Club Arnage

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Well done MG!

Thats article is smaller than my "aston back to LM" piccy  ;D

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I think the engine's a Ford.

Good news is, you can soon buy one of these either as a ZT 260 saloon or an Estate with the V8 in it - and they'll be rear wheel drive.  I think the prices start about £28k.
MG - Rover's web site bills it as the "Return of the Practical British Muscle Car"  ;D
It looks like the old SD1 lives again.

Unfortunately, the production version won't be able to do 225 mph though  :(

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And i thought there was No support for MG .

If its the small block chevy thats sold more units than any other engine , 260 bhp can Very easily be tuned into 350 , and that make the car VERY VERY fast . The ZT handles really well, no idea about the SD1 , as i have never driven one .

The MIGHTY BRITISH BULLDOG SPIRIT LIVES ON .  8)

For those of you who are going on the track day in october.......you will be in for a real treat.....the "shed2" going round at warp speed!!!!

Have you seen an MPV capable of doing 0 - 60 mph in 2 minutes ;D

Wishy

Yep.....not a pretty sight ;)

[quote author=Robbo SPS .

If its the small block chevy thats sold more units than any other engine , 260 bhp can Very easily be tuned into 350 , and that make the car VERY VERY fast . The ZT handles really well, no idea about the SD1 , as i have never driven one .

The MIGHTY BRITISH BULLDOG SPIRIT LIVES ON .  8)

A bone stock LT1 small-block, as fitted in the current C5 'Vette, delivers 350bhp. Mine has only minor mods (Blackwing and Borla Stinger exhaust) and spits out 370. There are lots of LT1 Corvettes running 600+bhp on the street here.
I'm not sure a 350ci Bow-Tie would fit in that little MG - as stated earlier, more likely to be a 4.6L Rustang engine - Cobra variety with a blower, so not too shabby at all.
Matt

Just for info I read about this speed record attempt in a motoring mag. The engine is 6.0L V8 developed by Roush giving out 765BHP without any forced induction - so definitely pretty serious.

Would like to see that in a road car  :)

I would like to stick it up Jeremy Clarksons nose. British cars are crappy apparently. It would blow your bloody Merc away ( just ) ...... ::)

I've done a bit of nosing around and the engine in the production ZT260 is the 4.6 litre SOHC engine as fitted to the current Ford Mustang (or Rustang, Matt).
No blower though (retro fit project?) but the car is now RWD rather than FWD (with associated torque steer and wheelspin but no go).

It will be interesting to see how the dealerships will handle the servicing of the ZT260.  They would have been well freaked out with the 6 litre Roush motor though  :D

The old SD1 V8 (the ex Buick engine) was (is) pretty solid and plently of my cobra replica contemporaries have used this engine (from 3.5L to 5.0L) in their cars.
Maybe in years to come, when the ZT260 is in the scrapyard, plenty of car builders will be pulling out the engine for their latest project.  ;)

[quote The engine is 6.0L V8 developed by Roush giving out 765BHP without any forced induction - so definitely pretty serious.
Jack Roush offers a 380 ci pushrod crate motor (to drop into a Mustang) - so it might be based on this - but not with that much horsepower.
So, it has to be a full-on NASCAR motor with around 3mpg.
Great for Bonneville or Talladega - not so good for Ealing Broadway....

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The 4.6L Mustang engine is available with a factory fitted supercharger in the Cobra version. It is a strong, tractable motor, but makes nothing like the horsepower stated here (presumably to keep it reliable).
From a servicing point of view, yank iron has always been quite straightforward - very regular oil changes, filters and level top-ups keep 'em running forever. My car has a huge amount of electronic metering - everything from tyre pressures to mass air flow - and it's usually the sensors that break down, as opposed to the drive components.
I would be impressed if a car like this hit the street in UK. Though I think it would be too expensive to be a half-decent seller (sitting next to a WRX or Evo).
It's about time the MG brand offered a car that was not as flat as a fart. FoMoCo seems a strange bedfellow for this hybrid. As stated earlier, I'd have thought the all alloy Range Rover engine would have been a more obvious choice - that said, you'd be hard pressed to extract 500bhp out of that unit without some very serious modification  

Hmmm, maybe it's not so strange as it seems.
My theory - As we know, BMW bought Rover / MG / Mini / Landrover, but have sold off Rover / MG to a consortium and Landrover to Ford.
The new Range Rovers had BMW engines fitted (not the old Rover V8).  These, along with Freelanders are now being re-engined with Ford derived units.
You can still buy a Discovery with the 'old' V8 (a 4.0L auto) but I don't see these lasting much longer.
Therefore - Rover / MG looked to their spritual partner (Landrover) and the link ends with Ford.
QED.  ;D

(or am I talking bollocks?)

