Maserati Khamsin

The price has gone up but this is probably the same car, chassis #110?: https://www.autoscout24.nl/aanbod/maserati-others-khamsim-1-proprietario-pari-al-nuovo-benzine-blauw-8062d750-3e34-2b73-e053-e250040a9bf0?cldtidx=11

 

There is an article on the Khamsin, in issue 257 of Auto Italia magazine. A good 8 page spread by Andy Haywood.

 

Hello Marc

found this advert of a silver US-car for sale in Belgium, I think it was previously sold by Marcel Roks, still don't know the chassis no. just the carrozzeria no. 500149.

Khamsin

Do you know the car?

And belated best wishes for your birthday!
I was in Cordoba this last week, with 43 degrees celcius, when I had mine.

Best regards

Roger

 

Hi Roger,

Thank you and likewise belated happy birthday in the heatwave, we have it here in France too now!

That is 1082 which was owned for a few years by Ben L who came with it to KHAMSIN QUARANTA which by the way was exactly 5 years ago this weekend, tempus fugit.

In other news I inspected 142 near Mantova June 6 for a client and he bought it along with a Sebring and a Kyalami. He had found the car himself so I just inspected it, was not otherwise involved. It has non matching engine and also piston had kissed a sparkplug in the current engine so it needs rebuilding. The car is otherwise quite well preserved, it was stored in a dry building, is in quite good overall condition but has sat for 15 years. All three of these are going to a private Belgian collection.

I also sold 204 from Norway to Holland Friday. It was crashed in the 80's in France near Fontainebleau, sat there for years, was sold to Grenoble about 8 years ago from where I had sold it to Denmark in 2010 as a parts car for the restoration of another, from where 204 was sold to the seller in Oslo. It will be reborn as the buyer is very, very good and resourceful. He is going to restore it as his personal car to keep.

Had a great birthday June 7 in Modena, two great meals and met with a lot of our Modenese friends but will do a separate Italian journey thread for that.

Best regards,

Marc

 

Is that a recent advertisement or an old one?? At 89000 euros. That seems very cheap compared to some on the market right now.

 

Yes noticed that, seems he is missing a 1 in front of his price or is clueless about the market or it's a scam or the car fell out of a cargo plane without its parachute;-)

 

Need some assistance from fellow K owners...

1. My hydraulic fluid pump belts (2 of them) are slipping. They are attached to the
crank pulley. This pulley is rotating nicely, but the belts are not turning. I am hoping
this is a belt and belt adjustment issue, and not the pump itself. Looks like the
adjustment to tighten the belts is on the back side of the pump. Anybody do this
before and any hints? I noticed this as I was changing the main accumulator and
checking things out...

2. I have looked through all the info I have on the Khamsin, but cannot find a vacuum
routing diagram. Does anybody have one?

3. In the parts manual - Table 9 shows only a quantity of 1 for item 63, yet the electrical
diagram for the Khamsin shows two of these (items 44 and 45). The description for
part 44 indicates "Electric valve for distributor vacuum control", while 45 indicates
"Electric valve for windshield throttle control". I think I understand what 44 is, but
what is "windshield throttle control"?

Both 44 and 45 are and have been disconnected on my car since I have owned it.
What do both of these actually do? Are they needed?

Thanks in advance...

Mike

 

Yes the hydraulic pump belts need to be quite tight. Since yours are slipping I would replace them. and clean the pulleys. But they are probably oil soaked and worn. Buy the belts at the same time from the same source because they are not always the same length. Yes the bolt for the adjustment is difficult to get a wrench on.

 

There is a vacuum diagram for the US cars on Table 3 of the us supplement book that might help

 

Thank you Eugene... Much Appreciated!!!

When I first looked through the contents, it shows Table 3 as being exhaust system.
Looking closer, I see it includes some info on the vacuum system...

Mike

 

Hello all.

After a couple of days work for Bonhams in Zurich inspecting cars I headed back towards Geneva via Lucerne and stopped at garage Limacher, a well known specialist in classic Maseratis. Apart of a brand new showroom with Ghiblis and Levantes I discovered Khamsin AM120.206 which I had never seen before, it had slept in Biel Switzerland for about 20 years and they were busy reawakening it, a lot of work had been done a very nice car now in very fine tune. I love blu celeste on a K as it really brings forth the subtleties of the design. The techie I spoke to was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about this K. He took it out for a test run when I was there and it sounded goooood The steering wheel is of course non original but tasteful and innocuous enough.

Best regards,

Marc
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Hello AMLC,

Sorry I missed your post, have had hectic trips. Yes that would be 110 after the paintwork was finished...amusing to see it with an asking price of €330K while 1082 is offered for €85K but actually (since several people have asked me the last few days) the real price on the ground is exactly halfway between those i.e. oscillating €180 and €220 depending on the quality and maintenance.

Best regards,

Marc

 

All... Please see the question in item 3 and the question immediately following, in my
post from 6/27... Are these two items needed? Does anyone else have them connected and working?

