My ZS saloon - Trophy Blue project

[m1cha3l2013]

Hi every one

Ive owned this car about a month now, Ive only just got the registration documents through, Ive sent them off again now as I'm putting my private reg on the car that was kindly bought for me for my 21st, now 28!

I wanted to do a project thread on the car as I will be changing little things here and there, Ive already started so thought Id start documenting them.

So the car is a 1.8 120 saloon in Trophy Blue, 81,000 miles, full service history, head gasket replaced with uprated one, cambelt and water pump also replaced, along with the usual brake pads etc before I bought it.

I paid £1000 for the car. bought it from a nice chap in York who was an MG/Rover mechanic for 11 years hence why it has been so well maintained and looks the way it does.

These are the 3 pictures from the Ebay advert, not much to go on, no interior or engine bay pics, but after an hour long conversation with the guy over the phone, I was convinced it was a mint car, and it is!

The Ebay pics:







The car was on White wheels but the owner did say the car will be sold with Silver wheels as he wanted to keep the White's...fair enough, I prefer the Silver.

A week later he kindly delivered the car to my door for me, and I was straight on with the mods, first thing was LED number plate bulbs:



New front and rear badges:



I didn't like the Orange in the front indicators, so searched for some clear ones from a Rover and Ebay came good as usual:



Was a pain to fit to be honest but glad Ive done it because I think its changed the front end for the better.

The bulbs were Yellow and made the car look older so Ive replaced them, the new ones give off a White with Bluish tint and really updates them



I've got LED sidelight bulbs also but haven't fitted them yet

The next thing I tackled was the brake calipers and hubs, I like things to look tidy behind the wheels, the entire underneath of the car will be done in the same way, striped back and painted, no process pics, just after, has really smartened the car up.

All four arches have also been repainted, it look new under there









That's about it for now, have just given the car a small detail, week after next the paint will be getting corrected and next Tuesday a new back box is being fitted, also need to get the wheels refurbished as they have kerb marks etc.

Here is the car as it stands on my drive today; EXTERIOR























Inside fuel cap:



INTERIOR

















ENGINE:







I will keep this updated I promise :-)

Thanks for taking the time to look.
Michael.

[talkingcars]

Talk about attention to detail - you've even gone for lawn stripes on the carpet mats but that filler cap looks a bit grubby

[m1cha3l2013]

Originally Posted by talkingcars

Talk about attention to detail - you've even gone for lawn stripes on the carpet mats but that filler cap looks a bit grubby

Haha, the fuel filler cap has weird stains on it, shall be replaced! :-)

[welshone]

Very clean indeed. Just keep an eye on the coolant looks a little high to me and very cloudy.

[m1cha3l2013]

Originally Posted by welshone

Very clean indeed. Just keep an eye on the coolant looks a little high to me and very cloudy.

Thank you for the tip, I will keep an eye on it.

[peterzs]

Clean looking motor, certainly got a shine to it. Love the engine bay.

[m1cha3l2013]

Originally Posted by peterzs

Clean looking motor, certainly got a shine to it. Love the engine bay.

Thank you very much :-)

[daytona365]

Very nice looking motor. The Blue does come up nice when its polished...........

[m1cha3l2013]

I have a knocking noise coming from the N/S/R and I'm going through a process of elimination, starting with replacing the anti roll bar drop links and bushes

The difference:





The two new ones:



I've taken the car for a quick drive, there is definitely a difference I'm sure, however there is still a knocking noise, I'm going to replace the larger bushes on the anti roll bar next.

While the car was jacked up I took some quick pictures of one of the arches to give you an idea of cleanliness :-)

[m1cha3l2013]

So today I decided to do a bit more tidying up under the arches.

I removed the inner arch, to clean it properly:

This is why I like to do it:





The arch lining itself needed a good clean:





I gave it a thorough clean then removed all the tar spots:

Tar dissolving:







After drying I dressed them leaving them like new:







The plastic screws that held the lining in place were cleaned ready to be re fitted, and the metal screws were cleaned sanded and painted Silver

The arch before:







Didn't look too great under there, so after prepping I repainted, allowed it all to dry and refitted the arch lining.

I'm annoyed because I ran out of paint but I will get some more tomorrow and finish the job off, for now here is what it looks like:









By no means finished, there still plenty more to be painted etc but a bit at a time :-)