All sounds very logical to me, Steve.
Does anyone think it will actually get built?
It seems to me that there is a lot of enthusiasm for hot rods like this, until insurance, company car income tax implications and fuel prices are factored in.
It sounds like a real sledgehammer to crack a nut, if competition will come from competitors like Subaru, Mitsubishi and the like.
When I lived in England, I always fancied a Holden, because I wanted a 4 seat car with a lot of grunt, but couldn't afford a V8 BMBubbleyou.
I liked the novelty and annonymity of the Aussie bruiser, but I just couldn't find anyone who could sell me a new one.
There seems to be a rennaisance for the muscle car here in USA - not sure if there was ever a strong market for the type of vehicle this MG could be - or if there ever will be.

It is.  The Estate and Saloon ZT260 was launched on 22nd Sept (only to the UK market at the mo).
see http://www.mg-rover.com

Press release :

MG Rover Group has today (September 23) launched the V8 powered MG ZT 260 V8.  The rear-wheel drive vehicle, available in ZT saloon and ZT-T estate car, powered by a 260bhp 4.6-litre V8 engine and with an awesome 410Nm of torque to deliver class-leading acceleration, is now available for customer order in the UK.  With an on-the-road price starting at £27,995, the ZT 260 offers an unbeatable combination of price and performance.

Rob Oldaker, MG Rover Group’s Product Development Director, commented: “The MG ZT 260 V8 demonstrates our commitment to deliver cars of true pedigree and character.  This is a truly rewarding car to drive.  Our choice of a big, torquey engine has been vindicated as this is a deceptively quick and efficient cross-country car. The more you drive it, the more you appreciate its unique ‘muscle car’ character that flies in the face of our competitors’ trend towards buzzy high-revving engines.

“Its introduction means MG now has the broadest range in its 80-year history.  The new V8 heralds the return of the practical British muscle car, and as an MG it’s obviously great value too.”

 

I am a huge British car making follower and support MG but their bread and Butter car the ZR105 relies on a 8500 rpm limit from the K Series engine which is good , but "Buzzy".

The Rover 75 is really popular in Australia , where they love V8 supercar racing .......
The markets in the Uk for Private buyers are now going towards higher outputs . Merc Benz now offers the AMG range as a Factory based Mod , as apposed to previously a sought after post manufacter development .

Engines - The 4l 6 cyl TVR engine would be awsome in any car

From my time idly toying in the garage shoehorning various engines into cars not really designed for them, I reckon it is going to become more of a problem to do this in the future.  This is because not only do you need the engine and gearbox, but also all of the various spaghetti of wiring and piping that accompanies the motor.  Plus there's the computer to remap and an exhaust with a cat to shove under the floor.

Obviously, if you have the backing of time and money of a substantial car manufacturer behind you then the above is completely irrelevant.........but if you're poor old me with a 12" adjustable spanner and a hammer..........you're stuffed.

(or am I talking bollocks......again?)

No Steve, Surely not ::)  I'm sure it will be quite impossible to swap engines in the future.  The manufacturers will see to it that there is nothing we can do about anything if they keep on going the way they are. ::)

I had a Westfield with GM's ASTRA GSi 2.0 16v twin cam engine in it , That should have run with a computer for the engine mapping , ECU , start , and linked to the speedo etc etc . No more auto choke .

The builder , removed all that , put on an ignition advancer and that was it .

Started all the time and ran well , although a little rich. maybe the weber 45 had something to do with that .

But otherwise , why not , there will be a simple solution to that soon , maybe a plug in circuit board to talk to engines that all the sensors are alright despite not being there .

Gearboxes ?? No idea , but the Westy had an XR4x4 gearbox , RS2000 brakes and rear axle , so , maybe possible.

