2004 Maserati Spyder

[Firm]

Yeah man, all you need for that is a boat tank, a few feet of fuel hose and a little electric pump. TR7's are underrated, I've never had one, but did have a TR8, and the overall build quality was better than a TR6 / MGB, even if it isn't nearly as good looking.

[blur911]

Totally crazy....love it!

[Bubba]

It's a 2004 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa....

What a neat car! I hope you have a great time with it.

[Firm]

PPF is gone. About 8 hours, 5 beers, about 60 plastic razor blades and 2 cans of 3M Adhesive remover. Paint underneath is damn near perfect, so I guess the PPF did it's job. Still haven't washed it, figured I'd get all the messy stuff done first. Headlight lens polish is next...

Topped up the washer fluid and that took care of the low washer light - shocked, I was expecting a bad sensor in the tank.

Added it to my Hagerty policy, and hoping I can get some time this week to run to the DMV and get it registered.

[RRocket]

Sweet! Episode 1 complete! LOL 😆

[ChaosphereIX]

Wow! I am watching with great interest. I have always wanted one of these, of course with the manual (hens teeth). Or the Gransport in that Maserati blue. Amazing car and worth it for that engine alone.

[Johnnymac]

Been trying to read this whole thread and finally found the time.  Very cool car, unique in all the right ways.

So what is the current plan for it Firm, you just cleaning it up and making it close to perfect before flipping it, or is there a longer term home in your stable?

[Firm]

Not sure what I am going to do with it....Miles are high and zero service history, so this car will never bring top $, and top $ for one of these right now is like $15-20K USD...So part of my wants to just clean it up a bit and drive it, but I do have too many cars to properly manage, so iunno. First step is it tidy it up and then enjoy it a bit, if I really like it, I'll keep it, if I get bored of it, I'll turn it.

[Firm]

Pretty Dramatic Headlight Polish today:


And it's first wash in probably about a decade. Surprisingly, all the gunk on it came off pretty easily, had to use a soft scrub brush on emblems and such. Proper paint correction is in order, but that's pretty low on the priority list.

[Revelations]

Looking great. You've probably tripled what you paid with just inexpensive products and labor. I'd bet these are not a easy sell though.

[Firm]

Yeah, I agree, I imagine it would be a tough sell....probably BAT or similar, doubt I'd get much local interest. I used to do this with a pretty hard slant towards making $. My priorities have shifted a bit, I am older, I don't need the $ (though extra cash never hurts!) I would/could easily make some money on this, but that's not what motivates me anymore....I just enjoy the process, and if I am enjoying the car, I'll keep it. If the car stops being enjoyable, or I am just not interested in it anymore, then I'll sell it.

[HannibalSmith]

Do you need to treat the headlights after polishing? I hear there is a protective factory coating for UV protection. Looks great though!

[Bubba]

Car and Driver test from January 2002.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a68059643/2002-maserati-spyder-cambiocorsa-archive-test/

[Firm]

Do you need to treat the headlights after polishing? I hear there is a protective factory coating for UV protection. Looks great though!

I waxed them...I know some people clear coat them after, I just keep my stuff waxed and it does fine.

[Firm]

Spent a couple hours on this yesterday. Topped off the A/C, which had a pretty decent charge in it, but was a few PSI below where I'd want to see it, took about 10oz and bring it back in line and it's blowing nice and cold now, so that's a win! Hopefully it holds, but given that it already had quite a bit of charge in it, I don't think it's got a leak...likely just 22 years of normal loss. At least now I can drive it and be comfortable.

Played around with the top, replaced an iffy looking relay, and kinda figured out how the system works, but wasn't able to get it up and running. Hydraulics look good (no leaks) and the fluid level is fine....So I might have a bad pump, which would be annoying as it's not cheap. Going to spend some more time diagnosing before pulling the trigger.

Gave it a thorough vacuuming, moving the seats back and fourth, and must have disturbed a connector under there as now I've got an Air Bag light on. None of my code readers / scanners will pull Air Bag codes on this car, so I am looking at investing in a proper professional (semi-professional?) scanner that can read modules on this, and some of the other cars (Jag, Mercedes). Figure at this point it'll be a worthwhile investment.  Launch X431 is what I am looking at now, might have a lead on a direct deal through a friend.