Maserati Khamsin

The man to ask in Cozza. Maybe he remembers? Maybe they allowed you to order your engine finished this way? Boras looked so horrible in the engine compartment it hardly mattered. That cover wasn't just functional ...

The castings were pretty awful looking and there were also stories about structural issues with the castings. But paint is of no help with that. Really old time service guys like Al Burtoni and Mandarano probably know all of those stories. Gene O'Gorman might remember some of these as well.

 

Thanks Bob; Yes, most of the later cars I've seen pictures of have black valleys between the cam-covers.

On mine they are blank aluminium. I don't see any evidence that the heads have been off the engine, so must assume that the car was built this way. The casting looks quite rough and dull indeed. Not very pretty.

My cam-covers are normal black wrinkle-paint, but with the raised parts blank alu. I've seen completely black as well, assumed that this was a quick 'fresh-up' after a valve adjustment.

 

Hello,

Over the years I have learned that the black wrinkle paint on the cam covers as well as the cylinder head for 6 and 8 cyl engines was almost a Maserati trade mark. Certainly for the A6G 2000 onwards but also before.

Cylinder head gaskets are prone to go over the years, certainly on V8's. During the repair a lot of people do not go through the effort of repainting the heads because it is a time consuming and a bit of a dirty job. Also people make a lot of fuzz on the wrinkle painting, which actually is quite an easy job with eg the VHT wrinkle paint spray cans. It just takes cleaning and preparation time.
In addition, when the paint is older it comes of relatively easy. A paint remover with a high pressure cleaner does the job.

When checking out numerous cars during my hunts for my Ghibli and my Khamsin, the bare aluminum on the heads has become a sign to me that the heads have been worked on.

For the rest people did all kinds of things to their cars like red around the Maserati casted name on the covers; normally only done on the 250F and some other older racing cars.

Furthermore, I have seen cam covers of "untouched" cars that were completely black and with the scripts in brushed aluminum. At Maserati I learned in the 70-ties that it depended on the mechanic that assembled the engine if he cared and had time enough, those were the days...

Ciao,

Bart

 

Thanks Bart,

Maybe that should lead me to the conclusion that somewhere during the first 41.000kms the heads were off the engine, even though there is nothing pointing in that direction. Usually there are tell-tales.

My next question, then, has to be: Were the heads completely painted black, or just parts of it? And if the latter, which parts?

 

Hi Jack,

The heads were completely painted in the black wrinkle paint. Subtle detail for the originality freaks: Maserati used to put small red patches on the heads as a sign that the engine had been tested (on the bench). On the heads these were put on the front top side, the bridge between the two valve covers. It has been discussed on the forum before with some pictures to it as well, not sure if it was this thread or Ghibli or V8's. Start of Alzheimer?

Ciao,

Bart

 

Thank you Bart!

I just got back out of the garage, took that strange, strange air-pump off, that takes a lot of clutter out of the engine bay. I can now actually see the alternator!. The headers will come off to cut off the associated piping.

As it turns out, the heads on my car #435 are indeed all black, except in the valleys between the cams. Should I feel that I want to correct, it's and easy job with some careful masking.

Tried one more time to get that perky bolt intothe back of the hydraulics regulator, but can't. Camfered (sp?) the bolt a little, still no luck. Will go chase after a 7mm stud or a bolt with enough length to cut off, as per previous post.

 

Hi again Jack,

M7 screws you should be able to get at a Citroën dealer, they are difficult to get in the normal hardware stores.

A picture of my engine bay after a couple of kkm after I did the head gaskets and wrinkle paint,mind the red patch.

A picture of K#120 504 an extremely low km car and virtually untouched. Note the top cover with only the Maserati script brushed, the bottom one is all painted and look at the red patch. BTW the ignition box is mounted on the inner wing by the factory and I like the sorter lead between the coil and the distributor cap.

And a pic of my Padova trophy ( an original Euro steering wheel and boss) fitted to my T-Top K. I have the blue horn button but like the black one better in the car. I harmonized the toggle switches and turn knobs to make the dash look less messy. It is a one off car anyhow.

Take care,

Bart
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Hi Bart

Thanks for the picture great stuff.

I note the colour of the coil is orange, is a coil?

Regards
Graeme

 

Hi Bart

Thanks for the picture great stuff.

I note the orange colour of what appears to be the coil, is it a coil? if so what variety is it

Regards
Graeme

 

Hi Bart,

Thanks much for the pics again.

My cam-covers are like yours, I guess most are.
# 499 also has the ignition box on the inner fender, mine #435 has it in the usual spot in front of the radiator. I will change this.
I will also paint the sentre-section of the heads, it appears that they should be black.

Been wondering about the plethora of styles of the switches, it looks very kit-car like, they could have paid some closer attention to that. If different sizes, the least thing they could have done is mount switches with the same colour escutcheon, chrome or black, not the mixture it is. I'll leave it alone, it is how the car came.

