Maserati Gransport (aka the wedding dress)
Discussion
romeodelta said:
Lovely.
I've always seen these as the spiritual successor to the 916 GTV V6 I had, but I've not been able to take the plunge for various reasons.
Kudos for not being afraid to do the work yourself as well.
ThanksI've always seen these as the spiritual successor to the 916 GTV V6 I had, but I've not been able to take the plunge for various reasons.
Kudos for not being afraid to do the work yourself as well.
Brompty said:
What a car - and well done for being brave enough to buy it knowing that you will have work to do.
Hmmm.... whilst I knew about the g/box leak and the track rod, the upper rear arms were an expensive unknown.hondafanatic said:
Thanks for taking the time and effort to type all that up. Really interesting. Hope you continue to find the time to update this thread.
How do find the car from a drivers point of view?
Thanks.How do find the car from a drivers point of view?
Most of the (limited) miles I've done in it have been undertaken with the dodgy rear wishbones and tracking that was off so I've not really formed an opinion as yet;
It's entertaining.
Much like the other car ( 147 GTA ) it's dominated by that engine, which sounds mega, even with a standard system - the Gransports have silencer bypass flaps in them. They also make for an interesting comparison as for all their fundamental differences, they're very similar in character.
It doesn't have the same, instant, throttle response of the GTA though. It's very quick, but it needs revs whereas the GTA with a torque biasing diff just goes instantly in any gear at any rev range. Genuinely, I think the GTA would be the faster point to point car just because its power is more user friendly.
In the wet it will light up the back in 3rd gear at 70mph, which can be entertaining or downright terrifying. But, *touches wood* I think if you're sensible, and leave the traction control on (for those unexpected puddles like on a dual carriageway on-slip...) It seems to be very forgiving.
The steering is super sharp and isn't inert. Ride quality is good, better than the GTA.
the gearbox can be a faff. It's great and completely intuitive IF you're moving, but it's clumsy at slow speeds and you end up look like a right show off at lights or roundabouts as you really need to drop it into 1st on the approach, which means a downshift and throttle blip. I'm also mindful to keep it in Neutral whilst waiting in traffic, which means if you want to engage 1st, you need your foot on the brakes...
omniflow said:
Yup - love your threads, love the detail, love the obvious passion for doing things right, love the cars. I have an Alfa 156 GTA and a Maserati, but what I don't have is your patience, skill and support network to do any work myself.
Please keep posting, people do read them and they do enjoy them.
Thanks, I really do appreciate that.Please keep posting, people do read them and they do enjoy them.
Prizam said:
Maserati is on my shortlist for the next toy car. Just so lovley.
Hiya Stu, Haha, what are you running at the moment? Still got the TVR? And some random luxury barge no doubt?0a said:
I dislike “white” cars. But that colour on that car looks fantastic. These are proper exotic things. I know a 3.0 GTV owner who has moved onto one and loves his. It’s proving cheaper to run, or so he says, as well!
Thanks Joe. As Rick alludes to, "Fuji White" is Nuvelo white by the looks of it - it doesn't appear to be any different in colour to my Dad's 156SW...Falcon500 said:
Love the voltage gauge. Its as if they threw the numbers with some Italian flair at the general vicinity of the gauge and said its alright as long as the needle is above 10. Does not matter where above 10.
It's about as accurate as a weather vane, and entirely dependant on wind direction despite measuring voltage...Leon R said:
Great car, looks really good in white too and props for doing all that work yourself.
Again, thank you. herbialfa said:
Good stuff mate! Kudos!
Thanks Brian. RemyMartin81D said:
This thread is a visual version of the words 'f
k that'
Kudos to owning it and doing all the work on it yourself. It's a lovely car.
k that'Kudos to owning it and doing all the work on it yourself. It's a lovely car.
5mileofdeath said:
Lovely motor mate and immensely brave!
Glad to see it passed the MOT ok..
Thanks both but I'm not sure brave is the right word. Foolish maybe...Glad to see it passed the MOT ok..
