Little Steve Update

[Guest]

I've been umming and ahhing about this car and whether or not he's a keeper. At present, I'm in no position to move him on and I think I was suffering from that age old car enthusiast malaise of having a car that was reliable, sturdy and not wanting for much which as we all know is terribly boring. Another problem I was facing was the state of the car having been unable to find the time to wash or vacuum him for at least a month, so today I set about fixing that. Polishes up pretty well, considering how knackered the paint is.















I made a start on the engine bay, but didn't get very far. It's quite respectable under the bonnet and very easy to clean, but today I just wasn't feeling the engine bay cleaning vibe, so I'll do it another day.


While I was under the bonnet, I wanted to find out where the engine codes were so I could work out whether or not I had the good 1275 unit in there. I'm told that the red topped 1275 is the one to have and is the tunable lump, but the numbers would let me know more definitely I think. Are these the numbers I'm looking for?




I've decided that Steve can stay for now. I have to remember that there isn't anything inherently wrong in having a reliable, practical, cheap to run car and that tinkering constantly with a car is not normal these days. Instead, I've been putting my energies into how to improve the car and researching expenses for things like repairing the rear arches (about £50-60 for the panels), refurbishing the wheels (around £150 for powdercoating, much less for paint) and replacement panels (bonnet and tailgate sourced, interior plastics likewise). So we'll stick with him and put my plans to get an A40 Farina on hold for the forseeable. See me use my sensible head!

One of these days, I'll become a proper member, but not today because the bank is empty again.

[Austin-Rover]

More tuneable? Where did you get that from?

When looking at an A+ engine, a red cylinder head simply means it's a 1275cc engine. A yellow cylinder head tells you it's a 998cc engine. Nothing to get excited about.

Check out some Mini specialist websited for tuning up. It'll be expensive for very little improvement I should imagine.

Anyway, the car looks to be coming on nicely. I had a brief period of doing the 'urban street warrior' look with my Ledbury (R491 RVJ) where I ditched the wheel trims!

[Guest]

I'd been told there were two versions of the 1275 lump, one that was the good one for tuning to get a bit more fizz out of and one that was just a lump. Clearly, I've been misinformed, it happens.

Would explain why I can't find any concrete information on the different versions of the 1275 lump too. I'm guessing what I've heard is pub talk, it sounded so plausible though...

[E_T_V]

The maestro got the highest performance heads (along with the MG metro).

They have bigger valves I believe than the other 1275 heads so your original info was correct they are the most tunable.

[Guest]

I think you'll find maestros have the 33mm inlet valves not the 35mm as per MG metro spec. It's easy enough to fit one of these cylinder heads but the power gain would be so minimal. The engine number should be on a tag riveted to the block just below the thermostat housing (down the back of the engine)

[E_T_V]

http://www.dummett.net/ime/website/i...s_maestro.html

http://www.maestro.org.uk/forums/arc...hp/t-2495.html

Seems the leaded heads probably got the larger valves. The unleaded ones got the smaller ones.

[Guest]

Since my circumstances have improved and I can now keep the Maestro, I've been looking at what I need from a car and the decision has been made to convert from a car into a small van. The proper Maestro van is too big for my needs, converting this one into a van is more sensible for me. We're going quite '90s with it too, so the hot pink is a must have, and I'm sure it will not necessarily by a welcome decision.



I'll be retaining the functionality of the rear doors but stripping out the seats, seat belts and parcel shelf supports. Rear glass will be replaced with smooth sheet metal and wheels are going hot pink with Rover 100 centre caps. Van lights up front and a silver-over-hot pink coachstripe to finish things off. Should do me very nicely for what I need.

First, though, I'll be dealing with the niggles which are currently the inidicator stalk (I'm pretty sure of this now) that clicks sometimes, the two bits of rust and some cosmetic tweaks. There's very little to do to get to the above, really, it's a good solid base to work from. Bullbars/light guards are something I'd like to add, as is a reflector panel for the tailgate between the lights... did they make these?

I've already horrified one Maestego/Monstro afficionado with the choice of wheel colour, I'm sure more will be horrified too.

[Captain Slow]

The reflector panel for a Montego is, I'm told, a perfect fit...

Yrs truly,

Horrified Maestego/Montego aficionado no.1

P.S. the van isn't much bigger than the car and there are great things you can do to it...

[H48HPE]

why are pink wheels 90's?

forgetting about the pink - (no further comment on that) - it'll either end up looking reasonable or really tacky... I suppose we'll just have to see, the problem will be making it look like a quality conversion.

[Guest]

We shall see... There's always a bit of a gap between what I visualise in my head and what I can do with Photoshop but usually it works out well. If the pink is atrociously bad I can just repaint, that's not a massive problem.

Why are pink wheels 90s? Maybe not on production cars, but hot pink was very much an in vogue colour for anything personalised from shoelaces, to graphics on cars, it made sense to run with it.

The less challenging colour scheme is that found on the Ogle Princess.


I guess you'll just have to trust me on this one. I'm pretty confident it's going to work and it won't take that much to get it right, he who dares and all that.

[BIGDAVE]

re pink wheels

what a bloody mess.
well if it only photo shop its a good mess about.
and can be change with a press of a key.
thank god

[Guest]

That's the beauty of Photoshop: no real harm done while ideas are tried out. I expect we'll stay black steels and navy paint for quite some time while I address more important issues on the car.

My other wheel option is white Wellers, but they don't seem to come up that often in the size and PCD I'd need.

[digital efi]

the decision has been made to convert from a car into a small van.

I'll be retaining the functionality of the rear doors but stripping out the seats, seat belts and parcel shelf supports. Rear glass will be replaced with smooth sheet metal

Skoda had exactly the same idea when they created the Favorit van. Based on the five-door Favorit estate:



By all means seek and listen to feedback from others, but don't forget who the car actually belongs to

[digital efi]

The reflector panel for a Montego is, I'm told, a perfect fit...

Dammit, Sam, I wish I had known that when I bought my MG Maestro 25 years ago!

Not too late to get hold of one now, I guess

[Captain Slow]

I haven't tried it myself Paul - just passing on what I've heard on the grapevine! Probably better you get one now secondhand than if you'd gone to your local ARG parts counter, shelled out megamoney and found it didn't fit!