Quattroporte III catch-all thread

shoud be back in the shop this week. quick to overheat. fixed it once. must not have solved the issue

 

Here is my fix for this. Replace the entire rad with a free flow core which is not that expensive. Make sure they respray the brackets also or it looks very odd (fresh paint against a rough bracket). Replace the thermostat and also do the hoses if they are old. You may need a water pump but likely not.

At the same time replace the cable for the heater lever as that is likely your problem. MIE has them.

Best

 

Nice to see you online again William, we've missed you here in the QP3 threads

Any news on your restomod or other cars?

 

The window price sticker for a black 1985 USA version car came as part of some other documents I bought on Ebay. Its VIN #ZAMBC1109FA305452. If the owner of this car is out there, PM me. I'll arrange to send you the sticker.
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This should have originally been posted here, not in the other thread:

1984 Maserati Quattroporte - italien Rolls Royce Service Neu*H-Zul | Classic Driver Market

1984 Maserati Quattroporte - 4.9/ Vollleder/ reduzierter Preis | Classic Driver Market

1984 Maserati Quattroporte - Quattroporte 4.9 ex-Roi du Maroc | Classic Driver Market

1983 Maserati Quattroporte - III 4,9 Manuale Neuwertig | Classic Driver Market

Something for everyone ;-)

 

Wow! A sell off.
What is that thing I've circled in the attached picture?
Tony

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That looks to me like an emergency hammer for breaking toughened glass, the kind of thing you see on public transport. I don't think it was offered as a factory option!

Anyone else?

Mark.

 

Hi Tony...

I agree with Mark, that is what it appears to be... But what is the small toggle switch
to the left of the console? Is that for an alarm system?

I think I went close by the town you live in Dec 22.. Unfortunately, it was late and we
had been on the road for about 11 hours already! One of these days, I will surprise
you and we'll get together for a beer!

Mike

 

Mark - It seems crazy to ruin the leather just to mount an emergency hammer.

Mike,
The toggle switch could be for anything. I have one (not mounted in the leather under the dash) to kill the cooling fans while cruising with the air on. Seems crazy to have them spinning while a 70 MPH wind is already flying through there.

There's also a small silver circle just ahead of that toggle switch. Wonder what that is?

I'll PM you my cell if you are in the neighborhood please call!
Tony

 

Couldn't agree more about the installation Tony, but it does look ever so similar to this - no?
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It sure does look like that. I'm hoping its some kind of stick on thing that leaves no residue!
t

 

Hey guys!

Inactive for some time, just been too busy with car projects, powerlifting competitions and family stuff..

Anyway, this autumn the QP3 got it's lingering coolant problem back again.
Prior owner had issues with this, and probably the owner before.

Anyway, the head is off, and it is quite clear that this car has been driven with coolant issues for some time. The chamber in the head is porous and the port is porous as well.
The piston is slightly damaged, but we will fix that with piston in the car.
This is the left head sitting in the car.

If anyone has a head lying around, preferrable in need of work, bad valves or similar.
Send me a PM and we'll discuss..

The head is repairable, but the question is if we're better off changing the head.

Another question is if anyone has gotten the right manifold off with the engine in the car??
I'd like to take off that air pump pipe on the manifold, that crap must affect flow badly.

Thanks guys!

 

Any QP3 guys around here thede days?

 

I haven't had time to do much at all lately, and lacking a garage the weather pretty much puts a stop to any work out on the sidewalk.

As far as I recall, William had or knew of a spare head, and I believe there's a guy in The Netherlands who probably has one, PM me for contact info.

If you get a chance to check, please let me know what you find as far as timing and carb jetting goes. My car gets about 10MPG pretty consistently, which is half of what you report - even with a damaged head/piston. I've tuned it myself and with the help of experts, all the numbers on the exhaust analyzer look perfect, the ColorTune shows a nice deep blue, all cylinders are firing, and the car still is a gas pig.

