“I have mostly blocked down the primer – just the lower body, front and rear panels and door reveals left to do. You should be able to see the minor high and low points showing up in the pictures. As we have a little more time on her now I want to do a full re-prime once these low points have been stoppered up and blocked smooth, mainly just to ensure we have a good even thickness of material on her.”
Looking pretty straightA few uneven spots remaining
A few days later, the final priming, filling and shaping was completed:
Looks a lot like a Jenson Interceptor in the backgroundStraight and cleanClean and crisp lines, like a perfectly starched shirt
Still working on going through and getting a good setting with the fuel system.
The fuel pump is sorted……..it was simply a blocked internal filter causing the problem. Have also fitted a new short fuel line between the pumps and 3-way-valve as it was beginning to crack.
A specialist has gone through the carburetors to make sure all settings are correct, or at least seem sane, before the car is put on a dynamometer in a few weeks to measure power output and fine tune the engine. The PPO (prior to previous owner) had overhauled and synced the carbs while he had the car, and Webers are usually set-and-forget, but I’ve learned that a whole lot of strangeness can happen when someone gets their hands on an unusual automobile, if even for only a few months…
He didn’t find anything obviously mis-matched in the carbs, or any serious imbalance, just way out of tune and general wear – not one specific thing. He says that a full setup is the only way to improve things and thinks that the poor running (ref. earlier posts here about the same issue) is a combination of numerous general wear items (carb jets etc) and no one big issue.
I had a suspicion she was running a bit rich, judging both from the two black spots on the rear wall of the garage as well as the amount of soot expelled from the exhaust. That would also affect acceleration and power in general. So the specialist’s findings match well with my own observations and thoughts. His adjustments did result in a nice improvement, but there’s still more to be done.
When we get her running according to spec, we should see somewhere in the neighborhood of 280hp when all is said and done. I’ve been considering removing all the US smog equipment, but that would mean new cams, which is more work than I’m prepared for at this point.
Right now I’m more interested in getting the repaint done and actually taking her out for a drive!
Sylvia is still at the mechanics getting her physical checkup, new belts, filters, tuning, etc. As part of her checkup, the shop tested cylinder compression and performed a leakdown test.
The results indicate that the compression is good to excellent and even on all cylinders.
A big “thank you” to a friend in Holland who recently discovered how much catalytic converters contribute – he mounted new cats on his QP3 and reduced CO emmisions from 6% to 0.09% (!!!).
The catalytic converters on my car, as with so many others, had at some point been removed by a previous owner, with a section of straight pipe welded in it’s place. Despite that, the car passed inspection both when imported and more recently at my latest MOT.
Catalytic converter replaced by straight pipe.
One of the problems with 6% CO emissions figures, is that on any drive longer than 15-20 minutes, the occupants are going to notice. Several owners have reported headaches as a result.
My Dutch friend was happy to say that not only were the headaches gone, but the wonderful sound of the exhaust remains unaltered with high-flow sports cats.
I found a 200cpi oval sport cat from Redback (Australia) and will install it soon.
While the car is out at the mechanics, let’s have a look at some of the work that I’ve done with the interior.
The original steering wheel was badly cracked, the leather dried and discolored. There’s a sailmaker down the street who does leather interiors as a sideline, and is really good. He managed to find replacement leather of the same color and grain and restore the wheel (two, actually, contact me if you need one).
Original steering wheel. Leather baked and cracked all around.Restored wheel looks brand new (this is actually a spare I purchased, as you can see the badge is different)All stitching is done by hand, requires steadiness and patience!Impeccable attention to detail. Probably better than when new.
Another problem was that the seams on the front driver’s seat had split, although the leather itself was still in good condition. The passenger’s seat had also developed a beginning split it it’s seam.
There are quite a few stories about the Quattroporte III’s interior, from “a herd of cows was needed to cover it”, to “driving a gentlemans’ club (lot’s of wood and leather) down the highway”. One little known fact (as yet unverified) is that Italian exotica of the era preferred leather sourced from Scandinavian cattle instead of the closer Italian, French and Spanish suppliers. The reason for this was simple – barbed wire wasn’t used in farming in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, while it was common on the rest of the continent. No barbed wire meant hides without blemishes and marks, resulting in more useable hide of higher quality.
Driver’s seatFront passenger seatWebbing and frame in excellent conditionAs is the cushion itselfOriginal reinforcement tape had rotted and fallen apart, additional reinforcement is addedI don’t know how it’s possible, but all sewing uses the original holes in the leather!Restored. Not a hint that anything was every done, yet stronger than new.
The front seats kept their beautiful patina, yet are now solid and ready for another 30 years. Special heavy duty thread was used to ensure both toughness and longevity. As “Joel” on Bring a Trailer put it (perfectly, IMHO), “sitting in there is what a baseball feels like when its well caught.”
Patina intact.
Based on recommendations I’ve received from other car enthusiasts, I’ve been using Leatherique products to clean and care for the leather. Results have varied, from excellent (center console cover/arm rest was 100% better, clean, and supple) to “is this on?” (rear seats, which seem exactly the same after multiple treatments as before). Lately I’ve heard from people restoring older Masers that Effax Leather-Combi is perhaps even better, and doesn’t risk discoloring or fading the leather. I’m thinking of giving it a try.
One thing none of the products available could help with was the rear parcel shelf. It was cracked, dried and looked like cardboard, or beef jerky, and had pulled away from the shelf it was glued to. Since the windows have to be removed for the paint job, it makes sense to have the rear shelf pulled at the same time and re-covered.
Both rear speakers were blown as well, and well, in a cruisin’ car you really need good tunes to drive to! So new speakers have been purchased and are waiting for installation. Not a whole lot to choose from in the size used here, but I want to keep things as original as possible.
JL Audio Evolution C2-525x
It would have been nice to find something that used the original or had optional square grilles, if anyone knows of a source, please leave a comment.
I’ve been leaning towards the original “blu sera met.”, a metallic midnight blue. Personally I think the car suits slightly darker colors to lighter ones, although I must admit it looks really nice in silver. Dark grey, metallic burgundy, even the metallic bronze all compliment the car nicely.
The older 60’s blu sera is even deeper and richer, with finer metallic flakes than the 80’s vintage, as technology changed (improved?), flakes became larger. Here’s an example of a Maserati 5000GT painted in a mid-60’s blu sera:
Here are a few paint chips. Ferrari blu sera top, my original blanking panel left middle (not sure if you can see the difference between the color where the trident was and the rest, but it’s there), and the model year-appropriate Maserati blu sera on the bottom:
Paint chips
There’s still time to consider other colors before paint hits body.
What color would you think shows off the car best? Comments are open!
Every crease and detail in the body is pin sharp and precise. It’s always a pleasure to watch a master craftsman at their trade.
“Anyway, a few pics – but loads of progress – this week. Filling/shaping work completed, main body etch primed, high build primed and guide coated. Masking removed.”
“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.
Passneger side. Note door apertures.Driver’s side. Strike plate & post still fitted.
“….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.”
Rear window right sidetrial fittedRear window rusty metal removedFirst piece in placeRear window top edge tack welded inRear window fits perfectly!
“…tack welding of repairs finished on rear window surround and glass & trim trial fitted (thankfully all fitting perfectly).”
