I admire your commitment Ross! I guess the obvious question would be why not start with a 16v instead of a 1.4? There always seem to be one or two on ebay, and I've never seen them sell for more than a grand (and normally a lot less).
I rebuilt the engine of my 16v over Christmas and fitted a 306 GTi 6-speed box. It has only done 55k miles but the piston rings were sticking and it was losing compression. The bearing shells didn't look too great either so I guess it had been poorly serviced in the past. I had the crank, rods and pistons balanced, the flywheel lightened and balanced with the new clutch cover, plus a ported head. It feels SO much better now, really torquey and free-revving despite running standard induction & exhaust.
I'm about to get the rear beam rebuilt and and a thicker anti-roll bar installed at the same time, as well as solid mounts.
I've only recently discovered that there was a Maxi bodykit available... it does look the business but I'd want serious horsepower to go with those looks! And anyway, I like the Q-car appeal of a ZX 16v - no one seems to realise what it is.
Maxi photo:
