1985 Austin Maestro 1.3 Base (B662 DVX)

[VanJosh]

This any good to you, it's new I think -




I'm only a few minutes from Canterbury too.

[Richard H]

Well thanks to Josh this Maestro now has a new carb, with the correct autochoke, which I fitted it today. Also thanks to Chaucer Motor Factors in Canterbury who had one carb gasket set left. I need to finish plumbing it in, there's a lot of rubber pipes that are broken or split, but it certainly looks the part.

[Richard H]

Good news! I haven't been neglecting the Maestro (much) and have been collecting parts for the restoration. First job was to fit the replacement carb I bought from VanJosh.

The old carb.





New one on the left, showing the autochoke stepper motor and diaphragm valve thing.



Fitted!



Of course it still won't start, but it's a step in the right direction, and at least it's original.

I also had a bit of a breakthrough with the hunt for some replacement front wings. A chap on here messaged me saying he'd bought these new wings for his van, and was intending to cut holes in them for the repeaters. However when he saw my plea, he thought it would be better to sell them to me as I have the correct car for them. The only problem was how to get them down from Kings Lynn to Kent. Fortunately my dad collected them from the fens while he was in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago, and I collected them from him in Southend when I went back last weekend.



They are pattern rather than genuine wings, but the price I paid more than makes up for having to fettle them a bit to fit! Firstly I painted the inner wings with zinc rich primer, then gave them a coat of Champagne. I also did the inside of the new wings with the zinc rich primer, so I hope they'll last longer than the originals did. I must say it's nice working on a car that doesn't have any galloping structural rot, makes a nice change from the very rotten 1950's cars I'm usually welding up.









There's a bit of a gap between the wings and the lower valance, and the shut line between the bonnet and passenger side wing needs further adjustment. But overall I'm very pleased with them. Sadly it'll have to wait until the weather gets a bit warmer before I can paint them. Painting even small areas with aerosols is very difficult in a lockup in winter. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I rubbed down the bits of welding Gary had done on the rear arch/sill areas that were undersealed and painted them the correct shade. It looks loads better, and doesn't catch the eye as much as it did before. I also located a replacement ariel (still in its MG Rover box!) from Rimmer Bros, which will be fitted once I've removed the broken original and welded up the rust around the ariel hole.