With everything back together I nervously turned the key.....hoping nothing had fallen into the engine or that I had forgot to reattach something.
The engine started straight away so it was washed & driven home. I took the scenic route home so I could get the engine up to temp before seeing if it would rev any higher.
Straight away the slow speed clutch control was smoother & the throttle response was immediately better so I continued home, waiting for the temp to increase.
As I got onto the dual carriage way I nailed the throttle and it pulled straight round to 7500 before I changed up, again I kept my foot in & watched it rev round to max revs before I changed up again.
The car now drives how I wanted it to, smooth & energetic.
Like a Maserati should!
I got home & as it sat on the drive pinging from the heat I fell back in love with my car, like the day I bought it.
I managed to save just over £1100 from the original quote, 8 gaskets & 4 sensors cost me £378 & it took me about 3 hours from start to finish which included taking the photo's & making notes as I went.
Next job is 4 new tyre pressure sensors as that is the only fault with the car now, I didn't want to fit them until I had it running right.
Then the car is ready for Silverstone at the end of the month!