Ghibli II rot

[spacecadet]

I guess it looks familiar to you...





Next week we will replace the outer sills, fingers crossed for the inners.

 

[general_piffle]

Good luck for the inner sills spacecadet! Is this a fairly typical point for Ghiblis to rot?

 

[redsonnylee]

I've seen a few of these. The Ghiblis don't like being left out and really need a garage.

 

[Wally]

Happens unfortunately to quite a few "90's Ghiblis. Especially when their owners think they can use them in winter. I strongly advise against this.

 

[ZAM400209]

That's a shock

How difficult was it to get the plastic sills off, 'cadet?

What age and mileage you got??

 

[spacecadet]

Unfortunately it's a weak point by the design of the plastic sill covers. It's not sealed together with the body at the ends (close to the tyres), thanks to it's shape the mud can collect there, the tiny drain holes get stuck really easily, all of these leading to the above. An even worse example: http://www.sportsmaserati.com/showthread.php/11867-Ghibli-2-restoration/

The plastic sill are quite easy to remove, just remove the screws at the bottom and the both ends, to access the later ones the tyres have to be removed. Then with some force pull down and rotate upwards.

So as a prevention I think it's advisable to remove and clean the area yearly.

Mine is from '95, with 140k kms. Only with me since 2 years, always garaged, never used during the winter, also trying to avoid rain (today I couldn't).

 

[del mar]

Mine looked ok.

I caught and scratched the rear wheel arch getting the car out of the garage, but for prep I removed the sill covers for some reason. One rear part had some light surface rust on it, so I rubbed down treated and either had it painted when the arch was done or on the bottom of the car painted it and then put on a bit of underseal. I also sprayed wax oil into the box section.

The other area to check is the bottom corners of the windscreen where it meets the bulkhead/firewall . Remove the inside leather a pillar trims and shine a torch down there !

 

[spacecadet]

Good to see yours is fine.

 

[spacecadet]

It started, fortunately the internals are quite ok

 

[del mar]

I would say caught just in the nick of time !

Will you make new covers or are they still available ?

 

[spacecadet]

Forgot to update about the end result.

I would say caught just in the nick of time !

Will you make new covers or are they still available ?

Which covers you mean? The outer stills? They are not available separately, at least based on the parts diagram. The original one was used as a template and new ones was made.



But I'm really disappointed with the result. Just after 2 weeks I've noticed that the welding points are already rusting. Also the painter missed the colour (much more metal particles), besides the coverage isn't even despite it was just repainted on a palm sized area. Basically everything I was afraid of happened.





Will talk to them, but not sure if I should let them fix it after all of these.

 

[dickyb]

Oh no! That's terrible news, I really sympathise with you, i've had a lot of problems with body shops screwing things up too . It is alarming that it should be rusting again so quickly & very disappointing the paint doesn't match. I really hope you can get everything fixed properly, please keep us updated with progress.

 

[StuartW]

Sorry to see this, I hope it all gets fixed to your satisfaction by someone who cares next time

 

[GeoffCapes]

Nightmare. From experience of other cars I've owner some bodyshops promise miracles and deliver rubbish.
I got one car back from being welded and they hadn't even put primer on.

 

[spacecadet]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your words. It's really unfortunate though that this same thing happens everywhere *sigh*
I'm waiting for a reply from an other place, will keep you updated.

 

[Wally]

the outer sills are / were seperately available. Partnr: 362500104 for example. "subject to avalability" means: oh-oh.....

 

[spacecadet]

Aren't these the plastic sills which cover the metal? Looking at the diagram for me it seems part 1. and 2. contains the integrated inner / outer metal sills.

 

[Wally]

No, I have both in stock: they are the metal sills you wanted.(sorry, i don't sell them)

 

[spacecadet]

****, should have asked earlier. Thanks for the info regardless!