LHD MG ZS 180 MK2 has arrived
 

Hi,

As some of you know i've been looking at the only MK2 180 for sale in Spain and most probs in europe at this moment in time.

Well i picked it up today , took a 9 hour drive , overnight hotel and 9 hours of driving back. Nackard is a understatement. Our hotel was 10 seconds walk from the car which was ideal.

Met the guy at 10:30 and took a look at the car. Bodywork is in mint condition which is very surprising for a Spanish car ( Bumper cars ).Interior was in good condition with no mods , seats are also in good condition. Popped the bonnet to find that the engine had been removed , no surprise as the guy said it had been dismantled.

I asked him wheres the engine and he pointed to a pile of mixed engine parts to the side of the car. At this time my hand hit my forehead.

Not only had he stripped every single part of the engine down , he also stripped the gearbox down to the gears. Finally found all of the engine and various other parts and filled the boot and rear seats.....

Winched it onto the recovery truck , went to sign over names and set off home.

So ,

Having a quick look when i arrived home , i need the follow:

Driveshafts
Radiator
Gearbox

This is what i've noticed so far. I'm not a mechanic and nor have i changed an engine before so this is a big project for me. i've already got an engine on the way from Zred :beer2:

I hope i can ask dumb questions along the way into this build.

Pictures shall follow tomorrow !

Thanks :rofl:

Ask away, I'm sure the members on the forum will be able to provide all the answers to your questions.

Why on earth did he strip the engine and gearbox so much, did you get any information about the original problem

My only concern now is the parts needed to swap the 75's kv6 ive sold you, into the ZS is fairly straightforward with both sitting next to each other. Now this is completely stripped could make it a ballache mate! Ill help as much as i can from here.

Original problem is he drove through deep water and ingested a fair amount of water.

Ill post a pic of the amount of peices I have from the engine.

I'm not going to rush this build , I have all the time in the world to complete it . Well until the head gasket on my Astra fails completely lol

Parts are near impossible to get in Spain for the 180 so most of them will need to come from the uk.

Here I go again but Dan1971 is breaking a 180 so you'll get what you need from him I'm sure. Can't see why he stripped the box though, daft. Hopefully you got it for a good price.

Hi sounds a right pig to sort out.

No such thing as a daft question, if you dont know, you dont know.

So ask away.

Good luck with it.

:smile2::smile2::smile2:

I got the car for 800 euros ( £700 ) which is bargin to say Diesels go for 4500 euros.

Cars hold there value here , i got my 1998 Astra 1.6 8v for £1700 2 years go.. i could pick one up for £200 odd quid in the UK.

The strap is to keep the garage door closed as its too big for the drive lol. I have already started de-chav'in the car. Removed the lexus lights and put the originals back in, removed amp and sub from the boot. Next to go are the alloys as i'm wanting the standard 17" in black.


Couple of pictures:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps77c81bd6.jpg

White leather door cards
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps118a1fa6.jpg

Leather and suede seats:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pse1a75e42.jpg

Scrap yard of parts:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps702153ea.jpg

Looking through i found the reason for the engine being stripped:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps00f07b41.jpg
Smashed piston and conrod...

Thanks

I like the leather trim on the door cards, someone must have spent a fair chunk of money on it in the past, was it White originally or has been repainted.

Been sprayed and very badly at that.It was green, the guy didn't remove any plastic trim so its starting to crack in places.

It's going to need a full re-spray in the future

Shame, it looks good in white, you've got yourself quite a project there.

So the engine arrived Thursday - Thumbs up to Zred again.

He told me its from a rover 75 so yesterday i changed the following as some parts were different:

Cam covers
Coilpack
Engine loom
Intake manifolds , VIS housing...

Now the fuel line on the 75 was closed at one end like so ( No 2 ):

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...rs-2001kv6.jpg

This is my fuel rail:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps7e649ff8.jpg

It goes under the air intake and faces towards to bulkhead. I've looked around the engine bay and can't see anything which it connects too...

I've been looking around on the inter-webs and can't find any info about it.

Thanks!

This is what it should look like

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ps5a17febd.jpg

Many thanks for the picture.

Any chance for a wider view?

Here's the connections i can see.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps121aafbf.jpg

Also this tube, Breather ?
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pscf4089e4.jpg


Thanks

The Green connector in your hand goes to the fuel rail.

The tube is for the brake servo, the open end will fit to the plenum.

Not sure why the throttle cable is so long.

Great suff , i'll have another look tomorrow at my connections , I cannot find the orange connection..

Thanks :mml:

I need your help guys!

I purchased the locking tools from a supplier in Spain. These i believe are some Chinese brand unknown but for 80 euros there a bargain compared to ones i've seen on various sites.

I've watched the KV6 timing belt video on youtube about 20 times so i was confident about the job. I first checked the rear cams was aligned which they was and the crank was in the safe position. I was planning on changing the belt without removing the cam bolt. Went ahead and removed the tensioner, at this time i started to remove the belt from the right hand side.

