Maserati 4.9 V8 Engine

When you put the engine on the dyno I'd be curious as what effect having a taller air filter box would have. A former Bora owner and friend of mine was convinced that the top cover comes too close to the top of the air horns.

As you know I experimented with forced air via those rear quarter vents. No conclusions except that it didn't work too well in light rain.

I also never understood the unusual shape of thosee air horns?

Something out of Captain Nemo?

 

You, of all people, should know not to question Italian logic! However, perhaps they were worried about getting the spare tire out of the Bora without having difficulties with the air horns if they extended straight back over the spare.

 

They did an awful lot of things very, very right with that car. I like where the spare is located and the huge front trunk etc. But ... airflow to the engine and in & out of the engine compartment gets a big F.

It's a great mid fall to early spring car.

It's also a great car.

What about my question the top cover to air horn clearance?

 

Hi Elliot,

Let's see some photos of the progress. Internal work such as the smaller crank journals and the bottom end stiffeners would be interesting to me and I think others. But any photos you have would be interesting to see.

Carmine

 

very slowly taking three QP 3's apart. lack of help has really been a serious problem as i am not willing to spend big dollars. can ship all three to u, for dollars, if interested. i just got too old too fast

 

I'm off on vacation on Monday but when I get back I'll go to the shop and see if I can get some pictures to post. Bear with me, I'm Luddite when it comes to computers. I'll see if I can get my son to lead the blind man through posting them.

 

Bundas...

PM sent....

Mexico074

 

Happy new year everybody.
Just read the thread again and also thought about potential engine power-upgrades. Saw today thie manifold advertised on ebay, maybe that is a nice add-on for a project. http://www.ebay.de/itm/Maserati-Ghibli-AM-115-4-7-4-9-manifold-Facherkrummer-V2A-Edelstahl-l-r-/110997362278?pt=DE_Autoteile&fits=Make%3AMaserati%7CModel%3AGhibli&hash=item19d7f55666
Maybe it is of interest for someone in the forum - understand also normal manifolds are not available.

 

Nice find. They look like the ones on my Khamsin too, are they the same for Ghibli and Khamsin?

 

I am not sure, but it might be. Looks like this manifold is an interesting item if the quality is as the seller describes...

 

I think a number of these parts were used on early BMW's too. ZF correct

 

!970 Ghibli uses the remote oil reservior mounted near the brake canisters, if your car had a smog pump it will use the bracket on top of the water pump. The off set on the pulley is the same but you will need a 4 row pulley if you want to go that route. Front pulley is for the alternator. 2 pulleys in the center run the water pump and A/C and the forth is for the smog pump. Also if you go that route the alternator is backwards and you will need a reverse blade fan for proper cooling of the alternator

 

Today I have a question for the specialist:
is the air box on Ghiblis the same as on Mexikos? I do not mean the filter, but the black plastic box? It looks the same, but I am not sure. Anyonw who knows???? Maybe does it fit for other variants of the V8? Thank you!!!

 

It's been a while since I worked on a Mexico but if I remember right, a Mexico has DCND carburetors while a Ghibli has DCNF carburetors so the air filter housings are probably not the same.

 

You are right, the carbs are different for sure - but there are different undersides of these black air boxes (I am not sure if they are two pices - but I assume so, as there these famouse black screws to fit them together)
..anyone?

 

If you have pictures of both engine bays and the two air "boxes" appear to match they probably do. If not, a close second can always be adapted but Maserati was a small company and would have tended to recycle a working part rather than make something just a little bit different. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of documentation for the Mexico. All we have is an owners manual with no photos.

 

I checked some of the drawings, the upper part looks realy identical. Anyone an idea where ot find sucha part -and approximate costs? Seems the "normal" sources do not have it...

 

The early Ghibli air box was made of fiberglass and I believe the Mexico air box was fiberglass also. If you can borrow one, you can have someone make a mold off of it and lay up a new air box. That's what we would do if we couldn't source one to buy.

 

Hey guys,

I thought I would chime in, I know the mexico pretty well and am restoring my third one at the moment. The 4.2 liter Mexico's had 38 dcnl webers and the 4.7 liter cars had 40 dcnl 5 webers which are the same as on the ghibli.

The air filter cover for almost all of the mexico's, most of them made in 1967 and 1968 had the two hole covers. The later " series 2" cars of 1970 had the 4 hole cover that are consistent with the four hole covers that are on the middle series ghibli of 1970.

I have an extra 2 hole fiberglass cover in perfect shape if anyone needs one.

Chris

 

Here is a photo of the later Ghibli 4.7 fresh air box which is flatter that the earlier one.
This is #1220.
Ciao,
FGM
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

For those of you who may have a Maserati Bora, a company in England, Racemettle Ltd. now has a high torque geared starter motor specifically designed for the Maserati Bora. The first unit was built, fitted and tested on a Bora that was available at the Bill McGrath shop in England. It is a direct drop in replacement. The unit weighs about half of what the factory starter does, is much more compact, thus less susceptible to heat soak than the original, more powerful and draws less power during starting. So for anyone who wishes to replace your existing starter for any reason, check out the Racemettle website,
Racemettle, to see what is available.

 

OK but not just trying to be a contrarian here what was wrong with the original?

If you have the heat shield in place it's never caused any issues for me. That includes 110F trips to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Lighter weight is nice though.

 

In my case, due to an attempt to add a dry sump system to a spare engine for my Bora, I needed additional room which wasn't available with the factory starter in place but which the Racemettle starter provided and also, in an attempt to add knock sensors to the block the only available location was a fitting on the starter side that was blocked by the existing factory starter. Also, anywhere I can take some weight out of the Bora without making any structural changes or modifications to the car or any of its parts is a plus. I'd love to take 50 to 100 kilos out of the car in a way that can be reversed easily just to have the additional benefits that come with any weight loss done right to an automobile. I didn't sucessfully give the Racemettle website. It is Racemettle for anyone wishing to take a look.

 

Elliot,

Where's the beef? Let's hear a progress report on your engine modifications and see some photos.

Carmine

 

I was at the car today with the electrician and by next week we should have the last part of the ECU harness in progress. I am pushing everyone to get the engine on the dyno this month. Unfortunately, it seems that it is always two steps forward and one step back. We have placed queries to Pectel and the US people have been helpful but unlike several other ECU manufacturers, Cosworth and Pectel never developed a manual for the Pectel SQ6M so everything has to be check and rechecked to make sure the harness is fabricated correctly. Of the 101 pins available on the Pectel ECU, all but a handful are being utilized right away with only a few being held back that are being reserved for a possible future drive by wire upgrade and a very distant maybe for turbo charging. Both my electrician and myself want to do this harness once and better to be doubly sure before we commit to the final part which leads to the various sensors and function. If I sound evasive, I apologize, because if anyone wants to get both engine number one and number two on the dyno, it is me. I guarantee you my frustration level is far above anyone else's. I beg your indulgence for a short time more. One final note, my children have labeled the Bora as the virtual car as they are not really sure that it exist except for all the receipts I have in my files.

Elliot