My (Short) Car History

[Jakg]

Had lots of fun here reading the "readers cars" section, very interesting to see how people have modified their cars...

Not as long as some of the others here but we'll give it a shot.

First car - 2002 Proton Wira 1.5 LXi. My Mums old car, cost me £300. Not a bad first steed, 84 BHP, 0-60 in 12 seconds - got a lot of stick for it but was better to drive than my friends cars (although in no way massively impressive!)



I then did a few modifications, such as fitting a new stereo (as the existing one was a tape deck), speakers (the existing ones were awful), a K&N filter (which proved utterly pointless), and then debadged it. This left it looking like this:



We even had the obligatory impromputu park on a bank...



I then got some "Xenon" headlights from China which were awful, a new Momo gearknob (my old one had worn down to a sharp bit of metal, and the Momo one looked cool, and got a new set of 15" alloy wheels:



Unfortunately, this is where the problems started. When I took the old tyres off, I found this:



After a lot of hassle it turned out the camber was 3° - but I took it to 2 garages, who tracked it and found nothing wrong. I paid them each time, and bought new tyres, and that, added to a 400 mile a week commute pushed me to something a little less thirsty.

Months of searching finally led me to the MG ZT CDTI - it spent months searching for the perfect car with cruise control & parking sensors, and found one... 5 hours away. So on the train I got.

The seller picked me up from the station, drove it back to his place and fell in love straight away...



£3100 later I got it home...





Then I started a few more mods. First of all, I stealthed in a USB hub for some charing points for my SatNav / Phone etc, I also put the old stereo and speakers from my old car in as well. I also debadged the rear, replaced the worn out front badge, and added some shiny dust caps. I then drove it to Uni, only to find out the combination of low MG suspension, long mudflaps & speedbumps dont work so they got shortened.

Then I started on something a little more serious, and added an EGR Bypass, LED sidelights and some 6000k HID's...



And some more pictures:







Over the moon so far - every time I get in it I feel like I shouldn't be able to afford it

Few things i'd like to do, though - i'm converting all of the interior lights to LED's, getting a set of the MG 190 front brakes to fill up the front wheels a little better & paint the calipers as well, and potentially getting a new head unit so I can get an OEM-style SatNav unit.

Edited by Jakg on Wednesday 26th May 19:22

[ScottishSamurai]

Scrap this, jibberish

Edited by ScottishSamurai on Monday 12th April 00:19

[Fizpop]

Another Newbie, just like me!
Thanks for posting your history, I think the MG's smart, an interesting choice for a second car and a wholly underrated motor as well. I think you're right, they're cracking value for money and do feel much more upmarket than their price would suggest and being the diesel you'll not have sleepless nights about head gaskets, annealing blocks and the like.

Enjoy it, I've always had a soft spot for the last of the line V8's purely for the idea of it.

[635djimmy]

Very nice I do like those.

[Jakg]

ScottishSamurai said:

Love the ZS I've got a ZR myself, love the MK1 models of the Z range.

Another mod which is wallet friendly I would say is get some MG straight alloys, an inch bigger than the wires and set off the car IMO

Erm, sorry to ruin it but it's a ZT - it has the 18" Hairpins on it as standard. IMO the straights look worse...

[ScottishSamurai]

Jakg said:

ScottishSamurai said:

Love the ZS I've got a ZR myself, love the MK1 models of the Z range.

Another mod which is wallet friendly I would say is get some MG straight alloys, an inch bigger than the wires and set off the car IMO

Erm, sorry to ruin it but it's a ZT - it has the 18" Hairpins on it as standard. IMO the straights look worse...

Oops, I blame the booze. And i said 'wires' rather than hairrpins.

I aint doin myself any favours justnow so I shall give up!2

lovely car though, got any interior pics?

[Jakg]

ScottishSamurai said:

lovely car though, got any interior pics?

Only from the ad (annoyingly the guy took the fancy HU out when I bought it)





The more eagle eyed amongst you will notice they aren't leather seats - I think they are vinyl but i'm not quite sure. Still comfy, mind.

