1989 Maserati 222

[Clement]

Yeah that was us! I still feel short-changed about not travelling in the Maser, but I would litterally be a LOT more short-changed now if we had, because of its fuel thirst.

Anyway, if it's any interest to you guys, here's the link to the fb album of the roadtrip, I have wayyy more pics of RRG but I have to get them together beforehand. If you're lazy here are a few of them


















It was really, really good <3

[Clement]

And so, before we embarked on that mighty journey to a small Island that once was head of an empire, quite like France where we still think of ourselves as special when the rest of the world whispers yeah right to itself, we actually tried to revive the good ol' ratty Maser.

I have pictures, don't worry, words are over.














(I didn't go overkill with the sufacing, ports had just gone slightly banana-shaped from decades of heat and pressure)


The upgrade itself:

























(the bonnet is back on now, but the bumper is only there for mockup purposes as I need to put together some sort of mounting for it)

This week-end I got too lazy to work on it again, but I might have found a source for new banjo seals so we'll see.

Anyways, I owe a LOT to my mate Alex who actually used the first three days of his holidays to come help me with the desperate bid to take the 222 to RRG. It didn't make it, but those three days were productive. We are both complete amateurs but without his help it'd have taken way longer to complete all those tasks.



Thanks mate!

[Clement]

We have a face again



I think it looks much better than it used to, I'll have to paint it red to match the rest though



Now it doesn't lack a 'chin' anymore, but it doesn't have the heavy-looking later bodykit either. Best of both worlds!


Oh and I managed to reach the stupid bolts and fix the leaks, happy times!

[pauly22]

Nice car.

Did you go to port merion? Was there about a year ago.

[Woofwoof]

Sept 8, 2016 20:26:34 GMT Clement said:

Oh and I managed to reach the stupid bolts and fix the leaks, happy times!

Love it! You got to keep some of that awesome noise. 

[Ray Singh]

Fantastic work Clement! That noise is addictive....

Look what you have gone and done.......
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131930993295?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT



Its on uk Ebay at the moment and I am fiddling with the idea of taking a punt....

[Clement]

You'd be insane not to buy it. Engine is monstrous, bodywork discreet and elegant, back then you couldn't buy a more expensive Maserati except for the Shamal.

Mine looks mean but has the small engine, this looks almost bland and basically a volcano...

[Clement]

I keep doing small things on the car, but this time I've hit a hurdle.



The seal around the waterpump impeller shaft has gone (from lack of use I'm sure...), this means cambelt job and waterpump refurb. Except I'm utterly skint, no way I can afford that right now. This really isn't going too well is it?


Back to this

[haydnw]

It's Italian...it's meant to test your resolve on a daily basis. Otherwise, what's the point?
Seriously though, I know how you feel. Things like this will always go wrong at the wrong times, but at the end of the day you still have a rare, quick and extremely cool car waiting for you in the garage. For every day that something goes wrong, you'll have another day where you're enjoying the drive on some nice roads in your very own Maser!

I note you mentioned a water pump refurb instead of replacing it with a new item - is there a specific reason for this? I ask because the water pump is one of the few things left I need to buy for mine, but given the prices for new ones, my wallet suddenly refuses to open whenever I get close to buying one and I know you can buy refurb kits. How difficult do you reckon it would be to refurb (would you be doing it yourself?).

I've also read that you have to be very careful when removing the pump bolts, as they are threaded through into the water jacket. Something to look out for. I understand now is also a good time to replace the thermostat (I can't remember if you did this already?).

Final question I promise: would you mind telling/showing me which way round the leads go between the ignition coils and the distributor? My leads are labelled A and B but the coils don't seem to be labelled, and the leads were unplugged from the coils some time ago...oops.

By the way - if you ever need help finding parts please feel free to ask me. I have a factory parts manual at my disposal that's meant for the 1991-on cars such as mine but I'm sure many of the parts will suit your car too. Failing that I've become pretty good at finding parts due to growing up surrounded by obscure Alfas...

Haydn

[dikkehemaworst]

@clement
there's a dutch guy breaking masers on the dutch version of the bay of evil , called marktplaats
This is a link to all his adds.
I can throw him an email if you like , maybe he can help.

www.marktplaats.nl/a/auto-onderdelen/motor-en-toebehoren/m1093908097-maserati-418-224-422-420-425-onderdelen.html?c=be2da871b0d84f75c3056cc6db858f31&previousPage=lr&pos=19

[haydnw]

He also has a website, and seems quite active on Facebook in the Maserati Biturbo group.
kjbparts.com/en/

[squadragrunn]

he's not expensive either, ik got most of my stuff from him(koen) including the current 2.8 engine

[Deleted]

I add my voice of encouragement to the others.
Keep at it & you will end up with quite the special car.

[sridgett]

This is a lovely car, keep up the good work

[Clement]

Thanks a lot for the support guys, it really helps. I haven't kept at it unfortunately, I just don't want to spend money on it right now. At times I'm overwhelmed by the amount of work it needs, or I feel like I could manage this bit here and this bit there.
I'll be moving to Ireland around April next year, which begs the questions: why do I have three cars and a bike, and what am I going to do with them? The Alfa will be staying at my parents', it's safe dry and cheap there. The Maser needs some more work, especially to get the rust protected/dealt with and the heating sorted, the Subaru is going to need a LOT of work on engine suspension and steering ad well as four tyres. The bike I need to sell to pay for taxes (taxes are not the problem here, I'm just stupid).

