"OFFICIAL" MASERATI BI-TURBO ERA ENTHUSIAST THREAD

Good job!!!

 

Congratulations Bob!

Mike D.

 

Congrats!

 

AC I noticed mine(430) is not really cold enough. You interested in a paying customer😄.

 

Thanks folks.

Mitchell any good AC shop can diagnose, leak detect and charge your AC system as long as you have the R12, a compatible substitute or you convert to R134a. Better hurry on the R134a and buy plenty now as it's going to be illegal soon as well.

However as I'm certain you are painfully aware of after your many travails with exotics cars that doesn't mean you should let THEM take apart your car in doing said work.

Often, knowing where everything is located and how to get at it plus reassembling everything nicely WO damage is 90% of the battle. I know THIS car really well after 30 years and I still got burnt, quite literally on the hand by an exhaust manifold while doing the AC.

If you have someone you trust who knows the car enough to find all the spots an AC technician needs to gain access to then perhaps they can prep the car for an appointment and by mutual agreement they can accompany the car to the AC shop?

That's what I do when I have to take my cars to a shop. If the shop doesn't like it or won't work with me then I go somewhere else.

Last year I replaced the hoses, receiver/direr, switch and the compressor myself. One of the hoses was a complete beotch to take out and put in too. I had to protect my interior fender and front bumper with blankets while wrestling with all of this. Some of the stuff on these cars is delicate to remove and replace. It takes patience and a willingness to do it correctly. How many shops are that careful?

Find one of those.

 

Congrats Bob, nicely done!

Good comments too on finding a shop you can trust, communicate with and who has a common interest in doing their best on your "baby".

 

1990 spyder next. Got rid of the guy that was doing a great job. No Garage Keeper insurance wanted me to pay home for his time. Including. Destroying the SD 1😡. As well as my melted QP3. All within a week. Everything parked. A C not working on any car including the 550😩.

 

I'm curious to learn more about the "in between" model spyder from the BiTurbo era. Not the original Zagato with the little chin flip spoiler, or the series 3 with the small round outer headlights and rectangular inner headlamps, but the one that was only produced for a year or so between these.

It has an integrated front spoiler/airdam much in line with more modern cars (and the series 3), with integrated fog/driving lamps, but with the dual rectangular headlights. I believe it also has a rear skirt with openings for the exhaust.

Depending on where I've looked (online), the model naming nomenclature seems to be all over the map, so it isn't easy even to know what to search for to find out more. It also seems that depending on what market the car was sold to, the model name (or at least the suffix) was different (i, E, ES, etc). There also seem to be several different ranges of model years this particular version was built, but it looks like it was somewhere between 1989 - 1991, give or take a year or so.

One of our Finnish participants posted a video of his last year that was nicely done, and I really liked the look of the car and wanted to find out more.

Maybe the "other" forum would be a better place to ask, but we do have this Official Bi-turbo era thread, so why not start here?

Thanks!

 

Are talking about my two cars. Nice power at 225hp. Very small but comfy. Some what a hard ride. Getting the cars to full new function is expensive. Each cost $12,000 to fix. Even though both came full function. I had to rewire the entire car. A lot of hours

 

I think it's mostly cosmetic differences from the basic 89-90 MY car but I'm not authority on that, call Bill McGrath as Andy or someone there probaly knows, David Askew as well.

We had a member in the USA on Biturbozentrum who years ago built one up that way and then sold it. I believe there's a current member in the Seattle area who's dressed his up like that and also plopped a 2.8L4V V6 in it. He bought a used engine and had to completely go through it, one of those Japanese market engines you see on eBay that have been hacked out of dismantled cars over there. So he could easily have 300 or more HP in it now. But it doesn't have the later Ghibli II suspension and drivetrain which IMHO is the biggest and best upgrade once can do.

You will find a lot more people of knowledge on that website when it comes to these cars.

 

Hi, my car (the one in the video) is one of the last 150 US import cars that was upgraded to a later spec in the US. It´s a bit of a mix and match, as the 16 inch wheels came available only with the series three. So, my suggestion would be to get the best car available, and source the parts for the modification separately.

