1286 was originally Verde pino. Then it was repainted jade, black with a hint of green, I inspected it in April 2013 near Pittsburgh. It was bought right then by a Frenchman living around Milan who still owns the car. Hopefully they will put it back to Verde pino.
Hello All... Not sure pictures were posted of the steering hardner before, so here are 4 of the item that came off my car (1120)... If pictures were posted before, my apologies and please disregard.... Mike Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I can confirm, photo on the same site shows part of registration first seen April 1 2021. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I should know this..but I will ask... Is this a steering hardener (increases/decreases effort to turn wheel at different speeds) or more of a centering device responsible for centering the steering wheel when released? I understand inside there is a heart [emoji178] shaped channel/guide that does get pressure based on speed to force or encourage centering....but not really understood the sensitivity/stiffness perspective. Does anyone have a diagram of that to partner with these external pictures? Thank you, Richard Ps. I fear I have asked this before and also did receive an explanation..but cannot find it..I will search one more time.
Well I did finally find with a cup of tea (caffeine helped) post 5175 and a few others that describe that the speed sensitivity is more related to human pressure required to be off centre about 30mph.. I'll read more again... I still find the steering too light.. so perhaps belts need replacing... Too many projects in life...and not enough empty roads to get to each. Enjoy your Sundays! r
I'll go out and say it ..... I find the Khamsin's self-centering steering the car's weak point. Yes, it can be dominated but it is never satisfying. A traditional ZF style power steering would have been MUCH better. Okay Marc, you can now stick a needle into my voodo doll Ivan
Love my Khamsin, but if we’re being honest, it would have served both the Khamsin and the Bora better if they were conventional brakes, steering etc. although the assisted clutch in the Khamsin is great, it could also have been achieved using conventional parts.
Love the assisted clutch, something the Bora really needs. Brakes I like, especially when it comes to rebuilding calipers. Could do without all the Bosch high pressure accessories. As was demonstrated on the Merak SS the electric motor from a Fiat X1/9 work just as well for lifting the headlights without the need to be plumbing high pressure fluid. Ivan
I have no problems with the brakes except that they ARE a bit touchy at times and in the wet that's not cool but ... at speed these things are very powerful. Nuff LHM bashing. Just remember the extreme superiority of the fluid over standard brake fluid when it comes to corrosion. Rolls/Bentley ended up using the same systems for a lot of things but not the steering. I used to got to the Rolls dealer in Marin county to get my LHM when I lived out there. I've never experience the Khamsin's clutch. The one I drove belonged to Gene O'Gorman and it was an automatic. I called him on the phone one day after going through the MCI register and asked if I could try out his car and he said "Sure Bob come on over." That's the sort of folks we had in the Maserati club in N. California back then. A few are still left ...
It’s not a matter of bashing the cars because they have Vulcan blood. It’s just that the cars would have been more accepted if they had conventional systems and it does hurt their desirability, no matter the virtues of the system
In terms of how the Khamsin was built there was some showboating by Giulio Alfieri who had quite the ego. Two things: it was he who asked for Citroen hydraulics, NOT Citroen who imposed them. The brakes are just much more powerful than what was on a Ghibli for example, test driver Giancarlo Martinelli took a Khamsin to run an errand in Turin and while heading there from Modena a truck pulled out in front of him in the worst possible way and he told me: "In a Ghibli me and my wife would have been gone." Instead whilst the front tires suffered in this life or death moment there was no collision and they were able to continue their travels. These brakes just do not fade, including during a track day while rival cars run ouf of anchors all too soon. His colleague Cleto Grandi who helped Alfieri in R & D said there had been talk of a spring to make the brake pedal feel harder and this facilitating modulation...but it was such a troubled period that it did not happen. The clutch is wonderfully light and even a tiny lady can deal with a K in the worst traffic jams thanks also to the steering, try that in other GT cars of that era....good luck. The steering just takes some getting used to but once accustomed to it there is in my humble view nothing better out there and remember this was revolutionary technology back then, inaugurated in 1970, 51 years ago, on the SM. On twisty roads it is unbeatable in precision. Alfieri's showboating-the unnecessary hydraulic operation of the headlights and of the driver's seat- was allowed to become reality because Citroen, in this case its President Pierre Bercot and his delegated administrator at Maserati, de facto Trident CEO Guy Malleret did not realize that Alfieri needed to kept on a tight leash, in fact the Orsi's did not warn Citroen about that aspect of his persona. The Orsis, Adolfo and his son Omar were forever restraining Alfieri. He was absolutely brilliant and a massive contributor to Maserati history and brilliance yes but he also had some wild ideas, some spendthrift ones and made errors. They and others did block him for one thing, off topic in this thread but worth mentioning briefly: for the Bora he wanted the chassis itself to be the fuel tank...but got voted out. Last but not least reliability, I have stated it before the rumors are just that, at KHAMSIN QUARANTA 3 were flatbedded by choice there and back but 24 of the 27 Khamsins from seven countries were driven across Europe and back about 38000kms total, only ONE had a small issue solved by the side of the road in 30 minutes. All loved their trips.
I think that says a lot more about the ignorance of the marketplace. My personal exception to that is the steering. I'd guess that's the most off putting "feature" for many drivers. Mechanics bemoan it because it's not as simple to repair as the other cars from that era but look at how complex the cars now for these systems. Yikes! So on balance I think it's still mostly prejudice but if you prefer the feel of a careful designed and simpler strictly standard then these cars are not for you. Hydraulic oil leaks from seat and pedal mechanisms that stain your Gucci loafers does not endear these cars to their well heeled owners but hey ... at least the windows were electric!
