Harbinger

So here goes...

3 months ago I undertook changing my starter. The only thing that was less than ideal with my engine was an occasional code 25 that would come & go, and a bit of excessive valve tick from the left bank. Well, due to a series of incidents that turned into a 2 month project consisting of a new starter, 12 replacement injectors, 3 fuel rails, a new ECTS, 2 new upstream O2 sensors, a replacement wire for the driver's side ignitor, new battery, new negative cable, replacement FPR, pulse dampener and a friggin partridge in a pear tree.

The car still isn't running right. The idle is still lopey(like a big block & the whole car shakes like it has one when sitting at a stop). The O2 sensors killed the code 25 thankfully. I know the MAF is good because the car runs WORSE when it is unplugged.The car does great when cruising & accelerating above 2500 rpms, but has issues between 1400 & 2200 rpms & part throttle acceleration. Every so often everything will just smooth out and be perfect, but this rarely lasts more than a few minutes. I honestly think that it jumped timing. OK, I can deal with this. The SC has 188k on it & it's due...

Then I noticed oil on the ground. Long story short - rear main seal. OK, I can deal with this too. I just figured I would cancel my weekend plans, get the belts changed, order some auto RX and keep an eye on the oil level and driveway until the AutoRX had a chance to do its thing. Then I decided to check out the rest of the underside of the car...

God knows I wish I didn't & that ignorance is truly bliss, but once seen you can't unsee sht like that. Enough with the euphamisms - the car has cancer. BAD! Fortunately none on the underside of the body that I can detect, but that's where the good news ends. Well, that's not entirely true - the front subframe and UCA's have been replaced as they barely show signs of age and no rust. THAT'S where the good news ends. The rear subframe is so rusted that it has holes in it. One big enough for me to put my fist through. The fuel line, fuel return line and hard line for the rear brakes are definitely shot. I was peeling rust off with my fingers & stopped when I started detecting the odor of gasoline. The rear diff is a rusted hulk. The front LCA's are shot. Oddly, no rust on the driveshaft or the exhaust - though the exhaust annoyed me since I found thst one of the prior owners had welded both cats to the midpipe, welded the center resonator, and removed the heat shields for the cats. Explains why the cabin gets so warm.

So here's where I'm at. I know the car spent a long time in Florida before coming to TX. Obviously the salty air did its magic. Hey, the car is 22 & has lived a hard life. I'm at an impasse as to whether I should let it go and start over with a better example(I love the chassis), park it & strip it to do the M70 conversion I have always lusted after, or attempt to fix it?

If I can use SC3 parts on my SC4, then I can fix the most immediate issues(for free). I already know that I can use the LCA's - I just don't know the condition of the bushings of the donors.

Are the rear diff housings the same brtwenn the SC3(93/94) & SC4(92)? If so, that's issue 2 resolved.

Both rear subframes should be the same as essentially they are the same car suspension-wise. Is there any conflict between the 94 & 92? Ideally I would upgrade to a mkiv rear subframe, but honestly I'm still iffy on whether I'm keeping the car long term.

Biggest issue - The 3 hard lines running the length of the underside of the car for fuel and rear brakes. Are these directly swappable from the SC3, or would it be better to run new ones? If running new ones can I just use braided line instead of hard line? (I'd really like to switch to another style inline fuel filter.

All of that combined with the persistent engine issues are my major impediments to keeping the car. I could get more than I paid for it right now, and just start looking for a good body with a bad motor. I already have a good pile of parts ready to go on this car that can easily be transfered to another, but I also have access to a nonrunning SC3 that I'm not above stripping for parts.

I know it was long. Thanks for reading. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Maserati

iTrader: (1)

I had used a 300 diff in my car and the flange is different, i had to pull the flange off my old diff to put onto the 300 diff

Harbinger

Nice. Thank you for the info. Did you notice a major difference in the behavior of the driving characteristics after you swapped the diffs?

Harbinger

So I may have found some pretty affordable space to work out of so that my garage can go back to being a garage. I'm going to look at it Monday. If things check out, then I'm going to park the SC there & pull the engine for a full rebuild to go into one of my DSM's. Then I'm going to source an M70 & figure out the most reliable & cost effective way to a 6 speed manual with that engine. I just sold one of my of my other DSM projects & a ton of parts & I'm going to buy a MIG welder and start practicing so I can bring both of these projects to life. Dunno what I'm going to do with my parts SC... May actually restore it with everything I amassed for the SC4. Either way I'm not out of the game, just not half-a***ng it anymore & getting serious about building the SC I've always wanted.