MG ZS/R45 T16 Turbo Conversion Guide
About Me:
Well my full name is Dan Baker, I?m 22 years old and from Kent in the South East. I?m a fully qualified electrical and instrument
engineer at a paper mill in Maidstone where I have been for the past 5 years. I?ve always been into my cars; they have always
intrigued me and been a huge passion of mine! I have had absolutely no official training in mechanics or car engineering; everything
I?ve learnt has been picked up from various sources and through getting stuck in and getting my hands dirty. Now that?s the boring
stuff over? the reason I?m writing this guide is to give a clear outline on how to convert an MG ZS or Rover 45 into a T16 Turbo
breathing monster! So lets get stuck in ;-)
My project:
Nearly 2 years ago I decided that I wanted to start a totally different project. Something not too tricky, but also something interesting,
super powerful, reliable and most of all discrete. I was toying with the idea of a Mitsubishi Evo 6 T.H; but I decided that anyone with
the right money could buy and drive one with little or no talent or skill. It was then I decided I wanted to build a car that I knew inside
and out, something that was a part of me that (and literally!) had my blood, sweat and tears poured into it. To cut a VERY long story
short? I started a T16 MG ZS project and decided to go the whole hog; I wanted the car to be more powerful than any Evo I could
buy for the same money.
Here?s a quick list of my zeds spec so far:
? 86mm Arias Forged pistons
? Re-bored block to suit pistons
? Pauter Forged rods
? Gas flowed/ported head
? Omex Series 600 ECU, 3 bar MAP sensor
? Custom one off wiring loom for aftermarket ECU, plug and play baby
? Heavy duty clutch, organic 350ft/lb capabable
? 660cc Injectors
? Piper 270 cams
? Vernier pulleys
? Standard engine rebuild parts! (shells, big ends, seals and gaskets)
? SPAX coilover suspension
? Klinger Up-rated head gasket and ARP head bolts
? Larger turbo, Garrett 3071r, 490bhp capable
? Custom built one off Tubular Manifolds with external wastegate
? Custom Turbo back exhaust system 2.5"
? Large front mount intercooler, pulsar modified.
? Lightened and balanced flywheel (6.9kg ish!)
? Magnecore leads
? NGK 2.8 bar capable plugs
? External trigger wheel setup
? 99mm ITG filter, 500bhp capable
? New oil pump with oil cooler
? Steel caged gearbox
? Quaife ATB Limited slip differential
? Gizzmo Boost controller
? Tial External wastegate
? Complete hard boost pipe kit
? Low coolant level setup
? Intercooler spray setup
? Wideband AFR (PLX)
? Nitrous Oxide direct port with progressive controller.
There?s plenty more but I genuinely have forgotten. I have got a few more bits to buy, but once its mapped and running? I will be
expecting NO LESS than 400bhp at 2 bar of boost. Anything more than that is a huge bonus. Here?s my project thread
http://www.rovertech.net/forum/viewt...?f=83&t=112491
Basics and Considerations:
This chapter is just a brief breakdown of the conversion and a few facts and ?think points? you should consider before starting your
project. Obviously the main reason for wanting the T16 engine in your ZS 45 is power, with a standard output of 200bhp the 2.0
Turbo T-series (or T16 whichever name you prefer!) soars above even some heavily modified ZS 180?s. The conversion itself isn?t
actually that hard to complete, (as you will hopefully see.) However you should consider a few point before even thinking of starting
the project, things such as insurance, cost, space, time, resources, assistance and perhaps even a road tax increase.
You need to think of all the above and work out a rough plan for each, set a cost limit..and stick to it. Make sure you have plenty of
room to do the work. If time is going to be a problem; then don?t start and never finish a project, it?s just a waste. Check with insurers
for when the cars finished, you don?t want a complete car that you can?t insure. And make sure it?s registered!! It?s easy enough to do
and barely affects the tax band.
Before you start also, you need to determine how far you want to go power wise, 200bhp? 250bhp? 300bhp? 400bhp? 500+bhp? The
more power you want the more time money and effort your going to need, the difference between 280bhp and 300bhp on these engine
is literally thousands of pounds, plus hour upon hour or labour. So from day one get it straight in your head what you want.
