MG ZS 120+ - aka "The Learning Experience"

[Smitters]

I've typed nothing for six weeks, because I've done nothing for six weeks! Life got in the way in the form of a very ill mother, then a recovering mother, then a family holiday. The MG's MOT expired the day after it's trip to Silverstone, so it rolled onto the drive and stayed there.

I had completed a quick check:

Smitters said:

For a very, very reasonable £22.97, the garage did a "NOT", just like an MOT, but not (geddit?).

TLDR, it'll fail. Not a shock, nor a disaster

Good news really, in that the list I got was:

Emissions pass (!!!)
1 x bulb out
Windscreen cracked but only an advisory
Headlamps mis-aimed
Engine Light and fault codes x 2 (charcoal canister and cam sensor)
1 x CV boot split
Hand brake at lower limit (but a pass)

And so clearly some effort is required. I walked out, plipped the remote and.... nothing. Ah. Flat battery. Get out the multimeter and 1.15V. Cue some checking to make sure I had it set right but yes. 1.15V. So fked then. Luckily I had a spare so popped than on the C-Tek overnight and come Saturday morning all was well.

I was Daddy Daycare this weekend, so while the OH enjoyed a well deserved hotel stay and spa with the girls, I got the kids to bed and then rocked Saturday night...


FML - that's rusty.



I broke out the wire brush, k-rust and Hammerite and then at 9am this morning, took it to the garage for them to resolve the CV boot and headlights prior to MOT as I'd run out of time.

So, now we wait....

[Smitters]

Wow.

[InitialDave]

Doing better than me, then! My ZS handbrake is proving to be a right dick. Frustratingly, I've gone through it all again, and every individual part of the system seems OK! Caliper pistons move freely, slider pins move freely, handbrake mechanisms on calipers are moving fine, pads slide in carrier OK, cables move freely, handbrake lever doesn't have anything wrong with it... but it's still a bit rubbish!

[Smitters]

InitialDave said:

Doing better than me, then! My ZS handbrake is proving to be a right dick. Frustratingly, I've gone through it all again, and every individual part of the system seems OK! Caliper pistons move freely, slider pins move freely, handbrake mechanisms on calipers are moving fine, pads slide in carrier OK, cables move freely, handbrake lever doesn't have anything wrong with it... but it's still a bit rubbish!

No, mine's st, it's just on the limit st, as opposed to under the limit st. Even the slightest incline will have the car wanting to relocate. First gear/reverse and wheels angled every time.

[Jezza30]

Smitters said:

I've typed nothing for six weeks, because I've done nothing for six weeks! Life got in the way in the form of a very ill mother, then a recovering mother, then a family holiday. The MG's MOT expired the day after it's trip to Silverstone, so it rolled onto the drive and stayed there.

I had completed a quick check:

Smitters said:

For a very, very reasonable £22.97, the garage did a "NOT", just like an MOT, but not (geddit?).

TLDR, it'll fail. Not a shock, nor a disaster

Good news really, in that the list I got was:

Emissions pass (!!!)
1 x bulb out
Windscreen cracked but only an advisory
Headlamps mis-aimed
Engine Light and fault codes x 2 (charcoal canister and cam sensor)
1 x CV boot split
Hand brake at lower limit (but a pass)

And so clearly some effort is required. I walked out, plipped the remote and.... nothing. Ah. Flat battery. Get out the multimeter and 1.15V. Cue some checking to make sure I had it set right but yes. 1.15V. So fked then. Luckily I had a spare so popped than on the C-Tek overnight and come Saturday morning all was well.

I was Daddy Daycare this weekend, so while the OH enjoyed a well deserved hotel stay and spa with the girls, I got the kids to bed and then rocked Saturday night...


FML - that's rusty.



I broke out the wire brush, k-rust and Hammerite and then at 9am this morning, took it to the garage for them to resolve the CV boot and headlights prior to MOT as I'd run out of time.

So, now we wait....

Good skills at getting Heston Blumenthal to help out with the rust proofing - and a photo to prove

[InitialDave]

I achieved the minimum on mine after about 3 attempts, and having dismantled and checked pretty much all of it!

Started at 10%, clawed up to 13/14%, then managed to get it to 18%.

I've never had a handbrake need so much effort put into servicing it to still achieve such a rubbish performance. I'd have been a lot happier if there'd been one obvious "it's shagged" component, but everything seems to be OK, it's basically a "they're all like that, sir"!

[Smitters]

Jezza30 said:

Good skills at getting Heston Blumenthal to help out with the rust proofing - and a photo to prove

He's doing Duck a l'Orange, only the orange is a colour, and comes from my rust.



ETA - my handbrake was at 16%, with brand new pads and a lot of what s been described too - it feels like the lever simple doesn't place enough force on the pads.

Trackday on Friday, then a run to Blackpool for a stag do. Should be interesting.

Edited by Smitters on Tuesday 16th July 17:02

[Bobberoo99]

Possibly a very stupid question but how much travel do you have on the handbrake when you pull it up? If it's a lot they don't like it, remove the rear ashtray and tighten the adjuster nut inside, should get it up to around 25%+ and around 3-4 clicks of travel!!!

[InitialDave]

Book figure is 7-11 clicks, which sounds a lot to me, but I've tried adjusting it down to a tight 4ish clicks and it was still pants either way.

I got it to the "just passing" standard with it adjusted as per spec (starting to drag on one click), which means I can pull it up to about 8 clicks, but leaves "normal" application level (in my opinion) at around 3-4 clicks.

One thing I can't control is how hard the MOT man pulls the lever!

[RichardDastardly]

What a great thread! Long may it continue.

I had a ZS the same spec, age and colour as this a few years ago until someone drove into me and wrote it off. Bizarrely I found it more fun to take on a twisty road than my tuned Focus ST or my mate’s Evo.

Good to see these cars are not being totally forgotten.

[Smitters]

RichardDastardly said:

What a great thread! Long may it continue.

I had a ZS the same spec, age and colour as this a few years ago until someone drove into me and wrote it off. Bizarrely I found it more fun to take on a twisty road than my tuned Focus ST or my mate’s Evo.

Good to see these cars are not being totally forgotten.

Thank you. I do enjoy this car. It's very predictable to drive, fun to hustle along, as you say and in the wet of Abingdon, an absolute hoot. Road tyres, commitment and a good demist of the windows and it was more than capable of keeping more powerful machines honest. I'll pop a video link up this week.

Minor issue though. It seems to have run out of electricity. 11.7V across the terminals when idling. It's be nice if it was wires, but I suspect razzing it at Silverstone in the heat may have cooked the alternator.

[Smitters]

In the spirit of honesty, I should point out that the garage did both outer CV joint boots before the MOT. I'd bought the kits, but run out of time. I only needed one CV boot to pass the MOT, but I'd said if it went easy, to do both please. Given I'd been prepping the nuts and bolts with penetrant for a week, I can only assume they spun off like new, much to their surprise.

So, with a lovely MOT in hand, I set off nice and early for another MSE trackday, this time at Abingdon. The MSE days are my favorite for lots of reasons, and added to that Abingdon is a bit under-loved, very keenly priced and forgiving on the limit, so I do like it there.

I'd say I packed the car eagerly, but I'd not unpacked it from Silverstone, so that was nice. A full tank of premium fuel for the extra BHP innit and off we set. Now given the UK had been doing a pretty good impression of the surface of the sun for a month, I was somewhat irked to find it was pissing down. Not because I don't like driving in the rain, but because the under-cover facilities at Abingdon run to the signing-on tent and a portaloo. Plus all my gear would get wet once I'd piled it on the grass. Ah well. I could always stay in work and tap keys all day...

I met with a mate in his Caterham - roof down for extra man-points - and we headed over. As we arrived, it was fairly fine, but during the briefing, the tell-tale pitter-patter started and all those with kit-cars started shuffling their feet and mumbling about covers and wet arses. By the time the sighting laps were underway, it was somewhat biblical. It was interesting keeping up with the diesel van on lightly treaded tyres apparently. I was faring somewhat better with my Nankang Sportnex NS-2s. I'd been told they were st in the wet, but I'd rather them than Avon ZZS or R888Rs. Even in the MG, I was wheel-spinning randomly in 4th under acceleration and aquaplaning left right and centre. I did a couple of laps once the van came in, but it was clearly going to be a day for learning about grip.

Wet you say?


In actual fact, they closed the circuit for 40 minutes or so as the rain eased and stopped before inspecting and opening up. It was much better, though still with lots of standing water, and a couple of small rivers! As with all these things, it's what you make of it and I was pleased I'd not trouble the cooling system as much as Silverstone, so I could focus on learning the car a bit and seeing where the brakes and tyres were at. I got a good few laps in and as per, everyone was well behaved, so no stress there.

My second stint was on camera, link below. It started poorly, as the passenger ripped the door handle off. TADTS. 20 year old plastic degrades it seems. That aside, all was well again, though I noticed my wipers had slowed a bit... and then the battery light came on. Piss.

A quick poke with the multimeter suggested the alternator was kaput. At least, I was only getting 11.8V when idling. Given I was 60 miles from home on a day when lights and wipers would be required on the road, discretion was the better part of valour. I packed up and went to a local mates house for beans on toast and some of Oxfordshire's finest electricity before rolling home ahead of the Friday traffic and mentally preparing myself for a sober stag do in Blackpool...

Enjoy the vid: https://youtu.be/rOPly6OkY3M

(for some reason the resolution seems poor for me - if I can make YT show HD, I will - the desktop version is nice and detailed and not shot on a potato at all)

Edited by Smitters on Friday 26th July 15:53

[Cambs_Stuart]

Good work on getting the blue race car to (and from) its second track day!

[Smitters]

Cambs_Stuart said:

Good work on getting the blue race car to (and from) its second track day!

