1989 Maserati 222

[Clement]

I hadn't, and still haven't because I don't have fb anymore How cheap is it? It could be interesting but if it's a standard 2500cc (ie no intercoolers, or fuel injection) you'd have to plan on maaaaaany upgrades in the near future.

I've received a lot of help from the interwebs, I can't express how grateful I am not to be on my own when such a stupid problem occurs. I think about that 308 GT4 owner I talked about earlier, there was him and his mechanic and that's it. No other owner to talk to, no way to easily share experience with masses of people who can then chime in and give their (almost always useful) opinion. If there wasn't such a crowd of helpful people on call at all times I wouldn't have bought the Cortina in the first place, let alone a Maserati three years later.

I'll look into dodgy battery connections first, I haven't had enough time for it so far. This weekend I went and finished the welding on a friend's E39 M5 middle silencer delete (not thebaron ! ), spoiler alert: it didn't change the sound of the car, very disappointing that.
I've now driven the Forester about 900km. The novelty of having a fuel bill lower than the volume of fuel is NOT wearing off. The novelty of being able to just drive off the road into a field and then back on to the road as you wish also hasn't (much fun this, especially coming from a car that's afraid of a pebble).


I am a master of weight transfering.


I now have a practical winter car so we drove up to a ski resort to load some wheels and random stuff, and I am much impressed by those Yokohama (Geolander) tyres. They are the shizzle indeed.


Such powerful, so might.



Added bonus: it must have spent its last years driving around town because over the weekend it had gained some power and fuel consumption I think, what a bargain this little truck!

Anyway thanks for the continuous input from you guys, I'd be nothing without it.

Cheers!

[thebaron]

Yeaaaassssss!!!! Great to see you have gotten everything sorted out.

Brilliant deal on the Forester. That will go everywhere....forever.

Nice Ghibli - on the cup Speedlines as well.

It sure wasn't my M5 you were working on as it was full of snowboards, passing buses with chains on, pretending to be a mountain goat. The Michelin Pilot Alpins are incredible and I'm now totally at ease with having let the Impreza go.

I know the Forester is a bit new for us here but I'd be very interested in how you find it as an ownership experience so keep us updated.

[thebaron]

Just re-read your post on the Ghibli - 300+

Was it the 2.0 or an actual Cup?

[Siert]

Jan 19, 2015 8:12:17 GMT Clement said:

I hadn't, and still haven't because I don't have fb anymore How cheap is it? It could be interesting but if it's a standard 2500cc (ie no intercoolers, or fuel injection) you'd have to plan on maaaaaany upgrades in the near future.

Ah, sorry, I expected you would have been able to see it without an account. There's not a lot of information, basically this is all:

- Maserati 2.5 l bi turbo carbu a vendre cause separation projet a finir. Bon prix
- Bon moteur 82 500 km modele avec double intercooler
- Faire offre

There are some pictures, some of the car in primer, some of the car painted red but missing lots of parts, and one unsharp picture showing a bit of the engine bay. I can download the pictures and send them to you if you PM me an e-mail address.

[Clement]

Siert > it's very nice of you but I already have more than enough on my plate It's good if it has a newer engine, someone on here should buy it, restore it, post pictures and explain how they did everything so I can simply copy what they've done. No?

thebaron > Nope, standard Ghibli makes 306hp from the 2-litre engine (I can't remember the power figure for the 2.8), the Cup made 320 and then 330hp. The wheels suit the car but I'd want something more 'meaty' if it were mine.
As for the Forester, you'll get news from it if only because it'll go all around France to buy parts as it's cheap to run and has loads of room. Indeed I'm lucky to have got quite a bargain, the second cheapest running and driving Forester in France was €2700, more than double what I paid for mine!
The M5 must be quite a handful in the snow, but once your passengers pass out stop screaming it must be fun

[79cord]

Good see Ghibli & Biturbo together. Much prefer the crisper lines & chrome of the Biturbo.
Congratulations upon Forester, always thought they might be a little heavy upon fuel with AWD.. Definitely practical & versatile.

[squadragrunn]

hi all, i've read this topic with much pleasure, so much even that i felt the need to register ;-)
like the ts (clement)i own a biturbo (and 2alfas)wich i try to save. my goal is to make it as i like it regardless of originality. the car was a frankenstein when i got it. one of the last things i want to do is convert to megasquirt, so if anyone has a ready map.......
if in need of parts here in holland i can get affordable stuff (kjbparts.com)
cheers , charles

[Clement]

Welcome aboard

I've seen the video you've made of your car, I absolutely love the colour, so unusual! It's a very early model isn't it?
Thanks for the website, they list the dizzy cap at €49 instead of the... 200 I usually see, that is quite interesting indeed. I'll have a better look next time I have money to spend, ordering parts feels like Christmas every time.

You should write up a thread for you car, I'm sure people here will love it! I think that including you we are now 5 Biturbo owners on RR: one is a 425 that belongs to xbo11ox, one is a Biturbo coupé like yours being turned into a V8 monster by grenade, and I've noticed a post by smithsidebar saying he's got one too. Surely these Masers will someday be respected as any 80's GT car?

I'd love to have a look into MS later on as well, I have a feeling that the stock setup could be improved upon, especially off-boost. Also, I'm not too fond of having 25 year old proprietary computers that would be impossible or expensive to replace should they fail.

