The BORA | Page 24 | FerrariChat

The BORA

Discussion in 'Maserati' started by wbaeumer, Aug 11, 2011.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. GLB

    GLB Formula Junior

    Oct 27, 2010
    303
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    George Lawrence Brantingham
    Yes, that too, of course, but I was referring to a specific Bora problem, as shown here. The mounting bracket (forcellina) gets twisted if not held during tightening. It is not keyed.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  2. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,366
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    Glad you clarified that. Top, X brace should be in place as well before alignment. Have you replaced all those dangerous vinyl tubing brake line insulators? They turn caustic with heat and age and will cause the brake lines to be eaten through.
     
  3. GLB

    GLB Formula Junior

    Oct 27, 2010
    303
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    George Lawrence Brantingham
    Not yet, though I intend to. I pulled the drivetrain to replace the water pump, then got sucked in by the "while I'm here" syndrome. The biggest side job has been to complete the rear Euro bumper installation that the previous owner barely started.
     
  4. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,008
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    My Bora's oil pressure gauge has been acting in ways that does not make too much sense. In order to check the accuracy of the gauge I decided to temporarily install a mechanical oil gauge. My first inclination was to remove the existing oil sending unit (which on a Bora is located next to the oil filter) and tap into the oil at that location. I then recalled that on a Ghibli the oil pressure sending unit is located on top of the engine; and next to the Bora's clutch slave cylinder I found a capping bolt that leads to the oil gallery. A mechanical oil gauge can therefore be installed while leaving the electrical gauge still connected.

    My electrical gauge is extremely inaccurate! Sometimes as much as 40 psi. It tends to be more inaccurate at lower pressures and changes in pressures (ie: hard acceleration) are jumpy on the electrical gauge while smooth on the mechanical gauge. A new sending unit has been ordered.

    Ivan

    Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  5. Froggie

    Froggie Formula Junior

    Sep 27, 2017
    476
    Belgium
    Full Name:
    Serge
    Good tip.
    Would it be worth replacing the electrical gauge by a mechanical one if the measure is more accurate and smooth? (maybe difficult to reroute a line up to the dashboard...)
     
  6. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,008
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    I prefer to keep my Bora as original as possible. While the electric gauge will most likely never be as accurate as the mechanical one, if it is within 20%, I'll be ok with it.

    The original sending units were not bad but tend to read low as they age. It is not uncommon to see the oil needle point to zero at idle (when hot) on cars with the original sending unit, when in reality the engine is running 20 psi of oil pressure. I think the sending units currently available are aftermarket and not the original Veglia. These tend to read higher that actual.

    Ivan
     
    Froggie likes this.
  7. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,366
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    Back when I seriously contemplated doing a Euro bumper conversion I was always try to get someone to document this. Yeah it's a big deal to do it 100% right. Making the engine compartment a well done thing is a huge task in a Bora as they were finished so poorly.
     
  8. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,366
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    George Marin had a mechanical oil pressure gauge mounted to the top cross rail on his Bora so he could always read it via the rear view mirror.
     
    71Satisfaction and Froggie like this.
  9. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    FYI:

    1972 Maserati Ghibli

    1972 Maserati SOLD $320,406 USD

    Ghibli SS 4.9 EST. PRICE $275.48K-$325.57K USD

    EXTERIOR Dark Blue Metallic
    BONHAMS
    INTERIOR Black
    Lot 360 Goodwood: Festival of Speed
    ODOMETER 44915 mi
    CHASSIS Nº AM115/49 2452
    July 5, 2019 11:29AM (EST)
     
  10. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,008
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    Bora - Guide to Authenticity

    I few years ago I wrote an authenticity guide for the Ghibli and given that over the year I've also owned a few Boras, and my current Bora is rather original, I thought it would be a worthwhile to tackle a new project. This is the first draft of the Bora Guide to Authenticity and would welcome contributions and comments from other Bora owners.

    I tried to attach the PDF file to this posting but at 5MB the file is too big. Just follow this link to my website:
    http://thecarnut.com/Manuals/Bora_Guide_to_Authenticity.pdf

    Ivan
     
  11. Froggie

    Froggie Formula Junior

    Sep 27, 2017
    476
    Belgium
    Full Name:
    Serge
    Your guide on the Ghibli was already very useful.
    Thanks again for this new one on the Bora, very detailed and interesting!
     
  12. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,366
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    Looks good to me Ivan though I probably haven't seen enough of the early cars and mostly USA. I did see an early European Bora that had the Trident cast into the tail lights. That's got to be quite rare. Scott Mclure's car at one time. Ignition wires are a curious thing. My car which is the last production Bora, came with a set of QPIII ignition wires instead of what most got. Now my car had 3,000 miles on it when I got it and that was consistent with the tire age and wear so unless one of the PO's put a new set of ignition wires on it at such a low mileage they're original. I've always found them preferable.

    The other thing is head (not cam cover) painting. Mine were wrinkle painted and when I painted them again I found out why. The exterior of the castings near the end of the production was pretty rough and the wrinkle hides that.
     
