M series into 1.6 Maestro project + wiring help!

[Guest]

Hello all!

I thought I'd just share with you my project which I'm hoping to have up and living my spring, tall order, but I think it's doable, just!

Just a few pics:






And one of my oldskool mk2 Raleigh Burner, like it's waiting to be put in the back of my mum's car en route to a caravan site at Wales, ahh, good old days!



Now onto the grovelling!

I had a Maestro which was converted to M16 power about 8/9 years ago, so I've done this before, but just about everything worth remembering has been pushed out of my head by newer stuff since!

Basically, I'm running it all on the EFi loom and ECUs (Lucas twin box, 11cu as I recall). The only thing is, I've come to start plugging everything in the engine bay, and I'm a little lost with some of the connectors!

There's a opaque white round plug with 3 thin wires going to it, I forgot to write down the colours though, but it's in the same vicinity of the two main relays which fit to the left shock tower. Can anyone jog my memory as to what this plugs into? it doesn't seem to have anything to go with in there!

Also, there are 3 wires which go to the left hand side of the engine to the thermostat housing, one single with a spade connector, and 2 bound together in loom tape with a black plastic connecter fitted, I seem to recall both of these being utilised on my old setup, but there's only one temp sensor which has the end broken off, so I'm not at all sure what's what! any ideas or suggestions gladly taken onboard! Even close up pics of engine wiring etc appreciated aswell!

Cheers guys!

[Guest]

Doh, what a dolt! the round opaque white plug turned out to be the connector for the air flow meter, it's slowly all seeping back to my mind!!

[Guest]

m16

nice to see another m16 as they are few and far between these days , ive got one in and running but i'm now working on the shell so can't try it down the road yet .temp sender on mine takes a square plastic connector with two wires in it .just in front of that there is two wires connected to the fan switch in the radiator (green/white and red/white spade terminals) and at the back of the engine is the oil pressure sender which takes a single wire with spade terminal , there is also two wires which went to the fuel rail temperature sender which aren't needed on the 16 valve engine .

[Guest]

Hi Cramar,

It's good to know I won't be running the only M series powered car in that case

Have you got any pics of the beastie?! I need to update and do a few more recent ones of mine, really can't wait for summer!

Thanks for the wiring info, the 'spare' wire at the front with the other wires is as you say the oil pressure wire, doh again then! many thanks!

[Guest]

m16 maestro

if you search the 'welcome' section back by a couple of months , there is a few photo;s of mine and another very tidy m16 maestro .

[Andy]

There was a nearly mint red mg 2.0i maestro m16 for sale over on mmm late last year. Sticks in my mind, as it was one the best looking maestros I have seen, wonder if there’s any pictures of it anywhere still.

[G51 NAV]

There's a few M16 conversions hanging around. I don't think I ever fully understood the benefits though compared to the 8V O already in an MG EFi, when a T series with 180-200bhp on tap seems not much more hassle to fit (or is that b****x). Fair play though, keep us post

[Guest]

i've always found the fuel consumption of the standard efi maestro rather poor . it has excellent torque but runs out of go at fairly low engine speed .fitting the m16 hopefully will give me better fuel consumption, more revs to play with and 25 bhp more .

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies so far chaps!

Andy, I seem to recall the car you mention on ebay at some point, though I may have that wrong! if it's the one we're both thinking of, it was indeed virtually split mint! very nice!

John,

Aswell as the very valid reasons put down by cramar, ie better fuel consumption and a more revvy nature (better suited to a lightweight track car) a big part of the reason is I want to eventually run throttle bodies (GSXR 750 anyone?!), and even later on stand alone engine management, should be good for a giggle, and I think throttle ITB setups sound epic

Oh yes, another thought on it aswell, I don't need to run power steering so there's no extra complication with the pump etc on the M series.

Funny though, the plan originally was actually to use a T series turbo! I guess I'm awkward and just want to see a TB equipped M series as opposed to the normal tried and tested turbo route, it's almost a nod towards the Gartrac Montego from some years ago

I've driven an 8v in a direct side by side comparison, the low torque is awesome, but I like something that revs more happily. I remember a friend who was running a nice clean EFi when I had my first M16 Maestro, he was sold and wanted his car converted after driving mine

[G51 NAV]

Fair shout, not convinced about poor fuel consumption. I'm not sure an M16 will better it much unless you do anything but tickle the throttle with a feather. I've never come across any 2-litre engine (of the same or older vintage) which returns a better MPG than the O-series EFi. In a direct comparison with my A-series HLE on a 400 mile run (200 m/way, 150 A-roads, 50 mixed traffic), it seems to return about the same MPG, which I find remarkable. It also won Austin Rover the 1985 intermarque Economy Run (in a B-reg MG Maestro EFi) with an average economy of over 46mpg.

Good luck with the conversion though and keep us posted

[Guest]

John,

Jesus, 46mpg?! that's pretty fair going! I mean sure, that would have been driving carefully, but still, that's superb!

I think this car's going to see way less than those figures though, especially on the track

I'll try to get some new pics up this week.

Cheers dude

[Guest]

oops, repost! not sure how that happened! sorry!

[Guest]

i like the idea of a pair of dcnf weber carbs (original mg maestro fitment) .could be made to fit half of the m series inlet manifold without too much effort although the bonnet would have to be cut . bit easier for a rolling road session to set up (and cheaper).

[G51 NAV]

hmmm...that's a thought...but how would you get the cold air there?

[G51 NAV]

John,

Jesus, 46mpg?! that's pretty fair going! I mean sure, that would have been driving carefully, but still, that's superb!

I think this car's going to see way less than those figures though, especially on the track

I'll try to get some new pics up this week.

Cheers dude

On my 400 miles return trip it used about 55 litres. Accepting that it wasn't precisely 400 miles nor was it precisely 55 litres, that still gave me an average economy heading towards 35mpg which I was pretty happy with...let's say motorway speed wasn't that 'perfect 56mph'