Project Smudge unveiled! (Pic Heavy)

[Rich]

Those of you who attended our Northants meet last week now know what was keeping Smudge from turning up at the last two meetings, but for those who didn't...

It all started just before Christmas when the dreaded HGF was caught just in time to prevent any serious damage, but meant that Smudge had to come off the road for essential maintenance. Now most of you know that Smudge isn't any ordinary Rover 45. He's not even an MG ZS in old timer's clothing anymore. And I'd had plans for quite a while... The HGF was the trigger to get things moving...

Matt will tell you that on numerous occasions when I've been up at his place, I've stood lovingly staring at all the various upgraded and modded bits and pieces, building a wishlist in my head. He'd already quoted for 'the task I had in mind' and the HGF just served to move it all forward. After all, the head was going to have to come off anyway and that was half the job. So I bit the bullet and asked him to gather all the parts I needed.

And so, the spec for Smudge's engine rebuild was drawn up. The decision was to go for the full MG 160 VVC set-up. Matt built up a full head assembly. The head was cleaned, obvious rough areas in the inlet and exhaust areas tidied and the VVC mech all installed.









I must admit that the project actually started sooner than expected. Because I needed to get the finances in place for Matt to start sourcing parts required, I put the old cylinder head (totally undamaged as we'd caught the HGF at the right point) on eBay... and sold it very quickly! That meant Matt had to come down to take it off so I could get it sent to it's new owner. So he made the time and his first trip down proved quite productive, getting the new head in place, bolted down and just waiting for the ancilliaries.









Then on the second session, Matt proceeded to put the rest of it together, including the late 160 spec inlet manifold and 52mm throttle body. At this point, the standard exhaust manifold and downpipes were fitted but this was to be changed at a later session.









No mods were required to the air filter system as I'd already done that. The standard airbox was fitted with a K&N filter and the intake was modified to draw air in from an unrestricted source in the front bumper. The ZS exhaust system fitted by Matt a while ago was also perfectly suited to the set-up. The VVC system relies on reasonable back pressure in the exhaust and the ZS system provides this.

Matt had taken away the original wiring loom, cleaned it up and spliced in the additional wiring required for the VVC mech and sensors. As usual, he did and fantastic job with the finished product looking like it had been taken from an MG Rover parts bin!

The ECU obviously needed to be changed to enable control of the VVC system. I was very lucky in this respect as although Matt had a couple of standard VVC ECUs available, he let me have one that had been 'tweaked'. This is the key to the increase in power compared to the standard 160 set-up found in the MG TF and ZR.

The final step was to modify the downpipe as the standard 45/ZS one has a 'maniverter' which can apparently burn out with the VVC set-up and is also an unnecessary hindrance to exhaust gas flow. However, this job needed the car to be taken up to Matt's so he could weld the parts together into a custom downpipe. The standard one would last for the journey so for the next session, Smudge got re-taxed (he'd been put on SORN as I didn't know how long he was going to be off the road) and driven up.









And that was the completion of the first phase. We did have a small issue with the VVC mech that made the car sound embarrassingly like a tractor! I continued to drive Kate's Rover 25 for a while longer, just until I could get Smudge back up to Matt's to swap the mech for a quieter one. This is a common fault with the VVC mechs and I was very surprised that such a small movement in the mech bearings could cause such a noise... The amazing thing was that Matt did this last step the morning of the FRL Road Run. I'd got up early so I could be on his doorstep by 9am (and I was early) so I could be home in time for my dad to pick me up for the journey down to South Mimms, via Fenny Stratford where we met Lee and a few others. How I managed to keep this all a secret, I really don't know. But I wanted it finished before I unveiled it all...

Matt has been absolutely fantastic with this project. His knowledge of the K Series and what you can do with it is amazing and watching him work on Smudge was fascinating. I've learned so much, but I still don't think I'd take it all on myself! Thanks Matt. I'm eternally grateful...



Rich

[Rich]

Matt and I seem to have a hidden agenda. Whenever he decides to change anything on his ZS, I'm always there looking. So far his car has donated a full exhaust system, complete suspension set-up, a leather steering wheel and other bits and bobs. When he told me he was looking for a black leather/grey alcantara interior, I immediately got rather excited as the interior fitted to his at that time was the quite rare black/dark grey monaco interior. I've been looking to dump the softy Rover 45 seats for ages, not just because they don't give a firm support when throwing the car round, but they had this terrible habit of fluffing up all the time.

Anyhow, as he was just waiting to find his interior I jumped onto eBay and tracked one down for him. The deal was done and he now has his desired interior fitted and looking very smart. So just before the final 'project' visit, I went up with just a driver's seat fitted to Smudge and bolted in his seats, coming home with the old driver's seat in the boot.

What a difference... and this is what Smudge's interior looks like now...





And whilst I was at it, I changed the lighting in the dash. Not quite finished as I've got a TrafficMaster clock on it's way. Once done, I'll put up pics of this too.

Lastly, the badging... Well I couldn't do all this without some kind of custom graphics. I designed them and Tony cut them, although he didn't know that some of them were for me. Some are for another of Matt's projects...













So that's everything for the moment... But there is more to come soon!

Rich

[Lee121]

Fantastic write up.....great pics.....and what a result ....nice to see fizzbot in the background too....perhaps Matt can get it finished as spring/summer looms

[cejsmith]

i think smudge now has a better power to weight than most mgf's!!!!

[Matt Parker]

Not bad Rich... Like the logo's at the bottom btw

Lee, I was thinking should I start work on him after I got rid of all my visitors (various VVC and Turbo metro's needed afew bits doing, as they do ) but I thought sod it lol I was also going to take my metro pickup to the body shop so I could fit my new doors and paint my ZS wheels but it didn't go quite to plan as I found that the rear subframe isn't attached to the car anymore as there is a big hold where the subframe mounts to the body so I now have 2 cars off the road..

oh well, what would you like doing next Rich lol

[Nick]

That looks fantastic love the mods and interior . I'm sure theres an article for safety fast in that write up somewhere ! Loving the mods and the power to weight ratio could be improved further by hacking the roof off, that or get Ollie fixed pronto. Matt and Richard that is a stunning ar you've pulled together.

[Rich]

Now let's not be silly Nick. Safety Fast wouldn't allow it. There isn't an MG badge on it!

Rich

[Stu]

Impressive stuff Rich, a different car now eh bet your chuffed with it

[Nick]

Now let's not be silly Nick. Safety Fast wouldn't allow it. There isn't an MG badge on it!

Rich

Pretty sure I saw something octagon shaped on the air filter housing??

[uk kiwis]

Must say I am impressed too. How DID you keep that quiet?

Got to score a ride in it sometime. Very envious of your considerable skills Matt.
Oh, and thanks for the relayed advice re my 'cat' problem.

[Rich]

Pretty sure I saw something octagon shaped on the air filter housing??

That's the K&N Filter sticker. Just a coincidence that they went for an octagonal design!



Rich

[Lee121]

Is the insurance company now aware of this wolf in a sheeps clothing ....and boy is that phrase ever correct in this case!!!!!

[Rich]

I'm all legal!

Rich

[Captain Slow]

Rich, are you able to get hold of any more of those VVC stickers (without the 180 bit)?

[Tony]

cough... I know he can... cough... different sizes and colours too.

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