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MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - Hey it's a nice sunny morning so lets clean the ZR

This is the first Sunday this year when I've been able to work on my car without getting wet. There was me thinking they dont make sunny weekends like when I were a lad ..... :)

Got talking to a neighbour cleaning his Trophy Blue ZR160. Hard to tell what it was because it was covered in white soapy foam! Loves the car and the performance. Nodding to the Silver ZR on his drive, I jokingly enquired if he was simply greedy on needed a spare. Apparently his daughter's car ....

At the end of our little chat, a ZR in that green which is several shades paler than BRG drove past. If that's Le Mans green I like it! As I said elsewhere. Looks like locals are taking to the Zeds. Good eh!
John McFeely

Jinx!! The sun has vanished and it's spotting with rain here!!! :)

Sounds like it was LM Green you just saw. It is quite an appealing colour.

Rog
Roger Parker

Went to the scrappy this morning and,to my horror i saw a new Trophy Yellow 5 door ZR which had taken a short cut through the scenery and landed on its roof!.Still had 3/4 tank of petrol in it as well.Looks as if the driver was unscathed but i bet his insurance is'nt!.Was'nt allowed to take any bits off of it,apparently once it has been cleared it will be sold as "repairable",outrageous!,its about time write offs remain as write offs.
Kevin

Kevin,

Problem with visible damage is that it often isn't as bad as it seems and the use of a jig and it's massive power to restore body shells to their original shape will usually amaze when first viewed. In fact I have seen on a number of occasions a seriously damaged write off pulled back to the original shape over a period of several days work and the final alignement being to a tolerance that is nearly 100% closer than the original spec dictate for new shells. Then of course it is a simple operation to rebuild into a new shell.

I think the main problem with write offs isn't the damage or rebuilding them, but the way in which this is 'policed'. That way spurious rebuilds of a substandard quality and cloning onto other cars, usually stolen, would clean up the whole scene. The other fact is that as time passes there has to be more pressure to rebuild on an ecological basis. New tyre for example consume some 5 times the energy to make than to retread them.

Recycling of cars has to offer huge savings in energy and associated costs, and in time will have to be addressed properly, beyond the concept of original manufacturers paying for the cars disposal.

Rog
Roger Parker

Yes,but this cars roof was touching the headrests and there was a three inch gap between the top of the doors and the roof and the front wings were flatter than the mirror on the Hubble Telescope!,plus,if the insurance company thinks a £13000 car is'nt worth mending,who does?.
Kevin

Someone tell MG-R to put the KV6 into the ZR.
JH Gillson

>Jinx!! The sun has vanished and it's spotting with rain here!!!

Roger,
You shud have travelled to Northants!!
There was some glorious sunshine!! And as I was leaving SPR, the ZT Tourer of Barry Sheevils was just arriving at the circuit!
I had seen this car B4 parked up at the autosport show, looks 'great' on the road.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/cambs.mgoc/autosportshow2002/as1.jpg
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/cambs.mgoc/autosportshow2002/as2.jpg

(images copyright! (c)2002 Kelvin Fagan )
Kelvin

Kevin, the ZR would not be worth mending (IE re-shelling) at dealer labour rates of between 30 and 60 pounds per hour. But if I bought it plus a new shell and simply swapped all the bits over at my leisure, it would suddenly look a very sensible economic proposition.
David

Kevin, WROTE (some snipped):

>!.Was'nt allowed to take any bits off of it,apparently once it has been cleared it will be sold as "repairable",outrageous!<

Not really. As David suggests, a non-dealership re-shell would be an attractive proposition. The fact that you were not allowed to remove bits suggests that someone (in-house?) already has plans for it! These "write offs" often change hands for very low sums.

Kelvin,

Thanks for the pics of the ZTT. Looks a real tasty motah!
John McFeely

Hi John
Listen up, this face lifted ZS/ZR, have they fixed the seats? Come on John you know who to ask!
Cheers
Mega.
Mega

This thread was discussed between 10/02/2002 and 11/02/2002

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