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Post by Nick RS on Jul 31, 2015 20:52:50 GMT
I've been a little bit busy lately with not many posts. Firstly a couple of weeks in France for the annual family holiday and then, as soon as I get back a suitable replacement car came up for sale. I'd been thinking about a Maestro for some time and decided to go for one once I'd sold the Wolseley. I thought it would be easy and set what I thought was a reasonable criteria. A nice car with a bit of history and the only specification requirement I had was a petrol engine and a five speed gearbox. A search on eBay and the like always throws up a few cars but they are often either in need of a lot of TLC or they are the base 1.3 four speed with low gearing. This MG came up last weekend and what attracted me was a really genuine and honest description and the fact it was less than 30 miles away. I went to meet the owner at his house and really liked the car but didn't drive it due to appalling weather so went back a few days later, drove it and did the deal. I have to say I absolutely love this car, it was great fun to drive back home and got lots of looks from people passing me on the M6 motorway. I not sure if it was glances of admiration or 'What the......' type surprises. The previous owner is a BMC to Rover Group fan and has a couple of other vehicles which he takes to shows so I am sure we will meet up again. Purchasing was an absolute pleasure as he was keen to see it go to a good home and bundled a boot full of parts to go with the car. I also get a nice fat history file covering large chunks of the cars life. The photo flatters it ever so slightly as there are one of two little jobs to attend to over the coming months. I hope to see some UK forum members at shows before too long. Peterborough is a bit close time wise but i should make the Milton Keynes show in September. So, it's a 1985 MG Maestro 2.0 EFi which was Austin Rover's second attempt at a hot Maestro after a bit of a poor start with the 1600 version. This is a fairly early version of the 2 litre that's done a little bit over 100k miles with 5 owners before me. I'm still reading the history file though in its 30 years so far it has had a couple of long term owners which has probably ensured the car's survival. If there's interest I'll write about it from time to time though I respect that this is the Landcrab forum. The picture credit is to the previous owner, I'll get round to taking some of my own soon. Nick  |
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Post by threelitre on Jul 31, 2015 21:57:59 GMT
Speaking from a Maestro owner to a fellow Maestro owner: Excellent choice! These early 2.0EFi with the old style dash are pretty rare. The MG 2 Litre really has to be the pick, excellent handling, still comfortable, excellent performance, moderate fuel consumption - the engine seemed not really cutting edge in the mid 80s, but it certainly punched above its nominal 111PS when it came to mid range pull.
Enjoy it!
Regards,
Alexander
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Post by Penguin45 on Jul 31, 2015 23:36:03 GMT
Oh - lovely! If the arches and sill ends are good, you've got a winner. VW gearbox, wasn't it? Probably a very good time to buy one as they're becoming rare now and the good ones will appreciate in value.
Look forward to seeing it.
Chris.
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Post by dave1800 on Aug 1, 2015 1:20:37 GMT
Many years since I have seen one. Much under-rated in its day (like the crab) - should be reliable with its "O" series engine derived from the B. Chris, I think the gearbox on these were from Honda and the VW ones were fitted to the earlier and much less desirable 1.6 versions - but I could be wrong! David Oh - lovely! If the arches and sill ends are good, you've got a winner. VW gearbox, wasn't it? Probably a very good time to buy one as they're becoming rare now and the good ones will appreciate in value. Look forward to seeing it. Chris. |
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Post by Nick RS on Aug 10, 2015 17:36:31 GMT
Thanks for the comments. Gearboxes - VW in the 1.3 and 1.6, Honda in the 2.0 and I can't remember what went into the Diesels. Alexander is certainly right, it's a lively thing and is just great to drive, plenty of torque which means you can be lazy but gutsy too with a lot of shove when you want it to go. I've got a 5,000 mile insurance policy which I'm going to have to watch as it's so tempting to take it out and go for a run or do an errand. No doubt little use over winter will sort the averages out. Here are a few more pics   It's had a replacement rear number plate and I understand that you can't get perspex reflective plates with the pre 2001 typeface legally, except for show plates so I'll have to look into that. Shame as it still has the original dealer plates to the front.  It's also unusual for a 2.0 EFi for having the digital dash and voice synthesizer which had fallen to the options list by the time it replaced the 1600. In this instance the car may by now be unique - I'm not sure. I've had it for over a week now and am getting to know it. There are a couple of rust areas that need looking at sooner rather than later as these cars aren't as solid as the crabs, it idles fast before slowly coming down so I am learning about new things such as air bypass valves and stepper motors. The chunky tyres look good but are over eight years old and the spare pre-dates the date coding system so I think a new set is coming soon. Pirelli Cinturatos are still available in the correct size and not too much to pay for either. Overall pretty happy with this, must now start booking into some shows. Incidently Flickr have switched off my account so I've moved to Photobucket for the pics - easier to use in my humble opinion. Nick |
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Post by Penguin45 on Aug 10, 2015 19:31:49 GMT
Definitely very smart. Enjoy.
Chris.
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Post by indianajones on Aug 10, 2015 20:29:38 GMT
Looks nice mate, enjoy _b
-Andrew
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Post by dave1800 on Aug 11, 2015 0:56:08 GMT
Nick, it looks very nice. You have a few more months to enjoy it before the weather changes so a good opportunity to discover if there are any things to address under the warranty. Is there a good spares set up as with the crabs?
Regards
David
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Post by Nick RS on Aug 11, 2015 12:11:12 GMT
Parts situation is a bit of a mixed bag.
I've only just joined the club so I don't know if the parts coordinator Has an emporium like Tony. There is a vacancy for a parts remanufacturing officer so they are obviously looking to the future to be able to supply some scarce items.
