1990 Rover Maestro 1.3 Clubman

[radnuts85]

Always fancied documenting my projects but never got round to it till now so I'll start with my recently purchased Maestro!

Named Jim by his previous owner and can't bring myself to change it, here he is the day after purchase







Came with a bit of history including an invoice of sale from the Rover Group Longbridge to Mr Blewitt in '91, previous to that it spent nearly a year as Rover groups company vehicle, and I have Mr Blewitt's original V5. 




Next chance I got I had to try the TR7 steels off Maggie my Triumph Toledo who's currently on a SORN..




The Toledo and the Maestro share the unusual PCD of 95.25 meaning I'll be able to share sets of wheels between the two but for now it'll be the TR7 steels which with RWD offset and at 5.5j they should sit quit nicely on Jim..




Fitted them on one side to see, 175/70 13, just need matching tyres on the other pair as I'm on a budget, but in the future I fancy trying 165/70 or similar



For now though as Jim is to be the new daily driver and the crappy ZX in the background was being picked up sharpish so over that weekend so I attacked Jim with fresh waxoyl and gave him a thorough clean. He does have his rusty bits that will need minor attention so nothing serious and I'm actually really impressed with him!




There's more to add but dinner beckons... hope people appreciate the ugly duckling

[Geordie]

I always fancied a MG Turbo.

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Will you be doing many miles in it as a daily?

What did you have for dinner?

[düdo]

Like it. You want to get hold of the talking dash and programme it to say ' I am Jim'

[radnuts85]

Hey Gordie, as a kid I loved the MG Turbo's but nowadays it's all about the lesser models, really fancied a Maestro with small bumpers and ended up with this shame it wasn't the older talking dash type. I'm doing about 40 miles a day so they'll soon clock up, currently at 71000

[radnuts85]

Before using Jim daily I wanted to give him a service but a trip down to the auto factors (conveniently a minute walk from my house I might add) turned out that they didn't carry many items and I'd be waiting a few days. One of the items I desperately needed was an oil pressure switch as Jim was suffering a bit of a leak!
Drove Jim to work anyhow and with a big smile on my face we made it with no issues and couldn't wait to drive him back!



More of a RWD fan to be honest, but the last retro FWD I owned was a mk1 Golf 1500 auto more door and and it was by far the best FWD I'd owned, put a smile on my face every drive, auto box was awesome, the door click was identical to the 'like a golf' advert, and in the end I made an electrical error I at the time couldn't work out and sold it for chips.



Missed it ever since and although Jim may not replace the Golf he sure is close enough..

And when I say close I mean that in more ways than just personal!
What attracted me to the Maestro was my need for a retro daily again, but it had to be cheap, both to buy and to make my own as I'm on a budget given that the most part is going on us saying our vows next year, hence also the Triumph being SORN in a sorry state at the back of the drive
I was looking at mk2 Golfs, horridly awesome Japanese hatches and Maestros, the latter of which I was drawn to most because I already had a set of wheels ready to donate in the correct PCD and the knowledge that the Austin Rover Group used the Golf for inspiration, the rear beam, front and rear struts being a near identical copy. They even tested VW struts in the Maestro, and so, with my newly acquired Maestro and after much research on forums I bought myself some ebay special coilovers for a 6n Polo.



Why a 6n Polo? Because they use the shorter shocks all round.. people were using mk3 Golf shocks and creating an unwanted nose down stance on the Maestro.
You can see here the fronts are umm.. noticeably shorter..



Fitting them was almost tinker free, I swapped the Maestro's top mount and bearing over, slotted it in, and then had to summon a bit of strength to get the carrier to reach up to the massively shorter shock... then discovered I needed some minor elongating of the lower bolt hole for them fit and that was that!

he rears on the other hand were a pig! The Maestro's shocks had obviously not been removed since 1990 and the lower shock bolt refused to leave the bush and the mount started to bend...



Unlike the Golf's rear beam the lower shock bolt simply threads into the beam and annoyingly once unwound and seized in the knackered bush it will not return, I was at the point of no return and had to hacksaw through it. This was no problem as this bolt is m12 and the 6n shocks m10 so I'd already ordered and received some VW shock bolts and nuts... think again. Once out I realized I needed a 90mm bolt to reach through unlike the mk2 Golf items I ordered which are 70mm. Quick hunt online found some on an air cooled site, they were engine bolts with tensile strength of 10.9, more than strong enough. After that the 6n shocks went straight in, again with the Maestro's top mount and I just had to cut the bump stop down a bit and this spacer needed swapping as it was poking out the top of the bush a little.. (old shock pictured)



And the result..





