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I did look at those, but thought they might make the ride a bit harsh. Given the weaknesses of the front shaped bushes, I may yet fit the Toole ones in a few months!

Thanks and yes, my poor knees… I do have those pads, but always forget to use them.

Thanks very much. I am meaning to upload an update, as mast is all good and she is running well. Took her to sea last week and hopefully going again this week if weather gives me a chance.

Thanks, she has been running quite well the last few years. I am hoping to take her on a longer trip one day, just need to have time and money at the sametime!

Thanks very much. Yes standard bimetallic 40mm hole saw from Toolstation or Screwfix does it really easily, just use slow speed and hold it or clamp it better than I did. Enjoy the good weather in the QP!

Thanks very much, I went to Superformance, but that was just the top bushes only. It’s not confidence - more necessity!

Remember, you can’t be too safe. As for eating, no point my liver being good for 120 years if I am not getting passed 100. I think the trick is to get to the end with everything on verge of time expiry.

@@SailingSVPipedream 😆

Thanks very much. The CZcams algorithm is a mean spirited tool! I have a few more bits to do to get her where I need her to be.

Thanks very much. Yes, I have no idea why the driver side was worse than the passenger side. Perhaps it spent time in Europe. ACF50 is great, but will need retreating each year, still it definitely gets in there and is easy to apply so I feel it is my best option.

Thanks very much for the kind words. As it happens, I put her in the water yesterday and plan to pop out to sea next week. The refurbed mast is working well. Steel is heavy for multi hulls, however it gives huge peace of mind and is not as heavy as many think. Currently I only get her in the water once a year during August and I did mean to do some more videos, but I struggle to find time.

Thanks very much, will try!

Ouch, yes I have had two front wheel skids now and have got away with it. Once with the original mid control set up and once with Fwd controls. My front tire is old and has gone hard, so that is some of it. However I think the VRod geometry of front forks, skinny front tyre (in comparison to rear) and weight distribution prevents good weight transfer to front tyre under braking. This is the one thing that makes me tempted (if I ever have the cash) to go for a later VRod or Fat Boy with ABS. In the meantime, I have adjusted the brake. Hope you get through surgery quickly and feel better soon.

No genius here! Just too poor to pay anyone else and too stupid to quit! Must be nice being in Japan. If yours has an engine number earlier than 148697, then that will be the weaker variators like mine. The accumulator does get round the issue, but the proper fix is new variators and then you might as well do timing chains, solenoids etc. I will do mine in a year or two when I have time and money.

Thanks very much, yes I do enjoy it mostly! There are times though… When I did that piece, I had just done a bit of welding and burnt a perfect hole in the steering gaitor. Another job on the list.

Oops 😬

Thanks very much. I am looking at those control arms, it will probably be my option if the ball joints are bad as spending £2200 on new arms, hubs etc would just be too painful! I have stuck new bushes this last week and they seem to be good, but I think next time I would use the same bushes in the front part of the arm as the rear part of the arm as those front bushes are just so weak.

Yes, people at work have new boring cars and look down on my trusty Volvo, then they look confused when I take Maserati or bike. Sometimes I point out to them that their new car costs more than my Volvo, Maserati, Harley and Ford Model T are all worth added together! I do like a 250cc 2 stroke. Always wanted a Suzuki RGV250...

Well I would love to say it’s my gearchanges, but no automatic with flappy paddles on the steering wheel. The only other option was an F1 gearbox with clutch and robotic changes. They can cost a lot when the clutch goes…

@@SailingSVPipedream I'm not a fan of automatics, but my brother lent me a V6 Alfa 147 GTA for a few months, and that was auto/semi-auto, with the flappy paddles or you could change gears by pushing the gear lever up and down, like a motorbike but with out a clutch, and it was nice, very very nice. I loved that car.

Thanks very much. The oil accumulator has worked well and when the car starts and revs to 1800 rpm before dropping to 12-1500 rpm, it is nice to know that it already had oil pressure. I do think the harsh cold start cycle is part of the cause of the variator wear - that and people revving the car from cold to show everyone how cool it sounds…

Thanks very much, I am wondering if there is a setting in the infotainment for configuring the run on time? I would go look in mine, but with shocks out, I would get a skyhook fault code! Mine stays on for a few seconds only. Fronts stay on longer, but not much.

@@SailingSVPipedream will have a look, thanks

Yes, mine are okay, but I am now getting an occasional knock on the rear which must be anti roll bar tie rod. I think the hole it bolts into is enlarged. I am going to bush it with a bit of stainless tube.

