Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I'd pick "exhaust hitting heat shield/body" because everything else I can think of would align (at least somewhat) with engine revs.

A/C compressor? They can cycle at odd times if the refrigerant levels are low

Yes its still there when idling at the same rythm. Unless i restart at which point it may not be..

A/C compressor? They can cycle at odd times if the refrigerant levels are low

Maybe the A/C clutch trying and failing to operate, if it's the magnetic type that wears over time until the gap becomes too large and it can't lock up?

I have no experience with this at all. But it does have an a/c i never get to use around here so its never on. Alltho i guess it can still make sounds perhaps.

I was in Stockholm last week - it was certainly hot enough for the car to try to turn the A/C on.

If it's not turned on then that suggests it's not that, however.

Hmm that would be dreamy as its more or less a non issue.

But i was also thinking along the lines that its likely not anything serious since not connected to the revs. The engine sounds and feels smooth.

Someone suggested an SEM valve, what is this?

Oh you know if you ever need a bike when you are here or a coffee..

Tho im swamped with work right now. Guess thats a good thing but im to old for hectic couriering 40 hours a week :) feel like my recovering time is 48 hours these days.

On a more possitive note im taking the car to the rubber shop tomorrow to get them to measure what spacers i actually need. Im hoping the car will feel a bit more solid once i get some better n wider rubber + im looking forward to the new look as my current rims are in pretty poor shape.

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What car is it?

Should us the air con every so often to keep everything lubed and working.

A ghibli from 93. I do use the aircon at least once or twice every year and i tried it yday to see if the sound would go away but it had no effect. I tried the fan on max as well and then it went away until i realized it was just louder than the ticking noise .)

Ah in that case it could be anything

It ain't Italian if there's nothing wrong with it. 😁

I tried the fan on max as well and then it went away until i realized it was just louder than the ticking noise .)

Hah!

Coffee sounds good - I'll give you a shout next time I'm over.

Have you spent some time with the car idling, out of the car and walking round it with the bonnet up trying to localise the noise?

Is it a tapping, or a clicking, or something more like a vibration?

I thought I had some (bad) lifter noise, but it was an exhaust gasket that wasn't sealing, so it can be hard to tell what's going on, it might be an idea to get it up on a lift and walk around it whilst it's running to see if that helps find the noise.

Is that a tease of the wheels? That is going to look absolutely bad-ass.

Ticking noise? Could be an exhaust component heating up and "ticking" as it cools? Could be a high pressure fuel pump or injectors. I have no idea about these engines though. Wait, don't these Maserati's have analogue clocks in the dash?

MX5 update:

The oil pump disintegrated sending bits of soft metal all around the oil system which obviously fucked everything and there was no point trying to fix it. In case this question ever comes up in your future, if you remove the a/c from an MX5 engine, one of the bolts that goes into the bracket that comes off, needs to be replaced with a shorter bolt. It's not surplus to requirements. You can see where this is going...

That bolt is one of the main bolts that holds the oil pump to the block, hence the issue above. It was a complete oversight and it's extremely frustrating that a simple mistake like that caused such a catastrophic failure. I can't call it bad luck, but it's certainly been a long fucking run of things going wrong.

So I've got another engine and had to pay 3x what I paid last time, everything is getting harder to find and more expensive. While the internal combustion part of the engine is in good health (thankfully), everything else was tired, filthy, and rusty, so we're replacing every seal and gasket, cleaning up coolant pipes and housings, where necessary they've been taken off the old engine and put on the new one.

The new engine is almost fully re-assembled, and the old one is fully stripped ready to come out of the engine bay, so hoping the job will be finished this weekend, ready for Llandow the weekend after.

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Firstly, don't beat yourself up about these things. I know that is easier said than done. You have continued on and not given up.

Parts wise (and car wise) prices are have really shot up. When a UK damaged car or scrap car can be bought at COPART taken to Eastern Europe and parts shipped back here. But weak pound etc and shortage of parts.

Stay safe. Bon chance.

Spotted a 72 Chevrolet Chevelle SS today, 9MPG average is a bit ouch at current petrol prices, but love the look of the rear of these, proper badass.

Yeah i dont know about teaser but yeah those were the wheels intended to go on the car .)

Now ive just come back from the wheel shop and the damn wheels wont fit as the center bore is point something of a mm to shallow to even test fit so cant figure out what spacer size i would need if even possible to fit these. Bit annoying to say the least as i spent hours researching the fitment a few years ago and came to the conclusion they would fit with the proper spacer (perhaps i would need to get some less shallow tires with a more rounded edge than the ones on the rims now but i could live with that) Heck i even talked directly to maserati in italy about it.

Its perhaps still possible to get them fitted i guess but so much work for someone who does not know a lot about cars and then when the wheel guys say its perhaps better to just sell them off and renovate the old ones the excitement and energy just kinda goes bust..

However, im not giving up just quite yet. The rear wheels would still need a spacer to fit so the center bore could be changed on the inside of the spacer to fit the hub and the outside to fit the wheel center bore diameter (if they idd are different). But the front was not suppose to get a spacer according to previous calculations (provided they were correct) so there i cant manipulate the center bore.

Is it possible to get a rim center bore reworked to a point of something of a mm larger anywhere without dramatic costs ?

Argh cars. I guess bikes are somewhat the same with no standards but at least there i know stuff ha.

No only briefly yesterday but did not really have enough time on my hand. Was going to try today as i had some time off for the wheel fitting anyways but today the darn car would not make a single tick tock.

Please do shout!

Fuck. Yes.

Reacher film spoilt this car for me.

center bore is point something of a mm to shallow

That doesn't sound right if you are fitting spacers. Mate has a set similar to this to get get wider track on a x type and had the suspension re set up

Its very annoying but i was there in the shop and i know these new wheels are for a maserati ghibli only the 94 and not my 93. According to maserati in italy the center bore should be the same as my current 93 wheels also made by OZ.

To clarify, i dont have a spacer yet i was there today only to find out how wide a spacer i would need but that was impossible to figure out since we couldent fit the wheels and see what spacing was still there or missing etc.

However the wheels would only sit on the lip and not allow themselves to be pushed into the "rim" even with a lot of preassure where as my old wheels just slip right on there.

But yeah the spacer you posted in the picture would circumvent the issue i guess but wouldent the load be on the bolts alone with this type of spacer (tho perhaps it is even with the kind in the picture below that i was thinking of putting on in which case i could just have the lip of the spacer made to the new wheels center bore specs.

Regardless the front wheels center bore would still need to be enlarged that tiny bit as there is no spacer to modify anything with and they just wont fit as is.

The picture below is of another ghibli from 93 using a spacer to fit later maserati wheels and in the front they would slip on without issues so the center bore must have been correct on those maserati wheels from later years but not my setup apparently (tho not the same model wheels). Tricky stuff!

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