Found the gear at Palo Alto Speedometer, Inc www.paspeedo.com $25, $5 shipping (airmail letter - they wanted $25 for shipping express insured trackable, but for one little plastic gear I don't see the necessity) Yes, there are quite a few who have the part, but price is an issue for me (and I don't want to spend more on getting the car nice than I can sell it for). Oh and by the way, the gear affects only the odometer and trip meter - not the speedometer itself, which is separate. I'm hoping some contact cleaner will fix that up and plan on testing it when I get the gear and reinstall everything. Cheers, Thor
No, I didn't. However it seems no one ever made one with 19 teeth, so I'll go with 20. Since it's a VDO gauge, I'm assuming that they didn't make a special version just for Maserati and left it as stock. From my drawing and checks (see pic), it seems 19 was correct, but it may be that the remains are deformed such that it lined up with 19 when actually 20 was the right answer. We'll see in about a week... Thor
Hi Thor, My car's parcel shelf was a bit warped where the shades hide. I removed the back seat and rear trunk area and realized that the shelf itself is metal and welded in and I don't believe it was meant to come out. I just gave up and tinted the rear window so it wasn't too noticeable. If you need to remove the leather... guess you have to peel it off.
Where does one buy European bumpers/convert the silly American ones to Euro look? I am not concerned about the bumpers "functionality," so I have half a mind to just cut off the shocks and install my own brackets that pull the bumpers closer to the body as they should be. Have any of you tackled this issue yet? Does MIE (I'd give them a ring but they are closed today I'm assuming) have new lights (front, rear, fogs) along with grilles and miscellaneous interior trim? Where do I get Maserati floor matts? Who keeps new windows in stock? Does anybody have replacement stickers for the new windows and under the hood? Probably not of any use to you all, but I'm going to have my wood refinished. I found this website, but I may ask SR if he knows of anybody who does concours work. http://rau-autowood.com/home.htm
Bumpers - the bumpers are the same but the US side pieces are longer (I think). I bought them for my Swiss car (now in the UK) and they did not fit right although there is some confusion due to the fact that the shop lost my bumper. I have bought a US delivery car and will tackle the issue of the bumper gap too so let me know what you find out. I would assume that you just ditch the shocks and adjust the gap which would be a body shop fix. See what MIE say also. It would be interesting to compare the cars side by side or to compare the Euro and US parts diagrams to see the difference. ARe the side pieces the same but come up shorter on the side or are they longer? MIE have a lot of parts listed including all lights and side lights but not fog lights. Floor mats are not available but breakers such as Joedro may have a few but watch condition. I think a good trimmer can reback the carpets which is what I am going to do on my 1981 5 speed. The black car done recently by ALSA had this done. Windows have been an issue but there are a few sources in the US including MIE. I bought a used rear window from Joedro. I have a source for new front windows with heating elements and new rear windows with heating elements. This is critical as the rears were not available and always seem to break when painting the car. Trim - MIE has some stock for trim and some not listed on their site and Joedro also is scrapping some cars along with a few other people. If you have storage area I suggest you look for a low mileage car with terminal rust or that someone had taken the motor out of and get some rolling spares. MIE has stickers for under the hood. Don't know about the window stickers but the new windows are properly marked for the car.
