94 Mayfair 1275 injection

[greasenipple]

Going to see one at the weekend which sounds like a nice car, however isnt the mayfair fitted with the worst version of the A series available? Does this mean that these cars are best avoided, and what are the implications for tuning, getting the car through emissions tests and having a catalytic converter.

[fwdracer]

At 94 reg (M) it must retain its Cat.

K reg (1992) was the last year you are (legally) allowed to do away completely with the Cat.

Just a thought - what about having a Cat replacement pipe fitted and keeping the Cat safe and sound (and unused and not degrading) in the garage until MOT emissions test time.

[guru_1071]

mayfair also has lower comp and spec of pistons, so never as tunable as equivilant cooper

[greasenipple]

hmm its sounds like a nice car 11K miles for a good price. Should I let the engine put me off? does anyone know about the emissions situation, if I was to replace the engine later on for, say a 1380 on carbs would I not pass MOTs?

Edited by greasenipple on Friday 12th January 11:17

[wildoliver]

Well I have exactly the car your looking at, and its ok, it isn't sluggish at all.

But at the same time it isn't a 1380 race engine lol!

[cooperman]

With carbs it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get it through the MoT.
However, you can rebuild the lower-power 1275 injection engines to give great improvement.
With a decent gas-flowed and ported head with 35.6 mm inlet valves (up from 33.5mm), an increase in comp ratio, some Hepolite 21253 pistons, a better cam properly timed-in, a K & N inlet filter, a lightened flywheel and a better exhaust system downstream of the cat, you should see around 75 to 80 bhp at the flywheel. Lower the diff ratio a bit as well and it will be a transformation.
Of course, accurately set-up suspension will improve performance enormously too.

[kjw]

I had a year 2000 MPI and found that the engine lacked power and there was always an issue when it went for an MOT due to emmission failures. So I sold the engine and fitted an older A+ engine running with a 45 weber. Wrote a letter to the DVLA stating the new engine number, explained why I was changing the engine (using for sprinting). They sent the log book back with the new engine number (I think it was an 1989 engine). Showed my local MOT station the new log book and had no more problems with the car meeting the new emmission standards.