Maestro & Montego Owners Club - Blogs

That wasn't meant to happen...

Jonathan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:17:03 GMT

I thought it had been sounding a bit throaty lately. Mid-overtake it happened. ROARRR chink� chink� Oh bugger! That�s what too much use of the loud pedal does to an old car, or the very, very deafeningly LOUD pedal as it had now become. Turned out my MG had spat its new exhaust centre section clean out of the downpipe. I managed to tie it to the gear selector rod with an old bit of wire I had stashed in the boot for just such an occasion leaving only the first four gears selectable for the last couple of miles home, so no real harm has been done.

I must admit I�d taken pity on the Maestro having not driven it since its fleeting visit to North Yorkshire in August. The tax is up soon and by mid-October opportunities to take classics out in the dry are few and far between, so that�s it now. It can stay in the garage until I�ve put aside yet more money for fixing broken BL cars. It has to be said though, D428 has excelled itself this summer. It�s almost the car it should always have been.

12. It drives!

E_T_V — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:44:33 GMT

Well this weekend was spent righting some of the wrongs of the previous weekend, however there were inevitably some problems too

I fitted a new diesel tank, ran the return fuel lines and finalised the fuel system - even the gauges appears to work! No pics of this I'm afraid.

Then my assistant put the steering column back in as the van needed to be made mobile for next weekend.

Then I went to fit a supplied driveshaft to get it mobile. However the driveshaft is the wrong one. I ended up bodging together various parts from two driveshafts to make one semi-good one. Still at least it makes the van mobile. A word of advice for anyone though, if anyone suggests changing the inner CV joint on the shaft, then politely decline! It was a b*gger of a job even though in theory it should be simple.

Anyway I'll need to fit another one in the future but it'll make it mobile in the short term.

There was a little more wiring to check to make sure the dash worked. The use of post-it notes certainly helped all the way though the conversion. I wonder how on earth we did this sort of thing before they were invented!

Then after some more fiddling and faffing I bravely took it for a test drive.

I know there is still a lot of work to do but now that it is mobile then I'm happy that progress has been made.

And for those that want to know what it sounds like.

11. It lives!!!!!

E_T_V — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:59:57 GMT

This weekend was a very up and down few days

First the downs:
Finished my turbo adapter - went to bolt it up and one of the studs broke out so I had to weld another in. Also when fitted there was a large step in the airflow so I've had to reprofile that too
Filled the tank with diesel - Then spotted the tank had sprung a leak. This is the tank that I'd spent 2 days painting and corrosion protecting So had to spend the next half hour removing the diesel I'd just put in! Now need to fit another thank.

Then the ups:
Finally completed the turbo adapter and it fits. I've even managed to refit the standard oil drain and feeds too.
Temporarily put the dash in and most of it works.
Fitted the new idiot lights (glow plug, immobiliser and Engine management), and they all work as they should!

Then the downs:
When I went to start the car the igntion lights cut out and the immobiliser cuts in. Grrrr

Then the ups:
When the igntion is turned on and the car is manually started (12v feed to the starter), then the engine turns over and even runs!
The throttle pedal also seems to work too!

So progress is definatly being made.

99% of the electrics seem to be working ok, and the bit that doesn't is due to the peculiarity of how the maestro is wired rather than doing anything theoretically wrong (the igntion switched live feed goes dead briefly as the starter is engaged).

Rain stopped play today so if it clears up I'll have a go at fixing it tomorrow and finish off the pipework.

10. Turbo troubles

E_T_V — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:49:22 GMT

As people may know I'm a bit of a diesel tuner at heart, and my van is no exception.

I have some aim power figures in mind but I'll keep them under wraps for now. But they are higher than the standard turbo will support.

As some other people might know I'm a cheapskate too and so I didn't fancy splashing out many many hundreds of pounds getting a custom hybrid made. So I found a turbo I thought would be suitable. It was indeed suitable, however the exhaust was totally wrong and pointed at the block. So back to the drawing board. I managed to locate another suitable turbo and with this one I had more luck. It will fit a lot more easily. Note I say will fit more easily, it isn't a direct fit, but it is do-able and here is how I'm doing it

Take 2 flanges that have been cut to fit the original flanges of the manifold and the turbo. And modify slightly with an angle grinder.

Then weld some studs into two of the holes of the triangle flange. Bolt the lower bolts of the bigger flange to the turbo, and grind a little to make them lower than the level of the top flange. I'm using stainless for studs and bolts for obvious reasons!

Then weld the two flanges together after aligning carefully. I've welded both inside and out to ensure a gastight seal, and on the inside I've done a lot of welding so that I can blend the two holes together to enable as smooth a gas flow as possible. This is my first attempt and I'm pretty happy. It'll want a bit more fettling in proper daylight but you get the general idea.

9. Fly-by-wire tribulations

E_T_V — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:31:25 GMT

The bigger rover geeks amoung you may have worked out that the rover 600 is a fly-by-wire engine, i.e. the throttle pedal isn't in any way mechanically connected to the engine, i.e. it is all electronically controlled. This means that there is no throttle arm to move which gives me a bit of a headache.

On the 600 the throttle sensor is connected directly to the throttle pedal, something which isn't easy to replicate in the maestro as there is no room. So I came up with an ingenous solution. I used a combination of the original sensor, a throttle cable for a 1.6 maestro, and a few bits and bobs I had lying about.

This is the result I was stuck for places to mount it. Inside the engine bay was a bit vulnerable and difficult to do so I tucked it in a spare bit of space on the centre console. I extended the throw of the original throttle potentiometer as otherwise the throttle was a bit like an on off switch, but now I'm happy with it.

Another problem was the brake switch. On the maestro it just operates the brake lights. On the 600 it also has an effect on the ECU and has 4 contacts rather than the maestro pair. This means I had to use the 600 switch. However there isn't enough room to mount the switch in the original location as it is too deep and fouls the bulkhead. So I had to move it. Obviously moving it meant that there wasn't a contact on the throttle pedal to press the plunger so I had to fabricate a bracket for the switch and a piece of metal to press the plunger when the brake pedal is released.

What do you think?

Most of the wiring is now done, just the dash lights to do I hope. Then I can try and test to see if the wiring is as good as I hope it is!

8. Wiring and plumbing

E_T_V — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:47:18 GMT

Things have been stalled of late due to 2 car shows, a visit to my parents and poor weather.

But this weekend I got a little more done.

I managed to get hold of a maestro turbo radiator for it, and a slimline fan as the space between the radiator and the engine is rather tight.

I've also fitted a Saab intercooler. Whether is withstands the boost pressure or not is another matter but only time will tell.

Most of the pipework is now complete. The PAS is in and the intercooler pipework is almost complete. The cooling system is 90% done with just one more pipe to add and some pipe clips too.

Part of the radiator top hose.

Now the monster job of wiring really commences. The dash is taken out and the two looms put vaguely where I think they belong.

It looks a right mess so trying to make sense of it can take a while.

Fortunatly I have a supervisor who lends a hand... well sometimes

Tony supervising from his reclining chair.

After much sorting and snipping it begins to make a little more sense and I've managed to reduce the amount of wiring needed.

And just to prove it is me doing this work rather than paying some poor sod to do it

Today I started adding the new loom into the original fusebox. There is much more to do but it is getting there slowly. Whether it'll work or not is another matter though... Did I mention I was colourblind?

7. More Van progress

E_T_V — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:52:13 GMT

Well progress is being made at quite a pace now thanks to some help and assistance from a certain forum member.

This weekend the PAS system has been sorted thanks to a new custom PAS pipe and some creative pipe bending to make the PAS cooler. I'll see if I can get some pictures when I'm next up there to show you how it went.

The intercooler pipework is also 99% done (just missing a few hose clips). The L series is a bit strange in that the turbo to intercooler pipework is 51mm and the intercooler to engine pipework is 57mm. So lots of silicone elbows and some lengths of aluminium pipe and its all in. I'm using the intercooler from a Saab which fits neatly and is a pseudo dual pass design which makes the pipework easier. Whether it'll hold up to the boost levels I'm wanting to run I'm not sure, but there is only one way to find out!

The radiator is proving more of a headache. I found a radiator lying around that I thought looked suitable and indeed it is, (far more suitable than the original 1.3 one), however I've found out that it has a hole in it and I'm having trouble sourcing another just like it. I'm sure I can get the original fixed but its another thing to add to the list. The radiator fan was mounted on the front which is space now occupied by the intercooler so that'll have to go on the back of the radiator too. No problem until you realise just how limited the clearance is between the engine and the radiator. I'll have to source a slimline fan from somewhere I think to keep it cool. Another headache was the fact that the radiator outlet was right next to the alternator. The revised choice of radiator has helped moving it further away however now I've got to make pipework that goes up, over and around the alternator! More silicone bits chopped to suit and some joiners made from some pipe I ordered from e-bay, and I think it'll look half decent when it is done. I forgot to buy the jubilee clips so another thing to add to the list! I also somehow need to join the overflow into the headertank. The most obvious point I can see is into the top hose to the radiator as it is the highest point in the system to aid bleeding. So I got some more steel tube, bent it to shape and drilled and welded it into a steel hose joiner in the top hose. I think it looks quite neat but you'll have to judge for yourself.

The wiring is still to do which is going to be one of the biggest challenges. The other one is the turbo which I'm still having a headache with trying to source something the right size that'll give me the performance I'm after and will physically fit!

Lots of things to do still, but at least it looks like the engine belongs there now.

6. The engine is in!

E_T_V — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:51:32 GMT

Today finally the engine is in and suspended from the engine mounts! Hurrah!

Well ok I know it doesn't sound like much but it got me excited. I utilised 2 of the standard engine mounts, (the gearbox one and the rear lower dogbone one). The nearside gearbox mount fits without modification. The rear dogbone mount needs altering a fair bit to fit You have to cut out a fair amount of the aluminium casting on the engine end of the mount, as the sump and the gearbox adapter plate are different to the prima.

Then the offside engine mount was far more of a challenge. The prima uses the rather large water pump to mount from. The L series uses a mount on the front of the engine. So how to mount it? Well I decided that the engine mount in the 600 was well designed and transmitted far less vibration to the car than the prima mount did. So I wanted to use as much of this as possible to keep the comfort in the car. To do this I enlisted the help of a friend who is good with making stuff from scratch for my hairbrained schemes. We started out cutting the prima mount down to form the basis for adapting to make a mount. However in the end he found it easier to make one from scratch using the prima mount as a template for the bolt holes. So the mount arrived and I tried to fit it.

As you can imagine there were some teething problems. I ended up cutting the mount apart, modifying it and then welding it back together.

So I tried to fit it again today and low and behold it fitted virtually perfectly. I suprise myself sometimes. (Its worth bearing in mind that my van is about 30 miles away from my house so I can't just pop out to measure things easily!).

Because of the engihe mount being a lot higher in the maestro than it was in the 600 I need to add a significant spacer between the engine mount bracket and the engine mount. I didn't know the exact size I was going to need to get the engine to sit level etc so I used some threaded bar, lots of nuts and washers to get the spacer effect I need. It'll be replaced with a solid spacer at some point soon but it is strong enough to support the engine for now and is strong enough to allow the engine to be started.

So the engine is in. Next stop the turbo. Hmm I think I'm going to have to rethink my current turbo idea as it just won't fit. Well that isn't true, it will fit but it would mean that either the exhaust would be severely restricted or it would come out of the bonnet. Not really what I'd hoped for. Oh well another minor setback.

I test fitted the intercooler. Actually it might be permenantly fitted now as it is such a tight fit I can't easily get it out again! At least it'll save weight on fixings! Now some more things to think about. The radiator inlet sits exactly where the alternator is. Hmmm not a good start. Also the fan is on the wrong side of the radiator so I'm going to have to find some slim fans to fit between the engine and the radiator.
I might need to find another radiator I think as it looks a little on the small side too. More headaches!

Ok so lets look at the power steering. The reservoir fits nicely using some pre-existing holes in the inner wing. Thats a good start. With some trimming the pump oil feed fits well too! Ahh but with the good comes the bad too. I need to make a PAS oil cooler for it. No big deal really I suppose. Then I need to run some more pipe for the PAS oil return, again no real problem. The hard part will be getting the high pressure pipe sorted. Sadly the fittings on the maestro and the 600 are different so I can't mix and match pipes to make it fit so it looks like I'll have to get someone to make me one. Its one of those jobs where I just don't have the skills or facilities to do it myself, but I guess you can't win them all.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

5. Wiring wiring wiring again.

E_T_V — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:28:53 GMT

Fitting this engine has to be easy compared to how difficult all this wiring is.

Tonight I spent yet another night trying to do the wiring needed to make the immobiliser work in an alien vehicle.

The picture above is about 1/4 of the wiring loom for the car, after I've disected it and pulled out all the wires I need. Well all the wires I think I need! Only time will tell if I've got the right ones! It doesn't help that I'm colourblind and that there is so many wires in a 600 that some colours are duplicated several times so you have to work out which green and white wire you need!

The next step on the wiring front is the most daunting. Its the ECU wiring. Lets just say there are quite a lot of wires in there to work out what they do!

Another added complication is the fact that I "may" want to try to keep the airconditioning, but that is at an early stage at the moment so plans may change!

Two by Two...

Chris Y — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:21:20 GMT

Well what have we here? A pair of racing Maestros? Yes, but even more significant is that they're both MG 1600s.

For those not familiar with our 'fleet', the white/blue one is a recent acquisition. Not only does that bring our current total up to 11 cars (of which only 2 aren't Maestros), but it also adds another 'pair' to the line-up. We now have a pair of MG1600s to go with the pair of Tickfords, and the pair of HLEs.

3 pairs. Sounds like a really BAD hand of cars ;) (Or possibly a good hand - I don't actually know any card games except perhaps Snap or Blackjack)

Anyway, some history on the white/blue one.

It's a car that was built for Andy Campbell to race in the MGOC championship, class B (Maestros/Montegos). Andy has been class and overall champion at least twice (I forget!), and this car was the last of a generation of 1600 cars built for him. I believe it was re-shelled last in 2003, although I could be wrong about that (even Andy's not sure).

After some reliability issues, Andy decided to move up to racing 2 litre cars (and subsequently the famous Monty estate race car), and the car was sold to Rob O'Boyle, who raced it intermittantly for a few years before retiring in late 2006 (I think) and moving to Australia.

Since then the car has been pretty much stood in a yard in Ilkeston, awaiting repairs to the engine's bottom end. I believe the car has been offered for sale at various points, but not much interest generated.

Last week Simon Byrne, who was looking after the car, contacted me to say that the car needed to be shifted, as his company had moved out of the yard, and some shifty looking people armed with a low-loader had been eyeing up the car. Simon was going to break the car and sell the race bits if there was still no interest.

I couldn't really let a car with race-winning pedigree and a fair amount of history just be broken up, particularly when it's mosly complete, and just needs some engine work, so I arranged to collect it.

The plan is (currently) to strip the engine down and fix/replace the bottom end (shells at least are suspected, possibly crank, possibly rods), install a seat and harness, tidy the bodywork up a little, then do a few trackdays in it - Maria is interested in having a go :)

Some bits also may be transferred between this car and my red/yellow racer, WBM. My car's suspension is a little different, and I'm keen to try a few different things, if I have the time/money.

Anyway, the strip-down began today - carbs are off - they were seized, in pretty much the same way as WBM's were (see my earlier blog entry - 'over wintering'). I also checked the dashboard with a new battery, and that just brought up more questions than answers! There's a few buttons that don't work, and one unlabelled button and a dial that I don't know the function of. I'll get to the bottom of it, I'm sure ;)

4. The van's engine is out

E_T_V — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:43:20 GMT

Today I took my ledbury van up to a mates unit and then proceeded to remove the engine. This was significantly easier than trying to get the L series out of the donor 600, as it only took a couple of hours to take the old A series out, (compare that with 2 days to remove the L series!).

So progress is being made.

Now I need to clean up all the rust etc in the engine bay and corrosion proof it and then add some soundproofing as the little A series engine doesn't need any. At idle the A series is barely audible with the bonnet closed. Somehow I think I might struggle to achieve that with the L series, but I'll do my best.

If anyone has any good ideas or sources for soundproofing then let me know as I'm struggling so far.

Also another headache is trying to fit a larger turbo to the L series. Whilst the original turbo is good for about 130bhp, I'm greedy and want more. I've found a suitably sized turbo, but sadly its housings are very different to the original one, so making adapters and a new downpipe are on the cards. This is going to be a mamouth project! Ahh well if its performance is anything like what I'm aiming for then it should be a very "interesting" campervan.

Ohh yes I've also managed to source me an uprated clutch spring plate which is essential for my big power plans.

Thats all for now. Photos will hopefully follow!

3. Electrics - electrics - electrics

E_T_V — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:36:35 GMT

Its been a while since I've updated this blog about my camper conversion.

Well I finally got all the wiring out of the 600 that I think I need, and wow is there a lot of it, it takes two of us to load it into my 600's boot. Yee gods, what have I started!

I've spent the past couple of evenings going through the rover wiring diagrams for the 600 so I can chop out a lot of the unused stuff and piggyback the L series ECU onto the Ledbury wiring loom. Time will tell if it will work or not but I'm getting there slowly I think. 10 pages of wiring diagrams done and 10 to go!

Over wintering

Chris Y — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:14:59 GMT

It's show time once more, and coming up this weekend is a show at Stoneleigh. Time to bring the MG out of hibernation and get everything ready.

So, come Wednesday lunchtime, I went out to see about starting up WBM. I hadn't started him in a month or so, and that usually makes him *very* reluctant, as opposed to just plain awkward after a day or so. Partly the reason is the lack of choke on the carbs. Another part is the high compression, and mildly tuned camshaft.

Anyway, I didn't expect him to be *quite* so reluctant. The battery was completely flat and would hold no charge, even after several hours on charge in the house, and connected to a booster pack. Another battery (an old one from MDL) was also dead, so the engine was only turning over very slowly, and in no danger of starting, but that wasn't the biggest problem...

The biggest problem was that the throttle pedal was locked pretty solid. After some rocking up and down I managed to get some movement out of it, but I decided not to press the issue further. I knew approximately what was wrong - it wasn't the cable, it was the carb butterflies. This had happened before, but previously it was just the throttle butterflies sticking shut against the body of the carbs. This time it seemed to be a lot worse - there was movement, but it was very sticky and they wouldn't open fully, or shut properly.

So, dismantling time then. So Wednesday lunchtime was spent getting the carbs off the manifolds (always good fun undoing nuts with the very tips of your fingers!) and the obligatory lost nut. I still don't know where it is, but I last saw it heading down the back of the exhaust manifold.

With all the gubbins taken off, I took the carbs into the garage and set about spraying everything with WD-40 (all I had). Managed to get some movement back, but it was still very notchy, and something else was needed. I partially dismantled the butterfly spindles (careful with the springs!) and was able to better attack the bushings at either end. Putting it all back together this time resulted in much better movement, but I'd ran out of time during lunch.

