Tales from the Sherpa Shed

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 18/08/2025 at 14:49, Heavyspanners said:

Maestros did indeed have an auto choke. It was so unreliable that converting to manual choke became a common modification.

no it wasn't

get in, turn key, put seat belt on- this gave the stepper motor time to set choke, start car

vacuum switch on carb could fcuk up but took 35 seconds to change

[Heavyspanners]

 

11 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

no it wasn't

get in, turn key, put seat belt on- this gave the stepper motor time to set choke, start car

vacuum switch on carb could fcuk up but took 35 seconds to change

My uncle Chris bought a brand new Vanden Plas Maestro (in Opaline green) in 1984. It replaced his Morris Marina estate, which had replaced his Austin Cambridge, which had replaced his Morris Minor. He saw all this as a natural progression, although the Maestro was a step-change. It was a modern car in all the ways the others weren't, really.

It had the talking dash - a real novelty, the neighbours used to come round to listen to it. Everything about the car was reliable (even the talking dash) except the auto choke. At this distance I can't remember the exact problem, but then there didn't seem to be an exact problem - just lots of baffling symptoms.  I just looked in some Maestro-related corners of the internet to see if I could jog my memory, and all this seems very familiar.

As it was a new car it was down to the dealership to fix it, which they did by replacing everything (sometimes more than once) until the problem went away. But as I recall there never was a real diagnosis.

Before I set off down The Road Of The Sherpa, I looked at a few Maestro vans. I might have bought one if I had found one without scary rust in the windscreen surround. I still keep an eye out in case a not-bad, not-expensive one pops up. A-Series only, mind, no fancy stuff under the bonnet.

At the moment this is on FB Marketplace - a fine addition to a fleet of historic BT vehicles. From the yellow/grey transition period, when the BT fleet got a hasty blow-over in the new colour. MOT record shows fails for excessive corrosion going back to 2005, although strangely this isn't flagged up in every test, which might mean it sometimes went through a 'friendly' testing station. Its most recent MOT (in 2019) is a pass with no advisories, so either someone finally fixed the rust (and looking at the state of it, no they didn't ) - or the tester was very friendly.



 

[Heavyspanners]

I think the last time my Sherpa had a service was in 1993 or 1994, at the tail end of its BT career. I have no service history for it (which is a shame in a way, because I should think BT kept meticulous records of all their vehicles) but looking at the engine, all the service parts are Unipart items, all of them obviously fitted a long time ago. That suggests the Sherpa got plenty of by-the-book servicing. Just not in the last 30 years.

This is what I saw when I first opened the bonnet. I think it's been a long time since this engine saw a spanner. Or even daylight.

 

This sticker tells me that a new clutch was fitted in 1993. So the Sherpa was still going into the workshop at that point, still having relatively major work done, even though by then it had completed its standard 8-year service life. It was sold off in 1994, so it might have done a few extra months work after that clutch replacement, or possibly it just sat in storage before being shunted out to a dealer.

 

Did BT service their vehicles just before selling them off?  On the one hand that would have made them easier to sell, but I shouldn't think it increased the value much. I can't believe that a 1985 Freight Rover 255 would have fetched much money in 1994, no matter how comprehensive its service history was. After all, at that time you could buy a brand new LDV 200 Series (not yet a Pilot), with a warranty and all the trimmings, for an attractive economy price.

So, given that it's probably 30 years overdue for the basics, I thought I'd better update the service record. Starting with the petrol pipe...

New pipe on, new filter on. Should I put clips on the hose/filter connections? They're extremely tight, just as push-fit. The main length of fuel pipe, going off to the left (and eventually, by a round-the-houses route, to the petrol tank just behind the passenger side of the cab) is some sort of hard plastic stuff. It seems OK...

There were at least two different types of petrol pump fitted to O Series Sherpas. I don't know which one I've got - possibly this one, although that operating lever looks far too long. Nothing wrong with the pump, so I'm not looking to replace it, but it's always good to know which one I might need one day.

I see a problem. The vacuum advance tube, on the right, has broken off...

New vacuum advance tube from Mini Spares. They're pretty much universal components, aren't they? At any rate, the Mini version fits the connection points on the O Series engine just fine.

