Yesterday, in a fit of madness, I bought this.....
- Thread starter outrun
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Arfa
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I felt exactly the same when I bought my Ghibli serie 1a. It was too good a car to let someone break it for spares. It's now having a new lease of life with a new enthusiastic owner.( I'll expect to see you at the Ace meet Duncan). Yes I spent a fair wedge on it and certainly more than it was worth but still less than the depreciation on my wife's new car over the same three year period and I had a lot of fun doing it.
outrun
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A quick update...
I've had the car back for 3 or 4 weeks and been enjoying using it when I can. It's great fun and full of character. I've picked up a few problems, only one of which was a real issue. The problem has been a sudden loss of power under load for a second which leads to a puff of black smoke before it picks up again. My feeling was also that it wasn't as fast as it could be, especially from rest. Phil Kyle suggested that the ignition amplifier may be the culprit so i tracked down a new one via Ebay. It's the same as the 1976-1982 Alfa Guilietta, by the way.
Rather than sending it all the way back to Phil (he's 80 miles from me) and given the poor running under load, I've instead sent it to a classic car specialist only 10 miles away. He's looking after a friend's 512BB, E-type, Ghibli (it's amazing!) and 1980's Merc SL and he comes very highly regarded.
He called already to tell me that carburettor (a Weber) is massively out of tune and the car is starting on only one cylinder, before running on 3 for a while. The plan is to take off the plenum chamber and hopefully adjust the carb in situ. It may need to come out and be cleaned and re-built but hopefully not. Because the car is turbo charged, the adjustment is not so easy but as he's just finished adjusting the 4 triple Webers on the 512BB, I think he can manage the one on mine!
While there, he's also tidying some random wiring, fitting front fogs (the car had them but they've been removed prior to my ownership), renewing the choke cable (also easier with the carb exposed) and taking a look at the shielded cable that transmits the signal to the electronic speedo.
I've also had an Alpine head unit fitted which neatly hides behind the original factory blanking plate. Both for security and the aura of originality. I bet Alesandro De Tomaso didn't imagine one of his cars would have Spotify on demand via bluetooth streaming!
Final thing i've done is to track down an original digital clock. The car has a non functioning gold clock which is in poor condition and would not actually have been an original option. Digital was all the rage back in 1982 and so these came with a 3 button clock, similar to period Fiats, but with an additional button (they have 2). I got one from a specialist breaker in California and it's on the way. Hopefully, we'll find some original wiring and will be plug and play. We'll see...
Next week, it's off for a little rust repair and some paint here and there.
Loving it already. In fact, the GS has taken a back seat recently in favour of the crazy Italian classic !
I've had the car back for 3 or 4 weeks and been enjoying using it when I can. It's great fun and full of character. I've picked up a few problems, only one of which was a real issue. The problem has been a sudden loss of power under load for a second which leads to a puff of black smoke before it picks up again. My feeling was also that it wasn't as fast as it could be, especially from rest. Phil Kyle suggested that the ignition amplifier may be the culprit so i tracked down a new one via Ebay. It's the same as the 1976-1982 Alfa Guilietta, by the way.
Rather than sending it all the way back to Phil (he's 80 miles from me) and given the poor running under load, I've instead sent it to a classic car specialist only 10 miles away. He's looking after a friend's 512BB, E-type, Ghibli (it's amazing!) and 1980's Merc SL and he comes very highly regarded.
He called already to tell me that carburettor (a Weber) is massively out of tune and the car is starting on only one cylinder, before running on 3 for a while. The plan is to take off the plenum chamber and hopefully adjust the carb in situ. It may need to come out and be cleaned and re-built but hopefully not. Because the car is turbo charged, the adjustment is not so easy but as he's just finished adjusting the 4 triple Webers on the 512BB, I think he can manage the one on mine!
While there, he's also tidying some random wiring, fitting front fogs (the car had them but they've been removed prior to my ownership), renewing the choke cable (also easier with the carb exposed) and taking a look at the shielded cable that transmits the signal to the electronic speedo.
I've also had an Alpine head unit fitted which neatly hides behind the original factory blanking plate. Both for security and the aura of originality. I bet Alesandro De Tomaso didn't imagine one of his cars would have Spotify on demand via bluetooth streaming!
