FE54 - making her mine.
 

I have just bought FE54 - a stunning pearl black mk2 ZS180 saloon from ZS Sam at a price we were both happy with. Two trains and a taxi took just over two hours to get to Sams, not bad considering the drive back is over an hour.

Before I go any further I want to say that I mean no disrespect to any of the previous owners, mechanically the car is spot on and she drives as well as my mk1 did when I bought her in 2008 at 56k, they have all loved the car and looked after her and many if not all the things I have found are probably me being picky, she is nearly 10 years old after all.

So where do we start? I think the worst bit is finding signs of previous accident repair from a heavy rear end shunt. The bottoms of both c pillers have had filler which is starting to fail, the panels at the back of the car have been seam welded rather than spot welded, the gap around the boot isn't quite even and there is signs of repainting around the openings for the rear lights.

However the repair has been to a high standard as there are no mismatchs to the paint work and as there has been no mention of an accident in all the time the car has been on the forum I guess it happened many years ago. I have a couple of ideas about how to repair the c piller flaking without having a full respray. I wouldn't be suprised if the previous 3 owners didn't even know of the repair.

I was also a bit disappointed with the number of changed fixings but these are easily changed so will be, proberbly with new ones from ebay.

My final concern after the drive home was that the seats just didn't feel as comfitable as I was expecting.

As Mrs TC ws away for a couple of days over the weekend she didn't know about the car until I picked her up from Stansted and after a frosty reception for a few minutes because "we always do things like this togeather" she warmed to the car and identified why the seats felt different, they have firmer side bolsters so are more body hugging.

Knowing I might get a bit of a reaction I spent my spare car time over the weekend doing bits on the MGF and made sure the house was clean and tidy for when she got home, it worked as I've been released to spend time on FE54.

I had Wedensday off so started swapping a few bits over from the MK1.

So far we have swapped the rear lights for the ones I smoked after I first got the MK1, the dull red suits both cars more than the bright red ones. I also swapped the bulb panels so have got LED rear lights.

Then I did a bit of steering wheel swapping - FE54 came with a TF wheel which has gone on to Mrs TC's ZR, the O/E wheel has gone back on GV51 and the R45 wheel has gone into FE54. This has meant that I have had to borrow the ZR airbag to go in GV51 but I have bought one from Cally180 so I will have a complete ZR set up.

I also had to swap rotary couplers on FE54 and the ZR as the airbag connections are different.

I swapped the dome bolts from the spoiler on GV51 for the normal bolts on FE54 (was this a project drive saving?) and the carpet mats as I prefer the grey ones, doesn't make the car so dark inside.

Finally I swapped the steering wheel cowling so I could fit the scangaugeII which has shown up that the car is running a bit cool - looks like I will be doing a thermostat change.

What temperature are you seeing on average ?

Plans over the next few weeks are to swap the speakers for O/E ones, the vibe focals are very good but I can't get the base from them that I like and I'm sure someone out there will appriciate them more than I do.

I will be putting all the audio from GV51 in (and giving back Mrs TC her head unit, don't think she knows it's missing yet).

Coming across will be the induction set up I designed, the battery tray arrived today, just need to order the cable etc.

I will be getting rear electrics, this will be less hasle than swapping all the bits over.

I may well swap some of the project drive parts from GV51.

It is taking twice as long to get up to opperating temp and it isn't going over 81'.

Ah yeah, thats low, mid nineties seems about right, the slow warm up certainly sounds like a stuck thermostat.

Longer term plans include
Sheddist (I'd forgotten how bad the O/E set up is).
Try and get that cruise working.
Maybe some tints and C/F wrap and black woven mesh on the grill.

and sell GV51.
(and start taking photos)

I've gone through the "have I done the right thing" stage I go through with every car and am falling in love, I even got to see the true colour of the paint the other day - lush.

Good project, looking forward to some pics.

Is the carpet in your mk1 better quality than the mk2.

Not sure but as I maybe swapping seats I can check it out at the same time.

some old photos here - http://www.themgzs.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?t=1764

It is isnt it? Not something we get to see every day here....

Well done in getting this car. Good things come to those who wait. You should know going by your signature, that was some time ago you said that :)

another nice car to the fleet mate,as ian says good things come to those who wait

I didn't achieve as much as I hoped yesterday as it took me longer than I'd hoped to assemble the garden swing chair for Mrs TC but that kept her happy, then there was a F1 and finally rain.

However I did strip the H/U and all the associated leads and boxes and the dash end of the cruise control out of GV51. I also stripped the rear seats from both and swapped the rear speakers so FE54 now has an O/E back cabin.

Just a quicky today - popped in to the breakers yard and picked up the O/E terminals for the rear speakers (and the wiring for the MGF mirror), and this evening I've just spent half an hour soldering this on to the existing speaker wires so I can now run the O/E rear speakers.

There is nothing wrong with the vibe focal set up except you need to be running a separate sub to get any depth and as I'm a rock fan I need a bit of depth.

I also moved the wire that runs from the alarm to the boot from trailing through the seat opening so it now follows the main loom.

Great project, and I love your attitude to improvements. Keep the updates coming! :)

Cheers.

After supper and before Greggs I spent 15 minutes starting to run the cable for the auto changer and the sub.

F'in weather - got all the bits to do the battery to boot conversion but it is pouring with rain so I can't really be pulling out carpets and seats!

Nice to see the old girl getting the love i could never give her :( (bloody turbo zed!)

Don't agree with that, you, Luke and Sam all had an input to her over the years.

On the way home I was looking foward to some more car time - the earlier rain had dried and the sun was out BUT as I pulled up drops of rain started appearing on the windscreen, by the time I'd had a coffee it was pouring.

