MG Maestro

[talkingcars]

I've had this little toy for the best part of ten years. When we bought her she was a standard 2.0 EFi using the O series 8 valve engine.

We then paid a man a lot of money to install a T series 16v turbo engine from a Rover 820 and then a lot of time redoing most of it. TBH this put a bit of a dampener on things so she ended up parked at my dads a month before I bought my first ZS.

In that time I've only moved her twice, first time required the ECU plugging back in, second time she started second turn of the key, not bad after three years.

http://home.btconnect.com/talkingcars/Maestrophotos/oct2003%20s02.jpg

[carmadbaker]

i love theses motors, whats it like bodywork wise?
Any plans for the future with it?

[Dan1971]

Loved looking at one of these at Duxford last year. So refressing to see a straight line along the doors and loads of glass for rear seat passengers to see out of. Proper retro in my book.

You need to get it good again and show it off .....

[talkingcars]

Thanks guys.

The bodywork is surprising good, 2 holes on the door steps, a couple of scabs on one of the rear arches and the nearside door skins but that is all. They were all there when I parked her up and have only got slightly worse.

I have done a lot to her and will list them later when on the PC. I do have some radical plans but I'm keeping them to myself for the time being, suffice to say I shall get be getting her ship shape first.

More photos will follow.

[talkingcars]

I should say that when I moved her on Sunday the brakes weren't stuck, surprising considering she's been parked on the grass.

However at least one of the tappets was lazy until the engine warmed up by which time the coolant had gone gray!

Also when revved the exhaust was doing a good impression of a rock concert with the volume of white smoke and there was a little smoke wafting up from the turbo.

[talkingcars]

http://home.btconnect.com/talkingcars/Maestrophotos/xmas%202005%20s01.jpg

There's a bit of space in there.


http://home.btconnect.com/talkingcars/Maestrophotos/maestroneon1.jpg

This is my "crass" car.
You can't see the colour change LED washer jets.

[andys1981]

look forward to see what your gonna do with the maestro james,like these motors a lot.

[stamford]

Good to see the interest is still there, not many about these days.

[talkingcars]

......We then paid a man a lot of money to install a T series 16v turbo engine from a Rover 820 and then a lot of time redoing most of it. TBH this put a bit of a dampener on things so she ended up parked at my dads a month before I bought my first ZS............


The full story....... http://home.btconnect.com/talkingcars/T16con.htm

[6282tom]

The full story....... http://home.btconnect.com/talkingcars/T16con.htm

Wow that sounds like some bad service! Well put together response though; always important to take the time to construct a point by point complaint rather than just shout and scream.

Is this garage still going? If it is could you let me know whom they are? It'd be useful to know as we're not too far from each other and I can avoid. PM if you like.

[petet16]

He is still active.

[6282tom]

I think I've worked out who he is...

[talkingcars]

He is still going but is now up in the Stoke area.

[andys1981]

sounds like youve had a nightmare with that place james,i wouldent have been happy either.

[peterzs]

Shame it put you off the car, was one of the fastest on the road in their day.

Lucky the tin rots not eaten it away.

[talkingcars]

The 8v maestro turbo was fast, the T16 faster.......just look at what Dans done to his T16 to see what's possible....not that I'll be following that route, mate of mine built mental maestro (as seen on Top Gear), he got it up to 308 bhp IIRC but it was undrivable in normal use so he got it knocked back to 287.

I was very lucky with the body on this one, the day one MG1600 I had even had rust inside the filler cap.

[Cally180]

Would be good to see it back up and running but with a bit of a modern take

[top_man_eldo]

Interesting reading, but who is this guy in question? Should I know him as he sounds a bit of a cowboy?

[talkingcars]

A bit about the car - I'll start with the biggest change - the engine - as I already mentioned it has been fitted with a T16 2.0 turbo out of a Rover 820 Vitesse, obviously a more powerful engine than the original 8v injection engine with both twice as many valves and cams and a turbo (but most of you will know that) - this was mated with the original gearbox which is far easier than fitting the box that comes with the engine as there are no issuies with mating drive shafts or speedo drives.

The big problem with keeping the EFi gearbox is that it is the lowest geared of all the PG1 boxes so a bit low, first is pointless if trying to accelerate hard and wheel spin in third in the dry!

I was planning to make a bespoke box using the 1st, 2nd and 3rd from a maestro turbo and 4th and 5th from a diesel box and torsen diff from a 220 but some nice soul stole the tubby and 220 boxes.

Back to the engine - to make it run properly I had to rewire it repairing the engine loom and removing wiring no longer required, I also extended the loom (can you see the ECU in the engine bay picture on page 1?) - finally I removed the remains of the EFi wiring where not required.

Soon after I got the car back I had to replace the water pump, it shares a drive with the power steering pump with the PAS fluid lubricating the moving parts, of course I was lucky with my Maestro in that it came without PAS...

This is when I discovered how rusty the coolant ways are from the car being run without antifreeze, how it came from the installer. This has led to much work on the cooling system but that will be the subject of the next installment.

[andys1981]

keep at it james i know it must be so time consuming and costly,will be well worth it in the end mate,look forward to seeing this in the end,good luck bud.

[talkingcars]

Opps - never continued the story, a bit late tonight to do that.....but watch this space.

I looked the thread up because I was passed a messege today - my daughters 19 year old boy friend thinks we should be using the really cool car, I asked which one that was - the red one!

[peterzs]

getting rearer and the prices are going up!!!

just got to keep the tin worm at bay.

:smile1::smile1::smile1:

[talkingcars]

I was lucky, this one seems to be a rust free version and is no worse than it was in 2007.

[Gott]

Is this the Mental Maestro that Steve Berry drove back in ye olde Top Gear?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYB0TOVMjiU

dat turbo whine <3

[petet16]

No, Mental belonged to Victor Kish, I think it was broken up in the end.

[Gott]

aww. Nevermind.

[talkingcars]

Victors car was the one that Steve Berry drove on top gear. It was Steve sying "that's one mental maestro" that gave it the name.

The car still runs but only has the original spec 2.0i 8v engine, he sold the engine to someone who was putting it into later Rover. The car was sold on again only a few weeks ago.

I did consider buying the rolling shell from Victor to reshell mine but mine was actually in better condition overall, especially the wiring and floor pan.

[Stephen]

No, Mental belonged to Victor Kish, I think it was broken up in the end.

Doesn't have the mental engine but its still around