Final thing i've done is to track down an original digital clock. The car has a non functioning gold clock which is in poor condition and would not actually have been an original option. Digital was all the rage back in 1982 and so these came with a 3 button clock, similar to period Fiats, but with an additional button (they have 2). I got one from a specialist breaker in California and it's on the way. Hopefully, we'll find some original wiring and will be plug and play. We'll see...
Next week, it's off for a little rust repair and some paint here and there.
Loving it already. In fact, the GS has taken a back seat recently in favour of the crazy Italian classic !
zagatoes30
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Heart over head is there any other type of car ownership?
outrun
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Well I figured if I could get it running well and tidy looking for below £5k, it was worth it. Currently at £3600 with this tune up and bodywork tidying to come so still on course. It may well be the earliest chassis Biturbo in the UK so it's got to be worth £5k when done surely?
Time will tell!
Time will tell!
conaero
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Great story Athol look forward to seeing the finished product.
Like you, I am enjoying my Alfa project.
The bit I enjoy the best is sourcing parts. Dealers all want silly money but with one eye on Ebay and some digging around I am getting a buzz on the savings.
Both front droplinks £9, inner CV gaiter kit £4, water radiator £32, all new parts.
Continental cambelt kits are over £200 got one in France for £95, both lower whishbones £19, Continental waterpump usually £80, I got one for £30.
Like you, I am enjoying my Alfa project.
The bit I enjoy the best is sourcing parts. Dealers all want silly money but with one eye on Ebay and some digging around I am getting a buzz on the savings.
Both front droplinks £9, inner CV gaiter kit £4, water radiator £32, all new parts.
Continental cambelt kits are over £200 got one in France for £95, both lower whishbones £19, Continental waterpump usually £80, I got one for £30.
Needamaser
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Well done Athol, looking forward to seeing her.
Like how you are trying to justify the expense!!
Sod the cost.........enjoy the experience!
Like how you are trying to justify the expense!!
Sod the cost.........enjoy the experience!
highlander
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oh rub it in why don't you! Lol
outrun
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Since my last post on the BiTurbo, there has been quite a lot of activity.
After a good few weeks at the amazing West Coast Classics, the car was running well and everything seemed fine. I drove it up to the Scottish Italian Car Day and after about 50 miles it started to drop power momentarily under load again. That's not very reassuring so I brought it home and planned to take it back down to James and Ollie for them to take a look. At the same time, a few hard to get parts had shown up so it seemed like another few weeks with them was on the cards.
In the interim, i was very busy working so a few more weeks passed by without the car turning a wheel. Then I saw a gap in diary and booked it in.
Although the battery was on trickle charge, I thought I'd give it a warm up and make sure all was well for the drive to the workshop.
Uh, oh. Turned the key and nothing. Dead. No lights, no clicking, nothing. So I wiggled every wire I could find, fitted another battery and still nothing. Time to call for recovery...
Once the car arrived at West Coast, the boys set to work looking for the electrical gremlin that was causing the issue. Traced to faulty wiring into the fuse box. Not easy to find but easily repaired!
Then onto the main jobs.
Carb - Resolve the carb issues that caused the loss of power as well as struggle to start. This was a monster job in the end and required 2 Chinese rubbish carb refurbishment kits (both failed after 10-15 minutes installed) then a custom built kit coming from Weber in Italy. It's a difficult task as the carb is situated inside the plenum chamber so lots of removal/re-installation required to get this right. At the same time, the boys resolved the starting issue which was caused by the car instantly flooding as a tiny float in the carb was being restricted by some grit. Again, not easy to find but rewarding once resolved. Tuned and my word is it now a different car! Wow! Full of power and I'm now confident with reliability.
Glass - replaced nearside glass and repaired window mechanism. Owners of BiTurbo era cars will be familiar with the windows coming off the runners if the glass is fully lowered. Solved with some craft stop inside each door made of very expensive 2x4 wood offcuts! Amazingly, Maserati never properly resolved this right up to the Ghibli II and Shamal. The glass on mine mad numerous chips on the top edge as the only way to lift it when it drops into the doors is with pliers! Of course, the chips lead to wind noise etc.
Fog Lights - Fitted and repaired factory wiring. My car came without fog lights but with wiring and brackets so I knew they had been removed at some time.
Gearbox mount - managed to find a specialist mount from McGraths which stops the box from vibrating terribly. My mount was worn and so the vibrations were interesting to say the least. Again, not easy to fit but very rewarding once completed.
