Quattroporte III catch-all thread

Well I looked at the car in some detail and it's pretty sad. You name it -- it needs it.

I called the seller and suggested I might make him an offer, and he did me a big favor. He hung up on me. Probably saved me $25,000 over the next two years.

 

Ad says: 'Bought car in California 10 Yrs. ago.'
:
Bidding ended on ZAMBC1103CA302008, Salvage Maserati ...
www.salvagebid.com › 383797779-1982-maserati-quattr...
Vin – ZAMBC1103CA302008: Bidding ended on Salvage MASERATI QUATTROPORTE on October 09, 2013.
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Hi all, spent more time with the QP this week and actually drove it some after my oil change. A couple more questions.
1. Is there an alternative to the York AC compressor. Mine is disconnected, this may be way more of a job than I’m willing to do, but I am curious as to what it takes to update the AC.
2. The lower rocker cladding / trim under the doors. Was it anodized? Mine is faded, it has a nice chrome strip at the tops but the rest is dull.

3. my air horn is by passed to an aftermarket horn. Gotta figure that out.

And a rev up.

 

Several companies make brackets to adapt the Sanden 508 rotary compressor to the York bolt pattern. Here's one:https://www.jegs.com/i/VPA/960/15815-VUB/10002/-1?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BSC%20-%20Vendor%20Only%20Searches&utm_term=4579740809611525&utm_content=Vintage%20Air

 

Interesting, and while doable I’m guessing the whole system needs an update to r34. Hoses all of it. The York is not connected to the Freon lines for some reason. Which leads me to believe it’s dead. Slippery slope on this.

 

You can still get a 508 for R12, but R12 is now very expensive. There are substitutes - I used Freeze 12 in my old pickup and got cold air, but.... There is another problem, too. The QPIII uses Gates Polyflex belts that need a different sheave angle; 60 degrees instead of the conventional 36. Apparently the 6" Sanden double groove pulley has enough material to allow it to be machined to 60 degrees. Definitely a slippery slope! If your York is not frozen, there are seal kits available to refresh it.

 

Except that both will end up happening. BTW I did pass on a lot of cars light years better than that one. It's a parts car but not for that much longer.

 

I think it's a very ambitious project for a guy with an interest in taking it apart and gaining an understanding of how each little piece works and how the systems work together. Who has the time, the money and the place to work on it; and who is absolutely unconcerned with the market value of the thing when/if it gets done.

 

There was a guy on here named William from the UK. Ask him as he did exactly that. Even bought one in CA for the Monterey show. I'm not sure he ever got it legally registered there. I met him there once. Nice chap.

 

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that I just replaced the front wheel bearings, upper and lower ball joints, and inner and outer tie rods.

This project was delayed by several months because I've had to try several different tools before finding the right one for pulling out the ball joints, so I'm sharing below some lessons learned from this experience:

1. The one and only tool that could successfully extract the ball joints from the knuckle is the one illustrated below. I literally destroyed 4 other kinds of extractors and pullers while (unsuccessfully) attempting to remove them over the past few months. I'm sure a hydraulic press would work too, but I don't have one.

2. The original inner tie rod needed a 27mm wrench for removal, but the new tie rod that I received from MIE requires a 30mm wrench for install. Also, access is quite limited.

3. Wheel bearings are relatively easy to replace but you need a low-range torque wrench to set the 0.45 kgm preload accurately (commonly used for bicycles). These usually come with a 1/4 square drive. Since the preload nut is pretty large (24 or 27mm hex, I cannot remember), you may have the correct socket but it will be a 1/2 drive you will need a 1/4 to 1/2 adapter (or 1/4 to 3/8 and 3/8 to 1/2 set of adapters). Also, staking that nut is surprisingly harder than expected, I think you need an air hammer to do it properly.

4. As already said above the correct seal for the wheel bearings is Timken/National 472164 but it is a super tight fit and I deformed one of them slightly while hammering it in. I ordered a new seal for peace of mind, in case I notice a leak I'll replace it. So be careful when fitting it.

5. Replacing the upper and lower ball joints doesn't entail removing the A-arms, but during reassembly, the shock absorber spring will push the lower A-arm down. You will need to reinstall the lower ball joint first, then jack it up as illustrated here: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/147554542/ - this will let you align the upper ball joints with upper A-arm so as to slide in the bolts.

All in all a relatively easy job though.


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Hemmings Auction -

https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1985-maserati-quattroporte-iii?utm_medium=Promoted%20Listing&utm_source=Classifieds&utm_campaign=1985-maserati-quattroporte-iii