Hi all just jointed with my MK2 ZS but a few people have asked about the ZR track car so here it is......
Started with buying the car in summer 2013 just as a everyday car for £800 as i already had a Evo 7 RS Sprint for trackdays and a MK5a RS2000 Escort i was using on track with the plan on doing some amateur motorsport but i gave up on that because getting hold of good parts was just to much trouble so decided to use the ZR
Few the Escort....
As first brought....
Anyway back to the good stuff first jobs were Avo springs, B&G rear camber plates, at this point i wasnt planning on going all out so took her as was to Bedford just for fun....
So after a few months i done a few basic things to the car and as a few friends were going to Bedford Autodrome again i thought i would once again take the ZR....
In the mean time i had picked up a cheap set of rally tyres....
Put on some grooved disc's and EBC yellow stuff pads....
Made a loom for gauges and added into the ISO loom for radio....
And off i went had a wicked day and showed my mates how it was done and much to there disappointment the ZR with 109k didnt had any HG faults All tho the EBC pads were complete rubbish and after a few laps needed a slow lap to cool or i had a rock hard pedal and no brake fiction and even on a cool day the oil temp was way to high causing low pressure....
After stopping on for a beer on the way home with the boys and the Escort still out of use trying to find parts it was at this point the choice was made to move on to the ZR and cut my losses with the poor old Ford
Fitted a Mocal oil cooler with 80 degrees thermostat and modded oil filter housing for gauge sensors, fitted cooler on the passenger side so the cooling fan would draw air though....
Time to remove any thing not needed A/C, trim, sound proving etc etc luckily were was a R25 with no A/C at local breakers so had the heater box, alternator relocation bracket etc from it ....
Added a bit of colour....
And a Scorpion cat back exhaust with race centre tube....
And back off to Bedford to test it, the improvement was amazing car seem to really come alive, handling was much improved along with acceleration and turn in speed but the brakes were stunning almost put you though the windscreen ....
After this i went down the move power route and engine rebuild....
Late VHPD throttle bodies....
Before and after....
Adapter made to link the 4mm vacuum hose to 10mm Map sensor....
Used the IACV take off and put a t-piece in for servo....
Fuel rail and wiring on....
All on for a quick test run....
Now onto rebuild had injectors tested to make sure wouldn't need to run to much duty cycle all were ok but had new filter, best spray was at 5bar which made them flow 272cc so approx rating at 244bhp on a N/A engine....
Engine out and on stand....
No real problems was a bit of pick-up on main bearing and liners were level so i put 4 thou shims in when rebuilt....
All the parts were cleaned, measured etc to check tolerances etc....
Now for rebuild using OE colour coded bearings, rings etc....
Next was to remove the 6 pins i needed from the small MEMS ecu plugs (for fuel pump relay etc) i didnt want to cut up the factory part of loom in case it ever went back to standard etc so i added in 6-way male and female micro JPT plugs....
And the finished job factory loom into my loom without any cutting or damage....
I also fitted flat switch Switch below....
Quick test to make sure ecu seeing pedal postion....
Repairing the worn out gear linkage and fiting a Dark ice quickshift kit, this was a real pain had to heat and bend in the gear rods as you couldn't get 5th hardly at all as they rubbed really bad....
As so added a remote take off for oil pressure gauge to get it away from the sub-frame....
Putting in the base maps....
I also wiring the in the MIL lamp to act as a shift light....
And at last all back together for a quick test run....
At this point run into a problem i had a oil leak from the rear of the headgasket, off again then....
Not sure what happened to gasket....
And way on went a LR gasket with saver shim, no more leak....
Mapping next....
No problems here made stock power but with a fair bit more torque and the car pulled though the rev's a lot better on drive home....
Next was onto another test day at Bedford Autodrome to test it out as didnt want to go far in-case was a problem, that turnt out to be a wise choice. About 20mins in the engine lost power and was rattling so called it a day and a waste of £160 but there you go. Not 100% sure what happened but the front VVC unit was rattling like mad but after a compression and cylinder leakage test was done no damaged valves to piston ring troubles were found the engine was removed and a Piper 285H solid cam kit was ordered and thats were i am at this point. The plan was to use it with the VVC for a while to give me a bit of time to get the money together to get the full race Piper kit and the steel bottom end, forged pistons etc but there you go. I didnt think it was worth paying £600 odd for a new Rover cam and VVC unit as the Piper kit was £1020 nor did i want to risk using a second hand unit.
Head off again but trying another "N" series gasket all tho this one has the slickly glue coating as on the old LR head saver shim which the first gasket didnt have....
Steel caps and uprated valve springs in....
Cams in....
All built back up again....
While it was out i thought i would paint the engine bay....
Changed the colour for next year too, the engine bay will match the bumper and wheels which are a red-orange colour called "Chevy Orange"
And for now that is it hope it didnt bore you to deaf
Heres a link to my youtube channel which has some trackday videos....
1. ABS is gone
2. Uprated larger master cylinder
3. Race seat and harness (with weld in FIA floor tubes)
4. Lever type brake bias adjuster
5. Lightweight flywheel
6. Have it mapped again should be between 180-190bhp if goes to plan
MK2 MG ZR160 Track car
All tho the EBC pads were complete rubbish and after a few laps needed a slow lap to cool or i had a rock hard pedal and no brake fiction and even on a cool day the oil temp was way to high causing low pressure....
[/URL
....
cracking work mate 
Switch below....
....
...
Linear Mode