Clock - I had what I thought was a genuine Maserati gold clock installed. It didn't work. Upon researching, I discovered that the BiTurbos has a Vegia digital clock and early cars were not offered with the traditional gold clock. I also learned that my clock was not a clock at all but just a face stuck directly to the dash with mastic of some sort. So, I sourced a clock via Lenny at Auto Italia in California and now have the correct one fitted.
So, now it's running amazingly well and I'm so pleased with the results. It's a good car and really getting under my skin. Plenty of smiles per mile.
There's more jobs planned including:-
- Lenny has found me a manifold heater which is a device that uses the heat from the manifold to warm the systems during cold weather running. Mine was blocked with silt and corroded beyond repair.
- We now have a lovely fuel spell on acceleration which I think is the fumes rising up the filler neck as the fuel sloshes around. The suggestion is that the vents in the tank need looking at as well as probably a new
fuel cap as there is no rubber seal to speak of. I love the small of unleaded (with old car additive) in the morning.
She's looking good, don't you think?
After a good few weeks at the amazing West Coast Classics, the car was running well and everything seemed fine. I drove it up to the Scottish Italian Car Day and after about 50 miles it started to drop power momentarily under load again. That's not very reassuring so I brought it home and planned to take it back down to James and Ollie for them to take a look. At the same time, a few hard to get parts had shown up so it seemed like another few weeks with them was on the cards.
In the interim, i was very busy working so a few more weeks passed by without the car turning a wheel. Then I saw a gap in diary and booked it in.
Although the battery was on trickle charge, I thought I'd give it a warm up and make sure all was well for the drive to the workshop.
Uh, oh. Turned the key and nothing. Dead. No lights, no clicking, nothing. So I wiggled every wire I could find, fitted another battery and still nothing. Time to call for recovery...
Once the car arrived at West Coast, the boys set to work looking for the electrical gremlin that was causing the issue. Traced to faulty wiring into the fuse box. Not easy to find but easily repaired!
Then onto the main jobs.
Carb - Resolve the carb issues that caused the loss of power as well as struggle to start. This was a monster job in the end and required 2 Chinese rubbish carb refurbishment kits (both failed after 10-15 minutes installed) then a custom built kit coming from Weber in Italy. It's a difficult task as the carb is situated inside the plenum chamber so lots of removal/re-installation required to get this right. At the same time, the boys resolved the starting issue which was caused by the car instantly flooding as a tiny float in the carb was being restricted by some grit. Again, not easy to find but rewarding once resolved. Tuned and my word is it now a different car! Wow! Full of power and I'm now confident with reliability.
Glass - replaced nearside glass and repaired window mechanism. Owners of BiTurbo era cars will be familiar with the windows coming off the runners if the glass is fully lowered. Solved with some craft stop inside each door made of very expensive 2x4 wood offcuts! Amazingly, Maserati never properly resolved this right up to the Ghibli II and Shamal. The glass on mine mad numerous chips on the top edge as the only way to lift it when it drops into the doors is with pliers! Of course, the chips lead to wind noise etc.
Fog Lights - Fitted and repaired factory wiring. My car came without fog lights but with wiring and brackets so I knew they had been removed at some time.
Gearbox mount - managed to find a specialist mount from McGraths which stops the box from vibrating terribly. My mount was worn and so the vibrations were interesting to say the least. Again, not easy to fit but very rewarding once completed.
Clock - I had what I thought was a genuine Maserati gold clock installed. It didn't work. Upon researching, I discovered that the BiTurbos has a Vegia digital clock and early cars were not offered with the traditional gold clock. I also learned that my clock was not a clock at all but just a face stuck directly to the dash with mastic of some sort. So, I sourced a clock via Lenny at Auto Italia in California and now have the correct one fitted.
So, now it's running amazingly well and I'm so pleased with the results. It's a good car and really getting under my skin. Plenty of smiles per mile.
There's more jobs planned including:-
- Lenny has found me a manifold heater which is a device that uses the heat from the manifold to warm the systems during cold weather running. Mine was blocked with silt and corroded beyond repair.
- We now have a lovely fuel spell on acceleration which I think is the fumes rising up the filler neck as the fuel sloshes around. The suggestion is that the vents in the tank need looking at as well as probably a new
fuel cap as there is no rubber seal to speak of. I love the small of unleaded (with old car additive) in the morning.
She's looking good, don't you think?