MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - ZT260 vs Volvo 244

I need a car inSweden but just couldnt face taking my sheeney shiney ZT260 to be battered by the Swedish winter. So I have just bought a totally shabby but amazingly low mileage old Volvo 244 to take to Gothenburg.

Cost £220! tax and MOT fantastic!

If ever there ws a car which is 180 degrees opposite to that fantastic ZT260 the 244 is it!

cheap, nasty, wont handle, dont care if I crash it
getting it to Gothenburg is going to be an adventure too!



Neil

Have fun with the boxy barge Neil. Perhaps, when you've finished with it, you should launch it, Top Gear stylee, into a caravan? :o)
Rob Bell

Launch?

this old barge will struggle to do a short hip!

Neil

Made it!

244 is in Göteborg

ZT260 is in Stansted
Neil

I'd rather hoped that the 244 was nestled in the upper bunk of a 4 berth caravan Neil, but good to hear that you've made it safe and sound ;o)
Rob Bell

Strangely it will be nestling in the factory workshop for a proper check-over !! Well there's got to be some sort of perks to this job!.

Problem: it seems incredibly slow, I suppose it would be in comparison to the MGs...and yet it drinks nearly as much as the V8! Scarily this actually might be normal!

Solution: Swedey blokeys have a butchers at the thing and fiddle with it a bit.

Darkside: The force is omnipresent as we all know, but in truth the force is weak with this one :-(

Prognosis: This Volvo is everything we expect of the brand. Heavy, slow, thirsty, tanklike, crashworthy.
I could never get my mind around the idea of making a car that's good at crashes! Perception all too often precedes reality.

Neil

Might as well shoe-horn in a bigger engine then Neil. Surely there is something suitable lying around in Gothenberg, just crying out for a new home?
Rob Bell

Now now Rob that's the darkside speaking again

I have been told that there is a simple Chevvy Short block V8 conversion which is regularly done over here!

Out out out damn spot!




Neil

Interesting! But would not an old Volvo T5 motor not fit? :o)

Use the force...
Rob Bell

The T5 from the 850 was a bit of a landmark vehicle for Volvo as it transported them from the dark ages to modern car manufacturers in one fell swoop.
The 850 is fundamentally a FWD car, the previous and prehistoric 740, 240 and earlier like 244 and earlier still, 140 cars were essentially larger more solid Cortinas.

SOHC engine
Live diff but with coil springs and not those boingey cart things Ford still insist on using. Ford Ranger (ROFL WEH( With Extreme Histerior!))

so unfortunately, or fortunately dependent on your viewpoint T5 wont fit .

I had some of the engineers road test the Gubbebil today....slow as ever...they said that's about as fast as they get!

AAAGG!
Neil

The K-series is a FWD motor - but that doesn't stop the chaps shoe-horning them into midgets. It's just a question of fabricating a suitable Bell housing.

A T5 motor could fit... Or any other engine for that matter - just a question of will.

Surely there are some bored engineers around somewhere who fancy a challenge? ;o)
Rob Bell

Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Interesting!
And bored is the standard Swedish demeanour



Neil

Go on! Give them something to play with - they know they want too! ;o)
Rob Bell

They are both rear wheel drive use out dated technology are slow in corners are heavy drink fuel are start with the letter 2 i have to look at the badge on the back and to be sure which is which
bob

A Friend has a '82 B23 engined turbo with 383 RWHP and over 500Nm of RWtorque. This kind of Volvo performance is common in Scandinavia
Niels

told you !

but mine has about 3bhp and 5 Nm

not the fastest car in the world
Neil

Haven't they got any bits left over from the 240Turbos they won the ETC and BTCC with in the early 80's?

just a thought....
mike

Don't !! just don't!

turns out that the slowest car in the world Volvo 244 has a group 14 rating... about the same as a Lancia Delta 1.6 GTie!!!!!!! which would utterly destroy it, eat it for breakfast and have Volvo curry for the next 3 weeks like all good turkeys!

Insurance: a weird combination of rumour and rip off!


Neil


and about the same group as a VVC too...
mike

Just mental isnt it?
Neil

Neil
Was it your ZT V8 at Mid-stay car park at Stansted this week - a red one with red mongram dash and Kimber run plaque in the back?
Martin ZT

That's the one Martin!
Blimey Small world!

Don't forget the chrome strips and in particular the XPower rear boxes! the items that make it sucjh a great thing to have.

I usually try to park it where you don't pick up door dings!

Neil

Yeah, I noticed the chrome strips, too, but I loved the dash! I saw you had used a corner bay! My colleague commented on that when we parked up.
Martin ZT

Just think of my poor old 244 sitting in the car park at Volvo HQ minus 18 degrees! roads covered in more salt than a Russian prison mine, SNOW EVERYWHERE.

Neil

That's it 244 is now abandoned in the Volvo car park until I come back, sometime perhaps never.

Just seen the new C30 prototype, it's gorgeous.
AND the new Volvo S80 V8 it looks a lot bigger than the ZTV8 but is very purposeful.

Neil

This thread was discussed between 25/11/2005 and 23/02/2006

MG ZR ZS ZT Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG ZR ZS ZT Technical BBS is active now.