The pipe turned out to be about six miles long, which is definitely a bit over the top for a Mini. It's ridiculously long even for a Sherpa.

At the distributor end, the vacuum unit looks a bit rusty, but with any luck it's fine inside.

Unipart HT leads, marked with pre-printed labels so that the BT mechanic can put them back in the right place. Those labels must surely be evidence that Official Workshop Procedure has been followed.

I drained the oil. It was ancient and dirty and smelled of horrible things. Quite possibly 1990s vintage.

In order to get at the oil filter, it's necessary to take the front off. But that's no big deal, because the front of the Sherpa is designed for easy disassembly. You just undo three self-tapping screws, and the grille is off. Then undo four bolts, lift away the bonnet slam panel, and there's plenty of access. The radiator slots into position and is clamped by the slam panel - quite a clever design. It means that once the hoses are detached, the radiator just lifts out.

But I wasn't looking at the cooling side of things yet. At this point I just wanted to get at that oil filter, wherever it is.

Ah, there's the oil filter, tucked away bottom-left of the block. There were two different oil pumps/filter mountings on the O Series engine: the early type, like this, where the filter sticks out horizontally, and a later type where the filter is held upright. Presumably you get better filtering if the filter isn't sideways.

This filter definitely looks like a vintage item.

At this point a slight problem occurred. I couldn't find my oil filter wrench, and there was no way that filter was going to unscrew with just hand pressure.

So I resorted to the messy method - stab the filter with a screwdriver, and use the screwdriver as a handle to turn it. This tends to gouge a massive hole in the filter (they're not much stronger than a coke can), and oil goes everywhere. But then, I don't think there's any way of getting a sideways filter off without making a mess.

Here's the filter, with some sort of warning on it to the effect that it should not be used on Austin Maestros with automatic transmission. Well, that dates it! 

It seems to be one of these - still available as new old stock. But I suspect that when my filter was fitted, it was new new stock. So we probably are looking at 1993 or thereabouts as the date my Sherpa was last serviced.

I fitted a different kind of new old stock filter. I don't know if Fram filters are still made, but this one had been on somebody's shelf for a few years.

I'm glad to see I'm supporting the Welsh filter industry. This filter was made not too far from where it's now being fitted, but I bet it took the scenic route to get here.

A little top-up, so that when the engine (eventually) starts there is a bit of oil in the system. It is, of course, impossible to fit the sideways filter without a fair amount of this nice fresh oil going everywhere....

Freight Rover Special Tool Number One in evidence on the bumper, there.

And finally, the main dose of oil goes in, via the long filler tube which goes directly into the sump - just like an old Land Rover engine.

I always thought that the reason the tube-into-sump filling method was abandoned on Land Rovers in favour of a filler in the top of the engine was so that when new oil is poured in, it lubricates everything on its way down. But it seems the idea made a comeback.

I've seen photos of O Series engines with an oil filler in the cam cover, but apparently this was an early feature - in fact it may not have ever been used on production engines. At any rate, almost all O Series engines have the filler tube going into the sump.

Here's a picture of an early O Series engine, trial-fitted in an MGB engine bay. Oil filler in the top!




At one time the MGB was supposed to get the O Series engine, but never actually did, presumably because it wasn't thought viable to rework the MGB for a new engine when it was nearing the end of production anyway. A few home-brew O Series MGBs have been made, and apparently they go quite well.

 

[grogee]

23 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

At any rate, almost all O Series engines have the filler tube going into the sump.

Mine has this, with some pipe lagging to keep it warm...

On the Maestro the pipe sits at the very front of the engine so receives the incoming airflow. 

I can only think the lagging is there to stop condensation mixing with oil and producing 'BL Mayo'. 

[alf892]

8 hours ago, grogee said:

Mine has this, with some pipe lagging to keep it warm...

On the Maestro the pipe sits at the very front of the engine so receives the incoming airflow. 

I can only think the lagging is there to stop condensation mixing with oil and producing 'BL Mayo'. 

This was actually part of an official breather mod on S series maestro/montego

[Noel Tidybeard]

later s-series has cam cover cap