A stirring defense Marc! Given the compact nature of the seating area I'm not sure how else other than a manually operated seat he could have implemented the static positioning of the seat with moving pedals and that didn't fit the luxury image of Maserati. At least on the Bora. The height and reach of the steering wheel were manual though. I don't think there were any electric motors available to them at that time which could have operate that admittedly strange rocking height adjustment in such a confines space. It is an amazingly compact system and simple system but they leak eventually ... I know of one person who thought we was going to do it to his Bora and hated all of the LHM stuff so much that he stripped it all out and auctioned it off on eBay! Pedal assembly include! He ended up losing the car after 9/11 in a very sad personal story. I know his Ghibli's chassis number but not that of his Bora. I bet Joe does. I wonder where that car is today? The last I knew it was at DeGroot's place in Frenchtown NJ (since moved). I can assure you that he'd NEVER have purchased a Khamsin as his distaste for the system bordered on the pathological. I think that the DeGroots really did try reunite him with his Bora.
Wrt the LHM technology in Maserati's: it was introduced on the Bora in 1971 (and later also used on the K from 1974 onwards) and used in many systems in both cars (braking, clutch, pedal adjustment, beams and steering). Then abandoned in the late Meraks, the QP III and the Kyalami. The Indy systems were designed earlier than the Bora and K, since the Indy production started in 1969. Nevertheless, its braking system was modified to accomodate the LHM technology in the late 4900 Indys of 1974-1975. In my late LHM Indy, I think that the conventional power assisted is very good and the clutch quite smooth (it has the latest ZF gearbox). But I am wondering why, at a period when the LHM technology was the hype at the Maserati factory, only the braking system of the Indy was shifted to LHM in 1974 and no other systems: would it have been too complex to also modify them while it was simple enough to do so for braking? Lastly, a question about LHM braking non fading: I understand that LHM does not easily boil at high temp because of the very high pressure in the system. But what about the very high temps on the steel discs in case of strong/prolonged/repeated braking?
Well I never damaged a set of rotors at the track but then I was running at the Pocono track which is a tri oval configuration that was modified to cut off the last big turn and and send us into an infield course. So we had one big braking spot when turning into the infield, some braking in the infield itself then a very long 2/3rds of the track to cool off. A friends Bora went through a set of pads in a day their once. They were aftermarket Pantera front pads (identical pattern) so I don't know the quality of the material. He destroyed them so we drove to my house in NJ and I gave him a set of OEM Maserati pads that I had and he carried on perfectly. On a track like Watkins Glen or Summit point I don't know how well the rotors would have held up ... Certainly the calipers and hydraulic system were up to the match. As Marc can attest, back in the day at least one of the two Thepenier Boras did testing with the LHM system in place. I beleive #3000 had it removed later in life for the Shell Vintage racing series where it spanked some Daytonas!
3000 still had the LHM system on when jean Guikas beat all Ferraris including a Daytona Group 4 at Vallelunga during a Ferrari Maserati Historic challenge race around 20 years ago. He also had a podium on the small permanent Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in the rain. It is only years ater that he sold it to a German or Swiss chap who asked for the system to be removed...and crashed without injury straight on first turn of his first lap ever in the car at le Grand Sambuc a small test track: serves him right. Jean bought the car back right away and thereafter fitted some standard racing brakes which is what it had when I drove it in June 2009 at Paul Ricard. He told me last Monday that he is reawakening it for some historic racing; hurray! 3001 still has the LHM system but this car has not been outdoors since I drove it July 1995 on the Jean Pierre Beltoise safety track in Trappes outside Paris....sad. Now back to Khamsins
In Khamsin news I am happy to share the fact that I sold 1266 from a very nice caring owner in Canada to the US this weekend, completed 30/8/78 in rosso fuoco (fire red which of course is not a color that suits K's) black 5 speed and delivered to Maserati of Baltimore a very nice car restored and conveted to Euro bumpers and sidelights about ten year ago in New York state where it was repainted from bare metal to gorgeous Burgundy then sold to California, Georgia and to the seller in the Toronto area. Due to travel restrictions the buyer could not travel to inspect it but it was our good luck that Richard (aka 010 on Fchat) owner of chassis 010 lived nearby and was able to right away inspect it...for six hours! Talk about enthusiasm! He got to enjoy a very nice meal with fine wine for his troubles I bet he learned a lot and his glowing report on the car sealed the deal. Of course freight can travel as normal so very soon the car will head south to a very meticulous owner Two restoration photos and some taken recently. It was also featured in an article when in Georgia, I might post that later. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
“The steering …….. On twisty roads it is unbeatable in precision” When I read this I thought, yes that´s my experience too. I really like that precision, and I think that it got even better after new front shock absorbers were installed last year on my Khamsin.
oh,..you know how much I agree.. ...But it's not over til it's over: I insist on believing that Alfieri would *not* have let the public buy the Khamsin with the steering as imprecise and inconsistent as mine feels. ...Ergo: There MUST be adjustability and tuning that yields better results than I am experiencing with my long-neglected, under-maintained #1196. I will test mine vs my friend's #1180 and work with Dave Burnham or some SM experts at this fall's Citroen Rendezvous to achieve the proper rack alignment, steering box adjustments, and suspension alignment until it stops 'wandering' at the center, and giving inconsistent boost. Only then will I judge the steering. But the Khamsin has a very high standard to meet if it wants to be compared to the Bora. - Art Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lovely..! Please welcome the new buyer to the forum... and advise him/her to take the spare tire out, turn it right side up keeping the foam pad in place to ensure proper airflow to the radiator. Yellow side should be facing down, not up. The foam pad goes on the grey side, and forces airflow through the radiator instead of bypassing it. Cheers, - Art
