MG Maestro advise

[redmaestro]

Hi all,

I am a proud owner of a G reg 1.3L, and am about to buy my first MG Maestro 2Ltr EFI (E reg). It looks fantastic, without any trace of rust. But I couldnt help noticing that on the back, it has a "Turbo" badge on the tailgate.

My question is: is this EFI a genuine Turbo? How can I find out for certain? If it is a genuine turbo, how can I find out which number of 505 it is?

Any other help or advise on buying the EFI would be appreciated

Thanks

redm:cool:

[matthewsemple]

I would say that the car you are looking at is probably not a genuine Turbo.

There was no Turbo EFi because the EFi had Lucas fuel injection but the turbo had an SU carburretor. Also an E-reg car is too early unless someone has transfered an E-reg plate onto the car which is unlikely.

if you look under the bonnet then you can spot an EFi because it has the following features:

Lucas air flow meter
EFi labelled alloy injector ducting just in front of bulkead
Air filter at a funny angle
Missing SU carb so no distinctive silver bell shaped housing.

Also you day Turbo badge - the Maestro turbo had no badges as such only decals. The badge has probably been stuck on afterwards.

Furthermore E-reg Efis in good condition are worth about £200 - 400. An immaculate 1991 H-reg in British racing Green with one previous owner and PAS, electric windows is currently being sold for £499.

[matthewsemple]

This is what a Turbo looks like and this is my car:

http://www.angelfire.com/home/mat99v/500enginebay.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/home/mat99v/500bonnetup.jpg

The engine bay is quite unmistakable with the SU carb and tonnes of huge ducting pipes across teh engine. It also has a black box behind the left hand headlamp which is the carburretor cooling fan.

Check out my website for a more detailed buyer's guide

www.angelfire.com/home/mat99v/

and ultimately before you buy any MG Maestro Turbo you should contact Martin Woods who has all the records, chassis numbers and build numbers of all 505 cars.

[matthewsemple]

oops I forgot to say, Martins website is in the links page of both the Maestro/Montego site and my MG Maestro site

[Mat_C]

Could be a tailgate from a scrapped maestro turbo - does it have the top spoiler, or signs of covered up drill holes where the top spoiler should be?

Apart from the engine, look for a 150mph speedo and mounting brackets on the sills for the side-skirts.

How many miles has it done?

[redmaestro]

Thanks for the replies. I found a pic of the engine if anyones interested, but it does seem that it isnt a Turbo after all! The speedo says 130 not 150

One question though; why does it have an "Engine Brace"? Does it stop the car from falling apart?:laugh:

[matthewsemple]

The speedo is not the best way to determine a Turbo because all MG Montegos had 150mph speedos and it is easy to swap them - but of course if the car you are looking has 130mph it is almost definitely not a Turbo because no-one would put a 130mph speedo in Maestro Turbo.

Are you going to buy this car anyway - the 2.0i is a great hot hatch

[redmaestro]

Im going to London to view it tomorrow, and i might buy it. The chap who is selling it put this website up:

http://www.ourdomain.co.uk/mgmaestro/

Let me know what you think

[matthewsemple]

Here's an advert for the MG Maestro from 1988. It reads "The Golf GTi will be along in a second"

MG Maestro 0-60 in 8.4 seconds
Golf GTi 0-60 in 9.6 seconds

[matthewsemple]

The forum would not let me post up the full size image so I had to shrink it - although I rather overdid the shrinking!

[redmaestro]

I havent seen that advert before - i like it! :)

[MGTurbo]

As i understood it, this car has already been sold.

Gareth

[matthewsemple]

I have just looked at that car and it a few things struck me as interesting:

It does have Turbo bumpers and a Motobuild roof spoiler which is not a genuine Tickford because it lifts up at the end.

I cannot be 100% sure but it has been reprayed flame red - that does not look like Targa red to me

The condition of the body looks excellent - I would guess that it has been restored at some point at the time it was resprayed. The rear wheel arches look like they have been replaced.

The interior is correct for the age of the car but the wheels and colour coding and choice of Flame red is from a 1989 model year MG Maestro

All in all it looks like a great car - do we know who bought it?

[MGTurbo]

It is definatly targa red. I was informed that the car was sold thru the Roverload forums. It just so happens to have a turbo badge but is just an Efi, don't be confused by the bodykit.

Gareth

[redmaestro]

He is asking for £750, and has has just mot'd it for me. I am very keen to buy it, but am not too sure about MG's.

[matthewsemple]

Targa usually looks darker like this one seen on Ebay a few months ago.
http://www.angelfire.com/home/mat99v/D789b.jpg

Perhaps it is the combination of the weekly polishing and the photography that makes it look so much brighter
http://www.ourdomain.co.uk/mgmaestro/images/reards.jpg

[matthewsemple]

If its £750 its way above the usual asking price for an E-reg EFi, but onthe other hand it is very low mileage and it looks like it has either had a lot of careful restoration or been kept out of the rain and salty roads.

Repairing wheel arches, replacing doors, tailgates, bonnets and sills can be very expensive - far more than £750