The BORA

A friend of mine in Warsaw Poland is selling this Bora project. He is not very internet savvy so asked me to mention it.

According to factory archive data 858 was completed in January 1975.

It is a 4.9 litre US model and was finished new in a blue Ischia livery (metallic mid blue, Salchi code 106A51) with white interior (Connolly code PAC 1544).

It was shipped with standard equipment, no radio, by sea to Maserati Automobiles Inc in Los Angeles on 28 January 1975.

Decades later it was bought by a European and is now for sale privately.

The odometer shows 59658 miles.

This is project which its prior owner has had to interrupt and sell. It is matching numbers, the electrics work, at least the main functions, the leather and interior is in very good condition, it has been colour changed to black, the paint is also in very good condition.

It will require an engine rebuild. The engine is in the car at the moment but not connected. It turns freely. The exhaust will also need attention. The buyer may want to replace the harness, fuel lines, the clutch needs replacing, the fuel tank need repairs…it is a project.

Original alloy wheel cover discs come with the car. Comes with service booklet, use and maintenance guide.

Bora projects are extremely rare as many Boras were damaged, even destroyed in period, be it blown engines on the Autobahn or crashes.

Located in Warsaw, Poland, not registered but importation tax paid. Inspection upon request. Poland is of course part of the European Union, Warsaw has an excellent very well connected International airport. €70K OBO.

If interested PM me and I will put you in touch.

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I wonder if that Brian Cumming's of California car?
His was a blue Bora and it the had the big rubber bumpers.
I presume that this car has been converted.

The underside of that engine next to last photo doesn't look right.
Must be from a different car?

 

It was in California but he gave me no other info such as prior owner names.
Yes clearly converted. That is the set of photos he sent me.
If you mean that next to last photo is not a Bora photo he made mistake, I believe he is selling several cars now.

 

Here's an interesting thread I ran across today. Some of you are on it.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/137187940/

 

Quick ?...

Connolly PAC 1544 is it really white or is it a light tan?

Mike

 

The next to last picture shows a Bora subframe and shift linkage, but the engine is not from Maserati. However, it has had an additional pulley added to drive the hydraulic pump. Somewhere there's an engine-swapped Bora, though not this one.

 

Very interesting, will ask my friend if he knows anything about this. It would seem the owner before him played around with the idea of a substitute -non Maserati - engine, before he had to stop it all for whatever reason. Odd as the original engine turns.

 

Even that assessment is incorrect if we're to believe the photo is accurate as things are a mirror view of how a Bora does it's linkage.
Best to just ignore the photo completely as it's not from this car.

 

The shift linkage goes into the left side of the transmission when viewed from the top. Viewed from the bottom, it would be on the right, as this picture shows. I realize this has nothing to do with the car on sale. I am just curious about engine-swapped Boras. I've heard it's been done, but have never seen one.

 

Your are mistaken.

 

That picture showing the oil pan looks like a Chevy big or small block V8. And not sure for certain but I don’t think K&N makes a oil filter for a 1970s Maserati engine

 

Again my apologies for not catching that incorrectly included photo in the file my friend sent me, he would normally know better but we were each very busy and it slipped through.

 

Hey Marc no reason to apologize. Just so you know I wasn’t complaining about it; I was just noticed that it looked like a chevy oil pan

 

Nope, I'm not. This is the Bora drivetrain, clearly showing the shift linkage on the left side of the transmission and engine. It would appear on the right when viewed from the bottom. As Lienroc says, this looks like a classic SBC, which seems an odd choice unless the work was done a very long time ago.
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Is that a scale the attached to the crane? It appears to give the weight of the engine and transmission to be 6540 but if it is a scale I assume the weight is in pounds. Would it be a true weight for the engine and transmission?

 

654.0 lbs?

 

That is actually a bit lighter than I expected, thank you for posting this. A small and relatively tight but not nearly as powerful 308/328 engine/gearbox weighs about 600lbs!

Wondering if I might make a request, would you measure and tell us the exhaust port and intake port diameters please? thank you kindly!

 

Let's see if I can clear up this misunderstanding.
In that first photo which direction is the top of the photo pointing, front or rear of the car?

 

This is how the Bora sub frame looks from underneath rear to front . Albeit with a different motor and perhaps some other things since this is a modified car. I used flipping software to correct that original photo.
That linkage rod doesn't look original either. I'm not even convinced that this is Bora subframe at all.

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Possibly a De Tomaso Pantera?

 

@Ferraripilot - Sorry; I've been off in the wilds of central Texas helping my son move his restoration shop (again). At my age, I probably wasn't much help, but at least I got to visit my Bora and Alfa! Fortunately the engine is here and I was able to measure the exhaust port at 41.5mm. The intake and carbs are still attached to the engine, so I can't see the intake ports. At some point I will; the reason the engine is here is so I can do some cosmetic work, including repainting the heads. When I do, I will try to remember to get that measurement for you.
Regarding the weights, the number is a bit misleading. I took the drivetrain out mainly to replace the water pump and I'd already removed some of the ancillaries from the engine. However, I recorded those weights separately. Brackets and castings -19lbs, alternator 10.4lbs, hydraulic pump 9.2 lbs, York compressor and huge Barufaldi clutch 29.4lbs. The engine as shown minus the transaxle, but still including the pressure plate and clutch disc is 485lbs. I think this is accurate. The scale is a Brecknell CS model claimed to be accurate to 0.5lbs. I used a smaller scale for the accessories. I was also surprised by the relatively light weight.
Regarding the subframe, the original picture in the posting is correct. I've added a picture of the bare Bora subframe seen from the front. The clue is the asymmetry of the silent bloc mounts. The passenger side one is closer to the centerline of the car. The posted picture shows it there and also shows the driver side mount slanting off out of the picture. While I was at the shop, I checked some other iron block V8s (Ford sb, AMC, Buick, Pontiac, Mopar RB) and this oil filter and starter placement only seems to occur on SBCs. That also indicates the posted picture is correct. As for the shift linkage, notice that the swappers. even added a bracket to the Chevy pan rail to support the original intermediate bearing of the Bora shift linkage. Except for being extended to clear the oil filter, it's done the same way that Maserati did it.
This isn't a Pantera image - they don't use a subframe. The other picture is a Pantera engine bay; very different. Although there have been V8 swapped Meraks (one with a Ferrari 460 drivetrain!), they don't use a subframe, either. Using Google image search didn't turn up anything, but then it wouldn't if this picture has never been published until now. So, the mystery continues.
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AM117.858

27 Jan. 1975, "Blue Ischia"/white

July 1975 new to M.A.I. -LA.CA./USA

19??-2003 Joseph Souza -Moorpark.CA./USA, in long time storage, now black/black

Aug.19.,2003 with Chuck Sternburg -??/USA

Dec. 2023 GOODING & Co Geared Online auction, fitted with original but non-matching no. engine, not running

 

Thank you kindly for measuring that and your detailed findings. The minutia of these has always interested me. I've done similar stuff with various Merak/308/Boxer stuff

 

The flipped image version I posted is the correct orientation for a Bora. No Bora ever had the shift linkage on the RH side of the engine. The E-brake cable is also on left side the engine compartment.

 

In reference to the exhaust port diameter measurement, I made the following on an early 4.7 L Bora engine: 42.0 mm. That said, this is measured with a vernier caliper placed as close to the port opening as possible, and is in good agreement with @Ferraripilot’s measurement considering any inter-individual error that exists. The intake port diameter is more interesting since the port opening does not appear to be round, measuring 35.25 mm on the horizontal and 36.25 mm on the vertical. All measurements apply to the right and left cylinder heads.