Parts Inventory

When I initially inquired about the car, the seller assured me that along with the car that was pictured, there were enough parts that were to go with it that I’d have 99% of what I needed to make a full car. At the time that I picked the car up, I didn’t have a chance to go through everything bit-by-bit, but I did manage to fill the back of the truck with parts. Now that it’s actually starting up and running, it was time to take inventory of what I have.

Both headlight surrounds were in the trunk – only one is shown in this picture, but the other is there – along with the headlights, the grille, and the grille frame. That tube is probably part of the airbox, but I’m not 100% sure. Both of what I believe are the low beam bulbs are busted, so they’ll need to be replaced. The metal frame that goes around the grille is supposed to have some tabs to which the grille bolts as well as some threaded attachments that are used to bolt it to the hood. All of those have broken off and the frame-to-hood attachments are completely missing, so that will need to be repaired. Also, the grille that I have is for a regular Biturbo, not the Biturbo E. That doesn’t matter for $2000 Challenge purposes, but if I ever come across an E grille for not much money, I may snag it just in case.

I took an opportunity to mock up the front end a little:

All of the latching mechanisms for the hood are missing right now with the exception of the hood release handle itself. It uses a pair of latches instead of a single one in the center. Good news is that there’s a full assembly – including another handle – in the trunk.

There’s an extra rear window screen, what I assume are the mounts for the front bumper, an oval Maserati emblem, a couple black trim bits of some sort, and the strikers for the hood. I believe the trunk striker is in the zip-top bag. There are also a bunch of hood and trunk support struts, but they’re all blown. I don’t know if it’s possible or worth rebuilding them or if they’re just trash. It looks like new ones for the trunk are about $12 each and the ones for the hood are about $32 each. I don’t see having $87 worth of room in the budget (after shipping, of course) to replace them, but at least it’s something that is readily available.

The front fender liners were also in the trunk.

Moving to the inside of the cabin, there were more boxes and bags of parts, and I didn’t photograph all of them. Importantly, there is a new oil filter:

There is also a spare timing belt tensioner.

Another fuel pressure regulator.

I was glad to have a spare coolant Y-pipe in there as well. This I can put in the blasting cabinet to clean up and then give it a nice coat of paint so it can class up the engine bay a bit.

Front(?) bumper isolators – but no front bumper.

Other parts that I didn’t get pictures of include:

  • A/C condenser
  • Red trunk lid with spoiler
  • A rear bumper
  • Alternator
  • Slave cylinder
  • Vacuum hoses
  • Coolant hoses
  • A dizzying array of floor mats
  • Extra fuel filler neck and gas cap
  • Door cards – they’re pretty beat up, though
  • Spare woodgrain trim bits
  • Shifter boot and trim plate
  • Power steering rack and tie rods
  • Wiring harness for A/C
  • Extra trunk release cable and handle
  • Various weatherstripping
  • Swaybar endlinks and bushings

And there are probably a few other smaller things that I’m missing from the list. The big things that I know I’m missing are a front bumper, shift knob, and the A/C compressor. Also, the Nardi wheel is missing, but there is a regular Biturbo steering wheel in its place.

While there are certainly still some things that I’m missing, the spares that are available should significantly reduce what I’ve got to buy in order for this car to see Challenge glory.