Quattroporte III catch-all thread

Those grills are awkward and I can only hope they are glued-on plastic items of poor taste that can be easily removed without leaving a hole. Functionally they would be redundant since the engine bay already has vents to the front wheel arches. Perhaps the owner was seduced by the fake items of the qpV.
I like the colour too.

 

I vote for leaving cars as original as possible.
Now I have a question.
Why is it that my EU version has side blinkers and no reflector in the side bumpers?
Has it been modified at some point?
Tony
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I think there are other cars like yours. I have this photo of a car in Europe. I'm curious to know why some cars have this arrangement of lights.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Hi Definitely change to the Euro bumper set up - that is how the cars were meant to be and having gone this far.... I found the same thing for the rear. I had to put the spare bumper (US) on the rear of the car as the shop (not ALSA) lost the original Euro bumper so we had to put on the US rear on the Euro rear. I do think the US marker lights are different from the Euro lights also so the Euro side bumper pieces are different. I will try to post some pictures but this is in my thread also if you look through it. I put a few up and you can see the difference on the rear. Not an elegant fix perhaps.
The front pictures show the difference between the Euro and US lights but you can also see these very clearly on the MIE website.
There were some early versions of the QPIII with red wires, no air trumpets etc that were discussed on this thread. I suspect that the odd placement of lights on the fender side must be part of these variations.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I concur that the euro bumper and lights best represents the original designer's intent for the car. Undoing USA-mandated bumpers seems to be an accepted practice on Boras, Meraks, and Khamsin, so I think there is a precedent there for what you are doing with your QP3. With regards to your current bumper fitment dilemma, I think you could go the Ma$$erati route and redo the holes one inch away from present locations, or you could perhaps resolve this by trimming down the plastic accordion piece down to make up the difference between the front and side bumpers. Cut the offending distance out of the accordions, glue them back together and paint matt black. Just a thought. Concours judges can recoil in horror as needed.

 

Hello Quattroporte3... I have removed the smog stuff from my '82.. Besides the airpump,
the diverter valve, and hoses, the air injection manifolds on the exhaust manifolds, along
with the exhaust injection pipes will need to be sealed.. There may be some timing issues
that will need to be resolved once the car is operational again..

Hope this helps..

Mike

 

Hi,
It looks like the starter gear hits the flywheel preventing the solenoid from pushing the small gear all the way out to complete the circuit and get the starter motor turning.
I actually filmed it.
http://ajptech.com/starter/

The starter and solenoid have been recently rebuilt. It works fine on the bench and then again in the car, but after a while it does this again.
This is a 1979 Euro version 5 speed.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tony

 

I removed all smog devices from my 85 , i also switched out the US intake manifold , carbs and aircleaner for the euro setup, best move you can make, make's carb work a breeze. I'm also considering doing a propane conversion, there's a manufacturer in Poland that make's a propane carburator that fits on the intake hoses for the air cleaner, makes it easy to do a dual fuel setup. Living in the desert the gas in the idle circuit jets dry's out and plugs the jets in about a week so you have to pull those jets often. The propane setup would solve that problem and i think improve mileage, i've done a number of duel fuel conversions on pick-up trucks and had great results. The tank is the engineering challenge, i think i'll put it were the gas tanks sits and then make dual fuel tanks, one on the left and one on the right. I found no issues with removing all smog related device's but i'm not a fan of air pollution so the propane conversion is the best solution for dependablity, fuel consumption,and air pollution to name just a few.

 

Incidentally there is a compete set for sale in the Netherlands @ 850 euros:

? Carburatore Maserati Quattroporte (manifold incl.) - Maserati-onderdelen - Marktplaats.nl

Is that a realistic price?

 

It turns out - in my case - the starter gear was not hitting the flywheel after all. Here's a write-up I created for MIE for the VCM Magazine:

QPIII 5 Speed Starter troubleshoot

One evening while attempting to start my car I got the dreaded "Click" while turning the key. It's a loud metal to metal sounding click coming from the starter itself. I've got a fairly new battery with clean, tight terminals. The starter was a fairly recent rebuild also.

To help troubleshoot I first made sure my battery had a full charge. Then I rigged up a set of "Hot wires" to connect to each other while under the car that applied 12 volts to the small Solenoid wire at the starter. This allowed me to observe the pinion gear meshing with the flywheel. I can see the starter's pinion gear move out slightly but not quite all the way. I looked like the loud click was the pinion gear not messing properly and hitting the flywheel. Very hard to tell from the only available viewing angle I had.

