mattyprice4004
Newbie
G'day all! 
Been a 'lurker' for some time, and thought I'd finally bite the bullet and join.
I have a strange fascination with British cars, I do all repair and restoration work myself and just generally enjoy anything remotely oily. :love:
Bit of a boring car history, but who cares eh. :amuse:
First car - 1997 Ford Fiesta diesel.
Total abomination of a car in every sense, and was finally glad to get rid after £1,100 in repair bills after 11 months due to repeated clutch and brake issues.
Second car - 1997 Rover 416i.
My first British car, a lovely motor for the £600 I paid. Base spec plus A/C, but surprisingly comfy on long distances and incredibly reliable.
A couple of months in, I came by some Piper Fast Road cams with pulleys incredibly cheap on the Bay of E. They made quite a bit of difference!
After 10 months we parted ways, as I was doing increasing mileage and picked up...
Third car - 1999 Rover 420 iXLD
Probably the best car I've owned. Faultlessly reliable, A/C, 4 electric windows, plus electric mirrors and other bits and bobs.
It's factory 105bhp was a little 'limp', so with a few choice modifications I managed a dyno run at just over 130bhp, and an extra 60ft/lb of torque.
I then became single again, and fancied a 'silly' car to own over summer.
Resulting in...
Fourth car - 1999 Rover 620ti
Absolutely mental amounts of power and acceleration for a 'old man's car', this is the one car I'll always regret selling.
The clutch release arm did shear, meaning I had to spend a week in August taking the gearbox off, but boy was it worth it. It needed a new clutch anyway, and a nice new Valeo unit improved the clutch feel immensely.
200bhp combined with a TorSen LSD in a saloon weighing in at around 1300kg meant you couldn't half have some fun.
A Mongoose exhaust and a Forge dump valve meant it's bark was as good as it's bite!
People give these a bad reputation for being unreliable - apart from a few niggles and the release arm it was good, and at 140,000 bits were bound to go wrong.
I did buy this car back a few months later, as the new owner couldn't deal with little things going wrong (window, coolant hose, air con fault) so I got it back just to take to Germany for a 'Ring trip.
As fuel prices went potty, I then decided I'd like some economy combined with great handling, so picked up my next car from a 'dodgy' dealer in Stoke on Trent.
Fifth car - 2003 MG ZS+ TD
Unusually well specced for a ZS, I still own this car. It left the factory with 99 little ponies, although you could always tell there were plenty more trying to buck their way out of the stable down the road.
With some pretty heavy modification, this car now stands at around 155bhp and 280lb/ft of torque. Quite a lot when the car comes in at 1200kg, the amount of acceleration is silly for an oil burner!
Unfortunately 26psi of boost has given me head trouble, so it's currently sat in my garden awaiting head removal and replacement. A small price to pay for the fun it's given me, and at 120,000 miles it's due for a rest.
I've put the head failure down to an issue which started when the car's cooling system froze last year - a very small leak of water started from one of the injector ports in the head. This is probably due to a crack caused by the freezing (remember kids, use antifreeze!). This has progressively got worse, and now it's breached the combustion chamber causing the cooling system to pressurize.
While the head is off, it's also time to change cambelt and tensioners, plus the fuel pump injection belt and a few other bits and pieces.
Modifications:
Powerflow Stainless Steel exhaust (catback)
SDi high-flow injectors
Decat
Boost set to 19-26psi (adjustable)
K&N Panel filter
GBE Evo boost controller
A few polybushes, here and there.
Sixth car - 1997 Rover 416i Shed Edition
Temporary replacement while I sort the ZS, due to the work it's getting. Handy to be able to drive around collecting parts etc
£257 so what can I expect, but the A/C works and it's pretty quick for a 1.6.
Racked up 90,000 on it's first head gasket, so think this must be one of the few that didn't fail.