Spyder i 1990

I also like to think that it´s the best look for the Biturbo Spyder...

br,

-Jani

 

Hi Jani,

thanks for the info. I agree with you that it's IMHO the best looking Biturbo Spyder, which is one of the reasons I wanted to look closer and learn more about them and strengths/weaknesses of the various models. The second (this) and third generations are the one that seem to offer the nicest design, from my point of view, but as Bob said maybe there are suspension/engine/drive train improvements that are worth considering when looking for one of these.

Will we be seeing some more video footage from you with your car? She looks quite sharp in the one you posted!

 

Speedo. Out weeks ago now power steering hose just blew😢

 

Too bad Walter doesn't hang around here any more to hear about this. He'd fall over. ;-)

 

OK Carmine, a reality check. For judging purposes all the other cars were 2002 and newer. Many were late models so because it's a vintage event and I have a long history with the car I think that skewed the results. My car looks nice for a mostly original old gal and most everything works fine but clearly almost every other car there was in superior cosmetic condition to mine except for my freshly restored wheels.

A very nice and mostly original 3500GT in an almost identical color to my car showed up too late to be judged. I think that was a two owner car with a nice story. Wanna guess what would have happened had he showed up on time? He overheated on the way and was delayed ... preparation counts too! It was about 90F and very humid with intense sun.

Walter who?

This Walter?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFe9HoEp2LU[/ame]

 

Power steering hoses are simple if annoying to fix.

You can find out about the many spots to look for the speedo fix you know where ...

Sounds like you're still in the foreplay stages with this car Mitchell ... proper preparation will yield screaming results!

 

Stopped working? AC. Must have a leak. So that I will not have bad memories of all these breake downs. I bought a Bitter CS. Now I can have bitter memories😊

 

Compared to you, probably every other guy was, too. But you still won.

So! BiTurbos are fairly reliable as Maseratis go.

You know what? That might actually be him. Still miss the old curmudgeon though.

 

Now was that nice?

They're no better or worse than the Ferrari's of the same vintage once sorted. CAMBELTS! Towed twice in 30+ years.

 

Ex-Works British Touring Car - One owner from New. One of five works built and supported cars: 1988 Maserati Bi Turbo 222E | Coys of Kensington

 

GB £65-70K, cheap at half the price !!!

Does it come with a lifetime guarantee ???

 

Some interesting modifications on that car. That strut tower to roll cage bracing must make the car very rigid. The evo GOC didn't even have a strut brace at all!

I wonder what they did to the typically very wobbly suspension bits?

 

Not digging up too old a thread but I stumbled across what might be an interesting project. Found a 1989 Biturbo that I could have really, and I mean really cheap. As in a few hundred bucks cheap.

So far two ideas came to mind. I've known about Biturbos for a long time but never did a whole lot of research on them. Looks like the '89 is a more desirable year. My first thought was buy it, fix it up and just have a funky fun car to cruise in occasionally. My second thought was if that's gonna be way to expensive to do then maybe there'd be enough parts and pieces to take it apart and make a little money.

Supposedly it is all there minus the passenger door window, original wheels, and all the emblems and clock. So my first question is, if the drivetrain is all there and not shot then it pretty much boils down a rebuild and refresh of the rest of the car. What worries me is they say it's been sitting for a long time but I don't know if that's been inside, outside or what. If it's been sitting outside for years without a passenger window I can see it being not much more than scrap.

What say the experts though, should I even spend some time to go look at it?

 

Call me if you do not! I own two. A four door and a Spyder. I paid $4,000 for each. The 430 cost $15,000 to make like new. The Spyder about $10,000. Both are now all done. Great version of the biturbo. Start in first key turn. Even after sitting for months. Quick enough for me. Harsh ride. Eye catcher Maserati. Asian college kids fall all over this car. They love it. Americans all look. Not sure what they see. 8592378408. Parts can be a problem. The only thing not available now is the HVAC. Unit. MIE has all else if the car is really complete. I have an 87' with a window, same. Act quick if interested as it will be going to scrap

 

Post some photos. Pretty hard to make that kind of assessment otherwise. It also sounds like it's already been parted out somewhat? There might be a very good reason for that.
But the stuff missing you can find eventually.

Spider, 430 or 228?