HD video of Bora #932 first drive in 22 years...

For your viewing pleasure...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrdha7i3S8I[/ame]

Here are 5 minutes of video from the Bora's first test drive after being serviced to the extent needed for roadworthiness. I edited-in just a little music relevant to the Maserati, but cut it short so as not to distract from the REAL music coming from behind the cockpit.

 

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

I love the Bora, and yes - there are some great roads for driving in our area. The Catskills, Berkshire and Adirondack mountains are all within a 90 minute drive of Albany.

It is a very solid, easy car to drive even when limited to 3,000rpm and 3rd! Steering is fabulous, easy to return to center out of a turn, and I look forward to exploring handling nearer its performance edge, which will have to wait 'til I find a way to get some track time at Lime Rock or Watkins Glen. Suggestions welcome, SCCA membership?

The camera mount was a "Sticky-pod" suction cup device to the "engine-side" of the rear cockpit glass, for the camera to best capture the audio from the engine bay.

The dash is growing on me, and by now I really like it. At first I was struck by the relatively inconsistent assortment of switches, lack of labels or choice of symbols. But I'm used to it. The control stalks are positioned nice and "naturally" within reach.

...So.... it was back to the shop to explore the fuel starvation issue. It was traced to both current Facit fuel pumps not being the correct spec. Dave's shop replumbed the main fuel feed to temporarily bypass the secondary fuel filter and regulator, which now has the 4.9 up to 5,000rpm before starvation sets in. I've ordered the correct Facit pump from the gentlemen at MIE.

Dave Burnham confirmed the backfire is "normal" for the Webers, and yes installing the aircleaner reduced the backfires by I'd say 70%. For better audio I leave the aircleaner off when video taping.

Lastly, it took just 5 minutes to adjust the linkage and center the shifter in the gate so 4th and 5th are now reachable.

In this condition I took the Bora in for a DMV technical inspection, and it failed on two points: Poor condition of wiper blade rubber and too much play in the steering rack.

So, I set aside the original (Timco?) wiper arms and refills, and just put on some ANCO wipers to pass inspection.

The "loose steering rack" was a surprise. We (me, Dave, his crew) all thought we had scrutinized that as an elementary check of any performance car, but it didn't show up in any of our work notes, so somehow we had overlooked it. We quickly isolated the problem to a worn inner tie rod end. I will replace them all, and those parts have been ordered in.

Critiques of the video are welcome. The music was a tongue-in-cheek addition, I hope it passes copyright. Mounting the camera on the exterior gives a good view, but windnoise blocks out the engine noise anywhere over 20mph and, well my camera doesn't accept external audio.

An additional video clip from a drive in it's current state will be forthcoming. This drive revealed a slight timing chain adjustment to make, and I'm less than perfect at shifting, but it drives like it should.

Can't wait for next year's full season of driving. Maybe get to meet some of you in the Pocono's.
Best,
-Art