1982 QPIII (USA Version)

Per William and others interested in QPIII's, I decided to take their advice and start
a new thread regarding the work I am doing on my 1982 QPIII. I realize there are
many who may not be interested in this, so I invite them NOT to read here and skip
the thread altogether. But I'm hopeful others may find something useful here and
invite them to ask questions. I will try, but cannot promise, to keep posting as much as
reasonably possible. Obviously, I will also be asking questions. These threads are
the best chance we have of keeping these cars up and running, and reviving interest
in them!

I initially posted some stuff in the 1985 QPIII thread, so I will begin from where I
left off there.

The car is slowly coming apart, and besides a few issues and difficulties, it has been
somewhat of a joy to work on (so far!). As previously mentioned, the carbs, intake,
alternator, A/C Comp, waterpump, and some other items have come off the car to
be either cleaned up and/or refurbished. This will hopefully make cleaning the engine
compartment up a bit easier. I also have the radiator out, and it should be sent to
be boiled out shortly. There has been some discussion lately on the Khamsin thread
regarding cleaning vs. replacing radiators with newer technology cores, but I will keep
what was here originally, unless a major issue is discovered.

About the car. As indicated, it is a 1982 US version with all the fun bells and whistles
regarding smog equipment. This isn't necessary here in TN as we don't have
emissions checks, so I plan on removing/disabling most of this. The car was once
owned by Videl Sassoon's wife, or so the documentation indicates. I bought the
car when I lived in FL from a gentleman who bought and drove it from CA. The body
was in rough condition. I had some work done on the body including a paint job back
in 2005. Unfortunately, the car has just sat since then due to my move to TN. If I
recall correctly, I paid $2500 for the car.

I have attached 2 pictures, one or two of which I may have posted before. The
first is of the car itself. The second is of the seats after I wiped them down with
water. I will be treating them shortly with some Leatherique products to make them
look better. There is one tear and major scratch, and the obvious worn areas, but
for 31 years, not at all that bad.

In the meantime, please contribute by either asking questions, telling stories, and
letting us know of problems, solutions, etc. you have encountered. I hope you will
enjoy this thread.

Mike
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Mike, you a pm

 

Hi Mike,

after having been through the complete restoration of my QP III 4.9 5-speed manual I can only encourage you with your project. I have now 4 QP III, and I can see no end in buying these fantastic cars (my wife does so, eh...)

I have attached a recent picture I took while driving the German Autobahn from Stuttgart to Munich. It was amazing how stable and enjoyable my 4.9 manual was while going up to 230 km/h and beyond. Ok, the tachometer is not that exact I know, but anyway this drive was rewarding for all the pain I had during the restoration. And imagine the faces of all the others while overtaking them in a dark brown monster......

As there are only a few remaining I would also recommend to start a chassis number section for the QP III.


Regards

Bjoern
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Hi Great to have your thread and it will give me another to look at! I post general Q and A on the QP III catch all thread and then specific to my cars on my thread. It would be good to do a registry and I was thinking about one of the other registry links. The real rarity is the 5 speeds and I think there are 10 around that I know of so perhaps that means 20 or so still running. I have been saving pictures of the ones I see. Should we start on on a blog or on one of the existing threads? Start a registry thread?

Anyway, great to see your car in such good shape and improving. One comment is that the old radiator cores are just not up to it and the cars are prone to overheating. I recommend that you put a manual switch properly wired so that you can turn the fans on manually if they for any reason do not kick in -- this is common and probably the number 1 reason for being on the side of the road waiting for a truck. I put new wiring and blocks from the fans to the fuse box and a new fuse box on both so far. Anyway, This is in my blog but worth a mention. My 0.02 Euro cents worth.

 

Hello All...

As promised, I am posting something regarding my 82 QPIII.. I didn't realize this at
first, but it appears my cooling fans have been replaced.. I believe the original ones
were Bosch fans, my car has Spal fans. Attached are two pictures. One showing the
configuration of the fans and the other the part information from Spal. Note that one
fan is higher than the other. Was this true for the Bosch units as well, or is it because
the Spal units are somewhat bigger?

Mike
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oops... forgot to attach the fan info picture...

Mike
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See for yourself, these are original cooling fans for the qpIII. Same configuration as your Spals.
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qp400i...

Thank you for the info... The Spal fans look like a direct replacement for the
originals. That is actually good news.. From what I can tell the change may
have come sometime in 1989, as there is a sticker on the fans that show 2/89.
I interpret this as Feb, 1989.

Attached is a picture of the water pump, when it was removed. The pump actually
turned, but I could hear a slight grinding sound. At any rate, I actually have two
spare pumps for the car which I picked up at very good prices! Of interest in the
pump picture, is the little pipe/tube which points upwards on the left side of the
pump (when looking at the picture). This tube did not come with the new pump and
I have salvaged it from the old one. I took this information from the QPIII service
manual. What have others done in this scenario? Is there a source for this tube?

Mike
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I'm a bit surprised no-one responded about the waterpump pipe... I would have thought
that others would have run into this when changing out their waterpump...

A while back on one of the other QPIII threads there was much discussion regarding the
black boxes (Tedel 101, Tedel 102, etc..)... I began looking through some of my parts
bins and have attached a picture of what I found. It seems I have some duplicates of
some of these boxes... In some cases, I even have 3 extra... I don't know which ones
are original to my car, nor do I know which ones work and which ones don't. All I do know
is that I picked the extras up some years ago when they were relatively cheap. I can't
believe that some of these boxes are listed on e-bay with prices around $650/box... This
seems like gouging for something which probably has less than $25 in total parts... I
understand they may be NLA, but still, $650, outrageous!!!!

