The rear glass is supported by two pressurized struts, and these can leak so slowly over a period of time, that
without a noticeable leak, they can no longer lift the weight of the glass. If this is the case, then when you lift
it manually to it's top position, the glass probably won't stay there, but will start to drop again. In this case, you
must replace the struts.
However, if you find the glass will stay up once you have lifted it manually, assisting the struts, then you may
have a problem of one or both of the hinges seizing up. This does happen if the car is not used regularly and
stands around. So spray the hinges with some penetrating oil and then work the glass up and down to free them
off. Then lightly oil the hinges to keep them free. You should now find the glass will lift on it's own, when you
release it. The reason you couldn't tell the hinges had become tight is that you have quite a lot of leverage
distance from the hinges, at the rear of the glass where you lift it, and the glass is very heavy and the struts
are taking most of the weight. If you had removed the glass, you would have immediately noticed the seized
hinges when you tried to move them!
Since the radiator is much higher than the pipes that run under the car to the engine, if you pour new coolant
into the header tank in the engine compartment, you will trap air in the radiator, and have difficulty removing
it without following the correct procedure. Any air locks in the cooling system can cause overheating in the
engine, and overheating will cause a blown head gasket at best, and a cracked cylinder head and/or seized
engine at worst, so this is definitely to be avoided!
Always have the heater control set to full hot when refilling a cooling system and running it up afterwards.
There is a small hose that joins the top of the radiator to the header tank, and if you use this to draw the air
out of the radiator (blanking off the header tank connection whilst you carry this out) you will get rid of the
largest amount of trapped air straight away. There should be a bleed screw fitted into the hose connected to
the thermostat housing, and you should leave this open when filling and whilst running the engine up after
filling. As the thermostat opens you should get coolant out of this, and when it is 'bubble free' close it off and
give the car a run, taking some spare coolant with you. Keep a careful eye on the temperature gauge and if the
temperature rises above normal, stop, switch off and re-check. At the end of the run, let the engine idle and
check the cooling fan cuts in correctly. Again if the temperature rises above the cut-in point (approximately
95 degrees) and the fan has not started, switch off and find out why. Always be aware you are working with
a hot pressurised system. This means that as you release the pressure the coolant will expand and probably
boil since the pressure was suppressing the boiling point.
N.B. It is common that after any work done, this is the most likely time for problems, since things have been
disturbed. So always keep this in mind and watch things carefully until you are sure they have settled down
and there are no further problems.
The Bagheera had 5.5J x 13” steel or alloy wheels with 155HR x 13 tyres front and 185HR x 13 tyres rear.
Note: the tyres have no low profile designation because they are 82% profile, so you should not fit 70% or other
modern low profile tyres without alteration to sizes to retain the original rolling radii. The original tyres are
not generally available now, except through vintage tyre suppliers which makes them a little expensive. There is
an equivalent modern low profile tyre that is acceptable, the 80% profile, but whilst you can get the front size
(155/80 TR x 13 is often listed) I have never seen a 185/80 x 13 listed as being available. If you can find one,
it would be ideal (and please let the club know!). The original rear tyre was the widest size you should fit to a
5.5J rim and if you fit a lower profile like a 70% profile, you need to go much wider to give the same rolling
radius and therefore the correct stance and gearing; but you cannot since you should never fit such a wide tyre
to these wheels. So you are stuck with vintage tyre supplies of the correct size at least at the rear, if you
retain the original wheels.
The Murena had different wheels and tyres on the 1.6 and 2.2 models. The standard wheels and tyres were:
1.6 - 5.5J x 13” steel wheels with 175/70HR x 13 tyres front and 195/70HR x 13 tyres rear.
2.2 - 6J x 14” alloy wheels with 185/60HR x 14 tyres front and 195/60HR x 14 tyres rear.
Note: if a 1.6 was ordered with alloys, the spare was still a steel 13” wheel and front tyre, whilst the 2.2
always had an alloy spare with 185/60 tyre. Also the rear tyre widths were again right on the limit for the rim
widths. I have found that a more ideal front tyre for the Murena 2.2 is a 185/55HR x 14. The slightly smaller
profile improves the handling, is so small a change the speedometer accuracy is hardly affected, and since it
drops the front of the car a small amount, improves the aerodynamics too.
These cars use a 4 stud fixing, with 98mm P.C.D. (pitch circle diameter) and 28mm offset. These specifications
are similar to the Simca/Fiat/Lancia/Alfa wheels, but the Italian cars' wheels generally have a 38mm offset. If
you use the wrong offset, you alter the cars track width, and the load through the wheel bearing becomes offset
which will cause it to fail earlier as it now has to cope with a side torque. The 38mm offset will give a
narrower track as each wheel is 10mm further in and closer to the suspension. So if you wish to use different
wheels and buy ones designed for an Italian car, you will need wheel spacers and longer wheel bolts. I strongly
suggest you don't use bolt extenders! Murena wheel arches were made large enough to take much larger wheel
and tyre combinations without modifications, since I speculate, it was planned to put more powerful and probably
larger engines in it, if it had continued in production. I have seen 16” and 17” rears with 225 and 235 widths
at 50% and 45% profiles and they appear to fit comfortably. However, always check suspension clearances with
any wider wheel and tyre combinations and expect movement under hard cornering reducing the clearance a
little from the static figure.
Finally, tyre pressures are always important but especially so with a mid-engined car, and the disparity between
front and rear are often much greater than a normal car. So always make sure the tyre pressures are correct if
you wish to drive safely! The pressures are in the handbook and the cars also had a sticker on the drivers door
near the lock mechanism, as an easy reminder. Early handbooks had a mistake and often had one of the door
stickers over the original settings. If you are not sure if yours are correct or have lost the door sticker
these are the correct original figures:
1.6 models - 1.8 bar front 2.1 bar rear (13” Michelin 70% profile tyres)
2.2 models - 1.8 bar front 2.4 bar rear (14” Pirelli 60% profile tyres)
Bagheera - 1.4 bar front 2.0 bar rear
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