GranSport (Fuji White) Running report

[Davidt99]

Yep, I have a carport / garage down the side of my house but it's only 3.2m wide. It's handy if it's raining but it is easier outside on the drive. I've changed a gearbox on a 156 in the snow before now so I'm used to it.

That's even more impressive.

 

[Chris155]

Really great work, looks a great buy and very little rust but that more than makes up for any lack of history.

I bought mine with good history but as a Uk car came with rust....

View attachment 60317

It does seem solid, not found any rust so far. Well, I guess that answers the question I posted about gearbox removal. I was talking to someone from Stratstone who suggest that was the way to do it - with the subframe. The pics are useful too, so thanks for that.

 

[Chris155]

MOT is due today. I was late booking it into my prefered garage so it's not going in till Tuesday now. I'm not overly worried about it. In addition to the the work we've undertaken recently, I've also put new tyres on the back as they were down to 2.5mm.

There was also an advisory for the nearside steering track rod last year. Given the amount of miles it's done in the meanwhile, I don't think it should of passed given the amount of movement it had.

IMG_1588 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1589 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1590 by Chris, on Flickr

A basic attempt at measuring to ensure the tracking was somewhere near, but the tolerances for tracking are extremely tight so getting it right isn't easy;

IMG_1591 by Chris, on Flickr

And, given that it's had new arms at the back, tyres and a track rod... A full alignment seemed like a worthwhile adventure;

IMG_1602 by Chris, on Flickr

 

[Woots]

She looks lovely

 

[philw696]

She's all coming together nicely.
Good Work done.

 

[Chris155]

Passed it's MOT this week. A proper MOT where they actually scrutinised the car...

Pass, no advisories. Pleased with that.

 

[Chris155]

This weekend's job; Convert the speedo to mph, which, oddly wasn't a requirement of the test to put it on the road after it was imported from Hong Kong, nor is it an MOT fail...

I did consider leaving it as km/h only but the mental arithmetic required became tiresome and a distraction on occasion.

I thought I'd taken some pics of the car whilst I had half the dashboard apart to get the Instrument binnacle out but I can't find any... No matter. I'll be revisiting that anyway. :censored:

I did take some of the process just to document the fact I didn't clock it... Not that it wouldn't show up in the MOT history.

IMG_1834 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1835 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1838 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1839 by Chris, on Flickr

With that done and the dashboard reassembled, I foolishly started investigating why the casing heater isn't working.

After poking about with the inbuilt diagnostics - This didn't reveal anything. So I stripped all the prettifying covers off and started poking about at the coolant pipes round the back of the engine...

IMG_1833 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_1843-2 by Chris, on Flickr

And I found the heater matrix pipes in the bulkhead aren't connected to anything. It's been bodged and bypassed. Who the does that on a Maserati?! FFS!

Basically I suspect the heater matrix is leaking.

Which is obviously a right PITFA to fix.

 

[Wattie]

MPH from KMH.
So that means you gained 18000miles overnight!
Massive depreciation just occurred so I’m prepared to make you an offer

 

[Navcorr]

And I found the heater matrix pipes in the bulkhead aren't connected to anything. It's been bodged and bypassed. Who the does that on a Maserati?! FFS!

Basically I suspect the heater matrix is leaking.

Which is obviously a right PITFA to fix.

The bypass is not uncommon and is a well documented "temporary fix". Exactly because the matrix is a pita.
Not ideal at any time though and with Winter knocking on the door ….

 

[Chris155]

The bypass is not uncommon and is a well documented "temporary fix". Exactly because the matrix is a pita.
Not ideal at any time though and with Winter knocking on the door ….

It's a bodge that I didn't dive on a £500 Citroen ZX when I was 20 years old. It's inexcusable in the current context. I'm now at the point where I'm giving serious consideration to taking this to a small claims court.

 

[jezbrown1]

It's a bodge that I didn't dive on a £500 Citroen ZX when I was 20 years old. It's inexcusable in the current context. I'm now at the point where I'm giving serious consideration to taking this to a small claims court.

That's properly annoying. As you know, had to have mine done. Seems like a right pain of a job but at least you have the skills to do it. Cost me £1500, I wouldn't have had the patience to do it myself.

 

[Gp79]

That is a pain, did the matrix last year on mine, it’s not really that bad a job once you get into it, there’s a very good guide on here.
Still that is not the point mind.

 

[mjheathcote]

Is the odometer still km but the speedo mph if you just changed the overlay?
That's confusing!

 

[Chris155]

Is the odometer still km but the speedo mph if you just changed the overlay?
That's confusing!

It's not ideal, but there is no other alternative. I've kept the original clock faces and documented the mileage with photos as you can see. I just have to make sure its mileage remains to be recorded in KM at the next MOT. I think the system may insist on this anyway.

 

[Chris155]

Had a weekend off working on cars last week. Instead I went over to Cricceth for a weekend away celebrating some friend's birthdays;

IMG_1936 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_8977 by Chris, on Flickr

The drive over via Bala was largely enjoyable, traffic was heavy and the average speed cameras are a PITA as I found myself permanently focused on my speed rather than avoiding puddles (which are know for wrecking engines in 4200's as the air intake is so low down) and the sun was low in the sky making visibility particularly problematic.