The Engine:
As I said in the previous chapter, the T16 has a standard 200bhp rating. However you have to remember that some of these engines
are coming close to 20 years old and most are 100,000 miles+. With this in mind most standard ?untouched? engines are probably a
little down on power and probably a little worse for wear! The early version of the T16 was the M-series, I?ve had no dealings with
this engine what so ever, I have no idea how similar or dissimilar it is to the T-series. So to play it safe? it?s worth looking for a Tseries
instead.
The T16 engine can be found in the following cars:
? Rover 220
? Rover 420
? Rover 620
? Rover 800
You will become quickly unpopular for ripping apart a perfectly healthy Rover for the engine and other components, especially for a
conversion. These days the above cars are becoming more and more rare, especially a clean one. Hence my advice would be to use an
engine/components that have already been stripped, in the worst case strip a car that is well past its sell by date and definitely very
unlikely to be refurbished or rebuilt.
Try to obtain as much of the engine as possible, some bits you may overlook which you need in future. Now is the time to rip the
engine part and either condition check it and put it back together, or swap all your old bits out for some brand new forgies.
Below I?ve assembled a bit of a tick list depending on power requirements as to what you may require. This is just a rough guide, I?ve
definitely missed some bits off that the more experienced modders can help with
200bhp
The T16 was close to 200bhp from standard, technically it should be fairly close to that figure, however as I?ve said the age of these
engines does start showing through (especially in the heads!) so you may need to condition check the engine (i.e compression, HGF,
maybe a head rebuild, depends how far you wish to go.) For this figure you can use the standard Rover 620 intercooler and pipe work,
which not only saves a lot of money, but also is also very easily and quickly fitted. The T16 comes in 2 forms, wasted spark and
distributor ignition. A wasted spark setup means no distributor is present, only a coil pack. It tends to be more reliable and allows
greater head space for more BHP, however you will require a 4 gap (4 reference point) flywheel on your engine, a distributor setup is
as normal and will require a 2 gap flywheel.
250+bhp
To squeeze 230bhp from your old T16 again isn?t very hard to do, assuming that you?ve taken note of the above advice and your
engine is in good condition. You will be needing mainly a Garrett T28 turbo charger, this a effectively the next step up from the stock
T25 turbo charger, they require a little bit of modifying to fit (physically and pipe work wise) but it isn?t hard to do and is very
commonly done, all the parts are readily available.
Cold air feed for the turbo charger, whichever form you opt for the idea is of course to reduce restriction and obtain more cold intake
air. Of course an uprated head gasket and head stud kit would be of great use!
The exhaust system must be upgraded for the 230bhp+ boundary, I will explain in detail later about the exhaust system to suit a
ZS/45. However the basics still stand? free flowing and larger bore (not to large) will give you the extra ponies you crave!
Large Front mount intercoolers will aid the cold air flow of charge into the inlet manifold, larger doesn?t necessarily mean a lot more
BHP, the larger the charger and longer the pipe work the more the turbo charger has to work to fill them, hence you could suffer lag,
in most T16 applications this isn?t a huge issue but something to bare in mind when climbing the BHP ladder. Have an intercooler that
suits your specific aesthetic needs and offers the BHP advantage also.
Performance camshafts are quite drastic when hunting for this sort of figure but will definitely help.
More boost is of course the trick to getting more bhp from your engine. The standard T16 will attempt to obtain around 11-12psi (a
little lower at some points if I?m correct?) With the boost cut removed from the ECU (at 14psi the ECU struggles to fuel for the
amount of boost, hence it cuts ignition) this feature can be removed from the ECU to allow more boost to be put through the engine.
With more boost being forced into your engine additional fuel is now required to prevent detonation or damage, for little cost this can
be done by adding an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, with this device you can up the pressure applied to the injectors, therefore
more fuel is being pushed through in one pulse. This (if set up correctly) will allow the use of a little more boost. The addition of a
good reputable boost controller will be a good idea, a cheap ?ebay? trick may do the job, but a quality product from a good supplier
will do the job 10 times better, either the form of a bleed valve or electronic controller.
Bearing all of the above in mind? T16 engines are either hit or miss; there are reports of a standard (internally) T16 running close to
300bhp. But there have also been reports of rods and pistons giving up at around 230-240bhp, so it really is a game of luck. Therefore
my recommendation would be to ATLEAST have forged pistons fitted. There are many kinds available varying in price but obviously
budget depends on quality.