Great find with Joedro! He has the most parts I've seen listed in one place. MIE has quite a bit from the sound of it, but not many pictures. I like to see what I'm buying rather than just trust somebody. With that said, MIE does seem like a great company. I cannot thank you enough! As for the bumpers... I will take a look at them next week and post up some pictures. I am tearing down my Alfa this weekend (I am quite good at ripping things apart....occasionally they come back together) at my other shop. Best, Ricky
Hi Rick, while he does have a lot of parts, I would suggest exercising care in dealing with him, and be aware that one man's "like new" is another mans "are you kidding me - this is falling apart!" Just some friendly advice from someone who's been there, done that. I'm finding MIE to be more and more useful as time goes on. They are quite knowledgable and helpful as well. Campana in Italy are also good to have. Have you posted a few pics of your car? Would love to see it! Thor
Getting back to my Speedometer problems, I glued up the plastic frame where all the instruments are mounted yesterday. It had a huge crack down the middle, as well as having a tab broken off in bits. The plastic was brittle, and didn't have the ISO markings modern plastic parts carry to identify the specific kind of plastic (and appropriate glue/welding material). I did a flame test on a scrap shaving and ended up using PVC pipe glue on it. It worked perfectly! If I had a few flat scraps of plastic I would have cut them to fit as small squares, drilled holes to match the existing hole and glued them on as additional reinforcement. But I don't expect the binnacle will come out for another decade, and think it will be fine. The PVC glue also helped fill and hold the big fissure down the middle, although it needed to dry over night. It basically melted the plastic and fused the parts back together when it dried. Cleaned all the electrical contacts with contact cleaner and a pencil eraser while I wait for the odometer gear to arrive. I should probably test for electrical continuity on the harness between the sending unit and the molex that connects to the instrument cluster before I put everything back together. Just in case... Cheers, Thor Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thor, I must apologize for the quality of the pictures. I did not have a real camera on hand during the operation so far, but here are a few pictures I snapped with my cell: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3898044934420&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3898080655313&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3898059054773&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater Before tearing the engine out: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3920850904555&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater Partially disassembled: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3925555702172&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3961851009532&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3961814248613&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3925722186334&set=a.2392188928961.137908.1378038608&type=3&theater
Nice pics, Rick! It looks like a US car, is that correct? Will you convert it to Euro spec while doing the engine? Congrats! Thor
Thor, Thank you! I am very happy with it--granted it needs more than a little work. It is an American spec car. As far as converting to Euro-spec... I am not sure. I want to run 10.5:1 or 11:1 compression, get a sensible exhaust under it without cats, and sort out the wiring and lights, and let Dave work his magic on it. I have yet to confirm, but it sounds like the car has a 5x114.3 bolt pattern, which means I will have no problem getting some appropriate wheels on the old girl. I will be finding a way to cure the hideous bumpers the car has. I cannot stand looking at that huge gap even on my pictures. It simply will not do. It should be as easy fix. Remove the bumpers, remove the brackets, build some new brackets to tuck the bumpers up where they belong--near the body not 5 inches out in space. I will tackle the wiring this week while I wait for the engine internals to show up. The drivers side low beam and blinker work as does the passenger rear brake, tail light (bad brake switch perhaps?), and turn signal. All the windows worked until the drivers rear fell off it's track. The seats work, the radio needs replacing with a stock deck (one of my biggest pet-peeves is aftermarket radios). Even the A/C work perfectly--it makes a faint whirring noise and no air comes out. The car is a bit of a beast in its current state. Thankfully, the paint job isn't bad. I do want to repaint it though. The interior leathers are in good condition; however, they have not been conditioned in a while. It should be said that the car will be my daily driver, I am not looking to make a show car out of it, but I have a feeling I can avoid show-status for only so long. I keep saying that to myself every time I see the car in the hope that I can avoid a complete makeover. I figure I'll get 50k miles out of the motor before it needs work again, so I plan to use it as it was meant to be for that 50k miles. Rain, snow, sun, or shine it will be used (or at least waiting for a wrecker on the side of the highway). I wish I had more to say about my plans, but until I get parts in I'm rather stuck. I will post up more pictures next week of the wiring disaster I am sure we will find. On a rather funny side-note, how long did it take you the first time you went to change your tail lights? Took me the better part of half an hour to find the four secret screws. That was after I spent 20 minutes trying to translate Italian directions into sensible English Lol. Keep on driving! Ricky
I noticed that! Stunning car. I am having a crisis over the standard tranny model you posted up. Such a shame so few sold with the 5-speed. I'd kill to convert mine.
