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by Kermit and Sharon Gause; Boulder Colorado

Kermit is a retired Rocket Scientist and his wife Sharon is head of Technical Research at UC Boulder.

It all started when Sharon, my wife, soul mate and best friend of 50 years, said “Now that we’re retired, we really need to clean out the garage, but what should we do with the Mas?” “I hate the thought of just scrapping it, it’s such a cute little car and in perfect condition… except for the engine.” In a burst of enthusiasm, she said, “Let’s find a newer, bigger engine and turn it into a ‘Maserati hot rod.'"  

The ’84 BiTurbo, also known as the Mas.

We sent an e-mail to MIE and had several phone conversations with Stuart Avery. Yes, Stuart had one of the very few remaining 2.8 liter engines available but pointed out the economics were not in our favor as the end result would never be worth the cost of upgrade. Never-the-less, he put us in touch with Mark Weiner of Concours Cars in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mark has a modern, fully equipped shop and an encyclopedic knowledge of all European cars including ones most of us have only read about. Besides that, he loves Italian cars. Be sure to check out his WEB site and look at his Alfa. That is one HOT car. To walk through his shop and see Lotus, Ferraris, Porches, Astons, Jags, Lamborghinis and a Rolls or two is an interesting experience. He too questioned us closely about our putative plan. There are two sides to such an enterprise and there has to be trust and confidence on both sides of the table. Mark had to be sure we were in it for the long haul and we had to be sure he could deliver the goods at the end of the line. Giving us confidence was the fact that he was in the process of restoring the mechanicals on a lovely maroon Bora from St. Louis and doing a complete frame-up restoration of the late TV actor Richard Boon’s (Paladin) 250 SL pagoda top Mercedes.

Technically, our project boiled down to whether the ’84 BiTurbo could be upgraded to our satisfaction and be made reliable with a high probability of long life. Reliability and life expectancy are not the same. An Indy car has to be reliable for 500 miles and then is re-built, on the other hand the original Rolls Silver Ghost has over 1,500,000 miles on it and still works perfectly. Somewhere in the middle is what we wanted, excellent performance balanced against longevity and drivability. Not everything in life can be reduced to economic terms and in the end the decision to keep moving forward was probably made more on emotional grounds than any thing else. It is often as much a matter of personal taste and circumstances as it is of pure economics.

After two weeks of gathering information and visiting with Mark over lunch, we decided to go forward with the project. Mark had Stuart ship the 2.8 liter engine and lots of other items to his shop in Colorado Springs. Although Stuart’s engine had been “running” it was not unexpectedly in pretty rough shape. A quick compression check was all it took to make the decision to tear down and rebuild. Actually, in terms of longevity this was the thing to do anyhow.  Mark introduced us to Craig Brooks at Competition Engines, also in Colorado Springs. Craig’s specialty is building and dyno tuning high end racing engines for NASCAR competition. At that time he had a contract to build 50 engines for the racing season but was willing to take on our project on a non-interference basis. Perfect, take all the time you need, just do a good job for us. In the end that turned out to be a very good decision. Craig knows lots of tricks.

The 2.8 liter engine as shipped from MIE.

The engine was taken across town to Craig’s shop for his examination and recommendations. Two of the original Maserati pistons were “slumped” by three thousandths of an inch and were deemed unsalvageable. All major components were either magnifluxed or dye penetrant inspected for flaws prior to further processing. A set of custom made racing pistons was ordered from Diamond Racing along with custom rings by Total Seal. These pistons are made of a different aluminum alloy from what Maserati used. They are lighter, stronger and have a better thermal match to the cylinder liners than the originals. The new pistons were specified to be .010 of an inch oversize with the cylinders bored and honed to match.

The pistons were then sent to Calico Coatings to receive a ceramic coating on the top and a dry film lubricant on the skirt. Many people do coatings but this is the same company Craig uses for his NASCAR engines because they have many proprietary processes that have been tested and proven on the race track and in other high performance military applications. In general, there are heat containment coatings, heat rejection coatings and coatings to enhance lubrication. All in all five different ceramic coatings were used in different places for different purposes.

The cylinder heads were warped as much as .012” and were re-machined then sent to Calico for ceramic coatings on the combustion chambers and exhaust runners. Valves and valve springs were coated as were exhaust manifolds, turbo housings and the intake manifold. A very “slick” Teflon/ceramic coating similar to what is used on high end professional cookware was applied to the inside of the intake manifold to enhance air flow and a satin chrome-like ceramic coating was applied to the outside for heat rejection purposes.  

Another special coating was applied to all rod and main bearings to ensure proper lubrication at high rpm’s. Use of these coatings can drop the engine compartment temperature by 30 to 40 degrees and at the same time improve efficiency and horsepower. This is a very worthwhile thing to do when an engine is completely torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Most racing engines run very hot as do turbo charged Maserati engines. Techniques that protect racing engines and give them endurance under difficult conditions can also improve and protect Maserati engines.

Engine components are back from Calico Coatings.