Bright Halo said:
Very nice looking 4200
How on earth did that gearbox bolt go missing?
Incompetent and/or lazy spannering, of which there is a growing number of examples. One of which I shall post about shortly. How on earth did that gearbox bolt go missing?
davebem said:
Another brilliant thread zombie, will be watching this one.
Thanks Dave.samoht said:
Looks great in pearl white :-)
I salute your dedication and skills in fixing a semi-automatic gearbox yourself! Nice one, it seems like you have the kind of mechanical skills to make Maserati ownership work.
Yeah, hmm. well, maybe. Like the girls said, wedding dress. I am half considering setting up a wedding car hire service....I salute your dedication and skills in fixing a semi-automatic gearbox yourself! Nice one, it seems like you have the kind of mechanical skills to make Maserati ownership work.
It's definitely pushing the limits of my knowledge. But Thanks anyway.
RicksAlfas said:
Brilliant thread! Thanks for posting.
Good luck with the car. Looks the same colour you could get 147GTAs in.
Oh, and.... “Bueller, Bueller”
Yeah, it is. Good luck with the car. Looks the same colour you could get 147GTAs in.
Oh, and.... “Bueller, Bueller”
Zombie said:
I had it up on axle stands, ran it up to 60mph through the gears,
haha.... but I decided to crack the odometer and roll it back by hand...
Bringing me neatly to this weekend's job. Converting the speedo to mph, which, oddly wasn't a requirement of the test to put it on the road after it was imported from Hong Kong, nor is it an MOT fail...
I did consider leaving it as km/h only but the mental arithmetic required became tiresome and a distraction on occasion.
I thought I'd taken some pics of the car whilst I had half the dashboard apart to get the Instrument binnacle out but I can't find any... No matter. I'll be revisiting that anyway.
I did take some of the process just to document the fact I didn't do a ferris buller....
IMG_1834 by Chris, on Flickr
IMG_1835 by Chris, on Flickr
IMG_1838 by Chris, on Flickr
IMG_1839 by Chris, on Flickr
With that done and the dashboard reassembled, I foolishly started investigating why the casing heater isn't working.
After poking about with the inbuilt diagnostics - you turn the ignition on with the controls in the right place and buttons held down and it gives you an all OK or fault codes.... This didn't reveal anything. So I stripped all the prettifying covers off and started poking about at the coolant pipes round the back of the engine...
IMG_1833 by Chris, on Flickr
IMG_1843-2 by Chris, on Flickr
And I found the heater matrix pipes in the bulkhead aren't connected to anything. It's been bodged and bypassed.
Who the fk does that on a Maserati?! FFS!
Basically I suspect the heater matrix is leaking - they're known for it.
Which is obviously a right PITFA to fix.
I did consider leaving it as km/h only but the mental arithmetic required became tiresome and a distraction on occasion.
I thought I'd taken some pics of the car whilst I had half the dashboard apart to get the Instrument binnacle out but I can't find any... No matter. I'll be revisiting that anyway.
I did take some of the process just to document the fact I didn't do a ferris buller....
IMG_1834 by Chris, on FlickrIMG_1835 by Chris, on FlickrIMG_1838 by Chris, on FlickrIMG_1839 by Chris, on FlickrWith that done and the dashboard reassembled, I foolishly started investigating why the casing heater isn't working.
After poking about with the inbuilt diagnostics - you turn the ignition on with the controls in the right place and buttons held down and it gives you an all OK or fault codes.... This didn't reveal anything. So I stripped all the prettifying covers off and started poking about at the coolant pipes round the back of the engine...
IMG_1833 by Chris, on FlickrIMG_1843-2 by Chris, on FlickrAnd I found the heater matrix pipes in the bulkhead aren't connected to anything. It's been bodged and bypassed.
Who the fk does that on a Maserati?! FFS!Basically I suspect the heater matrix is leaking - they're known for it.
Which is obviously a right PITFA to fix.
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