MG Maestro zr160

[Jez]

I love the EFI too !

I currently own a Maestro EFI and a MGF 1.8 VCC, the EFI has max torque at 3500 rpm, while the VCC pulls like a horse all the way to 7250rpm ! Both are good fun, but with a heavy heart, I have to say the VVC gives me the biggest smile. A lot of 16v engines lack torque, but the VVC is something special.
(would not want to work on it though!). PS: The VVC has done 98k miles and has required, two head gaskets, plus lots of other work. My O series was last repaired with super glue!

[Guest]

The K series is a great engine!

[Russ]

I dont know, think it must be me and my midlife crisis. I did love the ZR when I got it, but when it had HGF and I read the manual and nothing made sense. So having to pay to get it replaced has sort of made me fall out with it, and its rock hard and the seats are crap. But there again my red/grey tinted specs will always favour the old stuff.
WHATEVER YOU DO DONT MENTION MUSIC OR TRAINS

[Guest]

The K-series in 8-valve form weighs 92lbs, its a LOT lighter than an A-series. Brilliant design, which was saved when the team behind it took it home and hid it in a garden-shed when the management/politicians would have canned it...saving it for future was a brilliant move.

The Rover Centre (was the Metro Centre) in St. Albans run by Owen and Jamie Turner have won over 50 rallies between them in Rover 200s/Rover 25s and have cured the headgasket problem.

Given the Maestro morphed into the Rover it's bound to be a good straight forward conversion...who has done it, though, of late?

[E_T_V]

Rover did it. The test mules for the K series engines was the maestro.

No-one since has done it though as for the same or even less effot you can fit a T series turbo and have nigh on 200bhp out of the box.

[Guest]

Ah, but think of the handling benefit. The K-series is so much lighter, it will therefore be making the car more agile, better handling. Therefore, quicker...

You can have lots more power if you apply the same technology (like for like), if you have forced induction on a K-series you will get more power as its better breathing, more efficient to begin with. Frontline Developments (google them) at Steventon, South Oxfordshire, have put K Series engines in Sprites and Midgets, and have a demonstrator with 260 bhp in an MG B (this K Series engine is supercharged). I dont think they have ever been asked to put a K-series in another front-wheel-drive car however. Very pleased with Frontline's suspension kit for Spridgets, having watched Heidi Winterbourne drive a Midget on the recent Monte Carlo Historique, beating over 100 other cars and finishing 2nd in the Ladies Trophy.

philip young

- Ex-works Rover SD1
- Austin Maestro, 16,000 miles
- MG TF, 5,000 miles

[E_T_V]

High power K series aren't cheap.

High power T16's are a lot cheaper by comparison, and more reliable too.

I agree though a nice race prepped 1.8k on throttle bodies and cams would be great fun.

[Guest]

So, is there a k-series unit with gearbox, drive-shafts, brakes, that will drop straight in and be the right width of track to make a maestro driveable? Are not all the Rovers a narrower front track?

[E_T_V]

Bigger K series use the PG1 gearbox. 2 litre maestros and montegos and 1.6 montegos use the PG1 gearbox so that is a straight fit.

K series bolts straight to it so all you have to do is wire it and fabricate any engine mounts needed.

Test mules for the K series were maestros so we know they fit.

[Guest]

Ah, but what Rover unit drops in with the right width of track, ie, drive-shafts that have the wheels in the right place? The 1800 landcrab had a rear track slightly wider than the front (which can only have added to the understeer), the Mk1 Triumph 2000/2.5 had a narrower rear axle, which gave it deliciously balanaced handling on really twisty stuff, but it would be a bit of a disappointment to put a K-series into a Maestro only to have the front too narrow.

[Russ]

Its not like the land crab unit, anything that will mate to either a VW box or a PG1 is a more or less a suitable unit regardless of track as the driveshafts are already in the car

[E_T_V]

Ah, but what Rover unit drops in with the right width of track, ie, drive-shafts that have the wheels in the right place? The 1800 landcrab had a rear track slightly wider than the front (which can only have added to the understeer), the Mk1 Triumph 2000/2.5 had a narrower rear axle, which gave it deliciously balanaced handling on really twisty stuff, but it would be a bit of a disappointment to put a K-series into a Maestro only to have the front too narrow.

The K series uses the SAME gearbox as the STANDARD fitted engines, (the PG1 gearbox)

Therefore the driveshafts used are original ones and everything fits where it was designed.

[Guest]

Sorry to test your patience. Just thought that with a K-series being alloy and the original engine being cast iron there would be a difference in the size of the engine, which would effect the track....

You've answered it. thanks.

[E_T_V]

No worries, things often come across wrong in typed responses.

O, M, T, S, K, L series engines plus the prima all use the PG1 and fit inside the maestro engine bay.

Thankfully Rover stuck with the PG1 for years and years so there are a wide variety of engines that we can fit.

The testbed mules for the K series engine that Rover used for testing purposes were maestros so we know they fit. I don't think any of the test mules survived though.