1989 Maserati 222

[dikkehemaworst]

Jan 14, 2016 22:41:34 GMT Clement said:

If someone can read the future into exhaust turbine housings, please tell me:


I think i can : here we go...


Trustworthy. Attractive hands. Great kisser. One of a kind. Loves being in long-term relationships with italian beauties. Tries hard. Will take on any project. Proud of themselves in whatever they do. Messy and unorganized. Procrastinators. Great lovers, when they're not sleeping. Extreme thinkers. Loves their pets usually more than their family. Can be VERY irritating to others when they try to explain or tell a story. Unpredictable with thread updates. Will exceed your expectations. Not a fighter, but will knock your lights out with a baguette if your not carefull.

[Clement]

Oh hi mom! That is too accurate for comfort!! Haha good thing you missed the part where, uh, no nothing hello goodbye


edit: georgeb > You miss the ambling round the countryside pics, and I miss ambling round the countryside! I do envy your plug-in box of wonders (insert your own 'many girl no panty bar' here), if anything that book is very useful for understanding how EFI works and how to troubleshoot it. The one stupid thing is that EFI works perfectly well on 222s and I'm yet to see someone having issues with it... and here I am wanting to throw it all out.

[Blown_Imp]

Mega as usual :-)

My maserati want was not helped by the family viewing our house yesterday, turning up in a quattroporte!

[Clement]

Thanks! Haha I guess it was one of the later generations, at least you know they won't be afraid of dodgy electrics and randomly functioning A/C

[Phil H]

The injection hardware looks very similar to the collection used on the Sierra Cosworth?

With a possible change in engine speed sensing I think Megasquirt might work for you - I think there's a few odd-fire 90 degree V6s that have been done (Pontiac rings a bell)?

[Clement]

Jan 24, 2016 10:24:20 GMT Phil H said:

The injection hardware looks very similar to the collection used on the Sierra Cosworth?

With a possible change in engine speed sensing I think Megasquirt might work for you - I think there's a few odd-fire 90 degree V6s that have been done (Pontiac rings a bell)?

Aaah thanks! Having similar references helps no end in this kind of case, I'll look into it! The only actual info I've found from someone converting an odd-fire engine to distributorless ignition, is that they used two Ford EDIS-6 modules with wasted spark. I'm yet to really look into the specifics of wasted spark with odd-firing, I wouldn't want that wasted spark to occur at the wrong time.

[thebaron]

Any updates Clement?

[Clement]

Ha! I actually wanted to post a tiny update, and thanks to you I didn't have to look for the thread! Proboards even forgot what page I last read, shame on me.

So here goes, I've taken more small bits off to repare for bigger stuff that still hasn't happened.




Intake plenum


Starter motor


AC compressor


Clutch s/c




Also, I've found other references I wanted to share in case someone needs to find the same part without having to pay Maserati money (I'm sure this stuff is shared with other cars of the era)


Crankshaft VR sensor says "SEN eightD 1", by Magnetti Marelli


Camshaft VR sensor says "SEN eightD 4", same manufacturer obviously


LHS turbo says it's "VM8L 8704" spec, serial number "RHB5 155116A", part number 470360100


RHS turbo says "VM7R 8703" / "RHB5 25477A" / 470360000


Unfortunately its compressor wheel looks kippered, stupid intake hose kept popping off and I'm sure it's eaten a few things it shouldn't have. We'll see once it's properly off the engine and on the bench, if it's just cosmetic then it'll go back in as is.


Side of the water pump looks manky and the valley between the heads is filled in old oil so I need to sort this out, it's ugly as hell.




Some progress made, a whole lot left still...

Please note that the sensors don't read eightD in reality, it appears that a combination of eight and D is a smiley here, and quite a smiley it is. I wish the sensors read "SEN 1", it'd be much funnier working on cars

[thebaron]

So what's the plan? you hoping to get it back out there for the summer or will this be a longer term hiatus?

[Clement]

Errrr I want it to be ready for the summer, but realistically I'm aiming for RRG16. The problem is the amount of money I'm having to pour into it, I have to get the steering rack and the turbos rebuilt, as well as a new radiator made...

Good news is that I found a discarded pallet jack at work that should be rebuildable, I think it's the best way to get the engine/box/subframe/suspension combo out of the car.

[Clement]

That stupid pallet jack still doesn't work, I'll have to rent a hoist to yank that engine out this weekend.

This is where it's at currently:



I found the perfect plugs for the intake ducts at work!



And the reason I had some strange mayos in the intake pipes at the turbo outlet is:



the pipes themselves are mayo coloured from the start. This has to be one of the most elaborate practical jokes I've seen.


Anyhoo, this weekend I went and got some parts for the car.


(my Peruvian flatmate felt like tagging along, fine by me!)

Parts haul yielded the much awaited front bumper, it's dark grey so I can't be bothered to repaint it before throwing it onto the car.
It also yielded a radiator, mine has a leak and is not refurbishable (I made up that word, and it's awful) since it's made of plastic and aluminium.

It just so happens that the second-hand radiator I bought is for a Ghibli, it's much larger and made of brass and copper, which means I can get it refurbished. And it was €50!!






Wheels? Nah, you're dreaming. Oh wait!







4 of those, brand new, they don't look that good and have no dish but!
- I wanted to go 15" for tyre availability reasons, and looks
- I'm not quite ready to swap to 5-lug everything
- they are made precisely for my car, no fitment worries
- 4x98 15" wheels are hard to come by because the Italians all went to 5-lug, and FWD offset right when switching from 14" to 15", I'd have to get some specific Alpine rims or Zender wheels
- I don't want to spend a fortune, and they were €150!



