MG Rover owners can now give their cars a power boost thanks to a range of performance upgrades available through XPart's on-line accessories store (shop.mg-rover.org). The enhancements include air filter upgrades and air induction kits which can increase engine power by as much as 10bhp on some MG Rover models, including the very latest MG ZT, ZR, ZS and TF models.

“Whilst there is a wide range of high-tech methods available to enhance modern engine performance, one of the most popular and effective DIY options remains improving the engine air flow through filter replacement or by adding an air induction kit,” commented Charles Binns, XPart sales and marketing director. “With owners no longer having access to genuine MG Rover performance upgrades, we have added a number of exciting products to our range, giving owners the option of making engine enhancements themselves, using proven components from a source they can trust.”

All of the performance upgrades available from XPart have been specifically designed by respected specialist Pipercross for each MG Rover model, with brackets, filters and hoses individually sized to ensure easy fitting. Kits have been developed through a rigorous test programme with performance results being verified independently.

Not only do the induction kits deliver significant performance gains but they also enhance the car's visual appeal. The Viper kit, which is available for certain engines types across the Rover 25,45, 75, MG ZR, ZS, ZT, F and TF utilises a carbon fibre heat shield to protect the charged air from under bonnet heat and also features a polished alloy inlet, providing a stylish under bonnet look. All kits are supplied with full fitting instructions and come complete with all brackets and fittings.

Rover 75 / MG ZT Meet @ the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire

11th May 2006, SteveChilds

The next meeting of The 75 & ZT Owners Club will be held on Sunday the 28th of May at the National Motor Museum Bealieu Hampshire. We have booked the main arena for the event which has its own PA system and marker cones. The event will be an attraction for the museum as it is inside the complex right outside the main doors to the Museum itself. The general public will have access to this area making it a place to show off your cars in the best possible way.

At the last meet we were asked if it would be possible to have other things laid on for the wives, partners and children at the next meet, I think we have done this with added extra's.

Everything that the museum has to offer will be open to all members these include.

The Museum
Palace House and gardens
Beaulieu Abbey and exhibition
Monorail
Wheels the story of 100 years of motoring in a space age 'pod'
Vintage bus
James Bond exhibition
Play Stations for the kids
Go-karts and lots more.

There is obviously a charge for this but we have managed to get the arena for free which is great as its right in the middle of the attractions. The cost involved is purely the ticket price which everyone has to pay. The more people there are the cheaper it will be so can I ask you only to say you are coming if your are sure to be there subject to anything untoward happening.

The ticket price is normally £15.50 during May but we get a discount according to the numbers going.

This is the ticket cost breakdown. Please remember the costs are per person not cars

25 - 49 people £11 each

50 - 100 people £9 each

Over 100 people £8 each.

Children 5 -17 inclusive half the adult price and under 5s go free.

At Gaydon we had about 175 people turn up altogether and if we could get anywhere near that it would be great. We realise though that this is way down south and not the first ever meet so we expect turnout to be lower but we still need your support to make it a good day out. The event starts at 10am and finishes at 6pm, its the bank holiday weekend so you have no work the next day hopefully. This is the link to the National Motor Museum webite http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/ and the about Britain site is www.aboutbritain.com/Beaulieu.htm

Please remember to only say you are coming if you are serious as we have to get a certain number to confirm the booking, if we can get an idea by next Friday we would be obliged. We could then confirm the booking, anyone adding their names after that will make it cheaper for everyone. A number of you asked for the extra things to do at this meet and we have done it so now please support us again. Just as an added bonus we have been promised a PRESS copy of the new Haynes 75 & ZT workshop manual and it should be here by then, so it will be the prize for the best looked after 75 or ZT on the day. Thats the best looked after, not the newest or cleanest but the one which appears to be treated with tender care. Mike M need not apply!

The 75 & ZT Owners Club.

For details on who's going (currently over 100 people and 72 cars), please check out the 'Comment on this story' link below.

How Do I?.... Fit Xenon HID Units to an R8 Rover (200, 400, Coupe, Cabriolet)

11th February 2006, Steve Childs

Fed up of not really being able to see where you're going at night? Well, despite buying Halford's best 'Superbrilliance' bulbs, I was dissapointed with the lights on the Coupe. Perhaps I've been spoilt with new cars over the past few years, but the lights on the old R8 Rovers do seem to be showing thier age. So I invested in a set of HID Xenon lights.

No, these aren't those chavtastic fake xenon bulbs that you can get, these are proper Xenon light setups, complete with the ballasts required to generate the 23,000 volt charge to ignite them!

