Chronicles of Barron

After playing with my car for a month or so I've decided it's time to do some work, it's been on the lift for a few weeks and all I've done is observe lots of infractions. It's getting overwhelming. It's an 83 euro qv, I paid top dollar on this thing with no records and mysterious history. I bought into the hype that if I don't do it today, next year I won't be able to. This is the model I always wanted, euro (non emission) 4 cam engine, runs pretty good drives straight. Motor is filthy, oil leaks seemingly everywhere. I've joked that everything wrong with 308's is on my car. Needs a clutch, belts, who knows what else... The point of this thread is to chronicle everything in one spot to create its own history, it's useless to start asking questions in separate threads because I've found everything about these cars are on the search function, literally everything. It's more effort to ask than to search. I'll be including pictures along the way, I hate when there's no pictures, fellas, if you ask a question on the board include a picture of your car, dog, girlfriend doing cartwheels, anything.
The car: only history of the car I have is that the speedo was changed from kilo to mph at 37k miles, it now has 10k on speedo so it's 50k miles, last owner was in New Jersey and only shows one receipt for water pump. Has updated water hoses, couple of them have gone bad, updated fuel, kinda, clear vent lines anyway.

 

Pix,
The day I got it in Stockton, the guy that advertises heavily on Craigslist is a dealer, undercover one, misrepresented the car, I had no idea what I was looking at, you see a shiny red car, pfft it's over, buy buy buy. Now that I've been doing my homework, it's an ok car, just ok. He bought it for 28k on eBay and 30 days later I paid 40.
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I still love the thing. I wanted this to play around with in the shop, new challenge, I've done quite a few cars and motorcycles in my years, I owned an ill fated dealership franchise called easyriders in Bellevue Washington. I still build but it's only for me, and I sell them off cheap. Keeps me from going insane.

 

I ordered a pile of parts from superformance, clutch, belts, some seals, plugs, just to get started. This car will be getting gloss black wheels and probably some stripes, I can't leave anything alone, ever. The wheels are 16"ers lots of curb action on them so I had them broken down so I can repair and send out for powdercoat, some dummy put sticker weights on the outside of the rim, what kind of shop does that?
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Hovercar
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I did get lucky, someone added relays for the lights. I also scored birdman blocks off my local craigslist, already installed them, heated fuse problem went away instantly
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Through my digging I did find a power robbing broken ground, pretty sure after I fixed it I boosted hp by 10%
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You might want to pull the engine on this one. It'll be easier to clean, easier to do the valve adjustment, easier to replace the cam drive bearings and main seals if they need it, easier to replace the shift shaft seals, easier to give the motor a careful going-over.

(full disclosure: this past summer I did outer cam drive bearings and valve adjustment on all four banks with the motor in the car and pulling the camshafts. A few things more to fix, more leaks to deal with, or a bit less familiar with the car, and I would have saved time taking the engine out. YMMV).

Have you done a compression and/or a leakdown test?

 

Have not done a leakdown, no indicators that there's lack of performance, pulls hard and strong, gets up to a hundred on the freeway on ramp, pretty sure I have the fastest ferrari out there. The engine out thing has me worried, I don't want to become "VonBarron, a shipwrights tale. I like the idea of fixes with a test drive right after

 

Well congratulations on buying the car, it's a great model. One way or another, when you sort out the whole car you'll have something really great.

 

If it makes you feel any better, solid euro QVs are not very common and when one pops up that fits what you're looking for, you should move quickly. Maybe you paid a bit more than you could have (honestly that price isn't terrible, the dealer stole it), but you have a strong running car that just needs a lot of deferred maintenance. Sounds like you're taking care of that right now, and you'll have a very good car in short order! Congratulations!

 

That's reasonable too, especially because you have a lift which makes engine-in-car work a lot easier.

Like you, I bought my '81 GTSi without a PPI, and like you I didn't mess with a compression or leakdown test because I was confident that the motor was strong. It's turned out just fine - although it helps that I count the hours wrenching on the car as entertainment.

 

It's sparkplug night, looks like I have Bosch wires and was running Bosch plugs, I'm switching to iridiums
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Plug
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I'm not sure if I'm offended or not.

 

Be offended...just for entertainment value...

 

I am going to be interested in following your tale for sure!!

Thanks for posting it all!!



PDG

 

You shouldn't be, not yet.... The more I play with this thing, the more I want to tear it down and start over, then I snap out of it and and remember this thing runs great. I'll do all the major then go back and pick my battles. I have flashing images of the car pushed in the corner, engine on a cart then bam, I'm telling some kid that I pulled the motor when I was 45 and now that I'm 60 im ready to let it go

 

Oh and regarding spark plug night (yesterday) I changed them all out then realized I wanted to leave the plugs out so its easier to do the belt change. Stupid ferrari

 

[QUOTE=pulls hard and strong, gets up to a hundred on the freeway on ramp, pretty sure I have the fastest ferrari out there.


Von, Since you really don't know much about what's going on inside the engine, I would go easy on the car if I were you. I wouldn't even start the motor until I ripped it apart and had everything sorted out.

You sound excited (and a bit stressed out) so just take it slow, do it right, and have a good time.

Good Luck!

 

It's on the lift for the winter, go thru it slow make a list. I've got other stuff to goof around with for the meanwhile, this one is old reliable, drive it year around and never has problems. Took 5 years to put it together. I've been forced to learn patience
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I'll bet your Ferrari feels like a Cadillac after driving that beast How did you pull off making that street legal? It looks like a blast to buzz around

 

Well it's an original titled 1917 maxwell speedster, tossed a taillight and some driving lights on it, legal. Surprisingly stable at high speeds, quarter elliptical suspension. The little ferrari corners a wee bit nicer, doesn't give you the "oh sh** what have I done" feeling

 

Depending on alloy, whether aluminum or magnesium, exposure to elevated temperatures associated with powder coating can result in a significant decrease in mechanical properties (>10%). Google will find many references pertaining to powder coating magnesium, but most of them are related to non-structural parts such as cam covers. Just something to consider.

 

The Maxwell looks perfect for those who think the Lotus Super 7 is just too big. That's a cool car. Is the saddle part of the original design?