By half past seven it'd stopped so I got outside. I considered fitting the servo bracket that had arrived today but as I need some bolts for that and a second person to hold the bolts on the inside as I do them up from the outside..........

Instead I got on with refitting the side trims that life beside the rear seats asI'd taken them off to run the auto changer and new RCA leads on one side and the battery to boot cable on the otherside.

I then got the rear seats back in and finally ran the battery cable to the front of the car.

Finally I popped the kick panel on the nearside of the passanger foot well off ready to run the cable. Unfortunatly that also gave me the chance to confirm that the mk2 loom doesn't have the wiring for the cruise control.

Not bad for an hours work.

Well its true im afraid lol in her prime she was looooovely, as i got more distracted by other projects she started to get neglected (but NEVER let me down might i add!) I virtually stripped the best bits from her (due to super mega money loss after 4/5 years of ownership) and sold her on for others to attempt to bring her back to her finest! Which u appear to be doing to a very high standard, hence.. Its nice to see the old girl getting the same attention to detail and love i USED to be able to give it

Got in another hour between work and going to Sainsburys -

got the battery cable through the bulkhead,
fitted the terminal,
pulled the slack bag all the way to the boot,
finished removing the old power feed for the sub
(not point having a battery in the boot and powering the sub from the front)
and removed the Megarazin High Capacity System & Battery Performance Monitor from the battery ready for relocating.

Another positive came when Mrs TC asked to drive FE54 to the supermarket, she never asks to drive and doesn't particularly enjoy it, however she did like driving this one which was strange as she didn't like the mk1 and only drove it twice in 5 1/2 years.

Today it's dry - I've got all the bits to finish moving the battery and a couple of other jobs and I've got all day.............might even take some photos ;)

Link to the battery monitor - http://pivotjp.com/product/vs-m/img/vs-m_catalog-e.pdf

Going to be difficult to decide which one of the fleet to take to meets/shows!!!

:whistle::whistle::whistle:

"when Mrs TC asked to drive FE54" I can see where this is going :laugh:

Not much progress in the last month as I put some time into getting the MGF ready for our 2013 roadtrip, this year we drove down to Italy and spent 3 nights in Verona which enabled us to visit Venice, Palma and Modena (inc. the museum). Prior to departure I got the cruise control kit I bought before last years roadtrip working, still needs fine tuning but defiantly worth it for long runs.

Unfortunately on the ferry back I found the cause of the coolant usage, a leak from the cambelt end of the engine so I spent the following week trying to get to the water pump, I am still to get the alternator drive wheel off but a cordless impact wrench is now on order.

Back to FE54 - I have finished running the autochanger and RCA leads, fitted the autochanger under the shelf instead of on the floor, fitted the boot mounted warning triangle and last night fitted the battery tray and started sorting the rest of the boot to fit the mk1 carpet, Dans strut brace and my battery box.

I have also prepared GV51 for the front seat and carpet swap, just need a dry day to to complete the swap.

Today I'll be off to the local breakers to find the rear electric window bits as at the very least I want to fit the electrics while the interior is in bits. The last trip yielded a Rover 820 interior light so wiring this and the MGF mirror are another job that needs doing.

Saw Rimmers had some cheap rear window electric stuff.

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/ItemList...8--outlet-true

Dont know if thats what you are after??

Thanks Pete but I should be able to get everything I need for under £20.

even better!!

Cost me £30 :(

must have a good scrappy.

Ones near me have zilch!!!!

The local one has 3 sections - one that is open every day which I can manage to visit in a lunch break but that had nothing suitable when I looked last week. Then there is a restricted access area which has newer cars but I didn't have time last week to look there, finally there is a proper old style area with double stacked cars (used to be triple stacked) which is now only open on Saturdays.

There were several Rover 400's and civics, 1 mk1 120 and nothing else suitable. Only a couple had rear electrics so I decided on the one at the end of a row as it had more room on one side.

I had got the bits out of one door when some chap appeared and broke all scrap yard etiquette and started removing the front seats, in 30 years I've never had someone else start removing bits from a car I am working on! I wasn't quite sure what he was doing so I decide the quickest thing to do was to help him, I took one seat out while explaining how to do the other, it did make getting the consol out a bit quicker and I did get the £2.20 in change :mad:

And fitted..............

Good work :)

If you ever need another pair of hands just give me a shout. I'm always up for a bit of car play :)

Used to love the scrappy, about 4 high and then the crane would come and start moving one off the next pile.

Had to shout and wave to let the operator know you were working in the car.

Bit before all this Health and Safety, stuff!!!

OK - will do.

Busy day today - not quite sure why but I was awake at 7!
Sun was hinting that it might cut through the clouds, forecasts were similar -
perfect for ripping out the seats and carpets to swap them round -
eventually I was outside by 10 and it started to spit with rain so I decided to to the rear electrics -
3 hours later both sides were done -
rain had got heavier and eased and eventually the sun was out -
only one thing to do -
I'd already undone the seats and seat belts and rear consol -
I've now got the earlier seats and carpet in FE54 and the door seals back on (they've only been off for 6 weeks)
but a lack of energy at 9pm stopped me from doing any more than dropping the mk2 capet and the xpower seats into GV51 -
anyone fancy buying it to use as a track car, will save me refitting the carpet.

Forgot to mention that I found £2.30 in FE54, found nothing in GV51.

You are more than welcome to give me GV51 for free in its current condition :p I'll squeeze it in the garage and rebuild from the ground up on a limited budget, long term :fish:

You could always take that £2.30 you found in FE54 as payment lmao :rofl: