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well....that went as well as could be expected gromit old boy

welshrover — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:16:49 GMT

so , the weather finally broke and I managed to get out (in the sunshine !) to change the fluids / filters and see if anything was up with her ....well...

the oil change went very well , all as expected , no chocolate milkshake etc , no water droplets on the surface when it settled etc so no immediate signs of you know what...

now , onto the coolant...ok , check the header for mayo ....none...good ...but why is it brown ? :(

so off come the hoses and out gushes nice green coolant....er...what....looks back at the header and the crap that had built up was 'orrible ...so of it came for a spin in the dishwasher.

whilst taking of the hoses I noticed a lot of 'dust' on my arms as they brushed the rad....on closer inspection it was turning into a pile of dust faster than Dracula at the end of the film!

ripped it out and flushed the system out whilst I looked around on t'internet.

so , replaced it (off ebay & came with the fan cowling etc in mint condition- all for �30 - result!)
whacked it in,put the header back on and filled/bled with nice new coolant ...

ran her and stuck the heater on.....mmm...toastie....

phew....

so started to tidy up and looked back at the front to make sure I hadn't missed anything...what the hell .....the water that had spilled during the flush cycle was now frozen solid...it had splashed over the slam panel , down the front of the grill / number plate and was reaching for the bottom grill ! the wind chill had it down to about -6 at mid day ...eek..

and that explains why my hands are blue.....:)

so , next job is off to the local rubber man and see if she can have 4 new shoes ...size 16 in black please.

Mgzs mark one yellow mgzs for spares

GTMGFTF — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:35:48 GMT

New to this site so coming to terms with how to use it.Some may have visited me already.
ZR Came in today steaming waterpump on arrival to mention just one of the faults on engine hgf defo 6 fault codes on obd .
The long and short i have had a 1.8 120 mark one zs yellow paintcode Far with slight rear end damage going to transplant the engine into zr tomorrow after timing it up waterpump pretensioner etc The rest of the parts are up for spares set of 17 inch straights.
Also three door trophy blue jfv mgzr for spares and the usual MGF/TF SPARES on the shelf.www.gtmgftf.com

too bleedin cold

welshrover — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:57:54 GMT

well , had all good intentions of servicing the 25 today ...yeah right ...... -10 when I went out early on , i prefer my fingerprints on my fingers thank you very much

warmed up a bit later on but had other things to do by then ....so try again tomorrow...

after filling up the landie again today I'm thinking we need the 25 on the road as the main vehicle PDQ.....

Little Rover

welshrover — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:20:06 GMT

so , the 25 I picked up a couple of weeks ago and has sat on the drive covered in snow & frost till now has finally thawed out .....woohoo

the battery was dead , neither remote worked and clicked like a cliker-claker at an away game instead of starting...

couple of hours on charge , replaced the remote batteries , re-synced them both and were in on remotes now.

she started first time (a bit of tappet noise but that soon went away after a coupe of mins , maybe one of them is sticking...

so , up on stands and replaced both front discs along with new pads , cleaned everything up and took her for a spin around the village , stops on a dime now :)

one of the headlight had blown so replaced both with new brighter bulbs

next on the list (hopefully tomorrow weather permitting)

1) timing belt + tensioner + pump (looks ok , no gunk around it etc but no record on the service book so playing safe)
2) oil/coolant/filters - will also take sump of to clean it out (OCD on clean internals :))
3) have complete top gasket kit (MLS with new bolts + in/exh etc ) , although I dont know about the oil rail , it may have been changed but will hit that one when i see it.

if the oil looks ok from the sump then the HG can wait...

the wife drove behind it one the way home from picking it up and commented on how dim the rear lights were so they may need a clean out , have my eye on some from a ZR nearby so may just replace them and stick LED's in....

Suspension

Bryden — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:58:46 GMT

I have been told that the MG ZT 1800 Turbo has the BMW E36 Suspension, if so would the V-MAXX coilovers fit

blog what's that lol....

cat20 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:24:51 GMT

I never do it lol...

* well I dont think so....

MG ZS+ 1 car too many

Rovertronic — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:49:58 GMT

As a serial car buyer and Rover lover Ive had (and still have) lots of cars, none of them valuable, but last year I was offered a Rover 220 Tomcat which I thought I could sell on for a quick profit, but loved and am still using! More on that another day.

Having got the hang of how that is screwed together I chanced on an MG ZS+ 1.8 in December. We have a small baby and I thought the 5 door car would be more practical than my wife's 3 door, so bought it. It wasnt seen that way so now its for sale, but heres how I got there.

I bought the car with no MOT, battery or alternator, so while I was waiting for the delivery truck I popped to Halfords for a battery and scoured the local scrapyards for a new alternator.

A �30 cheap fix I thought. Except it didnt work, so back for a refund on to another scrappy and same story again. Another day wasted so back to Halfords for the �100+ option of a new one, but at least it all worked now and was guaranteed. It got new power steering and alternator belts as well as I was messing around down there anyway.

Also on the to do list was replace the broken nearside mirror, which was held on with glue and luck. Ebay came up trumps with one in the right colour and it was quite fun taking the door apart and fitting the new one, and rewarding when the electrics all worked as well!

Then onto the niggles. Like most Rovers of this lineage, the fan switch didnt work on 1 or 2. Thanks to these forums I found where to get the new resistor and how to fit it. I was so impressed I did my friends Rover afterwards.

Then the airbag light. It had concerned me, but forum to the rescue again, I found the underseat connectors and gave them a good clean and hey presto, no more warning lights.

With that done, I gave it an oil, filter and air filter and down to the MOT man.

It almost sailed through but for blocked window washers and the drivers side handbrake.

A 50p T piece fixed the washers but the handbrake was more trouble. I had the brakes apart and cleaned up the handbrake mechanism - remember the foot brake was working fine - and took it back.

Failed again. I adjusted the handbrake, but no joy. Looking at old MOTs, it was a recurring problem, so back to Halfords and bit the bullet for a new caliper, and by now bored of jacking it up got them to fit it for me.

Out of pocket but legal I drove home happy and finally got to drive the MG. What a great car. A friend has a 45, but this is worlds apart.

Sadly its one car to many (apparently 8 isnt normal) so it has been a brief affair.

If you would like a ZS+ 120 in silver have a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/3246816...7628774854999/
and message me.

Next time, the Tomcat (not for sale!)

Mg zr misfire

immyftb — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:50:06 GMT

Hi guys
My Mg zr 2004, has started to misfire/bk fire with the eml flashing and only goes about 30mph unless you keep it in 1st or 2nd gear when i use acceleration it makes a loot of noise . when i go to a higher gear it starts to misfire and lose power and have to go to a lower gear. when am driving at a steady speed and dnt use much acceleration the eml stops flashing but stays on. Any help would be great.

Thanks
James

mg zr bonnet bra!

mgzrboy123 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:09:07 GMT

Where could I get a bonnet bra from?

Stripping out the subframes on the wreck Mini

Shewy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:34:26 GMT

Well been putting it off too long now.
Ive had the old Mini Cooper for almost 2 years now and not had time to even give it a check over to see whats needed.
I spent soo much time on my daughters Mini that the Cooper has been forgotten.
Ill get her ramped up and hopefully subframes out today,,,,not getting any younger might take 3or4 coffees along the way,, got my camera so intend to share the rebuild with photos.
Well this aint getting it done
catch yo later
Shewy

Shewy's Blog

Shewy — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:45:23 GMT

Well where do I start? never done a blog before (didn't even know what a blog was until today)
So folks please forgive me if I go wrong.
But I'm sure someone will quickly tell me off if I do.

I have been working with Austin, Morris and B, Leyland vehicles since the 1960s.
I used the word vehicles above for a reason as lot of people don't realise just how many types of vehicles were produced during the periods that British Leyland were in force.
Cars, buses, tractors, vans, lorries, Alvis military vehicles and even Coventry climax fork lift trucks.
My father owned a large dealership starting with Austin/Morris which mainly sold, repaired and serviced cars and vans, the garage expanded when Leylands came along and trucks and lorries were added to our list of vehicles.
Then of course the Jaguar group came along and our franchise went into a turmoil with a vast array of vehicles under the BLMC group.
The list of vehicles covered are too large to list here, but as you can imagine keeping up with the tecnical side of the company was horrendous to say the least.
I started working with my father when I was old enough to tell the difference between a screwdriver and a hammer and continued until 2005 when the big bust up came at Rovers,,,rest is history.
So now you know a bit about myself have a chat about the vast range of vehicles in the BLMC range, renovating them, or just a general chat.
Will welcome you all to my BLOG????.
I dont know if I can do it but Ill attempt to didplay some photos of my car collection,,,or as my wife calls it My Junk Yard so please be patient while I suss it out.
Hope to hear from you all soon
Shewy.
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...ewbert/590.gif
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...96834306_n.gif
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/.../Estates_1.gif
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/.../Estates_2.gif
Not many more now
My Daughters beloved 1988 Mary Quant lookalike,,Took me almost 2 years to achieve,,was in scrapyard condition when it was given to me for free as spares.
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...rt/2507171.gif
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...rt/2507173.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...rt/2507167.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...rt/2507165.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...rt/2507163.jpg

My Quote for today~
Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines

Next thing done!

N1cky — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:47:05 GMT

well, Just had both rear wheel bearings done yesterday........the fronts are next. not looking forward to that, I must say!

My ickle Z

N1cky — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:19:32 GMT

My first post to my Blog.......

My ZR

BoBiDiGiTaL — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:06:39 GMT

here it is. . .

The only mods that have been done are the alloys are of a 45 i think? with low profiles and some of the trim on the dash has been colour matched

What is this

BoBiDiGiTaL — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:35:47 GMT

WOW. This may be the only time i use this feature? hmmmm..... we will see? :)