Thanks very much. I am desperately trying to instil the same attitude in my boy.

Thanks very much!

I don’t look that fat do I?

@@SailingSVPipedream the song takes me back to my childhood, haven’t heard it for years.

@@ChrisNF Reminds me of Brown Girl in the ring by Boney M. 'She looks like a sugar in a plum...' Ha, now if you are anything like me, that will be stuck in your head for hours now!

Exactly and greetings fellow lunatic! I cannot pronounce odometer. Fortunately there is no odour meter on the car…

Sorry did not see the comment till just now. I seem to remember I tried whatever screws I could with no particular order. I do remember worrying about the subframe screws, so loosened them before I started to make sure I could free them up. Thing I learnt afterwards is that it would be best to mark around the subframe screws so that you can get it back in same place as it is slightly moveable. Apparently Maserati dealers have a jig to line it up with. Mine is probably out of alignment now, but I need to get my tracking alignment done anyway.

Hi Germany! I was in Bremen last month. I had a lot of vibration at idle and low revs. It has improved a lot and now I just have vibration at 100-110 kph. I suspect that is either tracking as in wheel alignment or wheel balance.

I am not sure. I know that a pre 2007 can have a 240. Some of it is the same as the 2007. You need a thin belt and pully like the 2007 onwards. I think the 2006 swing arm can be used with a notch or something. What I do know is that all the answers can be found on www.1130.com, it’s a V Rod forum and several people there have documented fitting a 240 to 2006 or earlier.

Thanks very much, I will see how it goes, but bare that in mind.

Thanks 👍

I reckon a fixed penalty notice is £100 and worst case is £1000. However if you either pretended it had just fallen off and you had not noticed or had it in the boot and said sorry, it just broke off when I touched the curb… you might get away with it. I guess it depends also on where you are in the country. Round here we do not get many police and they tend to be quite relaxed. The driving I do, I see them once a month maybe and from an angle they would probably not notice. Some places, I can imagine you would get pulled in a couple of days.

I should add, I have been stopped 15-20 times in my life in the USA, UK, France and Germany. I have always been very polite and apologetic and so far have been told to be more careful and let go. So attitude really helps! Note at various points I have been stopped for speeding, no seatbelt, no plates, no lights, going through an orange/red, a stop sign etc… not all at once obviously! Every time I was genuinely unaware of course, so I delivered plausible apologies.

Someone stuck the internal plans for the 4.7 on the forum. I am planning on going into my boxes again and making them similar to the 4.7. Blimin valve is rattling a lot now, so it is moving up my priorities list once again!

Thanks for watching. Yes, the previous owner had the caps machined. He sent them to the US for that! My guess is that the variators were already worn though. They do have solenoids too that may be playing up. However to get round it for now, I have fitted a pre oil accumulator. That has stopped the noise and ensures the engine has oil pressure before I start her up. I will do the variators eventually and change timing chains etc. but at least i can enjoy the car for a while first!

Ahh I see I'm kinda thinking about buying one too that's how I ended up here creeping haha 👍

@@jingojanga73so far I have to say that she is a nice car to run and own. Relatively easy to work on too. It always feels a bit special. Although I just got the model t Ford running a few weeks ago, so everything feels tame and safe compared to that! Honestly doing 40mph and I feel like I have got the land speed record!

Love the car I'm the same as you though I can't just pull 20k outta my mattress when something breaks...still debating 🤔

Thanks Si!

@@SailingSVPipedream I have to admit im a squeak jealous. I no longer have the space for interesting projects. One did come up that I would have loved. a masser 3.2 came up for sale for around 2k and after owning one back in the day I always dreamt of getting another and completely stripping it of electronics and turbos and adding throttle bodies and a flatplane crank. IE back to a ferrari .

@@zippy4166 that would be a cool project. I like the idea of a simplified stripped down car (preferably over 40 years old so no MOT or tax). Lack of space is annoying. People who have lots of space typically never need it either. There are some places round here where you can rent a 20 or 40 foot container. I nearly ended up with one when a lot of Ford Model Ts and parts came up cheap.

We have this in the UK too in that some cameras are still from the front only so I can just smile at them on the bike safely in knowledge that they cannot identify me. Of course I never speed anyway…

Ah, are you in Florida or one of the States without front plates? I reckon I could pretend my plate fell off and would get away with it for a while. Speaking of which, when I was 20, I drove a 1963 Cadillac across the USA with no plates. I had a small slip of paper to say I was exporting it (never did in the end). I got stopped 7 times…

@@SailingSVPipedream Florida? haha not even close. I live in Greece! It is illegal here but they would not bother me. They would stop me only to check out the car :)

Thanks very much!

