Mk2 mg zs 180 xpg

[Big-Jay]

Ok guys, spent yesterday outside on the drive doing the timing belts, pleased to say all went smoothly !

Heres the parts I bought, all genuine MG/Rover except for the auxiliary belt and water pump of which are still good quality aftermarket parts. There are cheaper kits on the market but I wouldn't entertain using 'budget' items for a job like this for obvious reasons -



Set the engine to 'Safe' and then removed the old belt, tensioner, pulleys and water pump -



Here's the hydraulic tensioner, quite corroded and was slightly damp around the piston when I removed it. Looks like it may have been leaking slightly to me -





Coolant cleaned up and new water pump, tensioner and pulleys fitted -





When I removed the old belt the cam wheels sprang back about an inch each. Was just a case of removing the two rear cam covers and then using two 19mm spanners on the front camshaft nuts until the timing marks aligned on the rear inlet and exhaust cam wheels and then slipping the new belt on. Here's the new belt fitted and the pin that holds the tensioner piston in place removed -



Ancillary's refitted and new auxiliary belt fitted -



And all back together again, she's running beautifully now -



I haven't changed the two smaller belts yet as that was enough for one day. I'll do these at some point next weekend as well as a full service.

I also bought some new badges for the quarter panels so I changed those over too, here they are -



Used some masking tape to mark around the old badge so I could get the new ones where they need to be -



Badge removed -



New one fitted -





Just a case of rinse and repeat for the other side -



That's it for this weekend, will update again when I've done the smaller belts and the service .

Jay.

[stamford]

Nice work there, I like shiny engine parts!

[talkingcars]

Nice work there - the badge is probably more accurately located than in the factory.

[grimmy]

Top work.don't fancy coming back up and doing the twins ones do you.

[Maxfly]

Great stuff, that's good progress jay.
That would be a good road trip for a twins reunion and belt change eh

[ZS]

Originally Posted by grimmy

Top work.don't fancy coming back up and doing the twins ones do you.

Ha Ha, I was thinking of asking the same (but coming down south!)

Fantastic read, thank you for posting. Great car, but seeing all these is a constant reminder that I need to pull my finger out and sort mine! (Its just time at the moment)

[Rockey5uk2001]

Great work and really good info, glad to see someone acutally do the belts without the tools.

going to be stripping my engine in the summer to trace a small water leak.

Will be doing the belts then as i suspect its the water pump

Thank you mate!

[Big-Jay]

Decided to fit the A-Pillar trims I recovered today, was a nice straight forward job, just had a bit of wiring to trace and remove.

Here's all the bits I removed -



I'll keep hold of the podded A-Pillar trim as I may recover this in the future, then I'll fit some L.E.D gauges if I fancy a change. Who ever crafted the pods to the trim did a pretty good job to be fair.

Recovered trims in place -





Quite pleased with them !

Should be finding out when I can get her booked in to the body shop to have the corrosion on the roof sorted out at some point this week, I want to get this sorted out sooner rather than later.

Jay.

[Big-Jay]

Originally Posted by stamford

Nice work there, I like shiny engine parts!

Cheers bud,

Can't beat a few new shiny bits !

Originally Posted by talkingcars

Nice work there - the badge is probably more accurately located than in the factory.

Thanks mate,

Wouldn't surprise me

Originally Posted by grimmy

Top work.don't fancy coming back up and doing the twins ones do you.

Cheers mate,

Nope ! Still trying to catch up on sleep from the first trip lmao !

Originally Posted by Maxfly

Great stuff, that's good progress jay.
That would be a good road trip for a twins reunion and belt change eh

Cheers Gary, yeh it's all going fairly well atm.

Would be a road trip and a half that haha !

Originally Posted by ZS

Ha Ha, I was thinking of asking the same (but coming down south!)

Fantastic read, thank you for posting. Great car, but seeing all these is a constant reminder that I need to pull my finger out and sort mine! (Its just time at the moment)

Cheers bud,

You'll have to join the queue apparently .

Yeh I know what you mean, making time can be difficult sometimes !

Originally Posted by Rockey5uk2001

Great work and really good info, glad to see someone acutally do the belts without the tools.

going to be stripping my engine in the summer to trace a small water leak.

Will be doing the belts then as i suspect its the water pump

Thank you mate!

Cheers mate,

It can look a bit daunting at first, but if you take your time and keep organised it's really not too hard at all. The tools aren't a necessity to do the job at all in my opinion !

I've read that the water pumps are quite prone to leaking apparently.

[ian zs180]

Nice work there pal I do love that zed it just looks awesome