Also, this roadtrip meant we drove between Le Mans and Rouen on Friday afternoon, and the opposite way on Sunday afternoon. I think there was something weird about the cars at the services.













I can't even begin to tell you the amount of incredible cars we came across. Special highlights were a Le Mans Panhard and some sort of Can-Am roadster on Sunday, oh the insanity.

One fun part of the roadtrip was that we went to a nice town with a nice pier and a nice though slightly unusable bridge





So yeah, I might have spent my entire weekend driving to 2 hours north of Rotterdam (a tad over 2000km in the end) to fetch a stupid bumper but I had to, and it was worth it.

[Clement]

What a mess that was. I should be picking up the freshly reconditioned radiator this week

[Clement]

I've got the radiator back!

I need to ask for your opinion: I'd like to just get some fresh linings put on that friction plate and just bung the pressure plate back on, maybe change the release bearing because it's said to be fragile plastic. Is this too worn to reuse? Too many heat marks on the pressure plate and flywheel?















________________________

Dirty engine is dirty




BUT! I've looked into valve clearances, and they're all fine! Adjusting them means, dropping the camshafts, and ordering specific shims, and all the assorted drama of seals and a mere dozen hours of work. Needless to say I'm rather pleased with that.


Plus, it looks rather healthy in there








That's it for today.

[Clement]

That's dead.




So is that, all grumbling and not nice (luckily it hasn't eaten into the gearbox input shaft). Some seal must have let go.




This will be replaced too.




Nothing particular to see here, except filthy filth.




It will be cleaned.




And, finally, utter disappointment on my part.



That's a clutch slave cylinder, and though I thought the piston had merely popped out because of the clutch being too worn, it doesn't seem to be the case. There are bits of seal coming out between the piston and the cylinder, it's all torn, and I have a feeling it's what actually made the clutch inoperable.

Which means I could have fixed the car in a about 2 hours, a year ago, and then I could have driven it lots instead of letting it sit forlorn in a faraway makeshift workshop.


Now, you've all known for a long time now that I'm an idiot, and most anyone would have looked at the s/c first before assuming it was the clutch mechanism that was at fault. This is quite obvious.


Yet I have decided to ignore it and to be happy about things:

that dead bearing could have killed the g/box input shaft, and that would be annoying

I've learnt lots by taking stuff apart

it gives other people a very justified feeling of superiority

the car will be getting an uprated clutch with a 240mm friction plate instead of 215, along with matching flywheel and pressure plate

I needed to have my flywheel skimmed a bit anyway

the 215mm type clutch is known for causing the kind of failure I've experienced

the release bearing will be changed from the stock plastic piece of carp to a better metal one

the friction plate was pretty worn out anyway

I can show off saying "yeah I've done it meself, ok it's broken again but you can't have everything"




Now, I just have to wait for my paycheck to then be relieved of 868 euros, cry for a while, put the car back together in a hurry, test drive it and break down several times, cross ALL THE FINGERS because














If I make it to the Gathering with this car, I think the smile won't disappear from my face for a long, long time.

[goldnrust]

Ah man, I feel your pain with that kinda of experience, jumping to the worst case scenario and overlooking a more simple issue! Still as you say it always works out for the best in the long run, you can drive around with much more confidence knowing that you've done all that work.

[adam73bgt]

At least you didn't wait until a more serious breakdown before taking it all apart I guess!

I look forward to seeing this at the Gathering

[Clement]

I've started cleaning the engine, it has only taken a mere six hours so far.

Halfway through




Bam!











Also, I've found yet another reason to have dropped the engine. See, that's a regular exhaust manifold stud & copper nut, all fine and dandy




And that's the least accessible one




When I tried to tighten it, it was not tight at all, but the bad news is that the manifold doesn't look like it is properly seating against the engine.

I've deleted the front suspension bush and plastic flywheel shield from my order to include exhaust manifold seals, as well as turbo seals and a screw conversion. This last part replaces the 13mm hex nuts on studs for the exhaust manifold by 10mm hex-head screws in order to help with accessibility.

At least one manifold needs skimming I reckon, but since I have no idea where to get that done, cheaply, and quickly, I'll do it myself. It doesn't have to be exactly perfect, the seals aren't that thin.

I'll go back to the garage the day after tomorrow to finish with the cleaning, also to take the pilot bearing and crankshaft rear seal out.

It actually feels good to be in a bit of a hurry. I usually tend to get lazy but I quite like this stuff.

[vulgalour]

Just got caught up on this thread and OOF that's a lot of work! Much rather you than me.

[varelse]

If you only want to clean it up and make sure it's flat, give it a guide coat of black and run it over a sheet of glass with a large sheet of wet and dry sand paper laid over the glass. Bit of WD40/oil and job done. Or at least you'll be able to tell if it needs a proper skim.

[yoeddynz]

And remember a thin coating of high temp silicone will be your friend.

I too have been in the boat of the rough seas that is named "lots of annoying work looking for something broken when it was actually something really simple in the end"...

When I first fitted the V6, had it running well. Then the next day it suddenly started making that terrible rattling sound which had me guessing, tearing it all apart, taking off a head to look for a bent valve, removing the engine and swapping in another engine. All this to only discover during the swap that it was only just the spigot bearing having wiggled out of its home in the flywheel and was rattling inside the clutch diapragm fingers...

At least you have learned heaps and found lots of other little things to fix while its out. Good on you! Plus you have given me something interesting to read over my coffee.