As a hunch I then connected a voltmeter to the large wire at the starter where it read 12 volts. It has to read 12 volts, its directly connected to the battery. I engaged the starter again via the "hot wire" and got the usual "click" however this time I see that my 12 volts dropped to 0! My battery? I thought. Its new, all connections are clean, tight and I had it charging all night.

So I turned on the headlights and tried. Again, Click and 12 dropped to 0 at the starter but headlights remained on and didn't dim at all so the only voltage drop was at the starter. To me, that indicates the large wire from the battery to the starter. What can be wrong with that? It's two feet long and like 1 gauge!

I go back to the battery and give that large starter wire a tug and it pulls right out of the clean tight terminal connector!!!! I pulled back the rubber boot on the connector and there's an Allen key that bears down on the wire. I took it apart, cleaned it all up, tightened the Allen nut onto the wire and vroom - the engine started!

I guess the starter actually begins turning prior to the pinion gear completely meshing with the flywheel which seems to me like it would grind but I guess not. It probably turns it's way into the flywheel preventing tooth to tooth collision.
Tony

 

Just measuring the voltage or continuity isn't enough. You must look for a drop in voltage under load. But don't even bother. Just give that wire a tug to be sure its firmly seated in the connector. In my car the connector is not a crimp type so its serviceable.

Also, just so you know I still occasionally get the turn the key and nothing happens syndrome. No loud click at the starter only the faint clicks of the small relays in the second fuse compartment.
I haven't gotten to the bottom of that yet because its so inconsistent. A good work-around is to install a male to female plug in the small starter wire somewhere near the positive terminal of the battery. My car already had a set there near the ignition resistors. In an emergency you can then temporarily unplug them allowing you to touch the small wire going to the starter solenoid directly to the battery and the engine always cranks. Just make sure you turn the ignition on first and the car is in neutral! The throttle linkage is conveniently located close by to give her gas if needed.

Now I'm in the middle of rebuilding the carbs. Never a dull moment!
Tony

 

Hello Quattroporte3 / Tony...

I just read QP3's entire blog... Excellent work.. I'm hoping I can live up to the same result.. My car was in worse shape when I got it.. Have been slowly working on it.. Please keep the blog posts coming!!!

Tony: Currently, I am also in the process of cleaning / rebuilding the carbs.. Quick ?, did
you take the carbs completely apart (ie: butterflies, butterfly shaft and assemblies) or just
the obvious carb top pieces? I removed the carb top and anything that was held in by a
screw, bolt, or was bolted on.. I did not remove the butterfly assemblies, and soaked the
whole carb body in carb cleaner. The butterfly assembly still feels a little sticky.... I am
thinking of disassembling the whole thing and trying again! What approach are you taking?

Mike

 

Hi Mike,
I did not disassemble the butterfly shafts. They all seem to be working smoothly. But I did remove everything else like the emulsion tubes and jets. Then I just sprayed everything with carb cleaner which melted off all the grunge. I also sprayed into every passage I could. I did not remove the tops of the starter valves (starter/choke circuit). They are spring loaded and I know I'd lose something there. Instead, after taking the starter valve cover off I just manually lifted each tube into its spring with a pick. While holding them up I sprayed under them one at a time.
These videos gave me the courage to do this as my last carb rebuild was many years ago as a teenager.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8maoWVXzg]42 DCNF Carb Rebuild(1/2) - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKvzHK5Skrs]42 DCNF Carb Rebuild(2/2) - YouTube[/ame]

Its a lot easier than I thought it would be.
Tony

 

Hello guys!

Short introduction, from Norway, have a QP III 4.9 1981.
Been a lurker for a while, not posting much, thought I just would say hello.
Enjoying reading the QPIII info on the forum.

My QPIII is my daily driver actually, which sounds like a crazy idea but so far it has worked perfectly. Had several Biturbo's and have a Merak as well as a 1992 2.24v.
My 2.24v has served as my daily driver for 4 years and 60 000kmtrs, best car I ever had.

Apart from an oil change lurking and a front suspension bushing change imminent, not much wrong with the car.

Cheers, Jarle, Norway

 

Crazy f'ing Berserker!

 

Hey Bob

Discovered who it was eh?

Well, nutcase idea I know, most people said the same when my 2.24v was my only car.

Hope all is well, how are the projects going?

 

Another one hit by the bug. Any chance of pictures???