I always thought this was a nice photo of a European car. The photo was taken by me at the 2003 Concorso Italiano, the owners name was Wurth or something like that. Nice color combination. FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login
My Bora AM117-49-510 on the lawn at Le Belle Macchine D'Europa. Photos courtesy of Slamapa photography Image Unavailable, Please Login
Those are very nice. Did they get any of the two other Boras? The red one left early so I never got any photos. Too many of those liquid Maseratis perhaps? I think we had the most fun group of enthusiasts there that day.
Frank I think that's Wilson Werhan's car. I had a nice conversation with him in 2012 where I found out that he used to be Bob Grossman's partner way back in the day. Bob was a very good friend of the family of the guys working on my Espada's interior too! He also attended many of the Le Belle Macchine events out here. It's such a very small community. BTW, for all of you older Maserati and in particular Bora fans who remember uber Bora expert and fan George Marin, his beloved Pat passed last Friday morning. George and Pat were among the first to welcome us so warmly into the Maserati family back then and that was at the infamous dinner served on a big tent on the lawn at Quail Lodge with sprinklers dessert served as a final panic course! He also help me construct the "special award" Frank received for that freak outing the following year - a polished RainBird sprinkler head on a block of walnut with a plaque. George and Pat have remained close friends ever since. I will miss her greatly. George's old car was beautifully restored several years ago by a good local shop in Santa Cruz and I think it's shown at Concourso every year now?
I think I took a couple which can be seen in that events thread via a link to Flickr. I've heard that other event photos are coming.
There are some good pics of that and many other great cars at that event. Check out slamapa "motorsport events"
Looks fantastic in that colour. What kind of silver? colour? Original? Any paint code for it? Regards, Martin
It's better in person! I like the stock silver color with red too but this is even better. There were three very nice Boras there including Tom's very early example. It was interesting to see the production changes between that and the later two cars. The Boras took 1,2 & 3 in the V8 category that's a first for that show.
Thanks for the compliment Bob & Martin. The records I received with the car included a letter dated 11/18/1988 from MIE stating the color used was Sikkens "FER-9101" Auto base tinted to match as close as possible to Glidden Salchi "Argento Auteil Metallizzato" 106-E-1 (as seen in Ivan's "paint codes & formulas" thread.
It was very nice to meet the Trident family and I agree that the Maserati tent was the place to be. I didn't have a chance to take any pictures during the day but I did manage to get a couple of shots on the beautiful grounds of Skytop. I like the last shot of my car hanging with a younger Italian cousin. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Boras do look good in black. I'm partial to the darker colors having the stainless rockers. A bunch were made up back in the late 1990's or early 2000? BTW, I just found this and it's pretty interesting for Bora owners! DeLorean PJ Grady Europe - Maserati Image Unavailable, Please Login
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Found this one also, looks pretty good in Giallo with polished stainless rockers. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The resto has commenced on 1117157. Any suggestions, or comments, i should be made aware of during the process would be much appreciated. I intend to bring it back to the original factory color Verde Indy. Greg Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes. Engine and gearbox out. Rebuild the engine , complete suspension ,brake steering and hydraulic rebuild.Windows out and bare metal respray. I will attempt to keep the interior but will have to change the carpets as they have soaked up years of the green stuff.
