World's Fastest Estate Car is .....British

[Steve Pyro]

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

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.  

(or am I talking bollocks?)

[Matt Harper]

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.

[Steve Pyro]

Does anyone think it will actually get built?

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

[Steve Pyro]

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.”

 

[Robbo SPS]

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 .......unique ‘muscle car’ character that flies in the face of our competitors’ trend towards buzzy high-revving engines.

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

[Steve Pyro]

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?)

[gibberish]

(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.

[Robbo SPS]

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.

[gibberish]

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 .

Now that sounds like progress

[Robbo SPS]

It wont be me designing it though
 

[Matt Harper]

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).

[Steve Pyro]

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.  

[wishy]

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

[Matt Harper]

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  

[Steve Pyro]

the SP450 Daimler

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 ??