Fully Agree. First question is who knows about replacement shocks and bushings. Should you stay with OEM rubber or have people found newer alternatives to improve both handling and comfort. Also Shocks? what was on the origional cars and have many tried a newer premium shock such as Koni?
You could always make your own in rubber or polyurethane. Polyurethane will definitely transmit vibration through out the car, still as solidly as that car is built it may be a moot point. I an planning on going with shortened [an inch or so - haven't worked out the details yet] progressive rate springs. I have the rear dimensions sprung and unsprung. I don't want those skinny adjustable coil overs, even though technologically they are superior. Don't have the dimensions for the fronts yet. Don't know what shocks they use, but I would not at all be surprised if they were Koni shocks. Bob or Walter, can you help us out here? Ciao, George
Walter certainly knows more about this topic than most since he's tuned his Merak for the track. A word of caution if you're still wanting a nice road feel. Good track and road comfort is a hard combination to achieve. I have a set of Delrin bushings for my Bora that I got years ago from another Bora owner. For my purposes I might be hesitant to put them on until I drove another Bora with these installed. I had to buy new front shocks for my Bora just before I took it to the Silver State race in Nevada. One shock was leaking. So I got the ones from Koni. They listed the same shock for Bora, Ghibli, Indy. That makes no sense to me. What I found was that the car telegraphed every imperfection in the road. It was horrible. So I sent them to Koni for re-valving using my one good front shock as a guide. That work perfectly but these are the sort of things you may encounter. Find a suspension guru and save yourself a lot of time/money. And let know who it is! I have a race car that needs some help. Bob S.
Bob, yep, Walter tuned his little blue Merak up for havin`fun in the sun on circuits! Koni-shocks are very good. But - this isn`t enough! I also used anti-roll bars on the front-axle and we updated the rear suspension also with better (stiffer) bushings. The use of bigger wheels and wider tires are significantly changing the handling qualities of the car. It doesn`t roll so much anymore. Also the undesteer is not as strong as before and you can drive the car very much with heel & toe in tight bends on circuits. Countersteering here is not very difficult and the car keeps very stable and under control! But: when you did too much and the rear comes - you can`t catch it! Ciao! Walter
I think the first thing I will start with suspension-wise is to replace the springs with shorter progressive rate springs. Next will be bigger wheels probably 16" wheels with wider tires. Later maybe replace the bushings with polyurethane. Ciao, George
When you find a good set up please list excactly which shocks/wheel/tire set up is used to allow me a good platform to start my own project with.
I would like to know what the stock spring rates for a Merak SS are? My guess would be around a 200-220 lbs per spring [could be wrong, have been before, wouldn't be the last time]. What is the unsprung height of the front springs? Lastly, what would be a reasonable increase in spring pressure to improve the Merak's handling, or is it at its best with the stock spring pressure? Thanks in advance for any help. Ciao, George
George I have owned several Meraks and restored 2 or 3 of them and serviced 10 or more including complete engine rebuilds etc. In all those years of owning and restoring Maseratis I have always felt the Merak was the "best" handling Maserati GT car of them all. These cars can be controlled with the throttle while in a four wheel drifted with ease both on a track or freeway on ramp. I would leave the suspension absolutely stock for best all around performance. The only exception to this rule would be to replace the shocks if needed and the tires to new correct size. A late 3.0 liter SS with European exhaust well tuned can be one hell of a lot of fun. If you really want to check your spring rates send them off to a coil spring company and have them analyzed. First you would measure the total height of the spring as the car sits on level pavement with a full tank of gas. They can then assist you and make recomendations depending on your expectations and requirements. If you need the name of a spring company I can recommend a good one. Actually I am having two springs made for my Blue Quattroporte 107 034 with the de dion rear axle. Ciao, FGM
I am curious if the given factory weight is an accurate one. What might the stock weight be on an SS. I have not gotten around to weighing the U.S. bumpers yet, but I was told they weigh approx 50 lbs. each. Ciao, George
I'm not sure they're quite that heavy but they're no featherlites either. They are really very well made. The trouble is that this weight is at the very ends of the car. Certainly stainless steel ones will help things out. Bob S.
Thanks Bob for weighing in on this matter. I plan to weigh the car sometime in the near future. Maybe someone has already done that and can save me the trouble of weighing it my self. I don't think the bathroom scales will be able to handle the task. LOL. Ciao, George
george if you dont have scales you can take your car to a semi truck or to a recycler scale. typically, there is a digital read out on the side when you pull up next to the booth. if you dont see it you can up go ask the operator. just tell them your curious how much your ride weighs and dont need a certification document. generally if you have a shinny vintage italian car, they will be just as curious. a quick and easy method to measure a ball park figure for spring rates is to get a heavy duty scale and put it on a hydraulic or a large drill press. you might have to compress it more than an inch to take up the slack on the open end. please use caution if you compress the springs too much. its stores quite a bit of energy and has the potential to do damage if it squirts out. what size wheel and tires you planning to run? meraks may benefit using larger rear tires?? hf
The plan was actually to do as you suggested, that is to say weigh the car. Lots of possibilities, in my case, I want to maintain an original look in the engine bay so coil overs are probably a no go, but not completely ruled out. I have a spring manufacturer that I have been talking to. They can make springs the are variable rate and 1" to 1.5" shorter than stock. I'm thinking that way I can get the best of both worlds. A stock [read comfortable] ride and when push comes to shove, I can have a tight suspension dealing with twisting roads. Walter also suggested stiffer sway bars....haven't sourced those out yet....open to suggestions. I think a 16" is the most appropriate wheel size, however I see really great performance tires, and they are all 17" sizes. Ultimately a 17" wheel with a proper tire size [read no rubber bands] can be made to look appropriate..with a lowered suspension as a must. Wil's supercharged 308 I believe has 18" on it and it looks too wicked and IMHO very proper. It's all part of the Journey! Ciao, George