I like the old style steering wheel. My interior is mushroon, a wood-rimmed would look better in that, still pondering that one.

Coil- HT lead: Not in my garage today, but I think mine is even shorter. Car is RHD, so lay-out is a little different in some details.

Cheers!

Jack.

 

Hi Greame and Jack,

Further to your reactions.
Mine came originally with the US bumpers... these were fortunately modified too to European by the second owner by using original Maserati spares. I am certainly not going to put these US things back on.

My engine died on me once whilst driving, instant switch off but not by me. Could only restart by pulling the coil lead out and keeping it ~3cm in front of the coil: Could drive the car back home but meant that coil had gone.
By checking with the Bosch guys they came up with the replacement, Bosch ref nr: 0221121001 Made in Brazil and also used on some Porsches. Never try to hook up an ordinary coil because it will short circuit your electronics box. I did not go through the effort yet of respraying it in satin black.
The box mounted on the inner wing avoids it sucking up humidity and shutting off. I left mine in the front but mounted a little shield in front of it so the spray water cannot get to it. A 90 degree bent piece of sheet aluminum that I clamped between the cross member and the box.
On the pic you can also clearly see the expansion tank that I added: the cooling liquid is always "up to the neck" in the engine mounted tank and therefore no air bubbles that can expand with the increasing temperatures and put extra pressure on the cooling system. I left the pressure control on the engine side and the expansion tank lid is non pressurized. Temperature stays OK even in a hot summer day traffic jam after asking performance of the engine.

The dash is personal taste but I do agree with you, so, I modified mine even a chrome trim around the hazard warning switch. To me the only real nice dash for a K can be seen in the Prototipo K#004, however, I enjoy my mods, it is a little calmer to the eye.

Ciao,

Bart
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Short and sweet

Still have lots to learn with my new camera

http://youtu.be/-ntrsxZI5kk

 

Hello Everyone,

Just out of curiousity, is the pressure regulator on Khamsin the same as the one on the Citroen DS?

Regards,

Armaz

 

Hi all,

for everybody to enjoy a little article I wrote for the German Club Magazine "Der Dreizack"
(the trident) about delightful Khamsin40.

regards,

Rolf
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Thank you Rolf for writing this feature for us from The German Maserati Club as I was not invited by the organizers to do the report. I made it into a -hopefully- nice layout.

 

that is the disadvantage of not having a Khamsin anymore, dear Walter ;-)))

 

...there are other advantages in life!! ..

 

Armaz,

Nobody appears to have the answer to your question, but it only would be logical to find that the regulator has a direct cross-reference.

Mine is still out (I am going to get the stud I spoke about today), I'll take the numbers of the unit and see what I come up with.

 

Hi Jack,

I guess you are right, either nobody is interested on this topic or as you mentioned they have never cross checked this item.

Best regards,

Armaz

 

Hi Armaz,

I am interested in this, (and all technical matters regarding the Khamsin), but don't know the answer for certain. I have always assumed that the major hydraulics were the same as the Citroen SM.
http://www.citroenpieces.com/products.asp?cat=33
http://daveburnhamcitroen.com/index.html

Carmine

 

Hi Carmine,

thanks for the hint. After consultation with a citroen specialist, I have been informed that the pressure regulator, main accumulator and lhm pressure switch on citroen ds, sm and khamsin are the same. The price for the lhm pressure switch varies from GBP 30 to 120. That is why I decided to take a closer look at the technical spec of these items.

Best ergards,

Armaz

 

Armaz,
I learned that the components may look the same BUT that the Khamsin pressure regulator is set at a much higher pressure: 70 bar if I remember well.

Regards,

Bart

 

This fellow is a known northeast USA Citroen expert:

Dave Burnham Citroen
559 Youngs Road
Delanson, New York 12053
USA
(518) 875 6956
www.DaveBurnhamCitroen.com

Dave sent this answer to my inquiry:

Yes to the best of my knowledge all the green fluid pressure regulators are the same from about 1970 to the end of the era. There may be slight pressure cut in or cut out differences but that can be adjusted to match whatever would be needed so for the most part they are all the same Maserati, Citroen DS and SM.

 

Hi Bart,

I have read that the pressure in the spheres should be higher on Khamsin than Citroëns, but this has never been confirmed AFAIK. What could be the reason for a higher pressure? Extra weight over the front wheels, so a requirement for the servo? Other brake calipers, or some other reason the brakes need more pressure? It's for sure not the Bosch components that require higher pressure.

Anyway the pressure regulator is just a spring and a ball, so adjustment for higher pressure should be easy. All in all there is no magic involved in the Citroën hydraulics, and it's really a easy system to maintain.

Best regards
Marius

 

Thank you for the info.