Maserati 4.9 V8 Engine

Some friends acknowledged my quest for all things Aluminum, and V8, with DOHC. They passed on an article on the development of the '63-'64 Ford DOHC V8, which won Indy in '63. Of special interest is that they welded in a "deck" on top of the block at the head gasket area. Something that seems lacking on the Maserati V8s, or even the in-line sixes?
Upon tear down on my own QPIII 4.9 (75K miles.......if this is the original engine to the car), everything seems in very good shape. The pistons almost appear new! Some of the copper color is showing in some of the rod, and the main bearing shells however. But the crank journals look fine.

More as it happens, RF.

 

It seems I am leaking oil from the valve cover at the bolts/screws that go through the cover not where the cover gasket sits. The mechanic said there were little rubber seals on these bolts. Do you know what I mean? Do you know where I can source them?

Thanks again - for a QPIII but I am sure it is the same on all 4.9L engines.

 

They're available from a number of vendors if you look. Not hard to find at all. But ....

They will probably still leak a bit. Maserati castings weren't exactly NASA quality stuff. Take a look at the deck area around the recess where the washer sits. It's easier to seal if that's nice and smooth which it usually is not. So dressing the surface will help but there's one other problem as well. The rubber lined washers are supposed to seal against the stud as well and it's threaded. So what you end up with at best is a seal between the deck area and the under side of the acorn nut. I've seen people put a little black RTV on there but that's messy upon disassembly. I've tried that as well as using nylon washers with Dow Corning 111 silicone grease around the washers (nylon) and on both side of the gasket. Tightening the nuts evenly and not over doing it also helps. The plug wire guides can also complicate things. I've done reasonably well with no major leaks but I can't say that it doesn't weap a bit of oil and sometimes after a while one or more of them just start to leak again. It's the nature of the beast if you actually use the car.

 

Hi I had my new clutch in recently. I noticed the gearbox getting a bit harder to get into gear and when stopped in traffic with clutch in it was creeping. It seems I have to push it right against the stops to get clutch function. On release it is not too bad and on the move not too bad but this is getting worse. Anyone know what this might be? Thanks again. PS Getting the washers for the valve cover gasket for 80 pence each from Bill McGrath. Thx

 

I have just had the time to read all the way through this amazing thread and note with disappointment the disappearance of Elliot Siegel who really was getting into the detail on these engines. I have 4 of them at the moment - one running and three to rebuild.

One problem I cannot seem to crack is an overheating one. On the water temperature gauge on my QPIII there is the normal temperature dial and a light. The temperature comes up to normal operating temps fine, but then - all at once - the red light comes on the temperature starts to decline. I don't know what would happen if I kept it running - I shut down to avoid "cooking" the motor.

Anyone able to give me some guidance here? I have had some leaking on the pipe into the heater system and, as I never need the heater, I am looking at just blanking the outlet from the head off. Problem is I do not understand the system, and that might be dumb on an epic scale!

 

your new clutch would not be the first defective made. Have you had the linkage adjusted after install?

 

if temp. is in decline the heat sensor has no liquid to test. Old rubber hoses will close internally as they deteriorate

 

The temp going down could be the thermostat opening or the electric fans cycling on. Electric dash gauges are notoriously inaccurate. Most of the smaller gauges are just volt meters and the sending units are just variable resistors. The gauges on a QP III are integral with the printed circuit board which can have problems.

You should get yourself a cheap infrared tepm-sensing gun and intermittently read and record the temperatures of the upper and lower radiator hoses as you also read and record what the dash gauge is indicating as the engine warms up while idling. Also note when the electric fans cycle on and off.

 

Hi William,

You may need to have the clutch hydraulic system bled. The fluid may have some air bubbles in it. If the master cylinder or slave cylinder have gone bad they could even be sucking air into the system every time you move the pedal. If bleeding doesn't fix the problem and the hydraulic components are OK, it's possible the flywheel may have been resurfaced too many times and now the throw-out-bearing-arm is running out of travel. the symptoms could even be caused by two conditions at once - one problem making the other problem worse.

 

Please consider selling me the QPIII parts you don't use. I have seen people dumpster the body parts, interior, glass etc. I would love to acquire these and store them for future parts.






,

 

"Alea jacta est"

 

To be, or not to be.....!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Bump, so we can all find this again. Pity the thread wasn't kept active.

 

http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/menotti12.htm

 

Any chance of photos as the job progess's

 

I will post on my thread but I am about to commence the rebuild of the motor in the 1981 QP III 5 speed. Any thoughts and wisdom from the experts? Anythings that should be done at the same time?

I welcome suggestions.

