BLOG MY RIDE: Rally MG Maestro 1600 - Car B

[John C]

Great to see what the college engineers are doing with this car -they don't mess about do they!

I'm surprised to hear about the stress cracking (excellent photos and annotations BTW).

After the Austin Rover rally sprint at Donington Park the cars went to
http://www.silverstone.co.uk/experie...iver-coaching/

and then were sold to Goodwood's 'Mithril' for corporate rally days http://www.mithril.co.uk/about.asp

I think the hammering from their life at the latter venue is what will have generated the stress cracking.

However, these are all problems likely to be encountered by the students if they work on historic motorsport vehicles in the future, so I hope it will be useful experience for them

[g200mss #146]

Thanks for the pics, its interesting to see. Seems its had a hard life. The only stress damage I found on mine was on rear turrets where the struts mount. They had pushed up slightly. So I have reinforced mine there when rebuilding.

[Team Myerscough]

Here are some close ups of the cracks.

[g200mss #146]

Any close up pics of the cracks?

[Team Myerscough]

More progress on stripping and recording parts.
The tired old engine is out, the wings have been removed and the interior is out.
Dash and front of cage along with the loom is now out.

The shell will be going on a Roll Over spit this week to allow the students to clean and prepare the underside for repairs and paint.

Some very small areas of rot to sort out on the O/S sill top and a small amount on the floor.
Here are some more pics of progress.

[ian drew]

Looking forward to following the progress on this one, good luck!

Ian

[Team Myerscough]

Hi everyone, here are some more pics of what the students have been up to.

I am one of the Tutors assisting the team with the build and I have made some interesting observations on this car that I don't think you would see on anything other than a proper built car with some interesting mods from back in the day.

At times it may be myself or my students that post on here so please bare with us.

I myself have set this project up with John and i'm really looking forward to seeing the car through its various stages.

This is part of a project module that the lads and lasses do here while they study at Myerscough during their Level 3 Motorsport course, inc a detailed portfolio of the build week by week.

[John C]

More info on the car in this thread:

Myerscough MG Maestro Project Car
http://www.maestro.org.uk/forums/sho...641#post186641

[John C]

Here's the latest update from Danny at the college.

"The car is now being worked on by the college students for 10hrs/week x 7 students = 70 man hrs/week for the following:
Project module
Prep & Inspect module

The Bonnet, rear axle, and all 4 doors are off at present.

The more they looked over the car the more surprising finds they made. It has had lots of small but well thought out mods that were clearly not done by a privateer. With the stuff that's on it, the tutor Danny says that it's got to be one of the original Maestros built for the Austin Rover Rally Sprint.

On the front wheels there have been some properly machined/milled fitted spacers to widen the track.

The rear axle has all been strengthened, negative camber increased and track widened.

The engine that's in it is absolutely knackered -it wants a full rebuild.
The race engine is on a stand ready to have a top and tail rebuild.

The shell is quite good with no real rot (although a few places have a bit of rust). Under the wheel arches it's a bit muddy but no rust -well painted with stone-chip in the past. The sills have had bitumen-type underseal in the past so this will be wire brushed back to bare metal.
The worst part is the scuttle panel [spot welded along the bottom of the windscreen] -if you poked it, it will go straight through!

The shell deserves being painted properly and Danny can pull in a favour with his mate Dennis to prep it and then to get it resprayed at trade price, if I can cover the cost of 4-5l of paint [maybe £100]
The car's underneath would be fine with 3-4 coats of white brush on Hammerite.

From Aylesbury lock up Danny needs the Poly bushes and also the Gravel spec springs on the rear of the sister car if poss.

It took a little while to get the students enthused, but when shown videos [of the Rally Sprint, info on the Tony Pond Manx triumph etc. and all the mods they got into it. It's definitely a car worth saving."

[John C]

At Autoskills the car had the following done:

Water Pump
1 Lower Ball Joint
2 Track Rod Ends
OAT Antifreeze
Water Pump bolts and sealant
Oil Filter
Fabricate new exhaust mount + fuel breather
Engine Oil

This car was then collected from Reading by Myerscough College on 3 Aug and was trailered up there (along with a load of parts from Aylesbury) to become a project for the duration of the upcoming academic year.

[John C]

Latest news from Reading:

There is about 1 cm lateral movement from osf susp leg. Have there been previous issues? (possible wheel bearing is on jobs list but that is fine).
We have resolved the 'lazy starting' issue.
Oil leak is from rear crank seal so would be fairly major job.
There is significant play in nsf lower wishbone bush. Probably ok for one more event.
Problem with front tyres is perished inner tubes. please advise if u want us to order new tubes or put up with pressure loss.

[John C]

The car is now being run by AUTOSKILLS READING http://gsautoskills.com/

[John C]

A 'remanufactured' starter motor has been ordered. This is what the seller firm said it will have had done:

a reconditioned unit would hsve had its armature cut down alond with new brushes , solonoid cap , bushes plus any other worn/damaged part.
then they bench test the unit.

if you can get a new gearbox bush for this unit it will always be a good idea as they are bronze/brass and are prone to wearing.

[John C]

The car went v. well on this event:


The first time round the course it was so noisy that I couldn't hear the engine revs to know when to change gear (there is no working rev counter)! By later laps the course had become much faster as the stubble was flattened down (and no longer making a row brushing on the underbody). The 'bare earth' line was hard and fast, but soft and mushy offline (loose soil).

I put cable ties around the exhaust rubbers to beef them up a bit before taking the car off the trailer. We also put black gaffer tape along the sills to help protect them from stones.

Faults noted with car:
-Alternator incorrectly wired in (the 'suppression capacitor' terminal had a wire on it -this wire should have been connected adjacent the other 2 wires)
-Alternator not charging battery (we had to charge & start it via jump leads from the support vehicle whenever we were back in the paddock, so the Audi spent hours idling all weekend!). I fitted a replacement secondhand alternator of unknown history (but it was initially stiff to turn due to rust!), but the car was still very lazy when cranked (despite a fully charged battery) and did not start. Also, the battery light on the dash still doesn't work as expected.
-Driver's-side wing mirror loose (mirror flops around freely in its housing)
-Camcorder fell off its mount
-Kill switch handle inside car needs the cable oiling
-2 fan belts broke (probably because Kerry went wide on certain bends to let people past and the mushy soil snapped or popped the belt off) -needs sump guard fitting to protect belt
-Several litres of tap water put into cooling system after it boiled the first time (need to check concentration of anti-freeze now)
-Need a spacer and bolt to affix the alternator to its sliding adjustment bracket (the car's current one is robbed off the Pink Panther Maestro!)
-Clip needed to affix bonnet strut to slam panel
-Fire extinguisher bracket needed
-Kerry spotted a spraying leak from the pipe in the rear O/S wheel arch when I was pouring petrol into tank. Possibly petrol coming from a split in a vent pipe?
-Some decals need replacing
-The driver's side door skin needs 'popping put' again (after some 'rubbin racin' when I was being overtaken!)

[John C]

Work done today:

• Blow up front o/s tyre
• Replace the missing split pin in gear change rod (bodged with a paper clip!)
• Drain some oil out (substantially over filled)
• Top up with fresh oil
• Check under bonnet fluids
• Drained oil breather catch tank (full of water)
• Fit battery (from the Pink Panther) on a foam mat, with a ratchet strap over the top
• Bodge a repair on rear N/S boot spring (with a black cord)
• Affix headlamp grilles with clear mastic
• Glue interior mirror on
• Check under bonnet fluids
• Borrow 3 wheel nuts from Pink Panther