220 turbo
27 November 2005, 01:15 AM
#31
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motobuild is the only place to deal with these motors.I had a 220 turbo coupe running 286 bhp and beleive me it was an animal mega torque steer but fantastic fun in a straight line
30 November 2005, 11:19 PM
#32
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Just Sold my 1993 Tahiti Blue example after three years of ownership. 115,000k and still felt like new. Sorry to see it go - but, really needed 4 doors and decent sized boot and its 620TI replacement will suffice as my hack runaround. The Tomcat was a little flyer and a caring previous owner of eight years had spent 1K on it for sensible suspension and brake mods. Stiffer springs and dampers, slotted discs,decent pads and Poly Bushes (who she?). This vastly improved all round handling and torque steer was something I used to read about but never witnessed with this car even when over-driving it on occasion. The day I sold it the purchaser already had one and when I demonstrated it's cornering ability when booted on the tight line inside of a VW GTi whose driver fancied his chances, he remarked on the way the car performed without a trace of torque steer - much to the surprise of the other driver who thought he was on some 'easy meat'. Lack of torque steer was something I found unremarkable as I was used to the way this car handled. Tyres and their pressures also play their part here as they do on most nippy cars. For a while I fitted MG ZS 16" hairpin alloys with decent rubber. This improved the car's top end stability noticeably. And I do mean Top End...
Bearing in mind that they've been out of production a long time now, unless neglected and abused, the T16s are very reliable engines and cylinder head gaskets rarely 'fail' in the normal sense but some will weep or leak from the oil supply near the distributor cap end of the cylinder head. This rarely means the fire rings on the gasket have failed allowing compression to escape though. Two of my T16 Turbo Rovers were/are as dry as a bone there. Fortunately, the T16 is an easy engine to work on and should a head gasket need changing, it's a simple and quick task even for a relatively novice DIYer. To the less clued up car driver - of which there are many, that weeping gasket is a nice liitle earner for the "They all do that mate" repair err, 'establishment' when an occasional wipe with a cloth is sufficient except in an extreme case.
Following a high speed run (understatement - my car had a good top speed) I suddenly lost 5th and then soon after 4th ratios in my gearbox. Long story short - there was NO lubricant in the gearbox despite Invoices for comprehensive services by the previous caring owner. I removed and used the internals from an MG Montego Turbo's gearbox which has identical both gear and final drive ratios. The TorSen differential was a straight fit into the Montego Turbo gearbox too. I used steel caged differential bearings in place of the plastic cage ones. Premium brand diff bearings were a tenner each trade. I got a gold label K7AR Montego Turbo box off ebay recently for 9.99 - Tomcat Turbo gearboxes fetch in excess of 300 quid on ebay. Like many old cars now, their parts are worth far more than the complete cars....
My hybrid gearbox I built was superior to the origonal! Nicer in all rspects - all rebuilt for under 40 quid plus an afternoon's DIY work once the box was removed.
Unbeknown to me, my son witnessed me participate in a little 'TL GP' alongside and then in front of a CT-R. Know what the cheeky so-and-so said later... "He couldn't have been trying Dad!" Dad knows otherwise. He was trying and then some. I can tell when a car's engine is being well used. The owner of that car was not the first to discover that not all aged Rovers creep about the place...
There are nice ones about. Find one and they are excellent value although most caring owners tend to hold onto them. There's liitle else out there which affords so much reliable decent performance and fun at that sort of 'loose change' money. Despite two doors and low profile coupe styling, whenever I took four adults out in it, they never complained about lack of space which surprised me. Had I known they were not merely two seater coupes, I'd have got one years ago.
Struggle to think of anything that comes close for the money. My running costs were loose change stuff but I do service my own cars, not the garage and that includes my MG ZS since new.
Like so many products from the AR-Group - under-estimated from day one by many!
Gone but not forgotten.
Bearing in mind that they've been out of production a long time now, unless neglected and abused, the T16s are very reliable engines and cylinder head gaskets rarely 'fail' in the normal sense but some will weep or leak from the oil supply near the distributor cap end of the cylinder head. This rarely means the fire rings on the gasket have failed allowing compression to escape though. Two of my T16 Turbo Rovers were/are as dry as a bone there. Fortunately, the T16 is an easy engine to work on and should a head gasket need changing, it's a simple and quick task even for a relatively novice DIYer. To the less clued up car driver - of which there are many, that weeping gasket is a nice liitle earner for the "They all do that mate" repair err, 'establishment' when an occasional wipe with a cloth is sufficient except in an extreme case.
Following a high speed run (understatement - my car had a good top speed) I suddenly lost 5th and then soon after 4th ratios in my gearbox. Long story short - there was NO lubricant in the gearbox despite Invoices for comprehensive services by the previous caring owner. I removed and used the internals from an MG Montego Turbo's gearbox which has identical both gear and final drive ratios. The TorSen differential was a straight fit into the Montego Turbo gearbox too. I used steel caged differential bearings in place of the plastic cage ones. Premium brand diff bearings were a tenner each trade. I got a gold label K7AR Montego Turbo box off ebay recently for 9.99 - Tomcat Turbo gearboxes fetch in excess of 300 quid on ebay. Like many old cars now, their parts are worth far more than the complete cars....
My hybrid gearbox I built was superior to the origonal! Nicer in all rspects - all rebuilt for under 40 quid plus an afternoon's DIY work once the box was removed.
Unbeknown to me, my son witnessed me participate in a little 'TL GP' alongside and then in front of a CT-R. Know what the cheeky so-and-so said later... "He couldn't have been trying Dad!" Dad knows otherwise. He was trying and then some. I can tell when a car's engine is being well used. The owner of that car was not the first to discover that not all aged Rovers creep about the place...
There are nice ones about. Find one and they are excellent value although most caring owners tend to hold onto them. There's liitle else out there which affords so much reliable decent performance and fun at that sort of 'loose change' money. Despite two doors and low profile coupe styling, whenever I took four adults out in it, they never complained about lack of space which surprised me. Had I known they were not merely two seater coupes, I'd have got one years ago.
Struggle to think of anything that comes close for the money. My running costs were loose change stuff but I do service my own cars, not the garage and that includes my MG ZS since new.
Like so many products from the AR-Group - under-estimated from day one by many!
Gone but not forgotten.
Last edited by MGJohn; 30 November 2005 at 11:45 PM.
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