MK2 Firefrost Red V6 Saloon

[mattie007]

This is stunning Jay, your work is simply outstanding

[Big-Jay]

Originally Posted by stamford

Unfortunately our Pete was the one who would refurb the vis motors for us. I have done them a few times. Normally a bad motor or dry joints on the v3 switches is the cause. soldering iron, solder sucker and an eye glass would suffice.

Thanks for the advice Mick.

I can hear the relays clicking away on both VIS units when plugged into the tester, just no movement from the motors. Will do as the guy does in the video and see how I get on from there !

Originally Posted by mattie007

This is stunning Jay, your work is simply outstanding

Thanks chap !

[Big-Jay]

Had a couple of weeks away from the MG whilst I've been working on another one of my projects. Must say its refreshing to work on something different every now and again but glad to be back at it this weekend !

Dropped all of the rear running gear from the car -



I was pricing up new bushes last night as the rears are all perished and the prices for the poly bush alternatives are truly eye watering ! Think I'll poly bush the anti roll bar and link like I did at the front and use genuine MG/Rover replacement rubber bushes everywhere else. I may do the odd track day but I don't think that'll justify me buying poly.

Removed the fuel tank -





Nice and rusty, the underbody protection on the MK2 cars is seriously poor.

Then got to work on the rear arch. Here's a shot of the O/S before I wire brushed it -



Wire brushed back to bare metal and then Zinc Primed -



It wasn't that bad to be honest but it'll still get the same treatment as the front. I also removed the arch body kit trim as I didn't want to risk catching it with the grinder and damaging it.

Haven't touched the other side or the underneath yet but will make a start on those next weekend.

That was Saturdays progress, Ive invested in some new tools to make my life a bit easier and decided to put them to use today.

Clarke strong arm engine hoist and load leveller won on eBay -



And an engine stand -



Split the gearbox from the engine -



Removed the clutch, it's not too bad but will be changed for peace of mind regardless -



And hoisted the engine up onto the stand -





I've also bought an air compressor from SGS engineering whilst they're on sale -



You get a few basic air tools thrown in with it but I'm going to invest in some quality ones. I'm going to use it for spraying mostly, fancy having a go at doing my own painting on this project so will see how it goes.

Also had a play with the dead VIS motors today, opened both units up -





Both were literally swimming in oil so I decided to strip out the internals and clean them up -





Also cleaned up the spindle inside both motors -





Put them both back together again and managed to get the Power VIS working but the Balance VIS has had it. Weak motor and a dodgy micro switch i think.

Not to worry though, had some luck and stumbled across a guy who had two fully refurbished VIS units from Pete Scott around 3-4 months ago and had never fitted them I believe. Must have been amongst the last he'd done, safe to say I bought those -



The guy who I bought the VIS tester off also refurbs them so I'll get my others done and keep them as spares for the future.

Finally, I popped down to my local breakers yard and stripped a complete OEM reverse sensor kit from a Rover 45 -



Will be a nice Edition to the ZS.

Jay.

[peterzs]

reversing kits are useful, my one just emits a buzz when I go into reverse. Think the frost and rain buggers them up.

Did the same last year and I bought some s/h sensors as I thought one of them must have gone. Never got round to fitting them and they must have dried out, as they started working properly when it warmed up.

So here is hoping!!

[pb25]

With my daily being a six speed, the reversing sensor beep on the ZS is a god send as it remonds me the zed is only a 5 speed! Saved the gearbox several times!

[Big-Jay]

Not much progress made this weekend as it took me two days to strip down the rear running gear. Almost all of the bolts where rusted solid in place and many of the heads sheared off upon trying to undo them. I did try the blowtorch and mole grip approach to no avail so ended up welding thicker bolts to what was left of the threads and got them out that way.

Absolute nightmare as doing it that ways extremely time consuming.

Anyway, here's all the bits I've taken down to the powder coaters today -





There's still the fuel tank, tank straps, rear calipers, gear linkages and some more exhaust shields to be done but they'll go down next week as I'm giving the tank plenty of time to air out before it's blasted and coated.

Another payday and more bits bought, put an order into DMGRS last week for all of the bits I need to sort the engine out, they arrived on Friday, along with the traditional chewy sweet -



I also ordered a stainless Janspeed Sports Cat from DCPerformance, it quotes on the website a 3-4 week lead time but it arrived after just a week and a half so I was well impressed by that ! Here it is -



System's starting to come together -



Digging those manifolds out reminded me that I've still got to get a new lambda sensor boss welded onto the down pipe and then have it polished up.

Not too sure what cat back system I want yet, there's not too much readily available off the shelf for a 180, and of what there is I don't really fancy a Piper system. By chance I managed to speak to Kevin (aka KevG on here) over on Facebook last night and finally found out what cat back exhaust system my old XPG Saloon has.

Been bugging me for ages as I'd really like to have something similar on my current ZS when the time comes for it, the noise's that system made where something else !

Turns out it's a bespoke system, had an inkling it might be as when I had it off before I couldn't see any brand markings on it, and was made by Meerkat Exhausts up in Kilbirnie. Will give them a phone call over the next few weeks and see if I can't get one made up and sent down to me. Not too sure if that'll work though as they made need the car, but If that fails Kev gave me some details on the system so will look into having something made up locally. Pretty sure there's a Power-flow outlet in Redditch so may go there.

Finally, bought some stainless ZS kickplates which arrived today -



Got a few other bits I'm waiting on, but will put some pictures up of those the weekend.

Jay.

[talkingcars]

Any decent bespoke exhaust manufacturer worth their salt should be able to a system to suit your requirements.

[Big-Jay]

Originally Posted by peterzs

reversing kits are useful, my one just emits a buzz when I go into reverse. Think the frost and rain buggers them up.

Did the same last year and I bought some s/h sensors as I thought one of them must have gone. Never got round to fitting them and they must have dried out, as they started working properly when it warmed up.

So here is hoping!!

Used to have that problem sometimes with my XPG ZS. Sensors would play up after washing it but were fine if left to dry out for a couple of hours. I ended up taking them all out and sprayed Dynax clear wax over the joint which sorted that issue out a treat.

Originally Posted by pb25

With my daily being a six speed, the reversing sensor beep on the ZS is a god send as it remonds me the zed is only a 5 speed! Saved the gearbox several times!

Sound like you've had a couple of lucky escapes there then !

Originally Posted by talkingcars

Any decent bespoke exhaust manufacturer worth their salt should be able to a system to suit your requirements.

That's good to know. I'll be looking into this over the next few weeks !

[Big-Jay]

More progress made this weekend, got 70% of the wire brushing and Zinc priming on the backend finished now. Had to split it down into sections as there's too much to attempt in one sitting, it's a real PITA but worth it in the long run !

Anywho, here's what I've got done. O/S -







N/S -









Came home the past two nights looking like I'd done a 12 hour shift down in the coal mines ! Still have the middle cross member, heel board and seat pan/undertank area to do. Should be able to get that done over next weekend. I'm not going to touch the spare wheel well as that's all in A1 condition there.

Collected my parts from the powder coaters -



And had a few more bits arrive through the post. Needed to replace my side skirts as the metal brackets that attach them to the car had turned to dust and in the process made the plastic in the area they were bonded to bulge out, ruining the skirt.

Purchased some used ones from eBay with the much improved plastic brackets -





And finally, a 5000 mile old BMC CDA with the Dark Ice Designs silicone hose -



Jay.

[stamford]

Superb work there again Jay. Will be a shame to get it dirty! Hope you remember where it all goes