MG-->Rover engine transplant !

[Chris varming]

Gentlemen, is there anyone in this forum, who has ever done or heard of someone who has swapped a bad engine from a MGZT 190 with a healthy engine from a Rover 75? Is it possible?
The reason is that I am the proud owner of a MGZT190 - the only problem is that the engine is crooked as the previous owner forgot to give it anti-freeze during a very cold and frosty winter. I have a very good spare engine from a Rover 75 (2.0 manual) - guess my thoughts....
Any advice will be very welcome!
Regards,
Chris Varming

[xsport]

Of course its possible,but dont expect the same performance from the 2.0 kv6 ... compared to your 190. ..

[Matt_75]

Presumably the cold weather froze the water and cracked the block? In theory you could swap the rotating assembly from the 190 engine into the 2.0 block, plus the cylinder heads assuming they're okay, and build another 190 engine. But this is a lot of work and it would be easier to try and find a rotten or crash damaged ZT 190 with a good engine.

If you just want a 2.0 V6 ZT, yes you can swap the complete engine (including injectors), but some tuning will be required so that the ECU knows it's running a 2.0 engine. As xsport said, there'll be a noticeable drop in performance.

[Chris varming]

Thanks for your info Matt and xsport, I'll try and find a " rotten or crash damaged ZT 190 with a good engine", but they are rare in the Kingdom of Denmark. However I do have another Rover 75 Kv6 with a 2.5 engine but it is with an automatic transmission. Will that be a better option? and is that possible because of the transmission?

[Popcorn]

It's the gearbox that's automatic not the engine,just swap the flex plate for the flywheel off your damaged engine and you should be good to go

[trikey]

Originally Posted by Chris varming

Thanks for your info Matt and xsport, I'll try and find a " rotten or crash damaged ZT 190 with a good engine", but they are rare in the Kingdom of Denmark. However I do have another Rover 75 Kv6 with a 2.5 engine but it is with an automatic transmission. Will that be a better option? and is that possible because of the transmission?

Yes the 2.5 will be a better option.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[Matt_75]

2.5 would be a better option, you'll still need some tuning though as the 190 engine has different camshaft profiles compared to the standard 2.5 engine. Or, if they're in good condition, you could swap the camshafts (or entire cylinder heads) from the 190 engine onto the rest of the 2.5 engine and you'll have a working 190 engine again.

[SteveThackery]

Originally Posted by Popcorn

It's the gearbox that's automatic not the engine,just swap the flex plate for the flywheel off your damaged engine and you should be good to go

Hang on, what about the electronics? In an automatic, the engine ECU talks to the autobox ECU, and the autobox ECU talks to the cruise control and traction control systems.

The engine ECU will obviously be programmed differently depending on whether it was originally mated to a manual or automatic box.

So how do we deal with that issue?

[Popcorn]

A engine is just a engine, wether it is bolted to an auto box or manual box,put the new engine into the car and then wire it up with the original car's electronics

[Matt_75]

There's a few ways of going about it with varying degrees of complexity.

Swap in both the standard 2.5 engine and auto gearbox - this'll need to be accompanied with changes to the wiring loom, pedals, addition of auto gearbox computer and changes to the engine ECU coding as a minimum. A manual to automatic conversion is doable, but complicated.

Swap in the standard 2.5 engine but mate to the manual gearbox and flywheel - this will still need some engine ECU coding because of the different camshaft profiles compared to the 190 engine

Put the 190 engine's top end on the good 2.5 engines bottom end and mate to the manual gearbox and flywheel - as far as I can tell this shouldn't require any electrical work other than playing around with electrical connectors