The guide shows the lights being fitted to a Rover Coupe, but the same could well apply to any Rover 200 up to 1995, Rover 400 up to 1995 and any Coupe, Cabriolet and Tourer. The same princliples however also apply to any car, as the kit is the same but the bulb type does vary.

If you are interested in buying a set, we are looking into arranging a group buy. Please drop me a line at xenons@mg-rover.org to express an interest.

Read More (3 pages)

MG-Rover.org 2006 Calendars

21st November 2005, Steve Childs

Thanks to Martin_H, we have created a 2006 MG-Rover.org calendar. Using photos supplied by members, its a great christmas present that any member shouldn't be without!! ;-)

To find out more, please check out this thread: http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=97058 and please order one, Martin's gone to a lot of time and effort to make these for us. Cost is, I believe £7 and more details can be found in the thread.

The Calendar is in A4 format for hanging on the wall.

Rimmer Bros to the rescue of MG Rover owners

19th September 2005, Steve Childs

The uncertainty surrounding the unfortunate demise of MG Rover has left many owners and the trade wondering where they will be able to buy original parts and accessories. Well, it is good news for owners and traders both in the UK and overseas. Rimmer Bros have been appointed as an official MG Rover Parts Distributor.

Over-The-Counter *** Mail Order *** Local Trade Delivery Service

Rimmer Bros have been supplying parts and accessories for classic Triumph and Rover SD1 for 25 years. More recently they have been supplying both genuine and aftermarket parts and accessories for Land Rovers, and are an Approved Land Rover Parts Supplier. The MG-Rover parts franchise compliments these perfectly. Using the latest in mail order technology and order processing they can despatch orders anywhere in the world from the vast stock of parts in their 55,000 sq ft warehouse complex.

This is in addition to the over-the-counter and local trade delivery service they offer. They can be contacted for retail or trade enquiries and orders as follows:

Telephone: 01522 563344

Fax: 01522 567600

Email: mgrover@rimmerbros.co.uk

Website: www.rimmerbros.co.uk

XPart completes two major deals on body panels for MG Rover cars

19th August 2005, Steve Childs

After months of negotiations, XPart has secured the release of thousands of body panels that were locked in at the Longbridge plant.

A fleet of XPart trucks is currently ferrying 140 container loads of ‘body in white' panels to its global distribution centre in Desford, Leicestershire, for assessment and stock-planning ahead of its return to market availability.

MG Rover's collapse saw the effective blocking of several million pounds worth of body panels at Longbridge. This, coupled with lack of access to the vital manufacturing tools, saw supplies of some replacement panels begin to dry up.

A spokesman for XPart, the original source of MG Rover Parts worldwide, said: “It was frustrating for us and our customers, especially as we had already secured uninterrupted availability of virtually every other genuine part line by working closely with hundreds of suppliers. Right now, we're working round-the-clock to complete the transfer.”

XPart has now reached agreement to buy the remaining stocks outright and has brought in its own fork lift trucks and parts handling teams to deal with the stockpile which was released from the Longbridge plant last week.

In an additional measure, XPart has already joined with MG Rover panel maker Stadco to re-start manufacture of future panel supplies which will ensure long-term availability.

A spokesman for XPart said: “Our priority has been to re-establish and secure the ready availability of genuine body panels for the long-term and now we have achieved that. We want to thank our wholesaler network and their customers for their understanding.

“It is important to emphasise that availability of virtually all other genuine parts for MG Rover cars has continued without interruption throughout this time and will continue to do so.”

The total 180 container loads of body panels – including doors, bumpers, wings and bonnets – are being assessed, sorted and pack-protected ahead of their release by XPart.

Nanjing Buy MG Rover for £50m

28th July 2005, Steve Childs

On Friday PWC, the administrators for MG Rover announced that a deal had been struck with Nanjing Automotive of China to buy the assets of MG Rover Group.

However the Rover 75 could be at the centre of a legal tussle, according to the BBC due to Property Rights sold to SAIC towards the end of 2004, although its unclear just what rights were sold. The sale to Nanjing comes as a blow for UK businessman David James, who has put in two bids to buy parts of Rover. Earlier this week Mr James, the company-recovery specialist who helped revive the Millennium Dome, told the BBC the combined value of his bid would be about £40m.

Car and engine assets

State-owned Nanjing, China's oldest carmaker, and independent Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp (SAIC) had already put in bids. Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) have been looking to sell off remaining MG Rover group's assets since it collapsed in April. PWC had earlier confirmed that Nanjing plans to acquire all of the car and engine production assets of both MG Rover and its engine firm Powertrain. Nanjing had been close to a winning bid last Friday but SAIC then came back with another offer, and Mr James put in his offers this week.