Brake parts still seem to be readily available which when compared to Landcrab discs is a good thing. With the Landcrab situation in mind I will grab a spare set just in case as usually you don't notice these things until they are gone. There are some parts shared with Land Rovers and ECUs seem to be commonplace and very cheap. Body and trim is better than the Crabs but no that good considering the cars are 20 years newer. There are still quite a few being broken up so that supply is reasonable. Given that something like 600,000 were built and there are only about 600 left now with values low the long term doesn't look brilliant. My plan is to grab a few bits while it is relatively easy because in the few years time I think it will get tricky to find stuff. I also realise that the O series engine never went into anything that is popular with enthusiasts today. Thanks to Minis, Minors and MGBs the A and B series is safe, not so the later powertrains.
That said I wouldn't want it to be all off the shelf as half the fun is in tracking down the parts and having a good rummage at the jumbles.
Nick
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Post by dave1800 on Aug 12, 2015 0:54:29 GMT
I had a quick look on Ebay and there are plenty of iac stepper motors for sale at quite low prices Ebay steppersIn the long cold winter month, if you are interested there are some good educational lessons on Youtube about analysing engine managementsystems and their sensors. My favourite site is from a guy called Scanerdanner Engine ManagementOne useful piece of information is that all the sensors should be considered as one system and a fault code indicating one may be caused by something affecting any of the others. You idle running high and then falling back could be the idle control valve sticking or simply the throttle body being dirty and giving false readings or literally almost anything. The website lessons on Youtube help point you in the right direction before spending many frustrating hours testing or lots of money replacing parts unnecessarily as I guess many here may have experienced with their complex modern cars when something goes wrong. Regards David it idles fast before slowly coming down so I am learning about new things such as air bypass valves and stepper motors. Nick |
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Post by Nick RS on Aug 12, 2015 11:40:46 GMT
Thanks David,
I'll definitely watch those films. I've been pointed to a procedure by a fellow Maestro owner for re-setting the idle control which is done after giving everything a good clean in the throttle body an refitting the stepper motor, so a build up of dirt as you say may be all it is. I think it is wise to do a bit at a time rather than replace everything. If all that fails then the parts given to me by the PO include most of the items needed, including several ECUs. I've got the dealer workshop manual which weighs about 2kg and is very thorough, not just how to take stuff to bits, but why it is there and the principle of how it works. I guess that when the EFi engine with its management systems, and some of the spec like the digital instruments were all very new in the world of Austin Rover and needed a bit of explaining at the time.
Winter's going to be fun - may need to get myself some sort of garage heating in.....
Nick
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Post by dave1800 on Aug 14, 2015 4:48:01 GMT
The manual should be fascinating as I assume there was no OBD system and very little in the way of diagnostic information from the ECU. From what you indicate it could well be the best introduction in EFI / management systems as it sounds as though it deals with the basics.
I recall my Saab had a system whereby if you interrogated it from the diagnostic plug it owould flash a code in a series of dashes on the engine display, not very helpful really.
Regards
David
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Post by Nick RS on Aug 14, 2015 20:41:38 GMT
I am going away for a couple of days break very soon and was thinking of taking the manual with me for a bit of reading...... No OBD as such, instead AR dealers had diagnostic equipment called Fast Check which was plugged into the wiring somewhere and had a matrix of LEDs. If one lit up its location on the would pinpoint where the fault was. The manual says to use this device but where there are faults in the system the only suggested remedy is to check and fix the wiring if appropriate or replace the component highlighted by the LED. Fast Check equipment appears for sale from time to time but you'd need a cupboard full of it to check one car as each little box of tricks only dealt with a specific group of items - such as fuel system, instruments, stereo or whatever. It sounds similar in principle to what you had in your Saab, David. Nick  |
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Post by Nick RS on Oct 20, 2015 15:46:39 GMT
 Have had a good few days with Maestro activity. First was a winning bid on a boot full of spare parts which were not too far to get to. Having had a few chats with fellow members it seems that the Maestro and Montego don't have anything like the parts back-up that LOCI has so I keep a lookout for parts that are reasonably local to me. The time will come when a lot of parts become very difficult to find. Then today I presented the car at my Local MOT centre who are very knowledgeable about older cars and will give a fair test. I didn't need to have this done until January but I didn't fancy the idea for dragging it out in snow, muck, ice, salt or whatever might be around then along with the possibility of having to organise repairs at the coldest and darkest part of the year. I can now move this annual event to Sept / Oct which suits much better. As always it was a relief to be given a pass, especially with a new car. I was able to have a good look underneath when it was up on the four post lift to inspect the underside. Generally pretty good with just a bit of grottiness appearing at the tail end of the offside sill behind the black wheelarch trimmer. This will need a bit of attention from a welder and perhaps a new piece of metal let in to make good a previous repair that is now past its best. Otherwise very good, sound floors and arches. There were four advisories, one of which refers to a deteriorating fuel filler pipe. It was more an opinion because no holes could be seen but it was suspected that all might not be well under all the underseal behind the fuel filler area. This is of particular interest to me because I know that you cannot get fuel filler pockets anymore, all the panels have gone. The club got some remanufactured from carbon fibre a little while back and I may end up tracking down one of these, or I may be lucky and just need some fuel neck pipe; time will tell no doubt. It did get me thinking though, could carbon fibre be considered for Landcarb parts in the future? Nick |
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Post by dave1800 on Oct 21, 2015 0:41:33 GMT
A good idea about moving the MOT date to a more suitable date and good news there doesn't appear to be much to worry about. I wonder how they commissioned carbon fibre parts? As far as I am aware it is quite similar to making fibre glass components which means it is very labour intensive. Have a look at this Koenigsegg video. he has a series, quite amazing. Koenigseggregards David |
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