Also, the previous two owners were in the Rover 75 & ZT owners club, so they also did a few mods:

Air Intake Mod,
Piefburgh MAF,
Steibel horn,
Tow Bar.

[ScottishSamurai]

Similar seats to my ZR, but with more 'luxuries' (I only have lumbar support on drivers) looks V. tidy.

are you on http://forums.mg-rover.org/? lotsa friendly folk anduseful info for almost every niggle in most MG/rovers.

[bennyboydurham]

Very nice ZT. I had one as a press demo when they first came out in the same colour, although mine was the petrol ZT-T. Apart from the fact that it drank fuel it was a very nice motor. You've done well there. The Proton, not so much....

[Flying Toilet]

Very nice car, I always thought about one of these to waft to work in each day...

You seem to be very unlucky with the timing of your photo's, seems to be very foggy in almost every photo.

[djt100]

I know this is a really old post but have you still got it and if so how are you getting on with it ??

[Jakg]

djt100 said:

I know this is a really old post but have you still got it and if so how are you getting on with it ??

Which car? I still have the ZT (only got it in March!) but the Wira met it's new owner last week

[Jakg]

Some more pics of the ZT from today:













Current ZT spec list, not all will be PH-approved though...

Optional Extra's:
Cruise Control,
Parking Sensors,
Trip Computer,
Auto Dimming Rear View Mirror,
Auto Sensing Wipers.


Modifications:

Interior:
10" Reversing Mirror / LCD Monitor,
Alcantara / Half Leather Rear Seats,
Permanently Live Hidden Hardwired USB Charging Hub,
Ignition Switched Hidden Hardwired USB Charging Point,
Permanently Automatic Looping Video Camera + 8GB Class 6 MicroSDHC Card,
TrafficMaster ECU,
GPS Tracker,
LED Interior Lights (Front & Rear),
LED Boot Interior Strip,
LED Glovebox Light,
LED Footwell Lights (Front),
DRL Switch,
Heated Washer Jet Switch,
Bluetooth Switch,
CarCam Switch,
Harmon Kardon Tweeter Grills,
Rover 75 Manual Holder + MG Logo Sticker,
Drivers Side Grab Handle.

ICE:
Kenwood KDC-W6541U USB Head Unit + iPhone 4 16GB,
Kenwood KDC-C469 6 CD Changer,
Harman Kardon Tweeters (Front & Rear Doors),
Focal Access 165 A1 Midbass Speakers (Front Doors),
Rainbow W165 SLX Midbass Speakers (Rear Doors),
FLI 900s Amp (Midbass Amp, Mounted Under Drivers Seat),
Vibe BlackBox III (Sub Amp, Mounted On Rear Seat Back),
Phoenix Gold QX150.4 (Tweeter Amp, Mounted On Rear Seat Back),
2x JBL GT4-15 15" Subwoofers (Sealed),
Bluetooth Kit,
Kenwood KEC-101 Active Crossover,
Panel Sound Deadening (Dynamat Extreme, Dynamat Original & Loudboy's - Front Doors, Read Doors, Boot & Boot Lid),
Dedicated JBL GTO626 Bluetooth Speaker (Mounted Above Pedals),
Wiring Diagram.

Engine & Techincal:
EGR Bypass,
Specialist Components Inline Thermostat Housing,
QTH107 Thermostat,
Webasto 66232C Fuel-Burning Heater (FBH) - RIP,
Viton Intercooler O-Rings,
Air Intake Mod,
Plenum Spyhole Mod,
Stebel Nautilus Horn.

Lights:
OEM Projector Xenon Headlights (4300 K),
LED Sidelights,
LED Daytime Running Lights,
Fogs Linked To Main Beam.

Exterior:
Boomerang Rear Spoiler,
Reversing Camera,
Heated Windscreen Washer Jets,
Front Mudflaps Removed,
"CDTI", "ZT" & Union Jack Boot Badges Removed,
Bosch AR550S Aero Wipers,
Chrome Dust Caps,
Tow Bar.

Edited by Jakg on Friday 8th April 16:51

[wackojacko]

Shiny dust caps and AERO wipers are proven to add speed


Like the colour of the ZT .........