Maserati Biturbo

[Wh33lhop]

Yeah they're pretty much piles of crap, the dogleg gearbox is a novelty though I'm sure.

[Iain]

A good mate of mine spent 5 years restoring/modifying one of these things while his license was suspended. What started as a quick 6 month freshen up turned into a 5 year ground-up build to reengineer the car to make it less... Italian.

He pretty much got the worst one imaginable and has made it one of the best (if not the best) Bi Turbos in Australia and possibly one of the best in the world.

[Iain]

This is my mate's. In E30-speak, it is like getting a crashed, rusty auto 316 and replacing with with a Euro S30 + manual + 5-lug + just about every awesome upgrade you can think of.

This thing has been a lot of fun to work on, and now he has a 2nd one we're fixing up to sell.

OK, first post so it may as well be a good time to introduce myself.

My name is Ben, I am a mechanic/auto elec, and I own the shitbox you are about to see.

The car is a Maserati 425i, which started life as a gold metallic, automatic with a 2.5L v6 supplemented by two blowdriers. I bought the car approx 4 years ago now, and for most of that time it has sat in my garage undergoing the better part of a full resto.



I'm sure a lot of you guys can sympathise with this. You start out just looking at tidying a few things up, you find more stuff wrong with it, and before you know it the car is in a million pieces and the budget has turned upside down and gone right out the window. This is what happened to me with this car. I started out just fixing electrical issues, new intercoolers and hoses etc.

Within four months I had it stripped to a shell. After spending a considerable amount of time inspecting the bodywork and mechanicals. I made a few discoveries. I poked a few holes through rust and dodgy repairs in various locations. That what i get for getting a bit enthusiastic with a screwdriver, and poking my car as though it were some kind of angry trout (marv - you know what I mean).



Anyway, the paint was removed from most of the panels, rust cut out, repairs made and then file finished and primed. I also had to do extensive repairs to the floorpan, which was caused by incorrect jacking/hoisting of the vehicle, and what looked to be damage from some MORON trying to go down a 4 wheel drive track. This part of the job lasted for at least 2 years, as I slowly repaired stuff, I saved up $$$ and upgraded mechanicals.

Whilst the car was being repaired, I had done some research and decided upon a few things.

1. The old 4 bolt suspension had had it's day.
2. The 2.5L engine was not only pretty well used, but lacked the parts to get much more power from it
3. The auto deserved to be thrown from a cliff onto pointy granite boulders.(So I sold it)
4. The mid 80's inspired brown interior, although sumptuous, looked about as attractive as a giraffe trying to climb a pile of woodchips and faeces.

So, I went about obtaining new front struts and hubs, calipers, control arms and steering linkages. I managed to source some second hand semi trailing arms for the rear as well. All of these parts were the late model 5 bolt stuff.
I managed to get a set of Koni yellow externally adjustable inserts for the front and left standard (late model) koni shocks in the rear. The springs are courtesy of a Ghibli II, as is the rear swaybar. The front swaybar is a thicker unit from MIE in the US.

The engine was stripped down and built back up again, with new seals and gaskets etc. It got a real good clean, particularly around the liners as this was all gunked up with radiator sealant that some gimp had put in at some stage. Although the wear on the bores was significant, It was decided that it last long enough for me to get the car on the road. The motor went back in.



My complete hatred of the standard 3 speed ZF auto prompted the fitment of a getrag 280 5 speed, courtesy of an unlucky Ghibli II. The clutch ended up being the combination of a Flywheel from a 98 model quattroporte 2L Evo, pressure plate from a 3200GT and a Ghibli clutch disc. The result is a reasonably firm pedal, but a progressive uptake without it being too soft.

With all of these parts cleaned up, refurbished where necessary and fitted, the bodywork continued along and a slow pace. I had the car rolling again, and was able to drive it in and out of the garage but that is as far as it went for a year or so.



With all the primer on the car and getting closer to the date of the respray, I looked at the interior again. It was about this time that I stumbled across a 1995 model 430, that had been in a reasonably epic front ender. It had 57000km on it, a white leather interior with grey alcantara and suede highlights and decent carpet, and not only complete electronic koni suspension, but a 2.8L 3v engine. Attached to the engine was a 4 speed ZF auto, that I am still trying to get rid of.

The 430 had original wheels, part of a late model bodykit and was full of generally handy bits and pieces. SOLD! Borrowed a land cruiser from work, got a car tralier and drove down Melbourne way (Mornington Peninsula) and picked it up.

With the parts car at home, i decided to finish the paint job on the car. With the help of the old man, we got it to my work and into a booth and painted. Woohoo. Once back home I went about fitting the interior from the parts car, along with the electronic climate control, and the late model instrument cluster. Biturbo's are reknowned for fusebox problems, so the late model fuse box was also used from the parts car.

Once a few extra bits from the parts car sold, and nearly everything removed from it, I decided that the 2.8L engine was too good to waste, and too easy to swap into my car. This is where the whole project got really messy. Basically I had too much on my plate. I brought my car to work with the intention of just working on it bit by bit in the afternoons etc. EPIC fail. There is only so much you can do until you need more parts, or you have to perform some large operation to continue with the smaller stuff. Parts came in big lumps. The engine was swapped in a day with the help of a mate and consequently things were missed (such as the fact that 2.5L dump pipes are impossible to fit to a 2.8 motor). Created alot of problems, but i suppose at least it got done.

