Hgf :-(
 

Took a trip to see Rally Matt yesterday to see what the problem was with my trusty Zed.
Turns out its HGF, not a faulty inlet manifold like I had been told by my local MG garage.

So I have a few options,

1, repair a car I know very well that has done me proud over the last 3 years. Then spend some money on proper engine mods over the year

2, go for a 180

3, scrap it for parts, probably worth £750 as a non runner plus £500 for the alloys, bodykit

4, go for a 75/ZT. Comfortable and slighty better built

5, not bother with a car, share the familty transport

Or I could have it repaired then sell it.

i had my head gasket and cam belt done by a very trusted mechanic and it only cost me 350 quid. I'd get it repaired then get a ZT

defo go for 2 and 3. defo dont do 4 i done that and 5 months later i came back

Nooooo!! Get your ZS fixed dude....as you said....its given you 3 years of trouble free motoring, something was bound to give.
75/ZT's are absolutely awful....don't get me wrong however, my dad and many many friends own them, from the 1.8 N/A 1.8T and the diesel....nothing but problems...(including 2 new turbo chargers on my dads petrol!)
They suffer HUGE electrical problems, usually silly little things, but major electrical faults are fairly common to be honest!
They go alright....got plenty of umph! but take 1.8tonnes of solid lump....and put a K-series in it.....with increased chamber pressures...and a heavy car to pull along? :huh::axe: catch my drift? ha ha!!:thumbsup:

Stick with your ZS mate....:clap2::thumbsup:

best option is fix it dude

or buy yours ah Ross ;) :joker:

it's already gone hopefully, but a bit of a bidding war wouldn't be a bad thing lol

Would love a mk2 180, out of my range though!
Chances are that it will get fixed. Just need some cash!

Deffo get it fixed then sell. You'll lose more than the price of getting it repaired by selling it as it is.

Repair it mate, you know it makes sense......had exactly the same predicament a few months ago, I've had the car four years...know it inside out...warts 'n' all....would hate to have to go through it all again if i didn't really have to. Get it sorted..new head (135bhp) while it's being done and voila...that just new feeling again :)

Is that the TF cams that make it 135?
:smile2:

Yes mate, the 120 cams have a 8.8mm lift and the TF 9.5mm, have a look at this mate

http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2...ne_options.htm

combine it with a 52mm throttle body and good induction kit and your laughing mate

Can i pick one up from a scrappers and what would i get one off, would i need the ecu also, any more info welcome :)

no ecu needed for a throttle body. they are on a zr 160. 4mm bigger that the zs120 throttle body. with this and a good inner wing 3-5 bhp is very possible. they come up on ebay all the time some go for as little as £30. as with the zt cams and a vvc manifold you may need a remap to set it all up correctly but not to sure, not really a k- series man but somebody will be along soon who is!

Or get the head and "gubbings" from a ZR160... thatway you have a VVC engine and 160bhp in a ZS :p

Ive been told I need a 56mm Tb??

What will it do? More pull from standing starts?

Also noticed there is a 48mm Tb?

Hi Carl which garage did you use to get your cam-belt done I need to change mine soon and its always best to go somewhere that is recommened.

I would say get it fixed, there is always the risk that anything you get as a replacement could be costly.. at least with a car you know the history of you can roughly know what to expect..

*unrelated note* you probably saw my rather poorly zs as the farm while you were there :) or should that be :(

Yes I did! Looked very tidy, but there was alot of black fumes from the exhaust when Matt moved it out of the way.

Whats happened to it?

ohh long story....

the big black plumes are over fueling - i got a set of very hardcore injectors and then realised i could not fit them without doing some protecting work first...

so spoke to matt and got the gearbox bearings uprated and a quaife fitted along with custom clutch hydraulics to cope with a groupe N cerametalic helix clutch i asked to be fitted (or one that could cope with around 300lbs-ft torque)...
bolted on a hybrid turbo and gave it a bit of a run...

I dropped it back with Matt to get a custom FMIC done and investigate why i was loosing coolant... toooke about 2 weeks for this to show up..

Over on .org a big debate was started and it appeared that there were a number of us with recent remaps and fuel icreases with different injectors that was too much for the HG, and it the pressures involved were lifting the head - hence the HGF.

so matt got it apart yesterday and it is showing all the sign of overheating and movement and generally rather sorry for itself....

so we are going to try to wire ring the head, fit some ARP head studs in the attempt to clamp it all down properly.. then i can make the most of the pre work mods i did to the car to cope with the injectors i bought...

as a note what did you think of the sound of it?
it has a custom down pipe (not quite fitting properly) and unique backbox (only 5 ever made)

i am glad you did not look too close at the paintwork at the front and the soot on the back end tho ;)

Sounded quite beasty and that was while I was still in my car!

Hope it all gets sorted. If anyone can sort it, Matt can!

Thanks :)

yeah, i have every faith in Matt it is just frustrating that it has proved to be such a pain in the ass to get as far as we have got to...

The end is in sight though and i am hoping to get it sorted by the end of the month then back on some rollers and finally on the track :D