Production plans

Nanjing has said it wants to restart car production in the West Midlands, but may look to use other sites in the region too. Its job hiring plans are unclear, but the TGWU has expressed fears the Chinese company may not maintain substantial production in the UK. Nanjing has said it plans to use MG as its main marque in Europe while developing other MG Rover brands, such as Austin, elsewhere.

It has also said it hopes to shift production of small and medium-sized cars to China, and then export kits to the UK for final assembly.

Legal battle

However the successful Nanjing bid could start a prolonged legal battle.

SAIC bought the intellectual property rights for the Rover 25 and 75 models during a previous attempt to take over the carmaker. Nanjing had previously rejected any claims that SAIC's ownership of the rights to the Rover 25 and 75 engines would affect its plans. And more recently Honda has repossessed equipment and blueprints, making it more difficult for any buyer to restart production of the Rover 45 - based on the Honda Civic - or MG ZS models.

Nanjing uncertaincy

In the days after the agreed sale however, the situation has become cloudy. Within hours of signing the deal, Nanjing has reportedly approached the other unsuccessful bidders offering to sell them part or all of the assets it bought, fueling speculation that not only did they not expect to win, they haven't got the money to complete the deal.

In addition is has come to light that another, more substantial bid may well have been ignored by PWC. Martyn Moseley, the Birmingham based transport tycoon reportedly offered around £90m in cash, with no conditions for the company but was given just 36 hours to produce the money. Nanjing on the other hand appear to have been sold the company with just a credit note from a bank for their deposit.

MG Rover seems to attract controversy and it shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

(Credit in part to the BBC for parts of their reporting used in this article)

MG-Rover.org Launches Subscription Service

23rd May 2005, SteveChilds

Today I've had to create a subscription service for MG-Rover.org. As some of you hopefully noticed, dealers were advertising on the website via the Dealer Network section. However, you can appreciate that given the recent developments this won't be continuing for long.

Alternative funding has to be found for the site to continue and whilst I always said I would never ask for a penny from the members, that was based on the assumption that the dealers would pay for the running of the site. It didn't occur to me that there could be a danger of no dealers around to pay for the website.

If there was another alternative I would take it, sadly banner advertising these days doesn't bring in much.

Firstly, you won't be forced to subscribe, the forums will still be free to use, you will just not have all the features that you currently have. You can read more about the subscription system here in the FAQ: http://forums.mg-rover.org/faq.php?faq=subs_faq_item

Prices start from £10 a year, for the basic package rising to £25 for the Gold package, which includes a 10% discount from our new online shop (i.e. not the current shop). This, in addition to the other discounts available to gold members could well pay for the subscription many times over. (Depends how mad you go in the online shop!

)

£10 may sound a fair bit if you haven't got £10, but if you break it down, its just over 2p a day! Bargain really.

Instructions on how to subscribe are in the FAQ too, so please if you find the website fun and useful, please help out in the running of the site and subscribe

Lastly, the subscription service is open now, but will not take effect until the 1st of July.

'Put your money where your mouth is' demand MG and Rover enthusiasts

10th April 2005, SteveChilds

MG-Rover.org – the independent MG and Rover enthusiasts' website – has called on HM Government to ‘put its money where its mouth is' and support the British manufacturing industry. Over the past few days, MG-Rover.org has been inundated with hundreds of messages of support for MG Rover Group Limited and its workers.

MG-Rover.org's Steve Childs said: ‘Tony Blair and Patricia Hewitt claim to be supporters of manufacturing. However, so far their talk has proven cheap. As MG Rover enthusiasts, UK taxpayers, many of our members feel short-changed.'

‘We believe that MG Rover Group Limited was only months away from unveiling the start of a range of exciting new models, which would have set them on the road to profit. MG-Rover.org calls on Ms. Hewitt and Mr. Blair to provide whatever support is necessary, to ensure the continued success of the company and protect the Midlands economy.'

It is amazing to see the number of non British made cars used by the public sector, such as the police forces and HM Government itself. We believe that Mr Blair has a Rover 75 limo at his disposal – why wasn't he in it when he went to see the Queen before announcing the date for the General Election, or when he arrived in Birmingham for talks with TGWU – at least Mr Brown had the sense to use a Rover 75 on that day of all days.

‘It is time for HM Government to put its money where its mouth is and provide the required financial support. This will enable MG Rover Group Limited to successfully compete on a level playing field with international competitors and protect thousands of British jobs.

You have to wonder if we would be in this situation if HM Government had a ‘Buy British' policy for the Public sector. They could always place a large order for vehicles as a way to prove the much needed money for MG Rover.' said Steve.

Established in 2002, MG-Rover.org is firmly established as the world's busiest, independent MG and Rover enthusiasts' website – with over 11,000 members worldwide.