With the rear bumper and skirts from the parts car ready for paint, I needed to order a front bar from my parts guy in the UK. After recieving that, and most of the other smaller items finished, I got a wheel alignment and proceeded to sit on my arse for nearly 2 months while I waited for the bumpers and skirts to get painted. Actually, I lie. During this time i sorted out some exhaust issues, had a mate of mine make two stainless steel dump pipes and heat wrapped them. Got my catch can mounted, more electrical gremlins ironed out.



So right now, we are up to about.....last Monday i guess. Bars and skirts painted, I proceeded to fit them all. Put the headlight surrounds and lip spoiler on. After obtaining a blueslip I walked down to the RTA and threw some rego at it.... Took it home thursday night, and have been driving it since, only stopping really to try and sort a few bugs.

I fitted a stereo yesterday so the freeway will be less boring on the way to work, today it got a good test. I took the car on a good run from mine up the F3 to Kariong, out Wisemans ferry Rd, Crossed at wisemans and headed back home via berowra waters. The weather was brilliant until then end when it rained lightly, and the roads had virtually no traffic on them so I could stretch its legs a bit.



So I guess you could say I'm pretty bloody stoked with how it has all turned out, despite some minor annoyances, which are bound to happen when you take on a project of this magnitude. Would I do it again? F*CK NO! At least, I would probably skip the whole fixing the body thing. If I ever decide to get another maserati, I want to body to be in good nick before I purchase it. It is just too much hassle and effort. Chances are that this is it, and the next project will be a different make. However it has been a huge learning curve, and next time I will do things a fair bit differently.

Future plans? Well because I have some kind of mental disability, and I am a bit of a sadist , the new engine is under construction. Plans are to use a Euro spec 2L block, 2.8L crank, custom forged pistons with factory rods and the4v Ghibli heads, which I already have in my hot little hands. A haltech will be fitted to the current setup, and so will be mostly ready for the new engine when I decide to swap. At this stage I can't see myself replacing the sturdy getrag five speed, but if I find a 6 speed cheap enough from a Shamal or 3200gt, then I might do the change. The suspension will cop the coilover treatment eventually, with adjustable camber/caster strut tops, and the brakes are all going to end up being 996 Carrera calipers with 330mm Dba5000's at the front, 300mm on the rear.

Hopefully we should see most of this happen this year. I know its a lot to digest. Hopefully I will be able to get out to some meet or events and explain it to some of you in person. Apologies to those on the ECCA forum who might have already seen this , but haven't seen the updates I dont make on that forum. :rotflol: Feel free to have a look at my slideshow pics http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z...view=slideshow
So there you have it. Another bizzare and obscure project car undertaken by someone (quite possibly an idiot) lacking a fair bit of sensible.

[!kid]

Fuck cash for clunkers. Just my .02

but really, think about it. Our GOVERNMENT gives up to 4500$ away, which is our money, to purchase a car and then turn right around and crush it. They give away our money and then trash a car and leave it to rot in the earth. There is no gain, just loss.

i went to a local pick-A-part this past weekend they had a sign up that read "cash for clunkers cars are hear"

[rThor432]

^^That's a nice build-up.

My mom owned one of these back in the '80's (duh). It was an '85 "E" identical to the one in the original post. She and my dad loved that thing and seem to have good memories of it. All I remember is a carburated turbo setup, and that's enough to tell me to stay far away. Dad rebuilt the engine sometime in the early 90's if I remember right.. I remember that it threw him a couple of curve balls along the way. He never built many motors, and diving in head first on a Maserati engine is apparently no simple feat.

But I wouldnt know.

[Wh33lhop]

That's hot. I can respect that.

But I can also see why someone would put one up for CfC. Sucks that it was so low-mileage, but hey, maybe there's a reason for that...

[monoblanco]

Iain your mate Benski is a true artist, and maybe a sadist with too much of free time.
:)
Thanks for sharing those fantastic photos. That is one elegant Italian sedan.

Even if the Biturbo earned its rightful place among the Time's 50 worst cars of all time, I think it is also the best looking car among the 50.

[Kovs]

^^

Thanks for sharing. Your friend Benski is not only hilarious but also very talented. His 425-redo looks like pure sex now and probably drives even better.

[Iain]

Thanks guys.

It is funny - all the Maserati dudes out here pick his car as a 430 and claim it is BS that it used to be a piss-gold 425 with an orange leather interior.

We're about to put the Cosworth 4v heads on it and rebuild a new, stronger 2.8L bottom end... along with a Haltech E11 ECU and twin Garrett GT28 turbos (high-mounted). Just got to sell his spare 430 first...

He is also going to get either an E30 or a 190E and have battles with my Project Meat Flange. Pork Hunt Motorsport r3pr3zent y0!!!11onejuan

[monoblanco]

I'd love to see what your buddy does with an e30.
Please be sure to post photos of the car he gets.

I spoke to my buddy who owned the Biturbo over the weekend. He told me that those cars, the front fenders are welded to the chasis. Meaning that any sort of front fender impact would most definitely require bondo.

Also the brakes and suspension were horrible. The car's weight did not help matters either.

[txtorquemade]

I'm old enough to remember when these came out new. Smart people knew these would be nothing but trouble. And they were right.

I had two of these in the 80's .... even new they pretty much sucked...

Fast, at first, until they start loosing compression.

Suspensions pretty sloppy as well.