project Maestro, please.

[vulgalour]

It's a bit like pouring really thin paint in.  It doesn't seal up really bad leaks, it's only really good for those sort of persistent tiny leaks that cause damp and condensation.  It's also worth noting it's only semi-permanent, enough water will flush it out.  I've found on things like a windscreen seal leak it will usually last about 6 months before needing to be reapplied but that it's a lot less hassle to reapply than it is to replace the whole windscreen so it's good for buying time or helping with a vehicle that it's impossible to get screen seals and the like for, or for one where you need to buy some time before you can do a replacement.

[Dan302]

I'm sure i read somewhere its basically watered down PVA glue. I may have dreamt this however 🤔 

[vulgalour]

I'm calling urban myth on that one, I use watered down PVA to about the same consistency a lot in modelling work and the Tolleys behaves differently.  It's like people who say claybars are Blu Tak.

[Rocket88]

17 hours ago, Dan302 said:

I'm sure i read somewhere its basically watered down PVA glue. I may have dreamt this however 🤔 

I've actually used PVA to seal a screen before, used a syringe to apply.....worked ok

[Vince70]

I bought a bottle of Captain Tolleys  a couple of years back and must say it cured the leak on my R50 windscreen and it’s never come back since.

I also used it on my Z3 third brake light and anyone who’s had an early Z3 knows these things leak like a sieve and after trying two new seals and a new unit it was still leaking and put a drop of Tolleys around the seal and it’s been bone dry ever since.

The leak was so bad that when I bought the car I could hear sloshing in the boot  and when I pulled up the rear carpet I was greeted by quite a few gallons of water.

On a good note at least I knew it didn’t have any rust holes in the boot.

I did wonder though if it’s just watered down PVA but at only a fiver a bottle it’s hardly breaking the bank and works a treat.

[vulgalour]

Whatever it is, it's worth buying for the name alone really.  No reason not to use @colc's method either if it works, PVA is pretty inert stuff so is unlikely to cause any damage.

[Rocket88]

I’ve actually used bathroom sealant applied via syringe..... trick is to warm it up so it’s a bit runny 

[vulgalour]

Doesn't that make the syringe harder to handle?

 

 

WAKKA WAKKA

[Rocket88]

Warm....not incandescent!😂😂

[vulgalour]

 

[bezzabsa]

isnt PVA water soluble ???

[Paul-l]

Having driven a maestro 1300 in my first job and being amazed at its handling when compared to my Renault 4 at the time its interesting to follow your work.

Thinking about the thermostat position :

Where you have fitted it you may not get any heat until the thermostat is open - the upper position would allow warm coolant flow to the heater before the engine gets to temperature to aid demisting.

the only reason I could see for the two positions may be climatic variants - if you're somewhere very cold (arctic) you may want the engine to warm up as quick as possible (no heater till warm),  I read somewhere that its often best not to use the heater otherwise the windscreen can ice up  when really really cold

[Rocket88]

13 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

isnt PVA water soluble ???

I thought so....but it worked.....whether I managed to stick the seal back to the bodywork with it.........I'm not sure.

[kirton]

I came across Captain Tolley a good few years ago on a yachting forum when trying to stop a windscreen leak. Someone used it on their boat after several other products failed at sea; it worked there and it did on my car; I'm hoping it has worked as well on my camper

[vulgalour]

@Paul-l someone made the same comment on the Youtubes so I'm inclined to agree.  The heaters are making heat but perhaps they'd make more with the thermostat in the other location.  I'll move it when I do the coolant flush, that way I'm only disturbing the coolant the once.  It's so mild at the moment I don't even need the heater so I'm not worrying about it just yet.

--

Write up time then.  After replacing the temperature and fuel gauge pack, I discovered that the car wasn't really getting hot, it was barely getting warm.  I suspect a stuck or maybe missing thermostat so ordered one but, with Covid, it meant waiting a while.  So I decided to have a go at making a radiator muff.  The theory was sound but I found the vinyl I was using wasn't really suited to the shape I was trying to create on my machine with its standard foot.  I made a couple of attempts at it and just couldn't get it to keep the shape I wanted so gave it up as a bad job when I ran out of material.  Ah well, not every job works.  The original plan was to blank off the upper grille and have an openable flap in the middle if it proved to be too much air restriction.  If the muff proved inadequate I was going to make a second one for the lower grille.

As it happened, I resorted to plan C which was to wedge a bit of cardboard into the back of the grille.  This was MUCH easier to do, and invisible once the grille was reinstalled.  Since the grille can be removed by unscrewing just two screws, it really wasn't difficult to sort out.

The end result of that was that now I was getting heat into the engine and some out of the heaters.  It was still taking a bit longer than I would have liked to warm up, however it was still significantly better than when the car arrived so it would do in the meantime.

When the new thermostat arrived I set to fitting that on quite a cold day.  I totally failed to get any pictures of the process, check out the video for the process in full.  I was amazed that the fixing bolts came out with no trouble, it looks like they were greased at some point so they hadn't seized which was a huge relief.  The thermostat housing is a bit confusing, it's got a what looks like a spacer block with one outlet that goes on the block, and then another piece that goes on top, and a bracket on top of all that which bolts the thermostat housing securely to what I imagine is an engine mount?  It's a fiddle.  I made two fresh gaskets since the new thermostat didn't come with any for some reason and installed the new thermostat.  Since I didn't have anything to copy, I had a look in the book and put the thermostat in the bottom so it lives in the block.  Turns out it should actually go on top of the spacer piece instead to work optimally for the heater, so I'll correct that when I change the coolant later this year.  The big difference is that now the car got up to temperature much quicker and stayed at half gauge, or just under, quite reliably.  The heaters do feel okay, not fierce, and since I can't remember what the heaters were like in the other Maestros I've been in I didn't realise anything might be amiss there.  It's good enough for me at any rate, and I can drive without gloves on now.

