Topic

Hello all, a quick intro about my self and my MGF.
I am a recently retired engineer who has varied interest's one of which is fixing up car's. Now that I have some time I happened upon a MGF Trophy 160 and bought it off a chap in North Wales, it was pretty rough but had a MOT (just) and was as a runner. Unfortunately I ended up towing it home as it broke down only 2 miles into my 400 mile journey home.
Any way after a lot of TLC I eventually sorted it all out and ended up with a reasonable car. The VVC mechanism was noisy and sounded like a tractor which really annoyed me so I decided on an engine rebuild with a difference by fitting a turbo






I now have a nice quiet engine with the power and some of the VVC but with bucket load's of torque at sensible rev's. I have not rolling roaded it yet but it certainly feel's good on the road and I guess must be around 200 BHP which is good for a small car.
I eventually ended up rebuilding the front and rear end's and powdered coated the subframe's etc. and the bottom of the car looks better than the top.
Other mod's include TF bracing bar's, remote Rover 75 thermostat at the rad, boost gauge, sparko pedal's, Stainless steel pipes, near side air scoop and de cat exhaust.
I have just completed a run to Monaco and back which really stretched it's leg's and was great fun.



Many thank's.
Paul.

Hi Paul and welcome to The-T-Bar

Great looking car.

No many F/TF's with a turbo due to the lack of space, does the turbo come from a K series 1.8 ZT 'T' also did you have to change to the shorter (- 1mm) con rods to reduce the compression ratio or does it run OK without pre-ignition/pinking with standard rods?

Brian.

Hello Brian, I used a Rover 75 Turbo engine. The Rod's are 1mm shorter and uses the 160 piston's so compression ratio is lower than a standard NA unit. The head gasket is a MLS with a .5mm shim as well so probably a little lower anyway. It's all bolted together with uprated head bolts and oil rail. I put the VVC inlet manifold onto the turbo engine with all the correct sensors etc to make it run. I used a Kmaps ECU to control it and run 12 PSI of boost.
Space is at a premium but as you can see it is possible and all done with out removing the fuel tank or any cutting of the bulkhead using the OE manifold. There are some more pics on my albums if your interested. I did not document the engine rebuild so the pics could be better but show the set up of the turbo on my return from Monaco. I had to tighten the turbo flange bolts as a slight exhaust blow developed and show the heat shields removed.
Paul.

paul beecham wrote: wrote:

Hello Brian, I used a Rover 75 Turbo engine. The Rod's are 1mm shorter and uses the 160 piston's so compression ratio is lower than a standard NA unit. The head gasket is a MLS with a .5mm shim as well so probably a little lower anyway. It's all bolted together with uprated head bolts and oil rail. I put the VVC inlet manifold onto the turbo engine with all the correct sensors etc to make it run. I used a Kmaps ECU to control it and run 12 PSI of boost.
Space is at a premium but as you can see it is possible and all done with out removing the fuel tank or any cutting of the bulkhead using the OE manifold. There are some more pics on my albums if your interested. I did not document the engine rebuild so the pics could be better but show the set up of the turbo on my return from Monaco. I had to tighten the turbo flange bolts as a slight exhaust blow developed and show the heat shields removed.
Paul.

Thats a great mod using the Rover 75 T/ZT T 1.8 K Series block and turbo set-up. I have often thought if it would fit in an F/TF and you will have the benefit of the water cooled turbo as not much air will be flowing past it, also a run to Monaco will have put it through the ultimate test.

Brian.

Hi Paul,
welcome aboard!

Hello and
Great mod.I love the turbo in my ZT,in an F it must give a fantastic boost.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

James

Thank you for all your kind replies and the warm welcome to T-bar.
Paul.

from north wales.


Did you buy that car off a guy called Mike??