I wasn't looking to be a hooligan, the cameras just made difficult driving conditions even more so.

The drive back was OK, I elected to go home via the quickest route - A55 rather than the more "fun" alternatives. I did have a prat in a Mondeo tailgating me in the 30 limit in the tunnels - The centreline is double solid whites so you can't change lane. But he did, undertaking on the inside, on the approach to the deristricted limit (why?)... I then passed him in the 70, doing 70 and he sped up reppassed me with his passenger call me a fanker whilst filming the whole thing on his phone.

I know that's a bit of a rant but there is a point to this in that I'm now wondering if it's an isolated incident of a couple of ball washers being idiots or whether I can continue to expect this kind of reaction...

Anyway, there was one other, fundamental, problem with the whole trip in it and that was I was effing FROZEN the whole time due to the heater matrix not being connected.

 

[Chris155]

Unfortunately, my plans to fix the hater matrix were stymied by the car when the drivers window regulator failed during the week and the glass dropped into the door. Looks like a new regulator is around £400. Mint.

But I took it apart today to see if it could be fixed as there are various ways in which they fail;

IMG_2021 by Chris, on Flickr

(The tape on the door is topic the CF finish whilst I pried the trim off)

Yet again, the parts I'm working on are going to need some attention;

IMG_2026 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2027 by Chris, on Flickr

This is just plain annoying. But it's a cheap speaker anyway. I'll upgrade them soon.

IMG_2028 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2029 by Chris, on Flickr

As was this. FFS. (missing inner shield)...

IMG_2031 by Chris, on Flickr

This oddity fell out the door as I was taking it apart;

IMG_2035-2 by Chris, on Flickr

I thought it was a drive gear which would have likely meant the mechanism was scrap, but it appears not;

IMG_2037 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2038 by Chris, on Flickr

It retains a clockwork spring that helps move the window mech;

IMG_2040 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2039 by Chris, on Flickr

Which is good news as I think it can be repaired. However, I have no clue how to realign the mechanism, tension the spring, where too set the window, and how to sort out the micro-switches. Securing the broken part against the tension of the spring is going to be difficult to, I imagine.

I've put it aside for now (aka, given it to my Dad and asked him to look at it) and I started stripping the dashboard out;

IMG_2022 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2044 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2047 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2082 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2088 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_2090 by Chris, on Flickr

Whilst I gave up on it as I was wet and cold, I've not found anymore halfwitted bodgery which, for once, was a nice surprise.

 

[Zep]

There was a post for the replacement of that part a few months ago, let me see if I can find it.

 

[Zep]

There you go

https://www.sportsmaserati.co.uk/index.php?threads/window-regulator-fix.29195/

 

[sionie1]

Had a weekend off working on cars last week. Instead I went over to Cricceth for a weekend away celebrating some friend's birthdays;

IMG_1936 by Chris, on Flickr

IMG_8977 by Chris, on Flickr

The drive over via Bala was largely enjoyable, traffic was heavy and the average speed cameras are a PITA as I found myself permanently focused on my speed rather than avoiding puddles (which are know for wrecking engines in 4200's as the air intake is so low down) and the sun was low in the sky making visibility particularly problematic.

I wasn't looking to be a hooligan, the cameras just made difficult driving conditions even more so.

The drive back was OK, I elected to go home via the quickest route - A55 rather than the more "fun" alternatives. I did have a prat in a Mondeo tailgating me in the 30 limit in the tunnels - The centreline is double solid whites so you can't change lane. But he did, undertaking on the inside, on the approach to the deristricted limit (why?)... I then passed him in the 70, doing 70 and he sped up reppassed me with his passenger call me a fanker whilst filming the whole thing on his phone.

I know that's a bit of a rant but there is a point to this in that I'm now wondering if it's an isolated incident of a couple of ball washers being idiots or whether I can continue to expect this kind of reaction...

Anyway, there was one other, fundamental, problem with the whole trip in it and that was I was effing FROZEN the whole time due to the heater matrix not being connected.

The tunnels on the bends? That used to be a two way section but they never changed the road markings afterwards, no idea way. The whole A55 is a second rate road. I know what you mean about the average speed cameras around Bala, it’s a shame as it’s a lovely driving road ( or used to be).

 

[RobinL]

The tunnels on the bends? That used to be a two way section but they never changed the road markings afterwards, no idea way. The whole A55 is a second rate road. I know what you mean about the average speed cameras around Bala, it’s a shame as it’s a lovely driving road ( or used to be).

At least there aren't any average speed cameras yet! I spend more time with GPS and cruise control trying to find the legal 'sweet spot' where I'm doing ok, but probably won't get busted! 70 plus 2mph error, plus 10% 'allowance' so 79 on my dials. Next trick is to clear idiots in front, set 79 as a max and go daft up to that!


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