Either I'm taking a freshly sorted Subaru, which would mean selling the Maser to fund, or I'm taking the Maser and selling a sorry Forester which might take a looong time.

Either way I want to simplify things, keeping the 222 would be best but long term, it would take a huge amount of work to get it to perform like I want it to. Driving it briefly the other day underlined the awe-inspiring power delivery, and also highlighted the horribly vague steering. Subframe upgrade is possible, but involves everything from steering to brakes and if it becomes my only car that's out pf the question. The very same Koen asks a very reasonable price for the second-hand parts needed (I got that front bumper from him), but they would take some refurbishing, along with replacing the consumables before they could go on the car.

Deep down I think it's what makes me love/hate this car. It was flawed from the factory but they kept developing it, and parts from other cars can fit easily (E30 especially), and it makes you feel like you could turn your two-grand turd into a hillclimb racer (turbo engine, short wheelbase, rwd think about it it's perfect) or a long-legged grand tourer.

Except what I do have is not so different from the two-grand turd I bought. Yes it could be turned into something incredible, but it takes skills I don't have yet and efforts I'm not sure I want to make.

haydnw I'll try to look at my car but I won't have time to get to the garage in the next ten days or so.

[fer4l]

Happy to help you draft the Forester For Sale Ad

You simply have to take the Maser to Ireland and keep improving / developing it - it might currently feel a bit of a daunting prospect but imagine the first track day at Mondello or popping over the water to run the hill at RRG when it's done. And if the steering's a bit woolly in the meantime so be it?

I'm sure I speak for all of us here in offering this sage and well-considered view btw

Cheers

Matt

[haydnw]

That's going to be a tricky decision to make but regardless of what people tell you, make sure the decision is what works best for your circumstances. Though I'm now going to contradict myself by telling you to keep the Maser Could you not buy a cheap runaround in Ireland to keep the Maser as a second car?

I found some pretty bad rust in the floor of mine, after which I had fleeting thoughts about breaking it, but those thoughts vanished after I watched some Biturbo videos on Youtube (including yours). sometimes you just need to step away from it and have a think, and come back feeling more positive.

Good to hear you're keeping the Alfa too.

[eurogranada]

That's always a tough decision!

My first thoughts are why spend on the forrester? It's not a special car in any way. If it needs so much work why not just sell as is? Perhaps at a loss, but at least saving you from further expenses. Even if fixed up, will you be able to raise the asking price enough to justify the expenditure of putting it right? If not that would probably not make much sense.

If you can keep tha alfa at your parents place that would seem like a good solution. If ever comes the time you need to sell it for whatever reasons it'll be there and probably not any worse of. And if you don't, it'll alos be waiting for you there.

Regarding the Maser, I'm wondering: do you want too much from this car perhaps? For example the vague steering. Was that like this from the factory? If yes I understand upgrades on one hand are attractive, but at the same time if Maserati deemed it good enough to leave the factory like that, why not just go so far as to make sure the sytem is up to factory standard? Possibly means replacing a part here or there, but I'd expect that to be cheaper and easier on time and skills than having to swap for different components that also need work and may or may not improve the situation much. So I guess I'm wondering if it is sensible to get the car close to factory fresh, but standard at less expense and in less time. Sure I understand that if it's possible to make it even better, that that is attractive, but factoring in your situation maybe not most suitable. Maybe just accept that the steering on these cars is what it is? As lomg as you as a driver know how to deal with that I assume it is not unsafe. I wouldn't think maserati would put cars out that are unsafe from the factory.

Anyway, I'm saying this mostly because I would hate to see you get rid of this car that you've loved and cared for to the extent you have so far! Still tough decision!

[Woofwoof]

Keep the Maser!

If you do take the Maser to Ireland and intend to transfer it onto Irish plates beware that insuring a L/H/D in Ireland can be costly and car insurance generally is costly too due to major increases over the last two years. Most people in Ireland who run similar cars insure them as classics with limited mileage usually around 3-5000 miles per year but to get a classic policy insurance companies usually stipulate the you have a day to day car also. Road tax for classics (30 years or older) is €56 p.a..

Keep the Maser!

[Clement]

Hey folks.

It's a bit sad when you have to go to your profile to find your own threads, and it's not much better when the news you bear are sadder by means of idiocy.

I sold the car for only €2800 back in November. The buyer got it going again, let a friend drive it, and after 4km he crashed the car in a roundabout. Chassis leg bent, engine block cracked. The car was sold again and is apparently going to be restored, but I'd be laughing at that prospect if I didn't have a big knot in my stomach.





That larger Ghibli radiator I went 200km north of Rotterdam to fetch, and got it restored for €200. The €400 water pump was used for half an hour at best before being smashed. The rest you can imagine.

That 'friend' of his is a 50-something car salesman apparently, and not only did he feel fine with giving a cold engine the beans, he managed to crash immediately despite sticky Vredestein tyres and every possible sign that this car should be handled with respect (it's even red ffs).
I drove that car 3000 times longer than this guy did, through rain and snow, in the moutains, did the best part of 75mph for several hours on B-roads crossing parts of France, went 120 once, and yet I NEVER EFFING CRASHED THE DAMN CAR.

Which means it's not a case of "oh I lost control because of the car", it's a case of utter recklessness to the point of stupidity. The kind that kills people, good thing it didn't.



Onwards and upwards, after a good thinking my pick of the entire range would be a 430 anyway. Better suspension, bigger engine, more space, more discretion, etc.




(source: www.automobile-sportive.com/guide/maserati/430.php



Meanwhile I should update the Giulia thread, stuff has happened in the past year