Mine have been electrically disconnected since I have owned the car. The hoses are
still in tact. I suspect these were probably mainly used for emissions and evaporation
control in the car. But can't be sure. Mike

 

Hi Mike,
I'd hoped someone more knowledgable would have answered your question. One of them looks to control the vacuum advance/ retard on the dizzie, on my car the line number 70 had been disconnected and plugged. When I had the car tuned on the rolling road they tried to reinstate this but found erratic results. They then took a tee off the vacuum line from the manifold to give a stable result.
The other I was under the impression was to do with the interior hvac control from the bits jack wrote when working in 435.
On my car they are both electrically connected but I have no clear picture on what they do.

Maybe jack may see this and explain them better as I got the impression he understood them.

Bal

 

Hi Bal, Mike,

Did I write about these? Can't even remember!
Afaik what Bal writes about them is correct for the Euro car. Mike's, however, is a US spec model, and his ignition may well be plugged-in differently for vacuum, and also the tank-system is different with evaporation control, which may also be controlled by these solenoid-valves. Some more study is required.
Don't forget there is also the smog-pump, and the microswitch on the trottleshaft of the rearmost carb. This swith might also control the valve that operates the vac advance.

Best,
Jack.

 

That's what I call a real Maserati... Like no other cars! The new "Maserati" cars could be re-badged Lexus and nobody would notice..

 

Remember, Maserati could not survive trying to produce modern versions of the old GT ilk.

WO Detomaso and all of his wart's taking Maserati into more regular production levels of more average cars via the Biturbo the Maserati marque would be a historic relic today. Well that didn't go well enough either and now after first a Fiat ownership, a Ferrari ownership and now Fiat ownership once again ... guess what?

For the most part they are producing cars with biturbo engines once again! And technologically it's en vogue and up to date. Cars for a much larger audience and necessarily more bland as a result.

I think the Granturismo is the modern equivalent of the first Ghibl, Indy and Khamsin.

But I agree the Khamsin is a spectacular visual design tour de force.

It might even sell well set a top that Granturismo chassis!

 

Now THAT'S an idea Bob

Lets get started with measuring to see if it would fit but I think the K is quite a bit shorter not to say lower and narrower so you would end up with huge wheelarch extensions...but yes I have had silly dreams of a tubeframe hot rod with prepped motor

M

 

Oh no doubt and it's got gobs more interior space. A Khamsin body blown up to fit that chassis might look really awful.

Perhaps best left alone. Maserati GTs are worth too much as museum pieces now to turn them into hot rods Marc.

But the Factory with a re-issue of the Khamsin body on modern mechanicals well that would be cool but still ... there are so many new safety regs to deal with ...

Besides they can't even get close to producing the Alfieri yet!

 

Hi Jack,

Sorry if it wasn't you, my memory isn't what it used to be.

Also good point about US specific plumbing.

Bal

 

Mike,

I beleive the one operated by the micro switch on the rear carb is the same as that of the Bora and operates the vacuum retard function of the dizzie at idle. Yes it's for emissions control. I disconnected mine as well and left it that way. Having you dizzie's advance curve adjusted to match the European spec would be welcomed change.

Bob S.

 

It was just a thought Bob, yes not realistic but nice to imagine what might be...one chap near Seattle had started making a wide body K...awful but he ran out of funds and it got sold as far as I last heard.

I really hope they bring out the Alfieri but that is a topic for another thread...

Best regards,

M

 

Thank you to all who have replied to my questions regarding the vacuum system
on my 1975 US Khamsin... It is much appreciated!

I should note that the car had been converted to Euro headers, prior to my purchasing
the car. There is no air pump and related plumbing, and there is no evaporation system.
I suspect, but can't be sure, that the car is Euro spec with respect to distributor timing.

As of now, there is very little vacuum to the distributor. Could be hoses, etc.. But before
I change things I need to know what all the pieces and parts are and what they do. So,
I am still a bit confused on whether the two electro-valves should be connected.

I have attached a crude drawing of how the vacuum system is laid out on my car. It
would be good if other K owners could/would confirm theirs is the same or is different!

Thanks in advance - Mike
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Mike,
At a glance that looks correct, but I won't stake my life on it.

There are a few simple tests you can perform:
Operate the accellerator and see if the micro-switch works on one of the 2 valves, do the same operating the vac-part of your HVAC system. You could hook up a tester to the HVAC side and see if the vacuum is constant, or following manifold vacuum, and how quickly it falls in the cannister after engine shut down.
Even if the 2 systems use the same vacuum source, they work independent of each other. None can operate correctly if the other isn't. unless disconnected and plugged off, i.e., if you have a leak anywhere, it'll affect your dizzy vac. Check the dizzy capsule first of all, these also rupture.

Btw, you want to actually make us believe that your engine is Euro-spec but you insist on keeping Nader's inheritance front and back?

Best,
Jack.

 

Mike

Could you make the picture a bit more blurry?

If you're talking about the micro switch on the rear most carb it's there for no other reason than that I've already described. Plug that vacuum circuit and forget about it. If you do make it operational it will give you a very smooth idle albeit at the expense of a somewhat more sluggish car off the line. I'd be surprised if your dizzie has had its advance curve re-profiled but could be? It runs OK WO that modification but not optimally and that's what most of us did back in the 1980s.

It's a USA spec car. The vacuum to the dizzy is to RETARD the ignition only while at idle. You don't need this.

Have another shot at posting that diagram.