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“panels removed and ‘detail’ stripping being done in the door aperture areas ready for the filling/shaping work next week.”
The strike plates, hinges and other hardware have all been removed prior to final detail stripping, which will bring us to the point where filler and body shaping can commence.
Not quite. But not that far off either.
“….we have begun the repair around the rear windscreen area, the sections are just tack welded into place at the moment as I want to get everything set up and then trial fit the rear glass and trims to be sure that the fit is perfect.”
“…tack welding of repairs finished on rear window surround and glass & trim trial fitted (thankfully all fitting perfectly).”
The car so far, with the exception of the front passenger door, has proven to be a solid and straight “what you see is what you get” car, no hidden surprises, patched-over accident repair or other confidence killers. A very good, well cared for car with documented ownership since new, all of whom kept her properly maintained.
“..lower sill areas cleaned back, new right front door stripped out (glass removed etc) and light surface rust removed from sills.
To be fair to the guys who did the repairs previously and painted the lower sill area – had done a very thorough job of de-rusting. The sills are completely solid.”
As to the bumper support areas replaced (see previous entry), the shop writes,
“I won’t be replacing the left rear bumper support area as it’s pretty perfect. I think the only reason the right side had gone was due to previous repair there which was tied up to the old right rear wheelarch repairs. (Which I’m certain happened a long time ago and certainly wasn’t a more recent ‘cover up’ job).”
The new door has been trial fitted and looks pretty good already, but will need minor adjustments to give perfect panel gaps.
I’m pleased to find that the shop doing the work is not content with merely dealing with the worst of the visible imperfections, be it rust, dings or otherwise. They also tend to areas no one will ever see, and make sure that the structural integrity of the car is maintained. Even nicer is the fact that their perspective is long term, and the work they perform they expect to last for years.
“A quick update today………front bumper corner support area cut out and sent to my fabricator as it has a strengthener section spot welded in behind, I have asked him to make me a new pair as the left one was just beginning to rust also and I don’t see the point of just doing the one as the other would undoubtedly have needed doing in a few years time.”
“both front corners now completed, new panel made for the right rear bumper corner mounting area, right rear wheelearch completed.”
The attention to detail continues on the rear quarter panels.
Most shops today think it’s too much work and too expensive to actually cut the rusted parts out and weld new metal in. They either hammer the rusted section in and weld a new piece of metal over it, or simply brush it out and cover it with filler. I.e. basically just postponing the problem, potentially making it much worse in the long run.
Do you have a story about amazing body work, or a link to some place you’d recommend? Add it in the comments section!
” a few more pics of progress from yesterday and today……the areas of repair are becoming less complicated!”
“Right hand lower front wing/sill and A panel support repaired; right hand rear wheelarch repaired. I still need to complete the wheelarch repair with a lower section that ties into the boot floor, but we have also made and fitted a new wheelarch lip which can’t be seen in the pics.”
“some more stripping done……..front end now completely bare steel”
“more stripping done……….roof completed and right rear quarter done”
“nearly there on stripping……just three doors left”
Work is moving along at a good clip. This was up until around the end of May, when problems surfaced…
Stay tuned.
The QP3 uses 2 different headlight systems depending on the market the car is sold to, in the US it’s a sealed beam type, in the EU it’s a H4/H2 combo (for main beams and high beams).
As I’ve found driving evenings the last year or two, the US sealed beams don’t do a whole lot except let other motorists know that you’re there. As far as illuminating the road in front of you, not really. The high beams do a much better job, but are both irritating and dangerous to oncoming traffic.
The knowledgable staff at Daniel Stern Lighting suggested replacing the sealed beam units with Bosch H4 on the outside (main/high beam combo) and Marchal H2 high beam for the inner pair. These headlamps use replaceable bulbs, and there are many to choose from, with much higher output and better focusing and illumination than the stock sealed beam units.
The big question is whether to change the front of the car from US to EU spec. It will entail drilling new screw holes in the front panel (behind the headlight assembly) as well as sourcing new surrounds, buckets and bezels, not to mention the new lights themselves.
I haven’t yet decided if I’ll do it or not, and welcome any comments and suggestions on the matter here.
Having replaced the starter motor in the car with the one thoughtfully provided by the PO when I overhauled the transmission, I was surprised to be getting the “click – nothing” sound after only 6 or so months.
It can mean many things, but seeing as how I was getting power, all instruments checked out, and I could hear the starter relay clicking, the finger seemed to be pointing at the starter. Sometimes she would start right up on the very first try, other times it took a few repeat attemps, and lately I had on occasion been spending 10 or 15 minutes before suddenly it would catch and the engine would roar to life.
I delivered the starter motor I had pulled from the car to a local shop. Thankfully Maserati did the same thing here that they had done with the transmission – sourced it from Chrysler. Turns out they’ve used the same basic design from the 60’s up to about the 90’s. Of course Maserati also managed to mount it in such a way (upside down and backwards) that any condensation, rain or other moisture collects inside the starter, guaranteeing it won’t last for too long before needing to be replaced or repaired.
For reference, it’s a 1.8HP Chrysler starter, part number 4091950, also used in the 1980 Dodge 1/2 pickup truck.
The parts shop was unable to find the rebuild kit needed (not a lot of American cars here), so I obliged and ordered 2 rebuild kits and 2 solenoids in order to repair them both. Found them at “Alternator & Starter Parts Wholesale” www.ASPWholesale.com, part no: 66-302 (solenoid) and CH-79-1100 (brush holder, rings, washers, brushes, the whole kit). Total price $71.82 plus shipping for all parts for both starters. Not a bad deal.
Got the car into the shop that had the extra starter, brought along the parts, and this afternoon was able to drive out with a decidedly easier-to-start car. And an extra rebuilt starter. Always nice to have a spare in reserve.
Getting another thing done on the car is always a reason to celebrate, that combined with the cold but dry weather brought us to a local establishment offering a good old fashioned by-hand car wash. Well, they use hoses and sprayers and all sorts of special products, but most importantly they all loved the car :-).
She’s clean, she starts, she’s garaged. Not a bad start for autumn.
The exhaust had started to wheeze and even leak a little recently, resulting in unpleasant noxious fumes in the cabin. It was especially problematic with the windows down, and with as much beautiful warm sunny weather we have here, a lot of driving is done with the windows rolled down…
A quick inspection revealed that the PO had connected the headers to the exhaust pipes without any gasket or clamp, and it was surprising it didn’t make more noise than it did.
2 olive gaskets and exhaust clamps later and the beast is purring like a 2 tonne kitten, not a whiff of exhaust to be had in the cabin anymore.
Nice. Ready for the next problem!
Tried out some different things with a mechanic friend today and got the speedometer to work. We kept checking each part of the puzzle, and found that the angle on the impulse generator was causing the problems with the speedometer not working. Connecting the generator directly to the output of the gear on the transmission resulted in the speedo working, but showing too low a speed. Inspecting the angle, it doesn’t appear to offer any change to the rotational speed hitting the generator module, leading us to suspect a problem with the generator itself.
So now I need to find a replacement generator and angle and see of everything works after swapping in a new unit.