What have you done to your Maserati today?

[Felonious Crud]

Removed the NS tail light, which was getting a bit condensationy again. Hardly a surprise, as the gor-tex tape over the vent had decided to go for a stroll, leaving a nice hole for the damp to get in. Left it out in the sun for the day, occasionally using a hoover to suck some new warm, dry air through the housing, and then resealed it with some silicon seal around the edges of the tape to help keep it in one place. When that’s dry I’ll refit it, having cleaned the grime out of the area usually hidden by the light.

 

[allandwf]

A wee polish.

 

[P5Nij]

Not a Maserati but....
The side badges were letting the rest of the car down so invested in a new pair.
1. Managed to carefully remove the existing with a hairdryer after masking up the position
2. Sraped off the majority of the double sided tape with nails and removed the rest with a cloth and turps and then washed
3. Removed the weathered staining with scratch removal compound, washed again and then polished the area
4. Fit the new badges and removed masking tape

I find jobs like this immensely satisfying for some reason, especially renovating original badges and trim. On my '68 Cooper S I managed to repaint the backs of the embossed plastic badge inserts which is quite tricky to do, and on my '70 Rover P5B Coupe I repainted the back backgrounds on the 'plinth' style badges by flooding the background relief part with black Humbrol enamel. Thinking about it I still need to clean up the crud that's built up around the Maser tridents on the Biturbo's fuel filler cap and the dummy one on the other side, but removing the tridents is a bit tricky without damaging them, then I'd probably have to glue them back on afterwards



(I'm still not sure how to remove the dummy cap on the near side without damaging it - does it just pop out with a bit of leverage from a screwdriver...?)

 

[Felonious Crud]

Removed the NS tail light, which was getting a bit condensationy again. Hardly a surprise, as the gor-tex tape over the vent had decided to go for a stroll, leaving a nice hole for the damp to get in. Left it out in the sun for the day, occasionally using a hoover to suck some new warm, dry air through the housing, and then resealed it with some silicon seal around the edges of the tape to help keep it in one place. When that’s dry I’ll refit it, having cleaned the grime out of the area usually hidden by the light.

Ah, cobblers! Didn't wait long enough. Condensation back. The offending tail light is now in the airing cupboard, thinking things through.

 

[DLax69]

Ah, cobblers! Didn't wait long enough. Condensation back. The offending tail light is now in the airing cupboard, thinking things through.

That'll learn it!

 

[allandwf]

Ah, cobblers! Didn't wait long enough. Condensation back. The offending tail light is now in the airing cupboard, thinking things through.

Brera rear cluster is the same. Warm days make it worse.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Refuelled at Costco and ordered my next set of rears. Michelin PS4S (644530!) at a considerable cheaper price than black circles and others (£100 cheaper!) . To be fitted next Friday, all being well. I could have saved an extra £15 per tyre but needs must. (Bird in hand!)

 

[Felonious Crud]

Brera rear cluster is the same. Warm days make it worse.

You can bake the Aston ones in the oven to warm and release the seal, prize them apart, dry them out, and then reseal them... tried it once, warped the housing. Never again. The easier approach is to drill a hole or two in strategic locations, leave it somewhere warm for as long as possible to fully dry, reseal the housing with silicon seal and stick some gore-tex over the drill hole(s). Which works pretty well, but it's still seldom a permanent solution.

 

[Erlingtheyounger]

You can bake the Aston ones in the oven to warm and release the seal, prize them apart, dry them out, and then reseal them... tried it once, warped the housing. Never again. The easier approach is to drill a hole or two in strategic locations, leave it somewhere warm for as long as possible to fully dry, reseal the housing with silicon seal and stick some gore-tex over the drill hole(s). Which works pretty well, but it's still seldom a permanent solution.

Yep, done that successfully with Audi a2 headlights. Very different price point to Aston or Maserati ones though..:….

 

[Felonious Crud]

Yep, done that successfully with Audi a2 headlights. Very different price point to Aston or Maserati ones though..:….

It's an art which I clearly don't have! I shan't try again.

 

[Erlingtheyounger]

It's an art which I clearly don't have! I shan't try again.

Don’t blame you. I think it can be a bit hit n miss and if it goes wrong it’s terminal

 

[CatmanV2]

You can bake the Aston ones in the oven to warm and release the seal, prize them apart, dry them out, and then reseal them... tried it once, warped the housing. Never again. The easier approach is to drill a hole or two in strategic locations, leave it somewhere warm for as long as possible to fully dry, reseal the housing with silicon seal and stick some gore-tex over the drill hole(s). Which works pretty well, but it's still seldom a permanent solution.

Surely if you're filling it with *warm* air, then sealing it, when that warm (ergo wetter) air cools, you're going to get condensation. Counter intuitively I wonder if putting it in the freezer would be a better idea...

C

 

[Felonious Crud]

Don’t blame you. I think it can be a bit hit n miss and if it goes wrong it’s terminal

Yeah, it was ;-)

 

[Felonious Crud]

Surely if you're filling it with *warm* air, then sealing it, when that warm (ergo wetter) air cools, you're going to get condensation. Counter intuitively I wonder if putting it in the freezer would be a better idea...

C

Logically yes. But step 1 is to dry it out. After that, I'll let it cool down to a more normal temp (although our airing cupboard is hardly hot at this time of year) and after that re-seal it (again). A couple of strategically placed silica sachets would be useful if (which I won't) I had separated the two halves.

The front lights on Astons are also prone to condensation so bad that the lights are all but useless. The first-phase Aston fix is silica sachets (which don't work) followed by a venting kit to blow warm air from the engine into the lights, which works a treat, So, I have heated headlights. Hyperlux, eh?

 

[CatmanV2]

Logically yes. But step 1 is to dry it out.

Yes, but there's dry and dry...

C

 

[Felonious Crud]

Yes, but there's dry and dry...

C

Help, @Zep, help!

 

[joered]

Help, @Zep, help!

Nice photo of Felonious headlight after a 'brief' Time in the oven!

 

[Felonious Crud]

Nice photo of Felonious headlight after a 'brief' Time in the oven!
View attachment 126816

That's about right.

 

[mkgooner]

Just recently, I've changed oil and filter, fixed leaky heating matrix, changed coolant, sorted sticky buttons.
Just need the better weather to come back now.
View attachment 117347

Looks lovely. What did you do to resolve the sticky button issue?

 

[Felonious Crud]

Oh, nobs! Tail light re-fitted and seems happy, but now the battery has gone kaput. The same Christmas tree 'OMG, all of me doesn't work!' pantomime dame dramas that Masers get hissy about. The big mincing queen. So I've ordered it a lovely new Bosch to collect (because the courier is scared of delivering batteries to here) and fit tomorrow.