What's the best way to open up these boxes without destroying them? If I can do this,
I might be able to tell right-away whether further testing is warranted or not... Thoughts?

Mike
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Hi to open is easy. Mark the orientation (they can go in backwards also) then simply gently pry apart. Be careful with the clips that can break. The back comes right off and the two sides where the connection is made is actually part of the board. You can see what is blown by looking at the board components. You can look at the pictures in my TEDEL 102 discussion. I agree, a lot of money wasted.

 

Sorry I couldn't be of help with the water pump, my car is in the shop, not at all convenient for me to have a look at and snap a few pics for you.

Hope someone else can chime in and let you know the answer!

Spare parts are always good to have. Be careful prying them open, as William cautioned...

 

I am in the same situation. I bought a new pump which did not come with the tube (part # 420.04.80.00). But I do not need a new tube. I clean it, wheel-spray it, and mount it on the new pump with a self-made gasket (part # GN 67176). Have you tried the usual sources for Maserati parts?

 

I'd be interested buying a tedel or two from you! Can you pm me?

 

Hello qp400i...

Thank you for your offer to buy a box or two...
Right now, I am not considering selling any of them
until I know which ones work and which ones
don't.. Hopefully in a couple of months, I will
know where I stand with them. If I do decide
to sell any of them I will let you know then...

Mike

 

Hello All...

Attached is some info that I found in the supplemental manual supplied with my
car. it's primarily applicable to 1982 US cars, but may be useful to others as
well... Interesting that the car has 4 catalysts! As I dismantle this equipment,
I will be saving all the pieces and parts, in case it has to go back on at some
point (hopefully not!)...

Mike
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Mike, please note that if you remove all that emission equipment you will have high CO emissions which do no good to your own health. I have mounted cats on my Euro spec car (reducing CO from 6 to 0.09%) and got rid of the typical headache after touring with the qp.

 

Hello qp400i....

I want to thank you for replying regarding the water pump... Somehow i missed your
post... I'm thinking I will have to do the same thing, namely clean the tube as best as
possible, and make the gasket as you did, if I can't find one from the usual sources.
That information is much appreciated.

As of now, I have made no final decision regarding the exhaust, specifically the
catalysts. I'm pretty sure the pump, deviation valve, and associated equipment/hoses
will be removed. In fact, most of this is gone. If I keep the exhaust system as is, I
will need to come up with methods of closing off the air injection manifolds on
the exhaust manifolds, and where the hoses feed into the exhaust system. Other option
would be to remove the catalytic converters, and have a new exhaust fabricated which
replaces all of that. I suspect this would probably increase the horsepower and improve
performance.

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Igino has a good point about the cats. Mine were removed by the PO, and we all notice the fumes after a bit of driving, sometimes it's so bad it gives people a headache.

I'm planning on putting cats back on the car and have found high flow sports cats at a very reasonable price in the UK. They won't affect performance (or the sound!), and really help with emissions and passenger comfort.

Just a second opinion.

 

Can you let me know the brand details etc on the UK CATS as I may put them on the 81.

 

Sports Cat - Sport Catalytic Convertor

They also have an "oval" version that offers better ground clearance, same specs and price.

The cats they sell are made by Redback in Australia, and seem like decent quality.

Price is £125 each + £10 delivery (to Alsa).

Ask for Simon.

 

Yesterday, I went under the car and removed the fuel pumps. Still amazed that
I have not run into any nasty rusted bolts/nuts/hardware. The pumps setup came
out relatively easy.. Mind you, it was very dirty under there and as the pictures
indicate, a thorough cleaning will be necessary before testing them.

The service manual indicates there are two different setups, each with different
flow control check valves. It appears I have the earlier one, with two single check
valves, vs the single check valve version. I will have to make sure I pay attention
to how they are installed or I could have a heap of trouble..

Any tips from anyone else who has worked on their pumps? What about replacement
pumps? Something to consider since mine look original and if that's true, they are
31 years old!!!
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If you guys are getting a headache from the car without cats on it you have some sort of exhaust intrusion going on in the car. I would fix that as well.

 

The exhaust doesn't leak anywhere.

My steering column is missing the gasket where it passes through the floor/firewall, but there isn't any exhaust smell in the engine bay, or under the car.

Opening a window - any window - makes it worse, as if exhaust is sucked back into the car.

I know that Jaguar had the same problem with the first XJ6, exhaust was drawn back along the car and into the cabin. To fix it, they put a small curve at the end of the exhaust, which is why most jags have that little "s" jog at the end of the pipes.

Would it be possible that the QP3 suffered from the same design flaw?

 

I am sure you have seen it but I think MIE has these pumps on sale just now. There was also a thread about suitable replacement pumps in the Catch All thread.

 

William.. thanks for the info about the pumps from MIE... That may become useful if my
pumps test out bad!

Now I need a little help from fellow owners.

Attached are 2 pictures from my car. They show a pass-through from the cabin
through the firewall into the engine compartment. What was this used for, does anybody
know or would be willing to check to see what is on their car? The pass-through is to the
right of the brake booster when looking from the drivers side down into the engine bay. On
my car there was a hose stuck in the hole, with two big wires going through and then going
to where the battery sits. In the cabin was a disconnect switch. The whole thing was so
a battery quick disconnect could be easily installed. I'm pretty sure the quick-disconnect
was not stock but added later. The hole itself looks factory...


Thanks...

Mike
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