1985 Austin Maestro 1.3 Base (B662 DVX)

[digital efi]

Excellent quality and price.

Incorrect-to-period number plates are a pet hate of mine: not only post-2001 font being used on pre-2001 cars, but also black/silver being used on early 'Seventies cars (the vast majority of which left the showroom wearing reflective plates). I do appreciate that pre-2001 style have been very difficult to obtain in recent years unless you are happy to pay over £50 for a pair of the raised plastic letter plates (which were always a rarity on 'Eighties cars, anyway)

[Richard H]

They look great. Did you supply him with original plates and stickers or did he have those on file?

I took photos of the original items, including close ups of the dealer script and BSAU number on the plate, and measurements of the dealer script and the rear screen sticker. They are virtually indistinguishable from the originals so I'm very happy.

[G51 NAV]

Just been in contact with them myself. We'll see what they say.
How appropriate that they are based in Ledbury…

[Captain Slow]

I'll have to see if he can do anything special - I want a spare set of plates for mine, but they're a 3D font from new. If he can replicate that he'll be getting some money from me.

[Richard H]

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[Richard H]

Well I've done a bit more on the Maestro. I got fed up of seeing the rusty wings so whipped them off and cleaned up the inner wings. Fortunately no rot found.





The wings had suffered terribly from a build up of mud and road salt.



New dealer sticker fitted:



I then started to have a poke at some of the rust bubbles on the car! Fatal I know, but I can't own a car with rust bubbles, I always have to poke at them, which usually leads to some ridiculous weldathon.

This is solid enough.



This isn't, and will be a job for the MIG. Fortunately the ariel needs replacing anyway, and the headlining needs to come out as it's sagging, so I'm hoping it won't be too difficult a job to weld it up.



Strangely, three of the doors on this car are mint and rust free, yet the N/S/R door was bubbling on the top and bottom of the door skin.



And these are the scabs at the bottom. The metal is pitted but wouldn't succumb to the prod from a screwdriver. The inner frame of the door looks good.



I was wondering if I could get away with a splash of rust converter, then a skim of filler on the bits that aren't holed...any advice?

I also bought an old AA badge for it and fitted it today.



And fitted the new front plate from DMB Graphics.



Just need to get the new wings and a few other pieces now. It's coming together, slowly.

[Guest]

Thanks for the update, Richard. My Arum White Maestro had rust on the top of one of the doors, I think this is only the second one I've seen it on!!

[G51 NAV]

Some of them seem prone to it. Of the seven Maestros we've owned (so that's 28 doors if you look at it that way), only two doors had rust issues at the top: one of our two H-reg MG 2.0is (H788 MOG) and our most-recent MG EFi (D246 DPE). Both driver's door too. Generic rust treatments never gave a permanent cure.

[Richard H]

Thanks chaps. I can't decide whether to repair this door or look for a better replacement. I think I'll have a go at repairing it, although I've never had much luck welding door skins. For now I've given the bottom of the door a coat of Champagne to tidy it up and I've also cleaned the underseal off that ugly MoT welding at the back of the sill/wheelarch (the previous owner had that done), and painted that too. Looks much better already, although I'm looking forward to chopping that all out and repairing it properly.

I like welding and bodywork, it's just the mechanical side I'm not so good with. I charged the battery and had another go at getting it started today. With the broken manual choke mechanism removed completely I tried to start it with my foot to the floor. It tries to go, but just won't fire. There is a strong spark at number one plug and plenty of fuel getting through. Next I'll try blanking off the choke part of the carb completely, the bit where the o rings go, and see if I get any joy there. To be honest I'd really like to get hold of a better carb as it's always been difficult to start.

[BIGDAVE]

i think another carb is the best way to go unless you can get a new choke kit

[G51 NAV]

Shame to hear of another car that has been 'improved' with the manual choke conversion. In nearly every case case, the conversion doesn't fix the real cause of the misdiagnosed fault that it was fitted to cure.

[Richard H]

My thoughts exactly. I don't suppose anyone has an autochoke 1.3 carb in good working order they want to sell?

Would this carb be an auto or manual choke? Came from a 1992 car.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUSTIN-ROV...item51b484bb02

This one is definitely an autochoke, I think, but there's no guarantee it's any better than what's already fitted. It's also for a 1.6, is this the same as the 1.3?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maestro-FZ...item2ecb96790c

[Captain Slow]

By 1992 the 1.3 had binned autochoke.

To my knowledge the 1.6 carb is the same unit - in fact, so's the 2.0 if memory serves. All SU HIF44E.

[Richard H]

Cheers Sam. I've messaged the seller to see if they are willing to post.

[CPL593H]

before anyone attempts to fix/repair/play around with a HIF44e setup, i strongly recommend watching this video to understand the setup of this surprisingly complex system

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x0crHvqtDI