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Old Mar 8th, 2010, 19:31   #1
MaestroT5
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Last Online: Feb 28th, 2011 01:38
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Stoke on Trent
Default Austin Maestro T5, here's where it's at so far!

Righto all,

I've not had a chance to put this up on here before now, but over the weekend I got on with stripping all the unwanted stuff off the T5, and then got around to trial fitting it in the engine bay yesterday, and it fits far better than I thought it would! I'll let the pics do the talking though:

Prepping the car to whip the M series out:



There it goes:


Prior to strip down:


Leaned down:


Trial fit of the T5, it fits bloody well! so far as I can tell so far, no surgery will be required to make it fit either, which is a total bonus:







And just a few more photos:























So far so good!

I'm going to grind the bracket down on the turbo and also relieve the bulkhead area nearest the turbo to gain extra clearance, which is about the only bit that does need attention. Easy enough to do though.

Engine mounts, well it would seem I can utilise the original Maestro front mount as it's position on the crossmember lines up perfectly with the Volvo's mount point on the block. All that needs to be done is to weld a stout piece of plate to the Maestro's 'cotton reel' mount and drill it to fit to the block. I can also use the fabricated driver's side engine mount by cutting it down and using an S40 mount. The jury's out on the other two mounts so far though! I'll have a think on though, it won't be too difficult. The only bugger of it is the M56 in the T5 seems to lack the 3 bosses and studs that the same 'box has in the S40 T4, so to make life easier I'll get hold of an S40 'box instead of the the C70 'box I have currently.

Luckily, the driveshaft locations also match up, that's another headache out of the way.

I've also been considering the fitment of the intercooler, while the cavity behind the lower grill on the front bumper will swallow a Sierra Sapphire Cosworth intercooler, getting the pipes to it will be very difficult, soooo, thinking back to the Impreza, I've decided to go for a TMIC setup, not only will this be a lot easier to do, the pipe work will be a lot shorter and in theory the car should be far less hampered by lag. Plus having a bonnet scoop will induce the point and laugh brigade, until it blows them into the weeds



Since trial fitting the engine I've not really done a lot with the project, I'm still trying to source a welder too, that'll speed things along no end.

I did manage to snag a late type Impreza TMIC (top mount intercooler) from ebay, being the later type it's got a larger capacity and also comes with the standard dump valve and STi 'Y' pipe, not bad for twenty-six of my english pounds! A TMIC will solve a lot of packaging issues for the intercooler side of things, and the intercooler will run much shorter boost pipes, win! I'll be looking at setting up intercooler waterspray later on aswell, most helpful when queueing up at the 'pod.

It's a pity I couldn't use the Cosworth intercooler, it fitted in the bumper just fine but the pipe runs would have been a bit torturous to say the least. I think I'll score anti-style points for having a bonnet scoop on a Maestro anyway, it will get ridiculed as I'm sure most people will assume it'll still have an S series under the bonnet! more fool them! I'm fully expecting my car to appear on barryboys, home to the pedantic and clueless (I've never disliked a website more).

I don't know if I'll fashion an angular scoop out of alloy sheet as per the '55 in 'Two lane blacktop' or whether I'll just whack an Impreza scoop on.


I started on the wiring loom today, christ, in comparison, physically fitting the engine into the car will be a doddle compared to that mass of spaghetti! It's terrifying!

I'll do a few updates as I progess
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