MG ZS 180

[Roverload]

Hi all, I used to have a 180 that had issues to say the least so never really felt inclined to show it off. 2 years driving nothing but a people carrier and a crappy non turbo diesel golf finally got to me so I decided to start looking for my ideal mk2 golf gti, so naturally I bought a bright yellow MG! It turns out it's quite rare as ZS's go, only 15 mk1's were done in this colour and this was the first! Anyway, I'm not really a rover person as you can probably tell from my awful teenage username so I thought I'd come and see how piston heads fits with my obsession with internet acceptance / stardom. Anyway here's the pics of what I'm starting out with, enjoy and hope to get to know some of you in due course!







and now the rust...


thankfully im not shy with a welder so the plan is to strip both inner wings down to bare metal, weld what needs welding, tidy up the nasty factory welding on all the brackets, strip back what is obviously poor quality seam sealer, re-seal EVERYTHING, re-paint in correct colour, and start looking for a strut brace and some sort of crossmember brace because clearly the metal work on the front of these cars moves round too much, below pic is a split in the seam behind the battery about 2 inches long. Seam welding ahoy! Deep deep joy!



also, paint has peeled right off around the clutch master cylinder!


and just to put the fear of god into all you ZS owners out there, go forth and check your inner wings....now!














Just a note, that's my old ZS and it is still on the road so all is not lost if you find something similar!

[Nikko 40691]

I like these, this colour sometimes look very liquid yellow at times.

[RikST]

Love it OP, I will own another MG ZS one day! Miss mine like crazy even though it was just a povvo spec 1.8 120! The V6 180s are still quite attractive and bloody fantastic value nowadays! Looks good in yellow too!

Any plans for it? Liking the duplex exhaust too!

[400SE Dave]

Can't believe it, this was my car (well my wife's actually). We had a Trophy Yellow one first and then I saw an MGF in Sunspot Yellow so we ordered a new ZS in it, didn't know is was so rare a colour on ZS's.

We added a few options from new that weren't standard - electric rear windows, rear headrests and the daft option of a space saver spare wheel rather than the foam kit.

The 'S 180 MG' reg was ours but we sold it with the car.

We also had the twin exit exhaust custom made at Zorst, Clitheroe, sounded good without being boomy and to me evened the asthetics at the back.

It was a great car for us, only 1 non standard issue for us - clutch slave cylinder in the (almost) 5 years we owned it.

Here is a pic from when it was mine:



Glad to see it still looks good

[Roverload]

Haha no way, yes I spotted the receipt for the slave cylinder that went bloody early didn't it?! I have your address as for some reason the second owners logbook was with the history, I have a letter written on the table ready to post tomorrow for you! Please please tell me somewhere you have the original service book? I have receipts for the 15k and 30k service but no more, also did you ever do the cam belt? So cool that you spotted this!

[Roverload]

Future plans are to strip back the engine bay and floor pan back to bare, weld anything that wants welding, seam weld the chassis areas, PROPERLY seal it and re paint before I even think about giving it any more power, after that it's cam belt, some fast road cams with some home brew head work, sports cat, shedist clutch, very slight lightening of the flywheel with a good clutch and a remap, aiming for 210 bhp, it doesn't need any more than that. Looks wise maybe a little lower on some coil overs and a solution must be found for the ABS which is quite frankly a joke!

[400SE Dave]

Roverload said:

Haha no way, yes I spotted the receipt for the slave cylinder that went bloody early didn't it?! I have your address as for some reason the second owners logbook was with the history, I have a letter written on the table ready to post tomorrow for you! Please please tell me somewhere you have the original service book? I have receipts for the 15k and 30k service but no more, also did you ever do the cam belt? So cool that you spotted this!

We have moved since we sold the car so keep the letter!! I don't have any docs left for it as we gave all the history/hand books etc to the next owner. I guess they didn;t keep the service record up or they would have given it to you?? We sold it just as the 45k service was due so we didn;t change the cambelt so I guess you are doing it anyway as peace of mind.

Any other questions feel free to send a mail though, happy to answer. It was a great car for us, we had no issues other than the slave and it was 100% original when it left us

[Roverload]

Finally got off my backside and gave it some polish, the sun came out especially!











Other than that, a few interesting developments, the spoiler is full of water which has stumped me if I'm honest, can't really see a way of solving it! Also got a small amount of water getting into the drivers footwell so I'm leak finding today. Other than that just been looking for any excuse to find a twisty B road to drive down!

[iacabu]

This has actually just got me looking in the classifieds although none are as nice as this.

[Roverload]

Thanks dude, Do you like green ones? Me likely this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-Mg-Zs-180-/15124131...

There's loads of nice ones at good prices on eBay ATM.

[texasjohn]

That's a lovely looking ZS

Is it metallic paint?

[Roverload]

Yes, it's a pearl type lacquer called sunspot yellow. Or super sexy yellow as it's also known!

[anoother]

Wow, surprised by the rust. I thought these were fairly well rustproofed?

Kind of put me off looking for one...

[carinaman]

Fantastic colour. They're a bit of a good drive too aren't they. Very nice.

[Roverload]

Well I have spoken to the boatyard and when all the boats have gone back in the water and there's some shed space available their going to rent me a corner to strip down the inner wings, weld whatever needs welding and properly seam seal the lot. Also got to do the thermostat I think, yaaaaay!

[Roverload]

Small update. Not done anything at all to it so far bar a new expansion tank cap. That's not to say there haven't been problems. The closer I get to Le Mans the more little problems rear their heads. First I thought the head gasket was gone due to cream in the oil cap but this turned out to be just lack of use and condensation. Compression test revealed that all is well, thermostat house is leaking a very small amount, and now my rear n/s brake calliper is binding.

Having said that. On the whole it's been a lot of fun, doesn't get used a lot but when I have it's put a smile on my face every time. Just need to decide weather I fix now and try for Le Mans or hire a car and do a big refurb in the summer. Would be a shame to touch her away for so long though.

Thanks for reading.

Ian

[Roverload]

Forgot obligatory pics!

Clay bar and a damn good polish needed.



But on the whole not too bad for just super resin polish!

[Roverload]

bks!



I've been contemplating what I'd do if, no, sorry, when this happened. So....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Prelude-2-2-sr-a-c...

2.2 vtec zs180 anyone? As far as I can tell there's a tone of reasons why I should do this and only 1 why not, mainly the end of the v6 growl, but, no more ridiculous cam belt costs or hg problems, engine weighs roughly half of the kv6 and is easily tuneable, just a vtec controller will take me over 200bhp. So this is now my quest for vtec project thread. Will keep updated once I accumulate some parts!

[jakeharvey63]

Wouldn't it make more sense to fit the ATR's H22? Would have over 200bhp straight away then !

[Roverload]

Cost mainly to be honest. Really I'm going to need a complete car to do the conversion, I'm happy with 197bhp as standard and much lower cost to do the job.