 

Hello all I am working on a 1970 ghibli spider and trying to fit the correct power steering pump system, I have a parts manual from MIE which only shows one power steering pump style for the 115, while I have two different pumps that I am told fit the car. I have the bracket for the pump with integrated fluid reservoir, and looking for a bracket and pulley I am missing to use the other style bosch pump. The bracket I am missing attaches as a spacer allowing it to bolt up with the adjuster slots, It seems as if the 115 chassis had a lot of different configuration's for engine accessory bracket's. Would anyone have info on "all" (haha I know asking for the world here) of the engine accessory's that were used on the 4.7 and 4.9 and which years fited? I have looked and looked many hours spent looking at Ivan's site http://www.thecarnut.com/maseratigt.html but it all seems very mix and match, Thanks for any help provided.

 

well I have a few different parts on hand now which none of the pulleys line up to my liking here are some pictures I have found, I have come to see there are a lot more acessory setup's than I really thought.

http://www.thecarnut.com/GhibliSSRed/P1221935.jpg

http://www.thecarnut.com/ghiblispyder/gs17.jpg

http://www.thecarnut.com/Ghibli70gold/IMG_6965.JPG

http://www.thecarnut.com/Ghibli72silverblue/maserati03.jpg

http://www.thecarnut.com/GhibliSpyder1103.html

 

I might have figured out what my issue was,

When using the water pump with the part number of 115.04.00 MA 68235, (which can be found in table 1 air pollution diagram part 66) it will require these following parts, correct me if I am wrong.

1971 ghibli water pump used a high alternator mount which is in table 1 air pollution diagram part 54, part number 115/A GI 72543

Which also requires part 55, part number 115/A GI 72679 these are the two "high" mount brackets needed for the back facing alternator.

The correct pulley for that style alternator is also in table 1 air pollution diagram, part 53, part number 115/A GI 72854

The power steering pump pulley is also different between the others; this part can also be seen in table 1 air pollution. Part 58, part number 115/A GI 72851

The issue I have on the 1970 4.7 motor I am working on is the current water pump on the motor is a 1971 style, the other high mount alternator bracket I have is for a 1970 which that part can be seen in table 2 air pollution with power assisted steering till end of 1970, part 1, part number 115/A GI 68062, which then requires the alternator pulley part 65, part number 115/A GI 68067, Which should also require a different power steering pump pulley part 50, part number 115/A GI 67787 the different pulleys have different offsets, at least that’s what I would like to believe, If someone could provide some measurements of their pulleys that would be amazing to also help greatly.

 

Gents

Have you ever heard of a timing chain jumping a tooth with resulting issues with a cylinder.

 

Not uncommon on the Merak's V6 engine, but rare for the V8 to jump a tooth. I saw a V8 once with a cam bearing failure which resulted in the chain jumping and bending a valve. I guess a loose chain could also cause it but the chain rattle would be hard to ignore.

Ivan

 

I think this is the right place to restart the discussion of Elliot Siegel's major engine revamp project. This is only to say that I for one am very interested to hear about not only the results, but the baseline measurements you made. I'll hang on until you're ready to report!

 

Yes it is, thank you for digging it up.

Maybe a mod can move the last few posts out of the Bora bumper thread?

 

Mia Culpa! I will henceforth confine V-8 engine information to the proper thread. In that vain, I hope to have further information as to where the engine harness work for the fuel injection is at this weekend. When that is done, we will begin work on the part of the ECU harness that is slightly different from the part use for engine #1 and that should finish up whatever we need to do for putting the engine on the dyno. The hard part now is to get the new dry sump system machined. If, and my fingers are crossed on this, the digitizing of the second engine block is done before the end of December, machining of the sump will be done by the end of January and by the end of February engine #2 should be on the dyno. Of course, the Chicago Cubs could win the World Series in 2013 if you are taking bets.

Right now the Pectel ECU is being reflashed with the latest firmware and software and should be back in our hands by the end of next week. Cross that task off of the 1001 items on the list.

One last thing for all of you who have a Bora style air filter housing, I have commissioned a carbon fiber replacement that will be close to the original and uses a factory style air filter, with the biggest difference being that the air horns will be straight instead of the curved ones on the factory unit. I have no idea what additional units might cost but when the molds are finished I will enquire in case anyone wants to tart up their Bora or any other Maserati that also used the same air filter housing.

Elliot

 

Me, too, but I've been really interested in this topic and when I saw the bumper post from Elliot, I just blurted out the question without observing the proper etiquette. In any event, this is neat stuff, to use the technical term, and I am anxious to see how it turns out. Last week I had almost convinced myself to get one of the junk heads from Ebay to put it on the flow bench, but I know I'd never get around to doing it.