[squadragrunn]

kjb also has computers.......they're still curse word. main objective of the ms conversion is to ditch the stock ignition wich will be a great improvement (done it on a mb500se)
my car is actually one of the earlies biturbo's registered in april 82.....but that said, only the shell remains that age, technically its a early 90's 2.8 3v, getrag 5sp, 3.31dif with cooler

[smithsidebar]

Clement , yeah so weird! grenade and I literally live 4 miles apart in Cleveland, Ohio. I was just telling him today how much I would like to get rid of that car, but once again I've been pulled into the fray and re-motivated by a bunch of other people who have updated the car and made it reliable and made them plainly awesome.

Have you guys read through his build thread?!? Guy is amazing, can't wait to take a ride in that monster!

[Clement]

squadragrunn > with the lighter '82 bodyshell and the torque of the 2.8 it must be quite a weapon From what I've gathered it's far from a bad idea to ditch almost everything on the early cars like you have, they have so many weaknesses they must be horribly stressful to own.
I've found a few things about Megasquirt and Biturbos:
groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BiturboZentrum/conversations/topics/31171

www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=22795

www.maseratilife.com/forums/biturbo-maserati/13719-performance-upgrades.html

www.vems.hu/wiki/index.php?page=MembersPage%2FFPhil

www.vems.hu/wiki/index.php?page=MembersPage%2FESjaavik

www.maserati-indy.co.uk/alfieri137.htm

web.inter.nl.net/users/turbo-team-europe/apc.htm

www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=31778

groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BiturboZentrum/conversations/topics/33835

groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BiturboZentrum/conversations/topics/31182

Some of those links are less relevant than others but I'm entirely new to a big part of this whole electronic injection and semi-electronic ignition so I have many things to learn about first.

smithsidebar > Indeed the work he's doing is amazing, he's going to have a very special NoTurbo when it's done As for making a Biturbo reliable, you might find a few interesting things in my thread (steering column support, maybe some other stuff) but I'm merely copying what I've seen here and there and putting it together in one place.

[squadragrunn]

the fi cars are quite reliable exept for the electrics (especially fusebox)i know a few examples of biturbo's with high milage's (1 with alomst 400000km!!)
the grenade built lead me to this forum via biturbozentrum. its a interesting built, but i wouldn't have done that, the biturbo engine can produce well over 300hp, and one of the realy nice things is the interior, wich both are ditched. i would have put that engine in another car......but each to his own and respect for it
concerning megasquirt, i already into ms since a couple of years and know most related sites. biggest problem remains the odd-fire config. this spring i will be doing the conversion (hopefully)
right now the car is already so powerful that accelleration in 1&2 gear ends up in smoke due to too much torque (i need a better boostcontrol) the engine is ported, has a 80mm throttle, a 600x300x60 intercooler, large 2,8 turbos (yes there is a difference between 2.0 and 2,8turbos),freeflow 2x60mm exhaust, 235mm kevlar clutch rated @500nm

[squadragrunn]

[Clement]

That's an interesting engine bay! I gather the battery is in the boot now? I can see why the cone air filters are appealing, it's somewhat annoying to have that airbox above the clutch bellhousing at the back of the V. Between that and the battery you have gained quite a bit of space to work around the engine.

As for the engine itself, the spec is quite wonderful and I'm curious how much more powerful it would be compared to a stock 2.8! Also, one of the big advantages of MS over stock computers is the ability to raise the rev limiter, 6300 is really frustrating as it cuts the ignition when the engine is pushing the hardest.

[squadragrunn]

haha, rev limiter...annoying!! each time i do a quick run, i run into it
battery is in boot, also better for weight distribution, engine bay is looking different now, struttbrace placed and a bit tidied up
i don't know what hp its got, what i do know is torque is so much that the original clutch was fried witout turbopressure applied(disconnected intake) i can do a burnout at walkingspeed by pressing gaspedal

[Clement]

I can't get over how cool it looks.

Do you mean you managed to have a lot of torque even off-boost? Mine is very lazy under 3,000rpm, I've always found that if I were to improve the engine I'd be looking into driveability before outright power.
Does the strutbrace improve the steering feel at all? I've been told that it would be best to tie the struts towers to the bulkhead as well, providing some rigidity where the shell really lacks it.

[squadragrunn]

thats exactly what i've done.....
my car already whas lowered when i got it and steering has always been good
currently its been fitted with bilsein m3 strutinserts and rearshocks combined with shortened stock springs

[Clement]

The early cars were sitting higher than the later cars weren't they? I certainly wouldn't lower mine unfortunately, I'm wondering whether I should have a spare sump with me at all times already.

You really should write up a thread about your car, many people here know loads of stuff about MS and other stuff, you'll fit in perfectly!

[squadragrunn]

done....

[squadragrunn]

Jan 29, 2015 13:17:58 GMT Clement said:

The early cars were sitting higher than the later cars weren't they? I certainly wouldn't lower mine unfortunately, I'm wondering whether I should have a spare sump with me at all times already.

You really should write up a thread about your car, many people here know loads of stuff about MS and other stuff, you'll fit in perfectly!

the early cars are like camels, that high, by the looks of it, yours is almost as low as mine. to protect the sump ,i welded a bar in front of it on the subframe (in the above picture still grey) that way i know when an obstacle is too high. fortunately i still have the original engine for spares