# 1987 MG Maestro EFi: the engine-detail begins.



## G51 NAV (Jan 14, 2007)

This detail will be dedicated to all those people who lift their car's bonnet and see little more than bits of black plastic, which they occasionally hit with some APC and plastic-dressing and call it an engine-detail  (I'm only jealous: you lucky, lucky sods!)

Allow me to introduce you to what engines used to look like. This is the throbbing heart of my 1987 MG Maestro EFi, which I can guarantee with some certainty has not been cleaned during any part of its 23 year life. It's covered in 23 years worth of oil, general engine grime, and corrosion:










Rocker cover. This is supposed to be smooth and shiny but it has corroded badly through nothing more than sheer age and neglect. I suspect nothing short of wire-wool and elbow-grease will do anything to clean this up:










Inlet-manifold leading to the injectors. This too is supposed to be shiny:










This engine-block is supposed to be red. I've no chance of achieving that because the paint has wore away over the years through heat and age. The most I will attempt with this is to clean it up:










Years and years of general filth and grime around the plug-holes in the head:










Some easy wins are to be had. These suspension-turrets (and indeed the rest of the under-bonnet paintwork) will come up a treat with very little work:










I won't kid myself that this will be a quick job, especially when the car is in daily use and I have just the odd hour or so here and there to devote to it.

My inspiration is the finished engine-bay of my 'show car' MG Maestro Turbo, which looked similar to the above when I bought it, but now looks like this:










(Ok so the engine-bay of the blue car won't look _exactly_ like this, because it's not a Turbo, but in terms of presentation, that's what I'm aiming for).

For those who haven't seen the exterior, it looks like this:



















...so as you can see, the engine-bay is the only thing letting the car down, appearance-wise.

Wish me luck, and expect a _long_ haul!

:wave:


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## Dipesh (Oct 12, 2007)

Good luck! Can we have some pics up of the turbo??


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## s70rjw (Apr 18, 2006)

There can't be many of those left...I remember haring around South East London in a white one with orange stripes / blue lights in the mid 80's. They were quite a change from the 2600 SD1 Rovers / Sierra GLS 2.0i


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## pee (Apr 6, 2009)

Wow i aint seen a maestro in ages......yours looks pretty cool


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## Mondeo220 (Apr 19, 2010)

The Efi is missing the foam trim around the bonnet hinges..


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## G51 NAV (Jan 14, 2007)

Dipesh said:


> Good luck! Can we have some pics up of the turbo??


Ok, I'll post something up in the 'red cars' thread, so that this doesn't venture too off-topic 



Mondeo220 said:


> The Efi is missing the foam trim around the bonnet hinges..


Well spotted!..they are there, but on this car they are glued to the hinge and not to the bulkhead.


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## Dipesh (Oct 12, 2007)

Surely worth a new thread in it's own right?? I love 80-90's stuff!


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## cabman (Oct 20, 2008)

this bring memorys back then i worked in a Rover dealership 
the 2.0 lt mg went very well


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Quite a task as you say, but well within your capabilities I'm absolutely sure, looking at the Turbo's bay :thumb: 

I know exactly where you're coming from with this lot on here and their 'plastic' engines :lol: Don't know they're born half of 'em  

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses mate :thumb:


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## jonny2112 (Apr 6, 2010)

Yes, keep us posted :thumb:


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## integrale (Apr 16, 2010)

Thats a blast from the past... 

I borrowed one for a couple of weeks and flying down the motorway hit a bump and nearly cacked myself when the woman voice pip's up.. "Warning your hand brake is on!"

Still had some fun with it....


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## evosticks (Jan 30, 2010)

Brings back happy memories for me...

Owned a Zircon Blue 2.0efi, BRG 2.0i and finally BRG Turbo #276 which I gave away due to tinworm  

I thought your username looked familiar, were you a regular on the old MMM forums back in the day?


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## ROB WOODHOUSE (Nov 13, 2005)

Very nice they are proper old skool


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## Yoghurtman (Dec 9, 2008)

integrale said:


> Thats a blast from the past...
> 
> I borrowed one for a couple of weeks and flying down the motorway hit a bump and nearly cacked myself when the woman voice pip's up.. "Warning your hand brake is on!"
> 
> Still had some fun with it....


Ha Ha. yes MG "computer woman!

My mate had a snotty MG Maestro and the computer woman constantly said
"warning - low oil pressure" over an over again...very annoying but at least you could turn the volume down...

Looking forward to more pics.... :thumb:


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

Looks lovely, good luck with the engine bay.

They must be one of the few nice examples left of these, is your turbo the one with the voice?


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## Mondeo220 (Apr 19, 2010)

The Turbo never had a talking voice computer or digi dash. It was only early MG 1600 and EFi models from 83-85ish that had it as an option and quietly dropped after then. A shame, cos i liked it.


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## Eeza (Sep 13, 2008)

All I ever got out of mine was "Warning Low Fuel" 

Lovely car keep up the posts....


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## jde126hunter (Apr 26, 2010)

Nice car, my mates mum has a moonraker blue c reg, thats only done about 20,000 miles from new, she only uses it to pop down the shops in!


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## clem (May 9, 2007)

i had a red f-reg 2.0 efi when i was bout 22 which was actually quite a good car, not seen 1 on road for long time now, did go in a turbo when i had mine which i wanted to buy but he would'nt sell it me


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## MHTexPete (Feb 23, 2010)

state of that engine bay it's a miracle it runs at all. just proves how good maestro engineering was


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## Bunji81 (Apr 28, 2010)

Any updates?


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## G51 NAV (Jan 14, 2007)

Sorry it's took what seems like bloody ages!

I've been spending far too much time working on my other cars and not at all enough time on this.

There is no chance of a Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance award just yet, but as of today, I've made a bit of a start!


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## Deniance (Jun 28, 2008)

Well?......


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## VW STEVE. (Mar 18, 2012)

3 years to the day!!.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Look forward to it .


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## andys320 (May 3, 2011)

Had a couple of Maestro's years ago, a 2.0 MG which was such good fun, reliable and a cracking drive. Sold a Saab 900 costing too much money to commute to get a 1600 and that cot £50 ran for three years and needed nothing spent on it. Very good cars and much underated!


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