The right cam then springed out of position which then knocked the timing position of the rear cams, since i removed the belt it then slipped on the left hand side and springed out of place.

I used the tools which aligned the right hand side correctly - Both to my timing marks and the rear cam lines are level straight. As shown here:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pse02b18c6.jpg

Right hand side rear cams:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps9605865c.jpg

Left hand side is completely out of sync for some reason. Does not align with my timing marks and either do the rear cams align:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps261c5717.jpg

Rear Cams:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps76c0027f.jpg

Have i been a complete twit and done something?

Any help would be fantastic

I am no expert but that doesn't look far out, 1 or maybe 2 teeth.

The cams will move slightly because of the tension from the valve springs, when you refit the front belt you'll need to move the cam pulleys back to line up your timing marks.

I'm finding it difficult to actually put the belt on , seems likes its too small :/

I've tried making sure its tight enough to reach all the gears and pullys but seems to be a right pita!

I'm starting from the crank and using a peice of plastic to keep it held in place.... Really need another person to help me :)

Have you got the locking pin in the tensioner ?

Yup the pins in place

Problem i've got is placing the belt on , If i remove the tools they completely spring out of the timing marks.... How do i now put the belt on in the correct timings?

Looking at the locking tools you're using I think some extra pairs of hands are going to be needed.

Changed all the belts tonight with the help of a friend.

Theres around 1-2 mm difference on the line marks of the left hand rear cams , Should this cause any issues?

Also got some goodies arrive in the post:

Right hand drive shaft
New CV joints
CV boots ( Going to change all seems there out )
Radiator - This arrived in poor condition - Ebay seller stated " Good condition" If they noticed various small holes where it looks like a screwdrivers been ran down it :(

Sorry for the lack of pictures , I do all the work and then realize i didnt take any pictures haha

Needed now:

Gearbox
Lower engine mount and few other bits and bobs

Thanks!

The 1-2mm won't make any difference, I doubt many of them were exactly aligned at original build.

Ah good - Minds at piece now.

Called the scrap yard i purchased the rad from and they simply said send it back... its going to cost me nearly £50 to send it back to them... I feel it was " Send the nackard rad to the guy in Spain , he can't do anything )

£40 down the drain !

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-PCC001610SLP - Would this fit the 2.5 as it only states for the 2.0

Unfortunately that rad is not suitable for the 2.5 v6.

Out of intrest who was the seller of the used one? I didn't think the 2.5 rad was available anymore new

Is this where you got the rad from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-ZS-2-5-...item4ab8d60a52

xpart are showing 2 new ones available in Germany Ritchy, but £300+:crazy:

Yea ,

Got it from these guys... couldn't find it anywhere else. Condition of the rad is shocking for them to say " Good condition".

I'm handy with a solder iron , if i was to solder over the holes , should be fine ?

Ive had issues with stuff from there, stick your ground and tell him its not financially viable for you to send it back and its clearly damaged.
Personally i wouldn't use him, have stuck him up in the name and shame section previosly.

I've sent an email , not being rude at all so lets see the response. I think they value there feedback and seems i purchased two separate items i could give them bad feedback for both as a "up yours" if they don't sort it.

They can be a patchy seller, I've had some bits which have been fine, and others which were plainly damaged and unusable but they still packed them and sent them, in fairness replacements were sent quickly, but it doesn't make up for sending the damaged ones in the first place.

Used 180 rads seem to be like rocking horse poo at the moment, I would solder up the holes and see how it goes.

Mine will be available in a couple of weeks like I said, when I get my mate round and we drop the engine and gearbox out onto a pallet. I like comments like that though Pete - just bumped the price up .... ;)

oops:laugh:

I'm surprised none of the aftermarket rad makers, or xpart for that matter have not covered the 180 rad.

Any resemblance between 75/ZT v6 rads and ours?

That's interesting, how would you do it - would you use a blowtorch or something?
I wondered about repair methods when I recently discovered a hole in my aircon radiator, although aircon systems seem to run at a much higher pressure than coolant systems - like about 100PSI. And re-gassing them if the repair doesn't hold isn't cheap either.
Still, could have a bash and try pressure-testing it afterwards to see if it holds or hisses...

Blow torch (if hot enough) and silver solder I guess. May pay to take any rad to a specialist to get pressure tested and repaired. My local radiator specialist has since gone, shame he was good too and used to sponsor the race car.

I don't know anyone around my area which does this type of repair. I'll try the solder repair with the old blowtorch. I've fixed PC water cooling radiators this way but they don't have the same amount of pressure...

Will update tonight :)

I've only ever done it once on a old style brass rad that had a crack around one of the unions, but a blow lamp and silver solder was what I used, not a very pretty repair, but it did seal it.