Cheers. I do have a sense of pride in doing so. I'll be back to Abingdon on the 9th August so I'd better get the new alternator in tonight. I forsee hammers being required...

[RazerSauber]

I bet after all the time and effort you've put into this, an alternator change will be a doddle! Can't watch the video in work but will have a look later!

[Smitters]

RazerSauber said:

I bet after all the time and effort you've put into this, an alternator change will be a doddle! Can't watch the video in work but will have a look later!

You know what, I smirked when I read that, as I had read the Haynes book of lies and thought (as I typically do);

"There's no way I need to remove the exhaust manifold and power-steering pump belt to remove the alternator... is there?"

So what could go wrong? To be fair, I did also know that the alternator was fairly wedged in, but as it happens, loosening the upper mount from the engine block and swinging it over meant the swap was popping the belt off (auto-tensioner - yay), a multi-plug, a 10mm bolt on the cable, top and bottom alternator bolts and one bolt on the upper mounting bracket and hey presto, it was out. You were right. I was pessimistic and thankfully, wrong.

Old vs New


To be fair, the old one doesn't look that old, but it was definitely at fault. I had reconditioned the battery while waiting for the new one to arrive, so that was giving 13.5V on the bench, which went over 14V once the car was started. Success.

Confidence boosted, I swapped the cam sensor too. That's a one bolt job. How could that go wrong? Oh, by somehow stripping the thread. fk knows how, since the torque wrench was set to 5Nm. I have what I think is quite a good habit now of creeping up on torque, so I'll set several interim values, especially when going into aluminium. A new cam cover is not the end of the world in £££ or difficulty and frankly, gives me a chance to tart one up. So, eBay to the rescue.

Finally, I chose to investigate the irritating vibration that occurs at about 2800rpm. Turns out it's the exhaust buzzing on the rear ARB. In what may be my proudest moment working on cars. I set about adjusting the exhaust with a tool in each hand. In my right hand, a hammer. In my left hand... another hammer.

Not a success, but that's mainly because the cobbled hangar wire is way too thin and the weight of the exhaust simply drags it back to the buzzy position. I do need to remove, de-rust and rebush the rear arb, if nothing else, to try and contain the understeer a bit, so I'll attend to it properly then.

But for now, I've got a heatshield to make and some driving to do. Time to see if it continues to run ok, and if the misfire has gone.

[rickygolf83]

Nice read from start to finish!

Plenty of learning and fun achieved for not a lot of ££££!

[Smitters]

rickygolf83 said:

Nice read from start to finish!

Plenty of learning and fun achieved for not a lot of ££££!

Thanks very much. It's been massively enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone to be honest. Took my boy to nursery in it today. He's always delighted to go in "the racing car". In his Recaro child seat, obvs. He even likes the colour the best.

The "racing car" runs more smoothly and doesn't misfire under load. Colour me happy.

On the flipside, the brakes have gone a bit soft on the pedal and the throttle pedal sticks a bit on initial push. I'm hopeful the pedal issue is literally a manky pivot, but I'll get into the cable too - I'd rather not find it stuck at 90mph... with soft brakes.

[RazerSauber]

Smitters said:

Excitement

Confidence boosted, I swapped the cam sensor too. That's a one bolt job. How could that go wrong? Oh, by somehow stripping the thread. fk knows how, since the torque wrench was set to 5Nm. I have what I think is quite a good habit now of creeping up on torque, so I'll set several interim values, especially when going into aluminium. A new cam cover is not the end of the world in £££ or difficulty and frankly, gives me a chance to tart one up. So, eBay to the rescue.

Excitement

Did the same sort of thing the other day on the mother's Mini (R50, before everyone gets excited!). Putting the rocker cover bolts back in, complete with new gasket and was putting a bolt back in the far corner (about 3rd to last one..) and *pop*. The cold sweat, the scramble to undo the other ~309 bolts and sure enough, half a bolt suck in a hole, perfectly level with the head. Nothing worse! lol.

Loving this project. It has inspired me to use my socket set and mechanical skills (limited to: A can do attitude) to do more stuff. More of the Race Car please!

[Smitters]

RazerSauber said:

Did the same sort of thing the other day on the mother's Mini (R50, before everyone gets excited!). Putting the rocker cover bolts back in, complete with new gasket and was putting a bolt back in the far corner (about 3rd to last one..) and *pop*. The cold sweat, the scramble to undo the other ~309 bolts and sure enough, half a bolt suck in a hole, perfectly level with the head. Nothing worse! lol.

Loving this project. It has inspired me to use my socket set and mechanical skills (limited to: A can do attitude) to do more stuff. More of the Race Car please!

I swear, there should be some sort of reverse cut drill bit, so you can put your drill in reverse, drill into your stuck bolt and then after 10-15mm, have some sort of bite where the bit stops rotating easily and it just torques the broken section out.

More to come this weekend. Need to a) find the knackered bit of heat shield material I rescued from the side of the road about five years ago and b) bash it into shape as an alternator heat shield. There's a good 10mm between primary #1 and the alternator. Not at all hot. No siree.