MG ZS180 - I've bought another cheap track car...
Discussion
Well, it appears I’m well and truly converted to cheap track cars. After the unfortunate but – ultimately – inevitable demise of the trusty PH Readers Car of the Week RX8, I needed something to fill the void of cheap fun. The second-hand snotter market has changed palpably since we acquired the RX8 in 2017. eBay is expensive. Gumtree is a void of nothing. Autotrader? Ha! Even the PH classifieds didn’t bring that sweet relief. There was only one thing left to try – one desperate, last-ditch attempt to find what I was looking for.
That’s right.
It was time for Facebook Marketplace.
Marketplace is a fascinating place. Never before has the simple act of purchasing goods been so complex, so nuanced. The thrill of having to guess details from one-word adverts, the terrible grammar, the vague (or non-existent) descriptions, the dark, smudgy, mysterious photos. Hours and hours trawling through completely unsuitable chod.
And yet.
And yet.
And yet if you persist, if you can wade through all the noise, persist where no other casual buyer on a budget will persist, you can find gold in amongst the s
te. Not actual gold, of course, we’re talking about a monkey-and-a-bit’s worth of JDM British engineering here, but it has promise. And a V6. And it’s not another bloody Clio (apols to all Clio owners, of course. You’ll all be faster than me anyway). A short advert, priced at a tantalising £12,345 which had eluded my previously-filtered searches. A polite inquiry. A hastily organised trip north on a rainy Sunday evening.
In exchange for five hundred and fifty of your finest pounds, we have………..
Yeah ok, it’s pretty daft. I should have bought a Clio, or a Civic, or an MX5, or one of the two very cheap, very well put together Saxo track cars that are for sale near me. But where’s the fun in that?
What do I know so far? Well, so far, it’s not too bad. The interior is minging, the headliner is sagging, one of the door handles is broke. Fine, most of that will be coming out. It’s done about 95k miles, has a surprising amount of service history and has clearly been cherished for some of its life. There’s pulley-related grumble coming from under the bonnet, the clutch pedal travel is reeeeeeeaaaaaaaallyyyy looooooooonnnnnnnngggg, the brakes are a bit vague, and there’s an after-market stereo that goes BEEPBOOP BEEPBOOP every time you switch it off. The tyres are sort of okay, but were mostly flat. It has a Janspeed (or Jansport, can’t remember which) catback exhaust and the all important cambelts were replaced not that long ago.
Plans?
Well, I’ve bought some stickers and some replacement brakes (thanks to Jonny Smith aka Car Pervert and his EBC Brakes discount!). I’m eyeing up some coilovers and some tyres – the order of which largely depends on how much the RX8 sells for. No-one seems to make off-the-shelf cages for these, which is a bit of a pain, but I do have a nice Corbeau seat to go in once I can work out how it mounts. They’ve also re-jigged the classes in the Javelin Sprint Series so I’ll be with similar-powered cars, so I’m hoping I can make it even a teensy bit competitive. We’ll see
So far all I’ve done is bring it home and plonk it in the garage next to its predecessor.
For those of you who followed my RX8 thread this is going to be somewhat slower in the progress stakes. There’s only one of me this time round as Pete’s off doing awesome things with MR2s (although I’m sure I can coax him into helping out here or there) and I have significantly less free time than I used to.
But hey, if you can bear with me, it might be a bit of fun
That’s right.
It was time for Facebook Marketplace.
Marketplace is a fascinating place. Never before has the simple act of purchasing goods been so complex, so nuanced. The thrill of having to guess details from one-word adverts, the terrible grammar, the vague (or non-existent) descriptions, the dark, smudgy, mysterious photos. Hours and hours trawling through completely unsuitable chod.
And yet.
And yet.
And yet if you persist, if you can wade through all the noise, persist where no other casual buyer on a budget will persist, you can find gold in amongst the s
te. Not actual gold, of course, we’re talking about a monkey-and-a-bit’s worth of In exchange for five hundred and fifty of your finest pounds, we have………..
Yeah ok, it’s pretty daft. I should have bought a Clio, or a Civic, or an MX5, or one of the two very cheap, very well put together Saxo track cars that are for sale near me. But where’s the fun in that?
What do I know so far? Well, so far, it’s not too bad. The interior is minging, the headliner is sagging, one of the door handles is broke. Fine, most of that will be coming out. It’s done about 95k miles, has a surprising amount of service history and has clearly been cherished for some of its life. There’s pulley-related grumble coming from under the bonnet, the clutch pedal travel is reeeeeeeaaaaaaaallyyyy looooooooonnnnnnnngggg, the brakes are a bit vague, and there’s an after-market stereo that goes BEEPBOOP BEEPBOOP every time you switch it off. The tyres are sort of okay, but were mostly flat. It has a Janspeed (or Jansport, can’t remember which) catback exhaust and the all important cambelts were replaced not that long ago.
Plans?
Well, I’ve bought some stickers and some replacement brakes (thanks to Jonny Smith aka Car Pervert and his EBC Brakes discount!). I’m eyeing up some coilovers and some tyres – the order of which largely depends on how much the RX8 sells for. No-one seems to make off-the-shelf cages for these, which is a bit of a pain, but I do have a nice Corbeau seat to go in once I can work out how it mounts. They’ve also re-jigged the classes in the Javelin Sprint Series so I’ll be with similar-powered cars, so I’m hoping I can make it even a teensy bit competitive. We’ll see
So far all I’ve done is bring it home and plonk it in the garage next to its predecessor.