First time on the floor revealed that it was actually pretty low and that the A series sump wouldn't take kindly on the lanes to work, especially as they are regularly used by HGVs so I raised him all of an inch. If I was risky enough I'd drop him two inches just to get him looking the way I'd like but hey it's a daily driver and you've got to draw a line especially when you're meant to be saving and repair bills aren't an option!

[XJR 40]

Golf gearbox in these isn't it, complete with its "inside out" clutch arrangement?
That looks so much better lower and that's something I tend not to say often enough. I'd be looking into making a sump guard for Jim, that would allow you to wind the springs down again and not worry so much about the rough roads.
I do love a Maestro though, and they seem better for rust protection than some stuff of the period.

Keep up the good work.

[radnuts85]

Yeah it's a VW geabox, then for some reason ARG's own gear linkage which is known to pop off... funnily enough mine has cable ties round it.. hope this is just precautionary!
Cheers, I've had a brief look at how and where to mount a sump guard so hopefully I can come up with something

[radnuts85]

Been slacking so time for an update! Discovered my Maestro is a bit of a bast#rd recently with what started out as an occasional misfire shortly after servicing. Well one mistake I made was forgetting to pick up a fuel filter so I reused the Triumph's filter and it ended up like this!




So I renewed it and stripped the carb for a thorough clean out and he was good to go... atleast for a couple weeks till it started again, though it felt more ignition related this time but I wasn't sure, tried playing with plug gaps but to no effect so I just put up with it.

VW Action was nearing and I'd friends going for the weekend who I hadn't seen since I moved up the country so I bought camping tickets looking forward to the good times I'd been missing!

Now obviously the Maestro is not a VW and I'd only be camping but you can't resist moving things along a bit so I had to get my TR7 steels on, so a couple tyres and some satin black later..



So that kept me happy and nearer the time I was gonna lower it some more   

I put up with the misfire which was getting more and more frequent but found if you gave it beans you'd get there!




Bunnies aren't as soft as you'd think, poor guy..





Didn't want to go too low for this reason..



I love working for a brewery within a farm, great scenery and full of cool sh#t



Now I've always fancied trying yellow headlights, maybe this is getting a bit dull now and everyone's doing it but I couldn't help myself



This was all well and good but the clear lenses were bugging me so I tried smoke!



Still not happy, kinda wish Maestro's had amber as standard, and I've had some other ideas, like what to try for a front splitter.. I tried a mk2 golf splitter which I won for 99p but it's too short in all directions.
Anyway, VW Action was coming and the thursday evening I slammed Jim, drove round the block and then all I had to do early friday morning was shoot to work, get back and head to Santa Pod...
Well friday morning didn't start smoothly, Jim tried stalling but I thought it'd clear and so I carried on down the hill and after cutting out a few times I coasted into a bus stop at 5am and called my future wife. There was no fuel in the filter and the gauge was kinda low so we filled a can and tried again probably upsetting a lot of people trying to sleep with the horrible squeel from my starter motor and me having to keep the revs up! Decided it wasn't going to get me to work and after stalling trying to turn around I just had to floor it and get back up that hill... well a 2 minute drive took 45 in the end and promptly ended any hope of me making it to VW Action...

So here he has sat, low and.. no go.




Now I've tried endless things since with reluctance to seek help from a garage, this being one of them..

 

But more on all that later.

[grenade]

Surprisingly cool car. We never got those here, but instantly, I liked it. What you've done is make just a bit cooler.

[vulgalour]

That looks really good sat at work-friendly height, makes the Maestro look quite meaty. Some days I miss my old Maestro, Steve.





I didn't think the VW gearbox came in until much later, you've still got the comfy interior and smaller wheels on yours.  Steve was a Ledbury so got the larger wheels and the appallingly restrictive VW gearbox, acceleration was something that happened to other people and spoiled the fantastic 1.3 A series.  That (and the crippling later seats) aside, Steve was the most reliable car I've owned and just went everywhere without complaint.  In all the miles I racked up I suffered one loose wiper nut and screenwash freezing on my windscreen, other than that it would just go anywhere, anytime without complaint.  I'd definitely have another Maestro, they're great cars.

[sridgett]

Loving you car dude, I love the maestro, looking forward to more updates

[Battles]

Looks great with the TR wheels on and that height adjustment.

I think that invoice, and the address of the first owner, means it was probably a Rover employee who bought it.
When I lived near the Cowley plant I knew a few guys who'd worked there during the BLARG years, they said that there was a code on the build sheet for employee ordered cars and they often got special treatment.

[vanpeebles]

Always nice to see old Maestros still on the road Is the fuel filter usually that close to the exhaust?