The turbos were sent to Turbo Engineering in Golden, Colorado for examination and refurbishment. The housings were deemed satisfactory and were sent to Calico for coatings. The compressor side received the same treatment as the intake manifold both inside and out while the turbine side received the same high temperature thermal containment coating as the exhaust manifolds. It is critically important that both the inside and outside of the turbine section be treated with the same coating to avoid thermal stresses which will quickly destroy the turbo. It is also of paramount importance that none of ceramic coating gets into the bearing area.

After all parts were back from coating and initial fit-up was complete, the rotating assembly was statically and dynamically balanced. Craig uses a zero balancing technique wherein each part or subassembly is balanced unto itself, then added to the whole. For example, each piston was weighed then all pistons were tweaked to match the weight of the lightest piston to within 0.1gm. That is not a decimal point error. Rods were polished to a satin finish with a similar balance requirement paying close attention to the center of mass as well as absolute weight.

The crank shaft was dynamically balanced at 500 rpm. Interestingly enough Maserati’s factory balance was not up to Craig’s standards so 38 grams were removed in one area and another 45 grams at another judiciously chosen spot. The gentleman who performs this magic has been balancing rotating machinery for over thirty years and has the Masters touch. The crankshaft pulley, flywheel and clutch assembly were similarly balanced. Trust me when I say the result of all this elaborate tuning is one very smooth engine! The block and heads were “decked” (Craig’s term for truing, squaring and flattening) to nearly a mirror finish.

Partially assembled 2.8 liter engine.

Valves and seats were ground with multiple angles using a new special purpose valve grinding machine to assure absolute concentricity between seats and guides and at the same time perpendicularity of valve seats to guide bores. The particular technique and geometry used here is proprietary to Craig and I believe him when he says he is able to squeeze a few more horsepower out of an engine by paying close attention to the details in this area. What you hope to achieve with all this effort are valves that make perfect seals and whose geometry is as near to perfection as can be obtained so they stay that way over time. Maserati valves are, after all, a pain in the neck to adjust.  In the mean time Mark procured all new engine control sensors, had the radiator, alternator and starter motor rebuilt and completely bench tested and rebuilt the fuel injection system. Spray patterns were observed, new injector nozzles were fitted, and the engine was reassembled with meticulous care.

Of course all this is just talk, theory, supposition and maybe a little hype unless a definitive test can be made. At Competition Engines a definitive test on a highly calibrated Sure Flo Engine Dynamometer was “easy” if not cheap. Craig put the engine on the dyno, ran it in a bit and let things cool over night. Then re-torqued the heads and rechecked the valve adjustments, changed the oil, and ran it for a while to seat the rings. He repeated this process several times including oil changes then started to do power pulls. On the first power pull the left turbo failed and flame shot four feet out of the exhaust pipe; poor Craig nearly had a heart attack.

Craig Brooks (left) and Mark Weiner discuss the boost setting, Sharon is looking on.

Tragically, the owner of Turbo Engineering died on the very same day. We had a failed turbo and an engine taking up space on an expensive piece of test equipment. All in all, not a good day. Mark came to the rescue. His friend, Corky Bell, a legend in the turbo industry recommended we turn to Bob Blough of Blough Turbo in Lebanon, PA. Our turbo is no longer made in exactly that same configuration and we found out the newer model wouldn’t fit in the space available. Bob worked with the engineering department at IHI Turbo. Together, they combined the center section from a new turbo and existing parts from our turbo to create a custom built turbo for us.

The results were awesome, two hundred eighty two horsepower at the flywheel at 6000 rpm.  And what is far more important, a very flat torque curve peaking at 270 pound - feet at 4500 rpm with over 200 pound - feet available just off idle. Wow! This was a new untuned nearly stock engine running 12 pounds of boost. As Craig puts it “horsepower sells engines but torque wins races”.  

With the engine rebuilt and performing better than the factory original, attention turned to the chassis. At Concours Cars Mark does engines and Frank Jakos, Concours shop manager, does suspensions, esthetics and sound systems. In all cases we followed Frank’s tire and suspension suggestions to the letter. We settled on eight spoke16 inch wheels by Pannasport and Pirelli 205/50 PZero tires as a good compromise between driving comfort and handling. This was, after all, intended to be a Grand Touring car for a couple of retirees, not a race car for an over active twenty something. Many VCM articles have been written about 55mph front end vibration and what to do about it including bending strut parts, etc. At this point I should make note of the fact that we had the very good fortune to have Mike Cook do all the hands on work on turning our car into the exquisite machine it is today.

To digress a moment, Mike spent twelve of his early years at Cosworth in England during which time he built Buddy Lazier’s ’96 winning Indy engine. From there, he went on to work with the Toyota racing program in California for many years. Mike has an enormous wealth of experience with high performance cars and we were very fortunate to be able to bring this talent to bear on our car. Mark, Frank and Mike came up with an innovative solution to the front end camber adjustment problem. Mike created a cam adjustment similar to what Maserati uses on the rear suspension then modified the sub frame to suit. We now have a front suspension that is both rugged and can be properly adjusted for the best possible handling. At Frank’s suggestion a link was designed and added between the steering rack and the frame to eliminate axial motion of the rack in its bushings. There is NO front end vibration at any speed.

