Engine No's / Slight Confusion

[MGTurbo469]

Hello all!

Not sure this is the right place for this. apologies if not.
Was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of Austin/Rover engine no's....

A mate of mine has seen an MG Maestro Turbo for sale locally, in fairly poor condition bodywise, but engine and mechanicals seem fairly sound.

He noted on the v5 for this car, the engine no was as my current MGMT is 20HCxxxxx, but stamped on top of the engine was 20H863xxxxx. My first turbo F-plate also had 20HCxxxxxx so am assuming this 20H8 is either not a Maestro/Not a turbo??

Any ideas what this 20H863xxx engine might be?? Monty?? Unleaded etc.?
Engine physically looks the same as mine, without the "MG Turbo" on the rocker cover.

Answers on a postcard pls.... seriously any info anyone may have would be much appreciated as i'm fairly confused


Cheers everyone.
Alex

[E_T_V]

If the engine number is infact HE rather than H8 then it might be an EFI engine, (different compression ratio) which has been put in. (I'm not to sure on this but I seem to remember something to that effect.)

Is it a genuine turbo. G51 NAV is the bloke to ask as he holds the register for them. What turbo number is he claiming it is?

[MGTurbo469]

Thanks for yr reply!
That's exactly what I thought.... but on closer inspection it is actually 20H86xxx --- fairly odd behaviour....

No idea what Turbo no. it's meant to be unfortunately.... will enquire but wont be seeing him for a week or so...

Cheers anyway.
Alex

[G51 NAV]

Post the reg here or PM me and I can tell you if it's a genuine Maestro Turbo.

I'll have a look at the database when I get home and see if there is any pattern to the engine-numbers I have (I don't have many: Tickford didn't record them properly), and report back here.

Oh, and I'll let you know what number F129 SWC was (in your sig)

[MGTurbo469]

Thanks I'll have have a poke around and see what I can find...

the two turbo's I have had, had engine no's beginning 20HCxxxx.
phoned my local MG/Rover dealership as you do, and good news for my new purhcase H234 BBK, the head mechanic there up until a year ago had a montego turbo, said he had it for 7 years and was a big fan of the MG Turbo's. Could be a handy contact to be honest.

Would be interested to know build no of F129 SWC, bits of it probably still up at the scrapyard actually, will call them and see as that was in mint condition before the scum took it away :rage:

Will post any info I can find on this one anyway.

Cheers again.
Alex

[Beaker]

Could F129 not be repaired them, what did they damage?

[G51 NAV]

F129 FWC was build #165. No such car on my database as F129 SWC

I had a look through the database and all engine numbers begin with 20HC85. If you let me know the reg, there's a small chance I might just know the (original) engine number

[TurboMG]

All Maestro turbos should start 20HC85******, all O series engines should start 20-this means 2 litre, H-this means transverse, it should then be either a letter C,D,E,F or G followed by 2 numbers.

20H8 is not listed anywhere.

[Fast Guy]

Are you sure it isn't 20HB? I'm sure there were HA and HB engines before the HC.

Get RickMG to check the number on his rare mg montego. That's an early one.

[e692wtt]

I'm pretty sure that the 20HA engines are the early ones with the Alternator on the back of the block, and the engines from 20HB on are the engines with the Alternator on the front of the block.

I also seem to remember that the 'H' and 'V' designations (eg 20H in the case of the Maestro and Montego 2.0 engines, 12H for Maestro 1300 engines, 20V in the case of the Ital 2.0 engine, 18V for Marina 1800 engines, and so on...) refer to 'Horizontal' and 'Vertical' orientation of the engine in the car when it is seen in 'plan' view with the 'car' pointing up (or down) the page. And yes, 'Horizontal' equates to 'transverse installation' (Front Wheel Drive) and 'Vertical' equates to 'longitudinal installation' (Rear Wheel Drive).

Also, the '20H8' engine number is interesting - but probably only because they are very difficult to read. I cannot read the engine number on my Monty at all! I bet the '20H8' is actually 20HB... ;) and you can draw your own conclusions from that.

[tony]

yes mine is a 20ha with the alt at the back. :)

[MGTurbo469]

Hi again,
Asked my mate to have another peek at this engine / no.
It is 20HB .... Monty I think. Said he didn't bother getting reg no. as the body is held together with bird droppings and the guy was fairly irate on Saturday morning (maybe too many beers Friday night??). Guess thats that one done for now. Thanks all for info.

Re. The old car, can assure you reg no was F129 SWC.
Car came from a friend of Martin Wood and I have the build no. somewhere on an email he sent the insurers to get them to pay the full amount (they offered me £700 originally, finally nailed them for the full £2.2k).

Re. damage, car was stolen from outside my old place of work (a hospital!!) on a cold Tuesday late last January, and was found by police around mid-month Feb in an infamous area of Cardiff. Assume they ran out of luck as they managed to catch a speedbump with such impact the front suspension collapsed and the sump was peeled almost clean off, along with all the usual carnage (fully knackered turbo by the looks of it). They then resorted to smashing all the windows, nicking the wheels then setting fire to it, shame none of them was stuck inside. Firebrigade were on the scene swiftly but it was still a charred wrecked mess. :censored: :rage: dam shame and would rather have kept the car and not had £2k for it.

Anyway cheers all for input on this random engine, if I get a mo I'll go and get some piccies.

Thanks all
Alex

[Fast Guy]

I'm pretty sure that the 20HA engines are the early ones with the Alternator on the back of the block



Yep, same as my first one and wasn't it a delight to change those alternators :rage: The though bolt hit the manifold one side and the engine mount the other :banghead:

[e692wtt]

I never actually owned a 20HA-engined car, but have heard from several people it's truly horrible changing the alternator!

But at least the 20HA was superseded pretty quickly... :laugh: I found it a doddle on my 20HB Montego Vanden Plas Auto, even easier than on the 1.6 S-series if I recall.