Now that sounds like progress ;D

It wont be me designing it though
 :P

A clever thought indeed, Robbo. Trouble is, most engines that utilise electronic fuel injection (and that's most engines these days), require engine management computers to measure and adjust mass air flow, oxygen in the exhaust stream, spark duration, air density, coolant temp, charge temp, fuel metering and even valve timing. By hoodwinking the computer into thinking that everything is running perfectly all of the time, the motor would get very sick, very quick, emmissions would be all to sh*t and fuel consumption would be all over the place.
I've participated in a few engine transplants - and they've all had carburettors, which made things quite straightforward. Our only unmitigated failure was trying to put a GMC Typhoon engine (turbo intercooled tuned port injection V6 into an off-road dirt racer. We just couldn't make it run properly and ended up ditching it in favour of a Rover V8. Moral is - if your installing a non standard motor, make sure it's got a carb (preferrably a sodding great Holley double-pumper).

Very true, ditch the fuel injection, ignition mapping, computer and emmisions controls and bolt on a big bucket Holley and a simple open loop ignition system.
Magnetos work for top fuel dragsters so it'll do for me.  ;D

Talking of awsome engines in small british road cars....does anybody remember the Morris !000 that Nick Mann built and raced in the early 80'S.

It was powered by a rover V8, complete with twin turbo's and nitrous,and put out 350bhp.

Mind you he was a development engineer for British Leyland at the time and obviously had a fair amount of help getting the car to run as well as it did,from the guys at longbridge.

It actually got into the Guisness Book of Records as the fastest accelerating road car in the world.



Wishy

There have been a few Rover powered Moggies over the years - there used to be a guy in Leeds who had a 3.5 Rover powered Reliant Kitten, which was quite rapid also. Occasional CA contributor, Ricardo had a '72 Ford Pinto with a 351ci (5.7 litre) Cleveland V8 crammed into it. This thing had a tunnel ram, big 4 barrel, long tube headers, MSD, Hi-stall converter - the whole shebang. The back tyres were so wide, they almost met in the middle. It didn't go around corners too well, but it would smoke almost anything off the line. I've had some tough yank iron over the years, but that Pinto was a weapon. Silly bugger chopped it in against a '71 Mach 1 - I'll never figure out why (might have been something to do with 4mpg and an expenctant missus). Prior to that he owned a reasonably famous Jr Comp Alt Ford Model B then called "All Shook Up" Sadly we fried the SP450 Daimler, by over use of the giggle-gas, so we got a bit giddy and put in a 460ci (7.6 litre) wide block Ford. I drove it for him for a couple of seasons and it was a handful. The car weighed less than a Mini and had at least 400bhp - so a power/weight ratio far superior to a Honda Fireblade.
It was well funny and I miss pissing about with old smokers - couldn't be without a V8 though - even being the fat old fart that I've become.
Matt  

Now there's a damn good engine for an engine swap.  Hemi heads, compact design, very tuneable (I've known these to run with nitromethane) - where can I get one ??
 ;)

OK, so big car engines are great, but what about the latest fad in the "bike engines for cars" department.  3 BRITISH companies are currently developing V8 bike engines.  2 1000cc or 1100cc attached to specially made crankcases.  Tuned to approx 330-360 bhp, huge amounts of torque, and all normally aspirated!
By the Rodney Thorne has a hillclimb Westfield with a 5ltr V8 in it, and about 400bhp.  Competes in the South, goes off the line using 2nd changes into 3rd and completes a run without changing gear again, and is bloody quick!!  That's real power! :o :o

Have you ever tried to ride a V8 motorbike, its not very good, makes the chassis wobble , which on a bike isnt very good .
Why can honda make 150bhp from 999cc in a bike that TUNES in a car becomes potent , but 150bhp in a 2000 cc car is crap ??

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Hope the Panda wins ;D  They deserve to win something!

It looks like the Muscle Car is to return to the UK.

Along with the Rover ZT260, Vauxhall are bringing over the Holden Monaro coupe from spring 2004 with a 328 hp 5.7 litre V8.

http://vauxhall.co.uk/futureModels/monaro.jhtml

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Why cant Vauxhall just drop that really horrible looking -----------v----------
grille on a car. Its shocking .

Anyway

Hopefully the next MG will be out in April 2004 , the 375bhp version.