When spring gets here and I can work on the car outside, I plan on pulling the carbs and doing everything all over again, just to make sure. If I can find a dyno shop in the meantime I might put it on the dyno to see how much power is at the wheels.

It occurred to me that I might be losing power in the transmission, which was the first thing I rebuilt. Perhaps I messed something up and that's where all the power is being lost, which would result in poor performance and lackluster economy.

 

I'm not sure were your located but i have lots of quattroporte parts including heads, i also have new copper head gaskets, Dan Molnar 760-363-7448 California

 

Is the De Tomaso Deauville better than a Maserati Quattroporte? | Classic Driver Magazine

 

Just read it myself, love the article!

 

Auction results for ex-King of Morocco QPIII:
108 1983 Maserati Quattroporte No reserve $30,563 Sold
Rétromobile 2015 by Artcurial Motorcars - Sale N° 2651 - Lot N° 108 | Artcurial | Briest - Poulain - F. Tajan
Wow!

 

Nice!

Would that price be a reflection of the condition or the provenance, or both?

Here are a few others for sale, prices seem to be slowly rising:

1985 Maserati Quattroporte for Sale | ClassicCars.com | CC-609025

1985 Maserati Quattroporte Sedan for sale | Hemmings Motor News

1985 Maserati Quattroporte III for sale | Hemmings Motor News

1985 Maserati Other 1985 Maserati Quattroporte For Sale | OldRide.com

From $15 - 50k.

 

The red $48K car has been on the market for at least a year with no takers. I'm seeing sales happening for $11k-$13k for nice ones. I'd be looking hard at the blue one in Hemmings if I was in the market. That seems like a really nice car if there are no hidden issues. It has been offered on ebay and craigslist as well since around December.

 

On the advice of a few members here and some internet reading, I performed a very informal test this evening. Warmed Sylvia up and found an empty stretch of highway, got my stopwatch ready and floored it when I hit start.

As difficult as it is to be precise while watching the road, tach and stopwatch (iPhone) all at the same time, I ended up taking between 11-12 seconds on all three runs. Other owners and period reviews indicate I should be seeing anywhere between 7-9 seconds for 0-60.

I also did a "Stall Speed Test", i.e. kept the brakes depressed and hit the gas until the tach stopped rising. In both D and 2 the rpms stopped climbing at 2100rpm.

There isn't any mention in the manual what stall speed the torque converter has, but the shop that helped rebuild the transmission said it was a standard Chrysler TQ, nothing special (except the the timing marks neither of us saw, and which weren't added to the replacement unit). I have the Munroe Torqueflite book, but obviously torque converter stall speeds aren't listed for the Maserati 4.9l V8. Since engine torque affects stall speed, I can't simply look at a 300cubic inch American equivalent engine rating.

Anyway, I wondered if these numbers seem typical to other QP3 owners. I will get it on a dyno at some point, and will figure this out. It may take me a while, we'll see.

 

I am considering selling my fully sorted, rust free(calif.) car $18,000. since purchased $14,000 spent to make sure all works, including the very last new HYVAC system MIE had. I have found a Saudi car. one of five made. it will need a ton of money to bring back alive

 

It's my opinion that a quattroporte 3 is one of the best value's out there.Think about it, this car is built like a tank, all aluminum V8, webbers, all leather interior, next to nothing when it comes to computers or plastic! I think it's a great car so much so that i'm doing a dual fuel set-up on mine, i purchased a set of propane carburators from poland (BLOS) and i'm proceeding with the conversion as time permits. These propane carbs are sweet, they attach to the inlet snorkels of the air cleaner, webbers stay where they are and when you wish to run the car on gas you flip the switch that shuts off the propane and starts the electric fuel pumps. I've done a number of these types of conversions on domestic work vehicals with great success. Looking forward to getting this car up and running on propane!

 

Estimation 10 000 - 14 000 €
Sold for 22,648 €

Decent result for the green QP III

 

Great to see you around here again William, how are things?

Still working on the upgraded/improved QP3 you were thinking about?