Thanks very much!

Very much so, as i hate the full size plate, now i know my personal plate can be smaller. I just recently got a 57 plate granturismo, your videos have been helpful so far for me 👍

@@scaryopa735 thanks very much, congratulations on the GT!

Thanks very much. So far she has been pretty reliable (just need to learn to ignore warning lights that come and go every so often!) and I have found a lot of parts at normal prices too. 16mpg hurts though, but I just don’t look at the petrol pump or till when paying and that helps…

That’s really interesting, I have an x pipe fitted that came with the car and I wonder if sticking back a resonator and opening up back boxes would be better. I would have liked to get 4.7 boxes, but they are a fair bit of money and out of my budget at the moment. From what you say though, perhaps sports cat with 4.2 boxes and x pipe or resonator would be good. However again, from what I can see that would be 1700 for the cats. Of course I could just tear out the cats inner workings, I had a Peugeot 406 HDi coupe that I Defapped and that made a huge difference to performance, but not exactly legal I think… I will keep an eye out on eBay, sometimes stuff comes up at the right price (even for me!).

I have the exact same setup. I originally put on 4.7 valved boxes, then added xpipe. Then I installed larini sports cats, put stock resonator back on, and still have 4.7 quad valved mufflers.

@@SailingSVPipedream my cats went bad for some reason. So I had to buy ones anyway. Otherwise I wouldnt have done it. Same with my muffler. But yeah, pricy parts and she does sound great with just an x-pipe as well.

@@christianvandewaart6913 I think I will save the pennies and maybe look at those in a couple of years.

Thanks very much! I am still coming to terms with ownership, can’t believe I got her and that it was so easy to return her to the road (just an MOT required).

Thanks very much!

Yes, I struggle with time a lot!

That’s interesting. I have no resonator (I have an x pipe that came with the car), I suspect mine would be too loud with stripped out boxes. However if I put a resonator mid box back in, that might balance it out.

@@SailingSVPipedream I think I'm right in saying the X-Pipe replaces the resonator, therefore you could be right. Not sure if the factory replaced the resonator with the x-pipe for the Granturismo.

@@francescorochira773 The Granturismo came with resonator from factory, but it seems to be the first people take out and replace with x pipe. Apparently some people use an X and some a H… no idea how much difference they make!

@@SailingSVPipedream Recently I've come to appreciate there's more to exhausts than just a pipe. In order to maximise engine efficiency and increase power, the ideal is to create a pressure wave that effectively causes a vacuum and therefore aids with the scavenging of the exhaust gasses,. Obviously this can only be tuned for specific engine revs (exhaust wavelength), although Yamaha developed a system on their 2 stroke motorcycles and later on 4 stroke in the 80's and 90's. Like your videos BTW, I like your approach.

@@francescorochira773 thanks very much and yes I do worry about tinkering too much with the exhaust design. Quite often, even though manufacturers have to meet emissions and noise regs, there is not much to gain but a lot to lose if you get it wrong. Having said that, I suspect the 4.2 exhaust was designed at speed (as was the car) and that is why the 4.7 was much different.

Ah, I have a Larini X pipe already that some previous owner installed. I do wonder if a hollowed out pipe would be better though to keep the tone.

Yes, I was looking for them for a while, but they are like £1k for the pair and then I would need to add in valve controls or just wire it open. With these valves wedged open in my boxes, she does crackle more now. I do wonder what the 4.7 boxes look like inside.

​@@SailingSVPipedreamtake a LARINI the best, 👍

@@patrickXWAY I would Larinis, but £2k… The stock exhausts are stainless, so if I can just get the internals right, I can do it for free (and a lot of work).

@@SailingSVPipedream @SailingSVPipedream I know the price, I have the whole line, X-PIPE catalytic converter, straight tube and silencer with valves, if you want a good compromise you can take just the X-PIPE. I advise you to change the catalytic converters as soon as you can, because they eventually clog up and the engine will breathe better. if you can do it yourself that's fine 👍

@@patrickXWAY That must sound great! My car came with a Larini x pipe and I have wondered about the sports cats. As my rear boxes are not that loud even with valves locked open, sports cats would probably give it that bit more without being too much and would give better performance too as you say. If I could just muster up the money!

Yes that is pretty much how I felt... Still I now feel comfortable with the idea of cutting out those valves, but I will have to drum up the enthusiasm first. At least cutting out all of that will take out a couple of kilos of weight.