[junior44]

Hi, nice Maestro, you have just made me go out and buy a set of 6n coilovers for my Ledbury Maestro. Is it really that simple? I also had the same problem with the lower shock bolt on my Montego estate a couple of weeks back.

[radnuts85]

Oct 7, 2015 19:44:31 GMT junior44 said:

Hi, nice Maestro, you have just made me go out and buy a set of 6n coilovers for my Ledbury Maestro. Is it really that simple? I also had the same problem with the lower shock bolt on my Montego estate a couple of weeks back.

Yeah very simple, just use the maestro top mount, on the front if you get play in the top mount as I did then you simply need a thin washer between the top of the shock and the top mount bearing as the thread may stop a tad short (I only realised once fitted) and you'll need to lengthen one of the lower bolt holes as it's a couple mil out.

[radnuts85]

Oct 5, 2015 12:13:46 GMT vanpeebles said:

Always nice to see old Maestros still on the road Is the fuel filter usually that close to the exhaust?

Yeah it is kinda, it's not cross flow and the pump is directly under so bit curse word though it looks particluarly close as I took it off the carb at the time, I need a longer hose really!

[radnuts85]

Oct 5, 2015 1:39:32 GMT vulgalour said:

That looks really good sat at work-friendly height, makes the Maestro look quite meaty. Some days I miss my old Maestro, Steve.

I didn't think the VW gearbox came in until much later, you've still got the comfy interior and smaller wheels on yours.  Steve was a Ledbury so got the larger wheels and the appallingly restrictive VW gearbox, acceleration was something that happened to other people and spoiled the fantastic 1.3 A series.  That (and the crippling later seats) aside, Steve was the most reliable car I've owned and just went everywhere without complaint.  In all the miles I racked up I suffered one loose wiper nut and screenwash freezing on my windscreen, other than that it would just go anywhere, anytime without complaint.  I'd definitely have another Maestro, they're great cars.

As curse word as mine is being I still think it's a great car and I wouldn't knock it, I'm just having bad luck as you can with any car! Obviously you had a well behaved one which is good to hear!
They all apparently had a vw gearbox, though I think I read diesels had the PG1 box which is honda/rover I think?

[radnuts85]

Bar steward of a Maestro!

For weeks I've been trying to fix his rough mostly non running with moments where you think you've cracked it to moments were you just want to kick the living daylights out of it! 
So last update I bought a carb rebuild kit, aswell as new needle and seat, float, and piston spring only to find that with no amount of adjustment in either direction was getting you anywhere. I was feeling suspect of the fuel pump so sod it, when I did get it running I could see alot of air bubbles in the filter and when it conked out I would see no fuel and would take some cranking to get it running again so I replaced that too. With the two side by side you could hear the old one whistle as you pumped it.. but the new one solved nothing other than a smoother idle.. still conking out but this time with fuel remaining in the filter.
In the process of tearing my hair out I detected a leak at the manifold. I popped down the auto factors and ordered a gasket for later that afternoon. In the mean time they gave me a contact of a mobile mechanic who just so happened to live round the corner. He was left scratching his head as much I have been and came to the conclusion that it's something to do with the carb.. well I was sure I hadn't done anything wrong but maybe I had? Anyway, picked up my gasket and then made this discovery!



I was confused, but soon realised and anyone who knows an A-series you have locating shims for the inlet manifold, though these were DIY cut offs from an exhaust or something and because of their size had slipped in the inlet, the other side was half way up!
This looked very restrictive but after sourcing the correct shims and fitting properly was not my answer and still ran like a turd!

Enough was enough, exhausted myself, straining my relationship and so time to leave it to the professionals!



Well it's here at Forge Garage not far from home, I wanted to find an old school mechanic and looks like it'll be in good hands, though it's now been here two weeks leaving them scratching their heads too, they seem to think it's timing related as it seems to run well but turn to turd on the road, they've checked the carb and replaced an ignition amplifier with not much change but fingers cross they get it sorted.

In other news of late my other delayed project has had leave due to circumstances



The Toledo is in good hands though and a mile up the road so I'll see it around, but after the wedding I'll start saving for another classic rwd project, though something in better nick to start with.

[vulgalour]

If you were still on points I'd suggest a failing condenser, but I think you're on injection with that one. What a very strange problem. Timing is probably a good call, if the belt skips you can get all sorts of odd stuff like healthy idle and rubbish running and no amount of carb tweaking will solve it. I hope they get to the bottom of it for you.

[markgenesis]

Looks superb lowered with those wide black steels.

I'm also a Maestro lover, first car i drove after passing my test in 88, it was a red 86 1300 City X (my Dads Motability car), in 93 i bought a blue MG 2.0 EFI with Moto-Build suspension, loved that car. MG's are very scarce now, Turbos even more so.