I spent a little more time during Wednesday evening putting the carbs back on the manifolds, and jump-starting the car, since no battery I had spare would hold a charge. WBM still resisted, until I put a squirt of carb cleaner down each barrel, and then he reluctantly fired up. However, the revs shot up, and I had to pull the throttle pedal up from beneath to stop the engine going too fast. Something was clearly still wrong with the carbs, and they were sticking open - not good! But at least I managed to get him started, which was a relief with the weekend coming up.

Thursday lunchtime was taken up with removing the carbs again, and the evening was spent in the garage stripping the carbs and spraying them again - this time with PlusGas. Once freed off sufficiently, I applied 3-in-1 oil to hopefully keep the spindles nice and free.

Now it's all back together again, and the idle speed screw turned down a little to compensate for a very rapid idle. So far, so good - the engine sounds pretty sweet at the moment. Now it's just a matter of gathering everyting else together for the weekend and getting the whole lot looking good for the show.

Of mice and maestros.

Chris Y — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:31:16 GMT

Couple of days ago, we had to move the 'silver 1.3' Maestro of our fleet, out of our smaller original garage, in order to ferry items to and from the new garage more easily.

This silver 1.3 is a HLE, and was bought (I think) from new as a C reg in 1984/5 by Maria's parents, and kept by them up until a few years ago, when they cried 'enough' and passed it onto us. Since then it's basically been sitting in our drive, awaiting its fate.

It was a bit of a workhorse, so repairs were done cheaply, quickly, and using whatever methods were available at the time. When we got hold of it, we were aware of the various bits of un-sanded filler, fibreglass mat, and other repair procedures that had been used on it, but figured we'd do something about those if/when we ever got time. As I say, it was a workhorse, so never intended to be showroom condition. Then there were the strange scratches on the front wings/bonnet - the effect was very much like it had been driven through a Brillo pad factory at high speed.

Anyway, when we started to move it back into the daylight after some months (possibly years) in the garage, the full horror of the bodywork began to show again. Quite possibly we'd forgotten how horrible it was, or it had deteriorated in storage, but the sections of filler around the arches and door-bottoms were now popping off, and the glass matting underneath was showing through.

Rather more troubling though, was the section of floor that had literally dropped off when we moved it backwards! Along with some curious round black items and some bits of the sound deadening that we later deduced were mouse droppings, and part of a mouse 'nest' (if that's the term). Mind you, the teeth marks on the steering wheel centre should have been a bit of a give away!

Ok, so I knew mice could be destructive, but I didn't know they would chew though metal ;) We suspect that somehow the mouse/mice got into the car, had a nibble at the wheel, then got out through the bottom of the car, disturbing years of rot, enough so that the WHOLE front jack point and surrounding area fell out in one go.

I guess we really should condemn this particular car. We've never looked at it properly, but I suspect that if/when we do, it will just fall apart about us. I reckon the floor's totally had it - the arches are certainly gone, and most of the doors too. That's just after a cursory glance - we need to find time to really take it apart, salvage what's still good (not much) and then scrap the rest.

It's a shame, because the car's got some sentimental value to the family - having been around Europe several times, and served them well, but I think its passenger-ferrying days are over.

And the mice? Well, it looks like they had also been trying to make a nest in a seat squab too. We've moved all the edible items to the new garage now. Some sealing of gaps will be required in the old garage, for sure!

I'll try and add some pictures of the 1.3's floor to this blog when we next get it out of the garage.

Why not to use "home" drilled discs

E_T_V — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:31:29 GMT

I bought a big brake kit for my turbo and fitted it. It was used when I got it but there wasn't a wear lip on the discs so I thought I'd chance my luck and fit the discs and see how they worked.

They worked well so I left them. They were noisy however I'm used to that and I know that drilled discs make more noise, however the pedal feel started to become a bit odd. It was hard and firm as it should be but it kind of buzzed a bit like when discs "warp" but at a higher frequency. So I checked out the discs and this is what I saw.

Needless to say they aren't on my car any more!