Hello all

I have been offered a MG ZR 120+ as a very cheap PX,I was thinking about buying something cheap and stripping it out roll caging it etc for track daying.

Its the 1.8 K series in these i think and i am wondering how tunable it would be ie exhaust,maybe throttle boddies or Bike carbs and some head work.

I have always had a bit of a soft spot for these little cars and this once is a 3 door in mint condition and low miles

Any ideas would be great

Thanks

Not a lot as standard and they sup the juice with filters and exhausts.

There are the options of cams and throttle bodies or a 160vvc conversion or a T16 if you want big power.

You could chuck £6.5k at it for a drive in drive out Reyland vag 1.8 conversion with around 300+ bhp

edit

i think scholar engines do some tuning for these if you have deep pockets. worth a look to see what can be done.

[Edited on 5/3/11 by big_wasa]

Thanks for that

It is very cheap thats all and a maybe worth a punt.

Cheers

I like the zs more but would have a zr any day as a run about. Rover/ Mgs are making very lttle at the moment. A zs 180 would give great track fun for not a lot of cash.

They respond well to bigger valves and proper gas flowing of the head, then cams & lifters then throttle bodies.

VVC head has bigger valves to start with but the VVC mechanism is a bit of a pain in the butt and is ECU controlled however you can get special solid cams that fit the VVC head but do away with VVC mechanism.

Bottom end of the engine dosen't need touched.

Dave Andrews site http://kengine.dvapower.com/

Some good reading there as allways BT. Looks like they can make good power if you have deep pockets.

my daily driver is a zr 160 and it makes me smile every day on the way to work great car

They are very tunable engines, but not by bolting on noisy exhausts and inductions kits. My brothers Elise was running about 160 bhp with a ported head and set of Kent cams and an Emerald ECU, and was completely tractable like a standard engine, no ropey idle etc. just a very strong mid and top end. 200+ bhp is quite achievable with enough head work and suitable cams and throttle bodies.

However, a VVC swap would almost certainly work out cheaper for 160bhp, but going up from there will cost more as the VVC uses different cams to the standard engine.

DVA Power has all the information you should need.

My mate is a big MG an, used to run a ZR rally car, that was a quick car for a 1600.

He's currently looking for a Rover 200 BRM, these have the VVC engine and can be picked up cheap too.

Depends how far you want to go, k series respond well to simple breathing mods. As a starter I fit a janspeed manifold and freer flowing decat/backbox, 52mm Tb and carbon airbox setup. My GTM libra went noticeable better with these. Sounded darn good too. Light flywheel makes a big difference also.