Tommy's A-series Misery - Poland in a Mini complete!

[Tommyboy12]

15 hours ago, Austin-Rover said:

There's only one type of air filter housing for the 1.3 Maestro/Montego. It can be a bit of a pain to get all the plastic parts to line up and get the filter sat correctly around the oval ridge inside but they will always go together and seal eventually, even if some of the clips are missing through previous ham-fistedness. It is best done with both parts off the car.

You'll probably also need to replace all the vacuum tubes while the air filter housing is off. Any leaky parts of the system and you'll never get it to run right and have no hope in sorting out the fuel mixture.

 

Im not sure about there only being one type. The cover has a tab hole that doesnt line up with the tab on the main filter housing and theres also a clip on the lid that interferes with a plastic molding on the air inlet. Regardless its clipped down mostly and the screw is back in and Ive wrapped the edge in duct tape. Ive also noticed that I have a Mini/Metro abutment plate on the carb so its clearly a bitsa setup.  Im going to do some standard SU tuning tricks and block off some of the breather pipes and sort the fueling out.

[chris667]

On 7/27/2021 at 7:53 PM, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Glorious, has anyone put a lazy burbling v8 into a Montego? regardless you win AS recently sir. 

You didn't need one when you had the MG Montego Turbo! I had this poster in my bedroom at one point.

A beast of a car.

And who could forget the advert?

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

the lid with the "A+series electronic control" is off an early maestro with the full electronic carb

the base is the later type from around 85/86ish when they went manuel choke

 

the inlet pipes are in different positions- early points moar forwards &  later slightly- back hence the tab dont fit in the hole

[Talbot]

I love the fact that it proudly proclaims "Electronic control", while having an access hole for the carburettor dashpot, proving conclusively that it is rather more mechanical control than electronic.

[Tommyboy12]

Just now, Talbot said:

I love the fact that it proudly proclaims "Electronic control", while having an access hole for the carburettor dashpot, proving conclusively that it is rather more mechanical control than electronic.

Well the distributor is an electronic one so does that count for part of the electronic control? 😅

I believe the original 1.6 S-series would have had both choke and ignition controlled by an ECU! Very fancy! The wiring and plugs are still in the car from the original 1.6 but it runs fine without them!

 

[BorniteIdentity]

Any use?

 

it’s about 2” thick! 

[Eyersey1234]

25 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Any use?

 

it’s about 2” thick! 

Phooooaaarrrr

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Any use?

 

it’s about 2” thick! 

Absolutely! Looking for any money for it?

[Tommyboy12]

Not Montego related but I've been stripping the wheel bearing that collapsed on the way to FoTU last Saturday. Unfortunately it's destroyed a lot more than the bearing. Hub and CV have been completely ruined. CV was seized to the bearing which has spun in the hub too...

This kit had done about 50 miles and the retailer of the kit is being slow to help.

 

[Tommyboy12]

Post removal of wheel bearings from the Mini I decided to tackle the Montego cooling system. The pipes are crunchy and the water pump sounded awful and was leaking too. Took all the hoses and rad out and took the water pump off. I'm glad I did because it's absolutely grim inside the pipes! The water pump had a collapsed bearing and a leaking shaft seal so definitely toast.

[Tommyboy12]

Also curse the Austin engineer that designed the engine mount for the 1.3! It was a right pain to remove! You cant actually remove the pulley to remove the pump you have to slide the pulley into a hole in the engine mount then undo the pump itself.

[BorniteIdentity]

6 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Absolutely! Looking for any money for it?

Just postage if you don’t mind? It’s a full workshop guide - maybe 300 pages?

[sharley17194]

That will help him put it back together lol

[sharley17194]

On 8/7/2021 at 4:27 PM, BorniteIdentity said:

Just postage if you don’t mind? It’s a full workshop guide - maybe 300 pages?

I'm sure that will be useful when he tried to rebuild it!

[Tommyboy12]

My favourite repairs are the one where someone takes it upon themselves to weld every join in the exhaust so it's impossible to replace a section easily. Especially when you have a hole. However they then take it upon themselves to hang the exhaust with coat hanger wire...

However I do now know where the exhaust blow is coming from. Professional repair definitely not involving a coke can incoming!

[Noel Tidybeard]

early S & O series had separate fuel and ignition modules

when the '89 roverisation happened the went to E.R.I.C & M.E.M.S systems with one unit doing both

iirc:

Electronicly Regulated Ignition and Carburetion

Modular Engine Management System (the injected stuff)

[Tommyboy12]

And so he decreed: He who doth poketh shall have onto them a bad day...

Somebody welded a sill on top of another sill. New sill is good. Old sill let go and was the one still attached to the floor. It's a fairly simple fix for MoT standard.

[vulgalour]

A series and sills welded over sills?  It's just like a Mini!

[Tommyboy12]

2 hours ago, vulgalour said:

A series and sills welded over sills?  It's just like a Mini!

This is very true and I'm very used to mini rot! In fairness all the repairs I have found require very minimal fabrication. It's just basic flat shapes and angles. There's three areas in total and two are on the passenger sill!

[fatharris]

Just spent a very enjoyable fifteen minutes catching up with this thread. What a find, my old man had a couple of Montegos as a kid and I loved them.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[Tenmil Socket]

I remember my dad having a Montego in the late 80's - B324 COX. How and why I remember the reg I don't know! Anyway, my brother, in his babyseat, somehow got locked in the car with the keys inside. I'll never forget the Police turning up in a Maestro and opening the car with their keys 😆

[brownnova]

14 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Somebody welded a sill on top of another sill.

 

Someone took the AS advice of hammer a bigger one over it a bit too literally… 

[Tommyboy12]

10 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Someone took the AS advice of hammer a bigger one over it a bit too literally… 

It's not too bad. The 'oversill' is in good condition and the floor is in good condition. There's just a big gap between them.

I've got a couple of other areas to sort too but it really isn't bad. It's mostly flat and simple shapes. Nothing I haven't done before!

[Zelandeth]

22 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

And so he decreed: He who doth poketh shall have onto them a bad day...

Somebody welded a sill on top of another sill. New sill is good. Old sill let go and was the one still attached to the floor. It's a fairly simple fix for MoT standard.

Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer... Definitely true when the question is "how far does that rust go?"

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Anyone need a brand new Montego headlamp?

[Tommyboy12]

If the petrol tanks was getting an Ofsted grade I think it would be "Needs Improvement"

 

 

[Tommyboy12]

The petrol tank was actually the last job of today. Started off by reassembling the cooling system and putting in a new water pump having thoroughly flushed it through. The new old stock water pump was a nice find. Actually really nice quality even vs. the ones sold by higher end mini specialists.

It still needs a new fan belt but I have one on the way. New jubilees through out of course.

[Tommyboy12]

The carb was refitted and I gave it a service too. Go faster red ignition leads should add at least 20hp.

I do have a new coil but I prefer not to disturb coils unless they actually show problems so I'll chuck it in the glovebox for now.

Only the finest eBay special oil for this beast too. I think I paid £17 for 20L? I get through quite a lot between actual services on the Minis so it's always handy to have some laying around.

[Tommyboy12]

Also repaired the exhaust today. A £2.99 Holt's exhaust repair wrap should hopefully do the trick!

[Tommyboy12]

I didn't stop there! I also fitted new brake pads and greased the sliders. The discs are a bit rough but I will see how the MOT goes.

A really productive Sunday and the list is getting smaller. I've got some welding to tackle and I need to try and sort the fuel tank. Plus the handbrake cables which look pretty simple. It seems I need to get the drums off which is fine but I don't think they've been removed in a while!