Maserati Khamsin

Khamsin 1284 now has a new roommate ... Khamsin 1266. K1266 use to belong to a Maserati club member that also lives in Dawsonville, Georgia. Dawsonville is NASCAR country, not exactly the type of place known for exotic Italian cars
Ten years ago this Khamsin was sold to a Toronto doctor, and now the car has returned.

K1266 is a US car that has been nicely converted using either original euro bumpers or excellent reproductions (hard rubber, not fiberglass), Euro front turn signals, round euro side lamps, euro exhaust manifolds, license plate lights in the euro position, and a Stebro stainless exhaust that sounds very aggressive. Originally Rosso Fuoco and now Rosso Rubino.

Ivan

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What's needed is a reliable, quality sender matched to a compact but clever electronic simulator that can be user calibrated to produce the voltage necessary to drive the original gauge so that it reads accurately across the range. I'd bet there are techs now in the electronics field who could design such a thing quite easily. A single version could be used on every vintage car out there. By using a Y fitting in the oil pressure port one could temporarily install a mechanical gauge in parallel and then tune the simulator via USB port (WIFI and Bluetooth are over kill) connected to your cell phone so that the gauge reads spot on at all pressure levels. Then pull out the Y connector and bury the simulator under the dash.

 

No need for the Y connector as the Maserati V8 has two oil ports in the back of the block and one is usually capped. You can see both oil ports on this Bora photo. On the Bora, one port is for the oil temperature and the other is capped. The Bora's oil pressure sending unit is located near the oil filter. On cars like the Ghibli and Khamsin the oil pressure and temperature sending units are connected to one port and the other is capped. Uncap the spare port, hook up a mechanical gauge and you can have both.

Ivan
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Thanks Marc, I thought that it may be a design feature of airflow around the exhaust.
Being on two separate cars, seals must be a relatively common occurrence on older un-restored cars.

 

Glad to provide this car to you and arrange this sale, the Doctor and you were a pleasure to deal with We must do this more often, last time I brokered you a K was the yellow project from Illinois, about ten years ago!

 

Fuel or exhaust fume issues are rare but happen occasionally in less well maintained examples however the solution MO's are perfectly documented and simple to execute.

 

I just dealt with gas fumes in my Khamsin. See post number 9734, page 930, May 31st this year.

Yes, start by sniffing out whether the fuel odor is originating at the front or rear.

The rear has plenty of hidden passages that can let external air into the cabin which carry the fuel fumes. The smell of gasoline from the rear would mean a fuel leak, and the first areas I'd check would be parts catalog Table 27 - Parts 40, 45, 48.

At the rear start with the easiest ones:
- Start by pulling out the main cargo deck carpet, and open the rectangular access panel at the very rear center of the car for inspection (ref the photos posted on May 31st, and or Table 16 and find the rearmost oblong hole at the rear deck). You can inspect hose Part 48 Table 27 there, and its connection to the lateral tank via cover panel Part 28, Table 35.
- Table 27 Part 40 fuel hose you can inspect from beneath the car until it passes into the rear QP under the lateral tank.

If you don't find the problem, there the leak could be one of the smaller hoses, behind the leather clad fiberglass side panels..
- The lateral tank (Part 34 Table 27) is actually inside the car, so any hoses/connections can leak fumes into the cabin. And there are more hoses on US cars than Table 27 shows. The hoses pass thru the interior of the car, via bulkheads that might have been sealed reasonably tight when the car was new, but they are often open now after 45 years of rubber aging and cracking and leaking.

Cheers,
- Art

 

Thanks all for the info.

 

The Khamsin is even more prone to exhaust fumes coming into the cabin.

 

I had this problem on my friend's Khamsin 1180, but not on my 1196.
The only difference was at the fresh air intake on the passenger side of our hoods.
- Mine has the OEM rubber seals on the hood and intake plenum, and they mated properly.
- My friend's rubber seals were destroyed by age, replaced by some jury rigged junk, and didn't seal. I replaced my friend's rubber seals and the exhaust fumes went away.

The fun things we learn about our cars.
- Art

Originally US Spec 5-speeds .. 1180 and 1196:

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Hi All, thought this link might be useful. A while back I posted that I was looking for the vinyl quilted material for the inner wheel arch pads.