OK a few suggestions then. You do know that you can drop the entire subframe with engine, transaxle and wheels on bard right? Then if you support the collapsing suspension arms you can attach a pair of caters to the front subframe mounts and wheel the the entire assembly around on the shop floor. What I found difficult was detaching all of the various wires and hoses. So I picked strategic spots for the ones I could not get loosened properly and simply cut them with the idea of putting connectors in those spots so that installation and removal would be much easier after that. That worked very nicely. A large welding cable connector works very well for the starter cable. Photograph everything from many different angles. MY car had zero paint underneath a lot of that undercoating that extends into the engine compartment. I had the subframe powder coated but at that time the coverage wasn't as complete as I liked and I had to do some touch up. I replaced those metal brake line retention tabs with SS straps. Don't use vinyl as the insulator because the heat from the deaders turns it acidic and it eats through the brake lines. Mine literally fell in half when I removed them. There's a MIE warning alert out there about this for ALL Boras. There are some articles in MIE about enlarging the access hole for the distbutor and adding another one behind the drivers seat - all invisible unless the seats are out. These are really a good idea if you intend to use the car otherwise no. When I did mine there was no truck bed liner spray available but if I were doing it today that's what I would put on the engine side of that fiberglass bulkhead. Remove the rear double pain glass and have a glass shop turn it into a true thermopane panel. You can reutilize the existing rubber gasket for mounting by cutting out the center bead with a hooked linoleum knife. I painted my engine compartment and suspension pieces with Imron semi-gloss black. The stuff is like iron and looks much better than powdercoating. I wouldn't wish the job of painting that engine compartment in black on my worst enemy though. It's very hard to see and with Imron you need a complete external breathing system. Then you have to stand in the middle of it, not bump into anything while try to paint black paint, see what you're doing and drag multiple hoses around. I bought a special attachment for painting the insides of pipes (it's cheap) for my spray gun. I used this to paint the interiors of the frame in the engine compartment as well as those side chassis pieces with the holes in Por-15. Those rear aluminum hub carriers that are rough cast with a gold zinc plate always got so dirty all the time that I had them powdercoated in gold instead and it's not very noticeable except that there isn't dirt hanging all over them any longer. The gas tank needs a much better heat shield and the original 1" fiberglass can get water soaked. Think about making better heats shields and even adding a few as well if you like. One for the fuel pumps is a good idea and it won't show. I added one for the LHM tank & equipment in a double wall SS construction but that DOES show. You could make it slid in removeable for shows though. It's a very different market place now than it was back in 1990 when I did mine so an originality appearance is more of an issue now. But if you insist on putting exactly back stock then for gods sake don't drive it very much. The originals didn't hold up so well. They also weren't very well finished in the engine compartments back then. Today every polishes fixes almost every anomaly they find. You will find plenty .. Have fun, I know I did and it turned out great.
Roberto. Some great suggestion you have outlined. Thanks and i will update the progress as it happens. Greg
Hi all, i'm starting also the resto of my 74 AM117740 eurospec 4.7. only 18000 km on the clock. I've first recommisionned the beast : basic engine servicing, restart, new clutch slave and master actuators, hydraulics overhaul etc. I've already "saved" and rebuilt the seats and all the interiors except the carpets which need to be replaced (too much stained, not by the "vino verde") Found few corrosion but two pin holes in the left floor pan. i'll try to complete all forward section resto survey, made few welding and repairs then restart engine and drive the car a few miles to assess engine "health" before removing sub frame for resto of the aft section and bare metal respray. I may need open the engine : it starts and run like a swiss watch but i've run it with a mix of gas and synthetic 2 stroke oil to lube everything "by the top" just in case : so it's a little bit "smoky" therefore i need to run it with pure gas and to recheck compression and oil consumption among other things before taking decision for a deeper overhaul. so far i found only one odd thing : some recess and "wrinkled" sheet metal in the "box" between the floor, pedals and the "steering box" compartment, driver side. Looks like one welded square section small steel rod is missing (2 on the right side, only one left side and something looking like welding joint and a small hole in this "box" between pedals and steering box compartment. My car is very original : i was surprised there is no paint or anything else than the "tar" protection on the underneath of the floors and NO corrosion ! No paint at all on the fromt bulkhead from the floor pan to the instrument panel. I've cleaned everything and put some Hammerite there : big risk of corrosion with the clutch tank atop this area : just few drops of the DOT mixture can made havoc with the paint and the steel in this area. look for water ingress between the 'shield and the body, and the wiper motor shaft grommet and body : i've seen a pristine looking Merak with no steel remaining in this area due to corrosion. nice paint but the corrosion worm made his job underneath. I've also found corrosion at the bottom of the door panels : not too much and still "weldable". corrosion has been made by accumulation of mud and dirt coming from the windows brushes. Generally speaking my Bora is surprisingly solid for a 40 Y old classic Italian car. Use of thick and good quality steel is even more surprising. I'm still seeking the bushing and gear set connecting the gearbox and the speedo cable square end. Both have been lost during reassembly and transport of the car to my home. I'll try to post pictures of the Beast asap. Cheers
