Maserati at Swindon are quoting the same price as Grimaldi's, looks like I will just have to go for it, at least the service will be getting done as well. Then at least I know the car will be sorted.
Received the following email yesterday from a colleague, he got it off the Eurospares Forum. Worth a read.....not sure of there is any truth in it.
This was copied from the EuroSpares Forum written by Nigello, I came across it yesterday whilst looking for spares, quite interesting.
Do you trust your Engineer? If not, fire him and recruit someone you do trust. I have owned Ferraris and Maseratis continuously for 27 years and always worked on them (and quite a few others) myself. There are very few Engineers I recommend but Roberto Grimaldi is most definitely one of them.
When the 3200s are properly set up, the performance is stunning and on par with early Diablos (Jopi's words not mine and he has owned several of both). It will not match a Diablo from a standing start since getting the power down is a problem but once you have full traction and can avoid the ASR cutting in, it really should fly. In fact it was so fast that rumour has it Ferrari removed their Fiorano lap times for the 3200 and it is believed may have detuned the later vehicles by fiddling with the valve timing. Urban myth perhaps BUT how do we explain that many have incorrect valve timing from NEW.
I bought my model in 2004 privately with full Dealer history. Without naming names, I found 5 valves incorrectly adjusted some dangerously (exhaust too tight), turbo hoses loose etc only 60 miles after being serviced for previous Owner at a Main Dealer. From that point on, everything needed checking as I could not trust a **** thing on the car and it was way down on power. I reset all valve clearances to spec, changed plugs / pierborg boost valve, checked earthing resistances everywhere, turbo hoses - you name it. Result was an improvement but still massively short of power.
Soon after I met up with Roberto of Grimaldi Engineering who did some work for me on the air con where the fan had fried itself. By chance, he had just bought himself an SD3 but was having some probs getting it to work properly with his PC. So started a close friendship. I sorted out both PC and the SD3 and we used my 3200 as both static and mobile test bench. Boost was ok at low / mid range but performance was still ****. We ended up pressure testing every pipe and hose on the pressure side of the turbos, the intercoolers and even the turbos themselves - Everything was perfect. We both agreed it had to be valve timing and ....
Left hand bank (passenger side on RHD) 100% on the button on both exhaust and inlet. RHD bank, both inlet and exhaust equally out of adjustment by 1 cambelt tooth - This was NOT an error with cambelt fitting as that would have meant 2 teeth ie 1 peak + 1 trough. This error equated to almost 7 degrees at the crankshaft which is massive for any engine let alone forced induction!! Worse still was the realisation that it had been that way from the original factory build.
Since the cam wheel has a vernier adjustment, the error was easily dialed out without having to touch the rear chain adjustment and the valve timing at last correctly set.
During this work and purely by chance, Rob inverted the Plenum / inlet manifold (removed*to check the inlet port gaskets*at the same time as*the valve timing checks) and discovered the bottom plate to be loose with the nitrile gasket half hanging out. This is where the boost was being lost.
With everything else 100% on the button, the performance from that point onwards was and still is electrifying.
Since those early days, Rob has checked many 3200s and interestingly has yet to find one with correct valve timing. On each occasion, once the valve timing is reset to spec, the cars go like **** and the engines become as smooth as a turbine. Most have been prior to the 68k rear chain replacement and therefore have had the error from new although one or two have been subsequent to this.
I'm not suggesting that all are as down on power as mine was originally, since loss of boost was clearly the major cause of power loss. You cannot accurately check the valve timing without special tools which require a dial guage for TDC and a dual dial guage for both an exhaust and inlet valve simultaneously. With these tools, it is easily checked and is the cheapest performance "upgrade" you can buy and without affecting your insurance.
xxxxXXXxxxx
I think the lower plate being loose on the plenum was a one-off and was simply not tightened correctly by the factory. It is not a service item and frankly you would not normally notice when removing the plenum as you avoid fuel spillage by trying NOT to invert it.
Getting your valve timing checked at the same time as a cambelt change is a perfect opportunity but it does need checking EXACTLY as specified in the workshop manual. This operation MUST have correct valve clearances for the timing check to be accurate but you would want this to be done anyway - 2 thou error in valve clearance is approx 1 degree error at the crankshaft IIRC. If your Engineer tries to tell you that there are other ways of setting up valve timing, just get back in your car and go elsewhere - There are no shortcuts.
Make sure that the checks are actually done and don't accept a "valve timing was ok" response. Make it clear from the outset you want to know precisely what each valve clearance is set at (all 32 of them) and the exact setting of each cam relative to TDC both before and after adjustment. If they are not prepared to do this, then walk away as you will be wasting your money.
Regarding wheelspin, my 3200 will break traction on any dry road in 3rd if provoked even though the ASR scoops it up very quickly. 2nd requires a lot of care whereas a lot of throttle in 1st is best avoided.****