For those of you who followed my RX8 thread this is going to be somewhat slower in the progress stakes. There’s only one of me this time round as Pete’s off doing awesome things with MR2s (although I’m sure I can coax him into helping out here or there
) and I have significantly less free time than I used to.But hey, if you can bear with me, it might be a bit of fun
I did tell you progress would be slow, right?
Still, some things have happened at least. I've been doing a bit of research into stuff I'll need and where's best to source things. It looks like a set of Gaz coilovers from Vulcan Racing will be the best place for some suspenders, my box of brakes has turned up, and I'm booked in later his week for some Yoko A052s to be fitted.
I also managed to have enough of a shuffle-around to get it off the trailer and out for a drive!
Looking glorious (from a safe distance) in the evening sun (complete with accidental double-Rover content):
Aside from loading it onto the trailer last week, this is the first time I've actually driven it. First impressions? Well, it's better than I had any right to expect. The engine pulls well, with no sign (yet!) of the rattly inlet the seller confessed to experiencing. The suspension creaks a bit, it's firmer than I remember (did I mention I used to own one of these? No? Well I did, back in about 2010. They were cheap then!). The grumbling noise from under the bonnet is, I'm pretty sure, the power steering pump - I'll check whether it has any fluid but that might need replacing. The brakes are pretty strong but are possibly dragging a bit. The tyres are a mix of Toyo T1-Rs (remember them?!) and Landsail - two of which have slow punctures, and none of which command much by way of confidence under heavy braking
It is good fun, though. The exhaust gives a nice V6ey warble but shouldn't trouble the noise meters. It's noticeably narrower than the RX8, and should be lighter once it's had a bit of a diet - visibility is miles better too.
Oh, and all of my stickers have turned up.....
Still, some things have happened at least. I've been doing a bit of research into stuff I'll need and where's best to source things. It looks like a set of Gaz coilovers from Vulcan Racing will be the best place for some suspenders, my box of brakes has turned up, and I'm booked in later his week for some Yoko A052s to be fitted.
I also managed to have enough of a shuffle-around to get it off the trailer and out for a drive!
Looking glorious (from a safe distance) in the evening sun (complete with accidental double-Rover content):
Aside from loading it onto the trailer last week, this is the first time I've actually driven it. First impressions? Well, it's better than I had any right to expect. The engine pulls well, with no sign (yet!) of the rattly inlet the seller confessed to experiencing. The suspension creaks a bit, it's firmer than I remember (did I mention I used to own one of these? No? Well I did, back in about 2010. They were cheap then!). The grumbling noise from under the bonnet is, I'm pretty sure, the power steering pump - I'll check whether it has any fluid but that might need replacing. The brakes are pretty strong but are possibly dragging a bit. The tyres are a mix of Toyo T1-Rs (remember them?!) and Landsail - two of which have slow punctures, and none of which command much by way of confidence under heavy braking
It is good fun, though. The exhaust gives a nice V6ey warble but shouldn't trouble the noise meters. It's noticeably narrower than the RX8, and should be lighter once it's had a bit of a diet - visibility is miles better too.
Oh, and all of my stickers have turned up.....
Sensible investments 101:
spend more money on tyres than the car you're fitting them to
More to the point, I had a 60 mile round trip to get them which was really the first time I've driven it anywhere. I've managed a couple of small jobs - turns out the battery wasn't bolted down, and the squealing power steering pump has been cured (for now....) by topping up the fluid. Fingers crossed that does the trick....
I've been commuting in it as well, just because. I can't wait to get this interior out....
Sparkly knob!
Oh and I've just booked a track day in two weeks. This may be optimistic.
spend more money on tyres than the car you're fitting them to
More to the point, I had a 60 mile round trip to get them which was really the first time I've driven it anywhere. I've managed a couple of small jobs - turns out the battery wasn't bolted down, and the squealing power steering pump has been cured (for now....) by topping up the fluid. Fingers crossed that does the trick....
I've been commuting in it as well, just because. I can't wait to get this interior out....
Sparkly knob!
Oh and I've just booked a track day in two weeks. This may be optimistic.
Sitrep:
New discs and pads are in. Front callipers seem to be dragging a bit still. Drat.
Interior is mostly gone:
The MG was delivered to a fabricator yesterday to fit a bucket seat, harness bar, harness mounting points, decat and intake. When I politely enquired as to progress yesterday evening I was told "we're still working on it, we had to weld up a couple of holes in the floor."
Did I mention I'm doing a track day tomorrow?
New discs and pads are in. Front callipers seem to be dragging a bit still. Drat.
Interior is mostly gone:
The MG was delivered to a fabricator yesterday to fit a bucket seat, harness bar, harness mounting points, decat and intake. When I politely enquired as to progress yesterday evening I was told "we're still working on it, we had to weld up a couple of holes in the floor."
Did I mention I'm doing a track day tomorrow?
Cambs_Stuart said:
Good luck getting it sorted. Where is the track day?
Thanks. Managed to find a spot at Mallory on a sessions day. Everything else is fully booked! 
Megaflow said:
Watching with interest!
Couple of questions; what are the tyres? You said harness bar and harness mounts. I assume that means, it is not going to be caged yet, do Javelin allow that combination into their sprint series?
Yokohama AO52s. I love 'em.Couple of questions; what are the tyres? You said harness bar and harness mounts. I assume that means, it is not going to be caged yet, do Javelin allow that combination into their sprint series?
Yes, they allow you to run without a cage as long as the standard bits of the interior (door cards, dash, etc - basically the soft stuff that covers up the metal bits) remain in place around the driver. It'll be getting a cage, coilovers, new steering wheel, polycarb windows etc in the coming weeks & months, I just want to do a 'test' track-day first to make sure it's actually worth the investment!
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