    71Satisfaction likes this.
  13. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,008
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    Mine, which is just two cars before yours, has the Cavis spark plug wires which are the same as the Ghibli. This is something I meant to put in the Guide and forgot to add. The Trident on the tail light was used on some of the late Ghibli and Indy. the Indy 4900 that I am selling for a friend has those tail lights with the Trident; they look cool. I would expect some of the early Boras to have those tail lights.

    I believe the heads were always originally wrinkled finished; same as the previous inline and V8 models. The wrinkle finish would fall off and many people do not apply wrinkle paint when the heads are re-done.

    My car has cooling fins on one of the radiator pipes. I've never seen this before so I question if its original. Does your car have the same fins?

    Ivan
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    71Satisfaction likes this.
  14. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 4, 2006
    10,147
    opposite lock
    Full Name:
    Marc Sonnery
    Ivan excellent work well done, most useful. Will read through and let you know anything I may be able to contribute, including some details about the very early cars.
     
  15. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    Hello Ivan---

    Had no idea you were working on such a project!
    Fantastic effort of love, dedication and knowledge!

    Went through in detail---could not find even one factually incorrect entry.

    Thank you.

    B

    PS First time I see the cooling fins. OEM or not love the concept!
     
  16. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
  17. emsiegel13

    emsiegel13 Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 9, 2007
    501
    Grayslake, Illinis
    Full Name:
    Elliot M. Siegel
    Did the early, non vented cars, have the radiator venting to the wheel wells? I seem to remember something about that but I can't verify it. If so, it should be part of the authenticity information.
     
  18. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    Not on my Euro 1972.
     
  19. emsiegel13

    emsiegel13 Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 9, 2007
    501
    Grayslake, Illinis
    Full Name:
    Elliot M. Siegel
    On a front engined car the air goes out around and out from the engine compartment underneath. Since the early Bora didn't have a deckled vent, I'm still confused as to where the air coming through the radiator exited, as the trunk was behind the radiator and the air had to go somewhere.
     
  20. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    You are absolutely right---and have hit the nail on the head re another very major overheating issue!

    This is why the front trunk turns into an oven.
    The OEM problem becomes incredibly compounded when you discard the anemic fans in favor of the monster Spals---

    The scariest thing you will note is that the car is now going to run EVEN HOTTER!

    YES...Hotter.

    The new fans are now producing so much extracted heat from the radiator that the entire dead-end system simply locks up with nowhere for the air to escape!

    Therefore, no choice but to cut open vents underneath trunk and create an escape route for the massive trapped heat.

    First drive after that, you will be screaming for joy---and never forget it!

    Regards.
     
  21. emsiegel13

    emsiegel13 Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 9, 2007
    501
    Grayslake, Illinis
    Full Name:
    Elliot M. Siegel
    So back to my original question on Bora that didn't have the deck lid vent. Did the factory have some sort of opening for the air to escape to once it went through the radiator? Somehow I would think that the factory knew that the air coming through the radiator had to go someplace. If they did, where did it exit on the pre vent cars? Just curiosity on my part as my Bora is a very late model and has the deck lid vent and Spal fans as well as adding some panels on either side of the radiator to direct all the air through the radiator and out the deck lid vent. Also it came with the additional air intakes under the bumper and I ditched the US bumpers for original factory replacements. That gives me a lot of surface area for incoming air.
     
  22. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    Sorry. Maybe I was not clear. Everything I wrote applies to my Factory Euro 4.7 Bora which has NO hood vents. My response was in answer to your precise question.
    Thanks.
     
  23. GLB

    GLB Formula Junior

    Oct 27, 2010
    303
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    George Lawrence Brantingham
    A few little things: late Boras have two large oval vents in the front valance. Sometimes this area was painted flat black. Early cars had no holes. I would have said this was correlated with the hood vents, but the cover car on your document has valance holes, but no hood vent, so...
    I think at least '74 US cars had bumperettes on the rear and dampers as in this picture Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Notice also another variant on license plate lights. It is just speculation, but I had a Merak a while back and looked into a bumper conversion. It seems that the Merak had two levels of overriders - this style for '73 and some huge ones with even larger front "claws" in '74, as in this picture:
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    I've never seen a Bora with these monsters but I wonder why the Merak needed them?
    - My '77, US974, has the underside of the clamshell and side panels painted body color. I can't guarantee it's original, but it would seem to be a lot of work to go to to change it.
    - I've seen a couple of Boras with these hubcaps:
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Aftermarket or interim?
    -
     
  24. boralogist

    boralogist Formula Junior

    Jun 21, 2005
    998
    I have never seen these before. Any details, either way, would be immensely appreciated.
    Thanks.
     
  25. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,008
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    You are correct about the USA rear bumper over rider in 1974. Is that copper car #766?

    Never seen those wheel center caps before. Would be interesting to get comments from someone that owns a Bora with these wheel caps.

    Bora #998 has black paint on the underside of the clamshell. It would be interesting to learn from Bora owners close to #974 to see if their clamshell is also painted body color. I use to own #964, and have photos of that car, but that car had a black exterior, so it does not help.

    Ivan
     

Share This Page