Will probably be doing a strip down, and deep rust proof later in the year or early next year as things are getting bad on the shell, and while swapping things over might be an option, I kinda dont want to part with this one as I have had it so long!

It is so good to be back behind the wheel of a ZS again, and use that effortless wave of torque :)

sounds good, have fun.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Nice to see your not rushing and doing the job properly :laugh:



on a serious note great work :)

heheh - oops typical type from me there :)

well ignoring the fact it is filthy - running down the A34, and the M4 will not leave it clean, here are a couple of before/after shots of the wheels/suspension :)

Brake Front & height before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...d/IMG_0379.jpg
Brake rear & height
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...d/IMG_0380.jpg
overal but crap angle
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...d/IMG_0378.jpg

And After
Front:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...DSC_0008-1.jpg
rear
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...d/DSC_0081.jpg

Overall
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...DSC_0009-1.jpg

Made the most difference to the rear to be honest - but even so I'm liking the stance and the ride is not overly compromised either :)

just thought that while it is not a direct impact on me, some-one I am in touch with on .org has managed to break the 200bhp barrier on the L series.

He has done it with a VNT turbo, and upgraded injectors from SDi's, and a custom built controller for the Vane operation of the turbo.

Why have I added this to my thread - well I now know it is doable, and as such know that I want to aim for this - even if I fall slightly short!

So my options are to find a suitable turbo, either get adaptor plates or a custom manifold (this is the prefered option for aethetics and packaging rather than any massive gains) and get a controller to operate the VNT.

The latter is a choice of two options - beg the guy to build me the same controller he built for himself - or hand build a kit from an Arduino base controller.

the Turbo front then needs to then be finalised - it is still a case of lag verses top end, but if i can find something that spools at 2500 as mine does currently then I am laughing....

the research commences, and hopefully the project will be continued in the nearish future :)

Yeh, hes done well.

I just need to get some custom injectors calibrated then my hardware will be in place, I'll then have another crack at it. I've been using the Arduino for well over a year, nearly 2 in fact and it has been completely reliable so can recommend from that point of view. They are also dirt cheap to make and you will always know exactly what to do should ever it need replacing. There are some tweaks to the hardware which are required to make it work in our Rovers but it is all well documented on .org as I'm sure you've seen.
I think getting the right turbo is key and fro the sounds of it, the turbo he has used is far from off the shelf so not sure how willing he will be to tell people the exact specs.
If you decide to go down the Laguna 1852v route then obviously I'll offer any help I can, loads for you to see in my build thread about how I did adaptor plates and clocked it slightly though if youre interested :). Probably not the ultimate solution for power but I think it will do well and is a relatively straight forward fit as it is orientated almost perfectly from stock so no moving actuators etc is required, it doesnt even need to be clocked really, it was just a little extra I did to help the oil flow through it.
Have you got a short list of turbos yet?

Not so much a short list, but am going to look into the VAG GTB's - much more pricey I know, and not as easy to direct fit, but doable with an adaptor, but they seem to have very nice response times compared the GT family.

The stock GTB1756 maybe a touch small, so it could be a GTB2056.....

Or a crazy hybrid as really I think we need to be inbetween these two families for responsiveness vs top end...

Thanks a lot for the offer of the help - I am waiting to see how your's works with the new injectors tbh, as that might sway me again.... so difficult to decide but 200 is my aim if we can keep EMP and EGT down and lag no later than 2500 as per my current setup.