Sorry for boring you, if you need any MG Rover related help, you know where I am. :bigsmile:
Been a 'lurker' for some time, and thought I'd finally bite the bullet and join.
I have a strange fascination with British cars, I do all repair and restoration work myself and just generally enjoy anything remotely oily. :love:
Bit of a boring car history, but who cares eh. :amuse:
First car - 1997 Ford Fiesta diesel.
Total abomination of a car in every sense, and was finally glad to get rid after £1,100 in repair bills after 11 months due to repeated clutch and brake issues.
Second car - 1997 Rover 416i.
My first British car, a lovely motor for the £600 I paid. Base spec plus A/C, but surprisingly comfy on long distances and incredibly reliable.
A couple of months in, I came by some Piper Fast Road cams with pulleys incredibly cheap on the Bay of E. They made quite a bit of difference!
After 10 months we parted ways, as I was doing increasing mileage and picked up...
Third car - 1999 Rover 420 iXLD
Probably the best car I've owned. Faultlessly reliable, A/C, 4 electric windows, plus electric mirrors and other bits and bobs.
It's factory 105bhp was a little 'limp', so with a few choice modifications I managed a dyno run at just over 130bhp, and an extra 60ft/lb of torque.
I then became single again, and fancied a 'silly' car to own over summer.
Resulting in...
Fourth car - 1999 Rover 620ti
Absolutely mental amounts of power and acceleration for a 'old man's car', this is the one car I'll always regret selling.
The clutch release arm did shear, meaning I had to spend a week in August taking the gearbox off, but boy was it worth it. It needed a new clutch anyway, and a nice new Valeo unit improved the clutch feel immensely.
200bhp combined with a TorSen LSD in a saloon weighing in at around 1300kg meant you couldn't half have some fun.
A Mongoose exhaust and a Forge dump valve meant it's bark was as good as it's bite!
People give these a bad reputation for being unreliable - apart from a few niggles and the release arm it was good, and at 140,000 bits were bound to go wrong.
I did buy this car back a few months later, as the new owner couldn't deal with little things going wrong (window, coolant hose, air con fault) so I got it back just to take to Germany for a 'Ring trip.
As fuel prices went potty, I then decided I'd like some economy combined with great handling, so picked up my next car from a 'dodgy' dealer in Stoke on Trent.
Fifth car - 2003 MG ZS+ TD
Unusually well specced for a ZS, I still own this car. It left the factory with 99 little ponies, although you could always tell there were plenty more trying to buck their way out of the stable down the road.
With some pretty heavy modification, this car now stands at around 155bhp and 280lb/ft of torque. Quite a lot when the car comes in at 1200kg, the amount of acceleration is silly for an oil burner!
Unfortunately 26psi of boost has given me head trouble, so it's currently sat in my garden awaiting head removal and replacement. A small price to pay for the fun it's given me, and at 120,000 miles it's due for a rest.
I've put the head failure down to an issue which started when the car's cooling system froze last year - a very small leak of water started from one of the injector ports in the head. This is probably due to a crack caused by the freezing (remember kids, use antifreeze!). This has progressively got worse, and now it's breached the combustion chamber causing the cooling system to pressurize.
While the head is off, it's also time to change cambelt and tensioners, plus the fuel pump injection belt and a few other bits and pieces.
Modifications:
Powerflow Stainless Steel exhaust (catback)
SDi high-flow injectors
Decat
Boost set to 19-26psi (adjustable)
K&N Panel filter
GBE Evo boost controller
A few polybushes, here and there.
Sixth car - 1997 Rover 416i Shed Edition
Temporary replacement while I sort the ZS, due to the work it's getting. Handy to be able to drive around collecting parts etc
£257 so what can I expect, but the A/C works and it's pretty quick for a 1.6.
Racked up 90,000 on it's first head gasket, so think this must be one of the few that didn't fail.
Sorry for boring you, if you need any MG Rover related help, you know where I am. :bigsmile:
