Fuel conversion

[dazlee]

Hi all,

I have a Maestro VP 1988 (F reg) and looking to convert it to unleaded. Has anyone any ideas how I can do this.

Many Thanks

[SimonR]

Hi mate,

(Good job you posted! I had forgotten who it was that wanted the wheel trim!)

Anyway, what you need to do is get an unleaded cylinderhead and an unleaded ignition ECU (NNN 10009).

Replace the cylinderhead, plug in the ECU and hey presto. I did this on my old 1988 VP and it ran for 40k miles before the breather got blocked and the bottom half of then engine died due to terminal oil leakage.

I have an unleaded S-Series Cylinderhead with 40k on it but the camshaft oil seals are shot. I do intend to replace them and sell the head so you could convince me ;)

PM me if you're interested, in the CH and the wheel trim!

[e692wtt]

You could keep the original Ignition ECU (designed for four star petrol) as the knock sensor will prevent pinking anyway, and then the car will run better on Super Plus should you decide to fill up with that on occasion...


You may find your Maestro is unleaded-compatible anyway... is the oil filler on the cam cover (assuming the valve covers haven't been changed :laugh: ) and are there green 'Unleaded' stickers around the engine bay? If neither of these correspond with your car then you probably have a 'leaded' engine and need either to use an additive or an unleaded cylinder head.

You can also check from the engine number but I don't have that info to hand (is it that the Engine Number starts 16HE ? someone will be along shortly to give you the inside gen on that one).

[SimonR]

You may find your Maestro is unleaded-compatible anyway... is the oil filler on the cam cover (assuming the valve covers haven't been changed :laugh: ) and are there green 'Unleaded' stickers around the engine bay?

Rich: it will definately have a leaded engine, F153 was a late 1988 car and was the same. So far I have not seen any VPs with the later engine and breather system factory-fitted.

By the way Darren, while you are fitting the cylinderhead you might as well convert your oil breather system to the later version that is less likely to get bunged up and nadger your engine's oil seals. This is what I did on F153 and am about to do on JOE.

If you want information about this then I'll happily relay what Simon Heap told me about it at the time.

[dazlee]

Thanks for the advice.

Has anyone used a Broquet Fuel Catalyst to do the conversion?