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Guttered for you over your alfa mate

This is a nice looking motor and personaly i think you`ve picked a great colour too.

We went to see an Alfa 156, which was a bit of a heap, and just so happened to see the MG there as well, had a look, Test Drive and fell in Love

I do like the Xpower Grey as well, luck I guess

A chap at the MG-Rover NW meet yesterday, has a facelift ZS180 Xpower - the side intakes are moulded as part of the wings so not as easy an addition, the hard part tbh though is looking for someone breaking a ZS180 facelift lol.

Also, he has a silver plated MG badge, with Xpower embossed across it, its a lovely change to the regular MG badge, and you only notice the Xpower bit when up close, it just looks like a silver MG badge otherwise - apparently their only £12, summit to consider.

It seems as though in your face spoilers were not really standard across the range after the facelift, his didnt have one either, but boy it sounded nice, and was frighteningly fast (amazingly not the fastest there though, think he was gutted there was faster 800's, 600's and 200's lol)!!

you can get them badges on ebay in all different colours, was thinking about it for the tf but make sure it is the same size as they do vary

I think Ill stick with the standard badges tbh. Its not an Xpower version, or a 180 so might be doing them injustice.

Seen a few spoilers knocking around, but people are either charging way too much for them, or only selling them as part of the tailgate Ill leave it for a while me thinks.


Got back yesterday from Brands, Brake discs are fecked. all grooved and the car trys to pull from side to side under heavy braking. Cars in warranty from the garage, so Ill get them to sort it tomorrow hopefully, when she goes in for a cambelt change

Also, somebodys broken my front door hanle surround, so it lifts away when you pull the handle

sweet ride mofo.

Any pics since you have had the car mate - rather than the garage pics?

Funnily enough yeah
Ill upload em in a few mins

As promised

That "Second" MG Badge has to go

Very nice mate, I'd love a nice face lift ZT but after my experiences with a 1.8 75 I could never have one.

The 1.8 was the worst K engine - especially in a big car like the 75

The smaller lumps are more reliable, and couple that with a smaller car.....

Wernt most of the problems you had related to the K'er HGF though? You bought a car with HGF, you can't really moan haha! Simple fix, is get the uprated head gasket kit, oil rail and mainfol gasket etc, and get it done by a "specialist" not a backstreet garage or a mate. Backstreet garages will only use the OEM headgasket, and even if you ask them to use the uprated one, there is far more to the job than simply throwing on an MLS headgasket - hence use a specialist who does it day in, day out!

Also, if on the original HG, never push the car past 2,000rpm until it is at ORT, once its nice and hot, you can thrash it all day long, but whilst its still cold, its a total no-no unless you want trouble. Always run the correct coolant (and nothing else whatsoever, this is a major cause of failiure) and keep an eye on your coolant levels, and check for leaks around the manifold gasket ("any" car will blow its HG if it runs out of coolant, it just so happens that the original design of the K-Series and its HG kit doesnt bode very well with coolant loss, whereas other engines will cope better, for longer).

For the full uprated kit (includes everything including all upgrated gaskets, higher strength bolts, Land Rover oil rail etc) I was quoted £390 by Peter Jones (MG-Rover/Austin/Honda specialist), Wirral based, or there is an ex-Land Rover engineer who runs a remote service for £350, or £450 with a 12 month warranty, and he has a reputation and a half across both the MG-Rover and Land Rover community.

Since thats the most expensive fault on any K'er, id say its pretty cheap, especially when one takes a look at the BMW M47 POS that reguarly cost's hundreds to keep running right, sometimes even thousands, such is its happiness to eat through DMF's. Plus, the K'er is a piece of piss to work on yourself, if you have the time and space.

Ive yet to hear of a single N-Series headgasket failiure...

Craig, at least on your car, you "know" what your major fault is likely to be at some point in the future, and it is a cheap and easy fix. Follow the basic rules of the K-Series and you should be fine. If needs be, carry a bottle of K-Seal in the boot, for emergency use (though I know of a few people who have been running it for thousands of miles lol).

Just today, people on the MGR forums are talking about mileages, and one guy on there has a 45 1.8 Connie and it has done 128k on the original HG, and there was me thinking it was a rule that the originals pop every 40k lol.

Im getting my engine done in a few weeks as preventative by Peter Jones Engineering, full uprated gasket kit, oil rail, cambelt, all tensioners, water pump, full service, all belts etc, all warranted (including manifold gaskest leaks - obviously not on anything that hasnt been replaced causing HGF) for 12 months, £570, thats pennies, a cambelt on the KV6 alone would cost around that much!!

Forgot to update this, silly me....

Since Ive had it, Its had the Cambelt changed under warranty (as a precaution).

On my first journey down to Brands Hatch, the Brakes seemed to become less effective just after coming off the sliproad, with a hideous smell of Brakes and a slight squeak every now then when the wheel was turned.

As a result, the Brake Discs and pads were replaced, and the Brake system Bled, and now all is 100% OK.


The stupid looking MG badge that was on the back has been removed. Dont understand why someone would put that on there, especially as theres already a GIANT MG badge on the back anyway, Im sure people wouldnt fail to see that.

Obviously the radio has been replaced, it came with a non-standard headunit that looked naff, so I put my Kenwood one that I bought for the Alfa in, and walla, we have decent sound and it suits the interior.




Still looking at getting the Extreme Hatch Spoiler (No, not the huge one that goes on the saloons) But limited funds and a busy race schedule seem to be preventing that atm.

Anyhoo, thats all. Ill keep this updated if anythng new happens

Craig - I think you should trade it in for an Austin Princess a Toyota Starlet

She's cracked