Then it snowed.  I was grateful for the now working heater.  Recently I found that the centre fresh air vents weren't putting anything out and the wheels were unwilling to move, then all at once they unstuck and now work fine and I can confirm the blower motor is nice and strong so that's going to be welcome when we switch from rain to unbearable sunshine and heatwaves.

I'm also on the look out for a tailgate.  I'd like a really good one, obviously.  I'd also accept a tatty one so I can take mine off and repair it once I've got the welder up and running again.  The tailgate does have some rot in it, just not so much it can't be repaired.  Unfortunately it's going to be one of those jobs that's a small repair that needs a lot of work to get to so that it can be repaired properly... I'll be bodging it in the meantime.  Big issue at the moment is losing a month of work due to a shoulder injury (mostly healed up now, thankfully) so funds are a bit on the low side and I'm a looooong way off earning anything through the Youtubes.

[bezzabsa]

all 1.3 A series powered vehicles i have owned have all had fantastic heaters

[High Jetter]

7 hours ago, vulgalour said:

meantime.

Oh I remember that display, a thing of precise beauty. Often replaced, under warranty.

[vulgalour]

Went for a rare two-of-us-to-the-shops trip today and other half commented how the Maestro is just nice, and a 'happy little shopper'.  It really is.  It just gives you this wholesome feeling of "yes, this'll do" somehow.  It almost felt normal doing the errand together, we're so used to going out separately and shopping alone now.  I think I can count on one hand the number of times we've gone to the shops together over the last year, it's been a funny old time.

[Rocket88]

I wonder if you've got a rad from a diesel Maestro in there.............possibly over cooling it......just a thought

[vulgalour]

I reckon it's the original rad, it's just huge compared to the engine.  My gut feeling is that the radiator in the car has had a leak and that's why there's the hint of potions in the coolant.  Quite why the thermostat was missing I don't know, someone must have had their reasons to do it.  A new rad, a coolant flush and change, and that should help no end.  Given how cheap and easy parts are to get to just do general servicing on this car, it makes no sense not to do it really.  I've even been surprised by how good the tyres actually are now I've been driving it about, even in the wet and the snow they've been so much better for having some miles on them so while I do plan to put nicer tyres on in the future it's nowhere near as urgent a thing as I was expecting.

It's just An Car, without being dull.  It's great!

[Asimo]

I got rid of my (red, 1.6, auto) Maestro when it was about 5 years old because of water leaks.

There is a certain corner near here which if I tried,  the Maestro would "go neutral" at, around 45mph. It felt perfect, cornering as on rails.

Maestro was replaced by BMW E28 / 5 series, which felt just as good on that same on that corner, but at 35mph. 

A very underated car, the Maestro.

[vulgalour]

 

Write up later, for now grab a brew and check out the progress on the water leak saga.

[JMotor]

Nice bit of work done there Vug. 

It's a honest little car that.

Good that is does daily duties fine. It's nice to have something that just does car and is a simple and easy to look after too. 

Must admit, I'd love to get a steel bumpered Maestro one day. They have a wierd appeal for me. One like yours or a Ledbury kit one. 

[Fumbler]

6 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Nice bit of work done there Vug. 

It's a honest little car that.

Good that is does daily duties fine. It's nice to have something that just does car and is a simple and easy to look after too. 

Must admit, I'd love to get a steel bumpered Maestro one day. They have a wierd appeal for me. One like yours or a Ledbury kit one. 

There's a Ledbury one for sale on Car and Classic that I was eyeing up for a long, long time. Every two months or so, the asking price decreases by £100. It was at £1950 when it started, it's now at £1650. If you wait long enough I'm sure it'll become somewhat affordable.

[JMotor]

A red one? 

Been eyeing that one up too. 

Luckily I'm in no rush to buy one.

Because the other nugget I wanted in the same way was a Nexia. 

I ended up with one those. So for now the itch has been scratched 😂. 

[Fumbler]

2 minutes ago, JMotor said:

A red one?

A red one with near moon mileage, yes.

[lisbon_road]

The ultimate Autoshite Maestro is on C&C too.  6K miles from new, LHD, Ledbury.  Not exactly a bargain but where would you find another?  Frankly the only way to top this is with a Chinese one, and that'll be hard to find now.  I think China just wipes out older cars without trace.

I had a friend - oops have - who had a succession of Maestros in the day.  They were a lot better than their reputation.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1315481

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, lisbon_road said:

The ultimate Autoshite Maestro is on C&C too.  6K miles from new, LHD, Ledbury.  Not exactly a bargain but where would you find another?  Frankly the only way to top this is with a Chinese one, and that'll be hard to find now.  I think China just wipes out older cars without trace.

I had a friend - oops have - who had a succession of Maestros in the day.  They were a lot better than their reputation.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1315481

That white one is my emigration car if that ever happens... 😁

[tooSavvy]

@vulgalour

"..I reckon it's the original rad, it's just huge compared to the engine.."

The radiator in my 3pot 999 Swift is the size of a slice of toast! (And it has Auto box fluid heatexchanger).

Heats up in 4min + will melt Crocs!

..... juss sayinn, lyke

 

[High Jetter]

LHD tho? I'm out