I baulked at the $700 MIE were charging.

Somehow I found this company

https://www.interniautomaieli.com/en/materials.html


They are sending me a meter of their material at 180 euros plus postage.

ordered today so I’ll let you know what it’s like when it arrives.

Cheers

 

With pics too please...

I do wonder however if my early car ever had them...

 

How do other Khamsin owners balance their tires?

I just installed new tires but I am having problems getting them balanced. The center hole on the Khamsin's wheel is too small for the balancing machines found in most tire shops. In the past I found a shop that had an adapter that held the tire through the four lug nut holes. That shop is located over an hour from me and it took them a long time to get the tire properly centered. This must be a common problem to all Khamsin and Ghibli owners with the Campy wheels with the fake knock off. For now an old fashion "bubble balancer" was used, but I do not trust that was done it accurately.

Ivan

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Khamsin 1116 for sale at Bonhams in August too.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26887/lot/85/?category=list&length=139&page=1

looks like it needs a good home for a thorough service and repaint. At least you wouldn’t have to redo the bumpers, just throw them in the skip (sorry Mike!)
Needs another windscreen wiper too

do you know what colour it was originally Marc?

best to all.
Mark.

 

Perhaps the previous owner thought that by painting the bumpers they would not look so ugly .... good try .... it did not work.
I will be at the Quail that day but will not be bidding on this K.

Ivan

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Hi Ivan ..Mine were balanced on a motorcycle balancer I understand for the same reason.. maybe an adapter was used also. Was not there in person.

 

Travelling, back home tonight, catch up tomorrow, greetings from Valence.

 

Right just reading the catalog text and the fact that I did not recall this 1116 chassis number confirm this one is another out of the woodwork that was tucked away all its life, the fact that they painted the bumpers(!) confirms they were not in contact with any clubs and did not know about the possibility to convert it to Euro bumpers. Hopefully that is the first thing the buyer does along with getting rid of the glued on black rubber line along the flank crease: it's not a Dodge.

It is not the only car that had its US bumpers covered, one awful one had RED bumpers, thankfully I think that is only a memory now.

Will get colors from Fabio next week.

That is the worst Bonhams auction text ever starting with "Masearti" (sic). Will talk with them.

 

You ca also mention to Bonhams that these car did not have Bosch Electronic Fuel Injection .... and what the heck is a Grand Routier ??

Ivan

 

Proper spelling is grande routiere meaning a Gentleman's Grand touring car with emphasis on long trips.

So they got that wrong too...

 

You’re both wrong, they mean it’s going to need a Grand Rotisserie for the restoration.

 

So Fabio provided me the details of 1116; completed 6 May 1975 in blue Ischia (medium blue) with white interior. Delivered to Los Angeles.
Hopefully it gets a bumper conversion and return to this livery.

 

Great colour combination!
fingers crossed for a return to original here too.
M

 

I'm sorry this answer isn't necessarily useful but... I haven't had to balance mine.
I installed them fresh from the rim restoration shop with new Vredestein Sprint Classics. The resto shop couldn't do any balancing, they have no weights anywhere, but I wanted the wheels on the Kh just to get it out for some shakedown drives. I've had it up to highway speeds with no imbalance.

Otherwise, I've heard the same; the center is too small for standard balance machines, an adapter is necessary.
- Art

 

So Khamsin 1234 which emerged partly dismantled in Pennsylvania after having had a mild carburettor fire will be shipped to a client of mine in Germany, a multiple Khamsin owner, in the next couple of weeks.

It will NOT be dismantled and will be preserved in a dry environment until the time is right to restore it.

Here a current photo in the workshop of the selling dealer, some from the 1990's (the one with four photos, taken at Motorcar Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, not by me) and two about ten years ago when owned by JG the seller in NYC.

Small world it was the first Khamsin I ever drove, summer 1997 at Maser Miglia in Beaver Creek Colorado. That -as I had hoped- is when I had a very powerful epiphany: after having driven almost everything else as a journalist THIS is what I want!

It was then owned by John Bookout now 98 years old who was President and CEO of Shell oil. He was not at the event where the car was overseen by Robert Hanna of Canada, does anyone know if Robert is still around? he seems to have vanished...

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