After going looking at 4 now I have a few questions.
1) Control arms, it looks like these can now be refubished by VPS? Has anyone had this done sucessfully?
What is most likely to go bad, it looks like the bushes dry out and wear out, and someone else said the bolts can get seized.
The ball joints are built in and can't be replaced easily? Do some people just replace the bushings if the ball joints are ok?
Complete control arms rebuild for Maserati 3200 / 4200. This renewal features 8x new ball joints, 16x new bushings, 8x abrasive blasting, 8x powder coating and assembling of control arms. You send the old parts in for a rebuild and we send you completely rebuilt assembly back. In this procedure...
www.vps-eu.com
2) Brake discs, are these still being supplied on the forum?? Or where is the best supplier?
3) Cam cover gaskets, are these really £500 a set? Guess maybe its not so bad, looks like a lot of cars do leak and or have been badly re sealed with sealant becuase of this?
4) One I looked at did have a small rattle/ticking sound a minute or so after cold start, maybe also just when I engaged the air con compressor, Cam Variators are a risk? Is there any info on how to spot if going bad, and is that a big expensive job to put right?
5) Corrosion, most will have some kind of surface rust/paint bubbleing on the subframes by now? The two I have looked at on a ramp did.
6) Wheels, I notice that at least one car I have looked at has an invoice for "straightening the wheels", the GS wheels are quite soft and prone to not being round? Another I looked at definitely had one that needs re balancing at least. If the wheels are beyond re-furb I'll need to get some more wheels, are they scarce on the S/H market or new?
Many Thanks, trying to balance which car is best and weigh up the costs of work.
I am going to get a PPI inspection of one car I have looked at even though I've driven it and had up on the ramp etc.
Most work I would undertake myself.