Hi Rick, 10.5:1 - 11:1 compression? Wow... 8.5:1 as stock (running 98 octane fuel). I've been told that removing the cats (mine came without), air pump/smog gear and changing the cam to the Euro spec timing adds more than a few HP to the car, but I'm not really prepared to do all of that to my car. If you have to work on the engine anyways though, why not? Electrics are a weakness with the QP3, getting one where everything actually works is rare. Most of the electrical stuff on mine works, but seems to have a mind of it's own. The day before my DMV/smog/roadworthiness check I went through the whole car, lights, brakes, horn, etc and was surprised to find everything working fine. When I met for my appointment, one of the reverse and brake lights wouldn't light, etc. Even though they worked fine the day before. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the bumpers being big and hideous. They're certainly chunky, but pretty much match the mass and volume of the car and are reasonably well integrated into the overall design, imho. It hadn't occurred to me that there were differences between the US and EU spec bumpers, I thought they were all alike on the QP3 (although very different on many of the earlier GT models). I bought mine as an occasional (weekend) driver and "rolling restoration" as the seller described it. So far it's been perfect for what I wanted. It does need paint though, badly. As nicely as the drivetrain and suspension have been taken care of, the shabby paint really brings the total impression down. This summer (unfortunately very short and usually cold and wet where I live) I plan on taking on more of the interior, specifically getting the leather and wooden trim in great shape, along with overhauling & greasing the electric window motors & tracks and removing all the old (hygroscopic) insulation and replacing it with something better suited (e.g. dynamat or similar). Changing the tail lights was a snap, no problem finding the little hidden secret screws ;-) The problem was that even after changing the bulbs, the lights didn't work. Then they did. Then didn't... you get the picture ;-) Translating Italian into English? The manual is trilingual (Italian, English, French). I guess Maserati realized they probably wouldn't sell any in Germany Thor
New parts just came in, just in time for the weekend! Unfortunately, I still haven't received the odometer gear, 1.5 weeks later :-( Anyway, a few quick questions for those who've "been there, done that". 1. I got a new bushing and grommet for the steering column, as mine seem to be missing, allowing exhaust fumes to be drawn into the car. However there are no seams, indicating that they need to be fitted when the steering column in installed. Is this correct? 2. Found a new steering wheel in very good condition, the padding, leather and stitching are all in very good shape, except for some scrapes on the top. Has anyone successfully restored/colored something like this? 3. The Maserati logo on the steering wheel is really gunked up and worn. I see that it's replaceable and basically has two metal tabs like a big staple holding it onto the wheel. Any suggestions on how to clean this up and make it nice again? Autosol? Toothpaste? Jif kitchen cleanser? 4. The new dashboard looks really good, but is the wrong color! I had planned on refinishing the wood in the car anyway, but hadn't planned on doing anything about the color, just a natural varnish/lacquer layer. I didn't see the difference in color when I ordered the part, but it's pretty apparent side by side with the one in the car. Maybe I should just try and find the right veneer for my existing dash and repair it instead? Which leads to my last question... 5. How do you get to the dashboard? I understand that the 2 separator strips are actually covers that hide 2 bolts that fix the dashboard veneer to the dash, but how do I remove the strips and access the bolts and nuts underneath? I don't see any screws holding the upper front part in place. Cheers, Thor Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This and last weekend I've noticed that the QP3 has been running a lot more uneven than usual. It idles at a lower rpm than the normal 8-900, backfires and hesitates or even dies altogether on acceleration from a standing stop. Once I get up to speed or increase the revs, things have seemed smoother, although today even at highway speeds I could hear occasional backfiring, especially when decelerating. On some occasions it seems to improve, at least a little, after driving for a while (this is after the car is warmed up, I let the water & oil warm up to at least 50C before taking the car out), but not always. I'm taking for granted that the work the PO did on the heads, manifolds and carbs, together with the fact that the car has been running smoothly and without any problems previously to rule out a carburetor/manifold problem. I also removed and checked all the fuel input filters on each set of carbs this morning, all were clean. That leaves me with vacuum problems, exhaust problems (I suspect a small leak has developed where the headers meet the exhaust pipe), and/or ignition problems (forgot to check the distributor cap for moisture, but will). Are there any known conditions or issues that could cause this kind of uneven running? Where to begin?
