Are ready yet to give the car a real drive?
Yes, I've gone on some 30-40 minute drives already. But minimal time on the highway due to the 10 year old tires. But now with the new Pirelli CN12s, I think I'll do a nice long highway drive today and make sure all systems nominal before I pull out the drivers seat to begin work on that.
Just back from a 35 mile shake down cruise. I get it, I finally get it. All I can say is what a car!. About half was on the highway. This car is a torquey beast. You don't need to downshift to pass thats for sure. All the gauges showed normal parameters. As I was cruising down the turnpike at (fill in the blank) speeds, I felt a twinge of nostalgia and a sense that I was experiencing some of the joy my dad did when driving his Bora when it was new as his DD. Very very happy at this moment. Everything at the moment is working correctly. A/C blows cold, but its only 76F out right now. Steering, brakes, engine feel great. Water and oil temp guages are always left of vertical which seems good. The oil pressure guage looks closed to zero at lower RPMs but the idiot light (which is working now) doesn't come on at any time other than startup. At cold startup its at 100psi. Cant post an 18 second vid? says file too large. If I get a chance to put it on youtube I'll leave a link here.
very low at idle. But no idiot light. At cold start it’s very high (100psi). Not sure if this is a normal range but seems ok per manual. 20w50 oil.
Working on the drivers seat now. po seems to have glued a torn seam. I resewed it but to be perfect it will need that panel replaced. That’s not in my plans. As Statsoff said the seat is made with a really squishy latex foam like a pillow. But the side bolster is torn and crushed. I’m replacing the whole thing with high density foam rubber. You can see where the PO just stuffed cotton in there. I can do better than that. Not professional level of course. Then a redye next week if all goes according to plan. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Serge you should know this is normal with these V8's once hot. Also please understand in Florida now it is as hot as the south of France in summer, not your Belgium in the depth of winter. As an eye opener; in Fort Lauderdale I NEVER used my choke to start my Khamsin.
Haha, good point if hot, Marc! Chilling today in Brussels. Btw I also never use the choke to start the Indy. Even at low temps, engine starts on the 2nd or 3rd time once I have flooded the carbs.
Sorry the PO didn't fix this properly. After my side bolster repair back in the late 80's it's held up well for 40K miles. I have the flat style cushioning which isn't nearly as comfortable or exotic looking it but does give you much better leg room. These cars were designed for small people I think the Merak is probably better in that regard.
I’m really OCD about my cars not being buggered up like that. It reaks of “presale bandaid fix”. I try to do repairs and maintenance like I’m keeping a car indefinitely. At least one PO felt the same way. The aluminum radiator and spaal fans and the aurora audio systems circuitry upgrade and Bluetooth for the factory Blaupunkt stereo are examples of this. That’s why when I got tires I got the best performing period correct and OE tires not the cheapest. Once I’m done with the interior I consider the car fully sorted. Then just drive and enjoy. It drives and feels so good for a 50 year old car. Really incredible. Just needle a little TLC. I’m 6’4” and I’d say the car isn’t roomy but adequate. My dad was 6’4” also and he DD his Bora.
I'm long legged and as sexy as those lounge seats look they do not provide under thigh support worth a crap for long drives. I do hope the newer versions of the period correct tires work for you. Back In the day I found them to be very difficult to deal with and rough riding so I switch profiles and models to Michelin XGT 225F 245R and the car was so much better with those. Perhaps our website tire retailer could come up with some details about how they may have modernized these tires to deal their original foibles? Back when I was taking my Bora to the Silverstate races my fellow Boras owner, George Marin, was able to contact the engineering guys at Michelin to make certain the tires we were going to use, XGT and Georges case XWX but on his Mercedes 6.9 and later Infiniti Q45 were safe and adequate. We got an A #1 AOK rating. So I know the engineering guys can be contacted. My first year at that race in another friends Bora a couple in a Testarosa seems to have lost a tire and crashed horribly. The wife died.
It might be worthwhile to add a mechanical oil gauge. My friend George added one in engine compartment tapped off of the mail oil gallery that's there so that he could see the pressure through the rear window. It's a very easy modification. I primed my engine for oil via that plug before first startup after the restoration.
I don’t plan to race my car but this and studies like it convinced me CN12>XWX. I assume CN12s were OE on some Boras. https://www.longstone.com/images/tire-test/auto-bild-klassik-e-type-jaguar-tyre-test-english-final.pdf
Reminds me of the mechanical temperature guage I had in the thermostat housing of a pantera back in the day. Head on a swivel in the summer to look for overheating in bumper to bumper traffic on I95 In Miami. Yep I DD’d that thing. Alas with a neck held together with plates and screws, a guage behind my head is a non starter. My OP idiot light does work. I’ll keep an eye on that. The guage reads from “0” to 100 PSI depending how hit the oil is. Seems to be consistent with what the manual says. Anyway drivers seat is now rebuilt. Ready to apply 1603 Connolly red dye next weekend. It’s a three day process. Luckily Friday off.
If you're talking about you own neck Look at the REAR of the engine for the main oil galley plug. An adapter goes in there and mechanical gauge threads into that then you mount the actual gauge on RH side carpet panel near the rear or you could put in an electric one and matched sensor which would allow for more convenient mounting. In al case a quick look in the rear view mirror at the gauge surely wouldn't torture your neck. Or would it? You can't look in the rear view mirror? If so run the wire into the interior and hang it under the dash. I have a lot of spinal twisting issues myself so I understand. It's a big reason I no longer track or work on cars.
Well not mine. I think I'd a bit more of an explanation than modern tire manufacturing techniques and from an independent, with dog in the vintage tire biz source. The old XWXs were extremely robust and good for 200 MPH +. But due to their extremely stiff sidewalls installers would charge $20 more per tire to demount and mount them. I wonder if that's still true? The only tire guy I'd trust to ask about this closed his shop last year.
Theres a nice rally after the Celebration exotic car show which I plan to participate in and I will get a real camera and a decent mount so that I can get a good video of that. So God willing it will make a fun and long, probably too long video of all the noises one experiences driving a Bora for a couple hours. Including the grunting and groaning a couple of 60+ year olds make getting in and out of such a low car.
This article states CN12s were original equipment on some later Boras: https://hsy.com.au/50-fast-years-the-maserati-bora/
Pirelli was on of my sponsors at Le Belle Macchine, one year I was discussing the XWX with the Pirelli rep. He told that nobody builds a tire like the XWX, that it is a genuine 200Mph tire. This was in the mid 2000s, and we were talking about a 30 year old tire