Today I finished cleaning the instrument binnacle, and reassembled and installed it back in the car. All contacts (molex & instrument panel) were cleaned. Previously I had replaced a small drive bar in the sending unit mounted on the transmission, which as far as I know works correctly. It's hard to tell, but did give off a low DC voltage when spun with a power drill. The speedometer still doesn't work. I guess the only thing I haven't done is trace the wiring, although I would expect that since most of the wiring is bundled together, that if everything else is working, the chances of the wiring being broken/abraded are remote. I'll have to check it now, regardless. Any other suggestions?
the leaking header downpipe can cause backfiring but usually only on deceleration when oxygen is added to the unburnt exhaust. The other way is when the timing is very off, cross wired spark plug leads, bad cap-rotor, incorrect plug lead order, burnt valves. The hesitation is probably related or you have a clogged idle jet, leaking pump jet, wrong float level, fouled plugs.... try pulling plug leads with the engine running to isolate the offending cylinder (with gloves of course!) Regards Charles
Thanks Charles, I'll give that a shot ASAP. Just wanted to let the kind readers here know that I've started a blog in an attempt to document my time with this car, as well as serve as a checklist of stuff I want to do and how it goes. It's still very rough and missing a lot of information I've dug up, and I hope to add many things I've learned here, time permitting. You can find it at: quattroporte3.wordpress.com Any and all critique and feedback is welcomed.
Hi Tony, interesting, as mine is a bit different. On mine, the two studs at the rear of the instrument cover point down and go through two holes drilled in the dashboard, and are fastened with a putty/sponge like ring, large metal washer and 10mm nut. What year is your QP3? Mine's a 1980, a relatively early model. Cheers, Thor Image Unavailable, Please Login
Due to a busy week I didn't get a chance to look at the car, and on Sunday needed to pick up a friend at the airport. I figured either the car would run, or it wouldn't. She started up on the very first try, settled into a smooth idle, and ran like a well oiled watch. Smooth and powerful. No hesitation, stumbling or other problems. Since this happened suddenly, and seems to be intermittent, combined with the fact that I live in a cold and wet climate, I'm thinking the problem is not spark plug leads (the problem would be consistent), timing or burnt valves (ditto, plus the PO redid the valves and heads before he sold it), but there may have been moisture in the distributor cap (didn't check, but we've had a few days of dry and sunny weather, which may have dried it out). I also filled the gas tank completely last time I used the car, as it had been running on fumes the last week or so. Maybe it picked up some sediment or something that got stuck in the carbs and finally dissolved or was caught in a filter. Regardless, it' running perfectly again, and I didn't do anything! I guess I'll just enjoy it and keep an eye out the next time it happens. Thor
Yesterday I had some extra time and checked for continuity between the plug underneath the car where the impulse generator connects to the wiring harness, and the plug under the instrument binnacle. The black wire is ground, and I found that about half of the connectors on the instrument side molex plugs are connected to ground, as well as the chassis. The green and purple wire is signal, and there is only one contact it connects to. From the left, there are 4 molex plugs, 2 on the left of the steering column, 2 on the right. The rightmost of each pair is colored red. Each has 4x2 contacts, although not all contacts are connected. The pin connected to the impulse generator is the first molex plug on the right side of the steering column, pin number 2 (pin 1 is not connected to anything). I cleaned the contacts in the connector under the car as well, even though they showed continuity when I measured. So that means that either my impulse generator/sending unit is not generating the correct output, or the speedometer is broken. The speedo needle moves when I connect 12v DC to the main wires leading to the movement coil, but not when I hook up 12v to the input side of the PCB board. Since I don't know what voltage the PCB is expecting, or if it wants a sine or square wave, I can't really test it. Has anyone actually measured the output of their sending unit on an oscilloscope or multimeter to see what voltage it's producing, and if it's a sine or square wave? Did Porsche use the same impulse generator, since the speedo they used was the same? As far as I can tell the Jaeger PCB only routes signals to/from the instruments and provides voltage for the instrument lighting. Cheers, Thor