Custom cam to adjust camber.

New Bilstein struts all around and new coil springs with a ten percent higher spring rate along with power steering completed the suspension modifications. The jury is still out on whether to add a stiffener bar between the front strut towers. Although one could certainly be designed and installed, I am not sure that for the car’s intended use it would be all that noticeable. We’ll live with the car for a while before we make any changes in this area.       

Even with the engine rebuilt in a high end specialty shop, integrating the engine into our chassis took all the resources of a talented group of professionals; i.e., don’t try this at home. Trust me, you won’t succeed. All of the 228i components actually can be crammed into the smaller ’84 chassis but it is a very tight fit and many custom parts had to be fabricated to get the job done. We used the thicker core radiator out of the 228i donor car and modified the front clip to make room for the intercoolers. This established the front boundary and of course the transmission established the engine’s location. Everything else had to be stuffed into the remaining space. This was indeed a very tight squeeze.

Mike Cook stuffing lots of parts into a limited space.

A few examples will illustrate this non trivial point. The engine control computer was rebuilt and is now located under the dash above the glove box. This necessitated moving and reshaping heating and air conditioning ducts. The tachometer read half the number of rpm’s because the 2.8 liter engine has a dual coil setup. Mark tried several fixes that didn’t pan out. In the end the tach was sent to a specialist for internal modifications and now reads correctly. The original A/C dryer had to be replaced except that an exact replacement does not exist. A new dryer was obtained to fit the space available but the overpressure switch had to be located elsewhere causing modifications to the A/C plumbing system.  

Many connectors were replaced and much of the original wiring harness was upgraded to heavier wire with new high performance connectors. The new heavy duty high output fuel pump is one such item benefiting from the improved wiring. Mark has the in house ability to custom make and terminate any hose he needs. In at least one case a particular hose was remade three times to get the best shape to fit the space available. These are just a few examples. The list of such items went on and on and on. The end result of all this is a custom fit engine compartment that looks and works better than the factory original. All of the 228i engine functions can be serviced just as the factory manual for that engine describes and all of the chassis functions can similarly be serviced just as the ’84 BiTurbo manual describes. All indicator lights, gauges and switches work just as originally intended.

The finished engine compartment.

Colorado has strict emission control laws in the Denver area and after looking at the original catalytic converter and exhaust system we decided to scrap the whole thing aft of the wye pipe. Mark obtained a new stainless steel high tech honeycomb catalytic converter and a stainless high flow muffler having a single 3 inch inlet and two 2 1/4 inch exits.  304L Stainless steel tubing and J bends were obtained and Mike designed and built an all stainless custom exhaust system in which there is inconsequential back pressure. It is a true work of art.  About a year into the project, the car was given an initial alignment and taken for a test drive to look for leaks and other problem areas.

One item at the top of the list was the sound of the car. Actually it sounded great, even from three blocks away. Mike added additional resonators just ahead of each exhaust tip to quiet things down. Throaty but not loud, perfect!  A thermal barrier was added above the exhaust system to protect the drive shaft and U-joints from the heat generated by the new exhaust system. Stainless thermal barriers were also added between the wye pipe and the steering rack end boots. The Y pipe was wrapped with modern insulating material which also reduced the sound level inside the car.

Custom stainless high flow exhaust system.

Both the exterior and interior of the car are in very good condition. The car has always been garaged and there is no rust anywhere. But, we never thought Maserati had quite the right look around the rear bumper. Kind of chopped off, or maybe they ran out of sheet metal. Anyway, a fiberglass body trim kit was obtained to fix the problem. This change has the dual benefit that these items are considerably lighter than the original steel parts they replace and seem to greatly improve the looks and proportions of our particular model.

Nearly finished.

One problem remained. What to call it. It is certainly no longer an ’84 BiTurbo and is definitely not a 228i. It is truly a unique machine and I doubt there is another like it. After a little thought we settled upon having some decals made designating the car as a 2800i.

2800i re-designation. Note the Maserati trident in the wheel hub.

At the same time, as a tribute to the talented people who contributed time and effort to this project, we had a little plaque made with names of the participants listed under their respective logos. It is attached to the front cross member in the engine compartment.

Names of the people who made this car possible.

After a few test runs between Boulder and Colorado Springs the car was turned over to Jed Johnson, top mechanic at Councours, for final tuning.  I am not sure what all this wizard did in addition to carefully synchronizing the turbo waste gates and adjusting the air/fuel ratio but the results were amazing. That engine screams when asked and does so instantly. Who knows what the current output is?

Was the eighteen month long effort worth it?  Certainly not purely in terms of dollars and cents. We probably could have bought a new Boxter for the cost of this project. And, don’t get me wrong, we love Porches having owned two of them. Our car is 20 plus years old and not considered a desirable vintage Maserati. This is most unfortunate. Given the proper stance and body trim, the car has clean, well proportioned lines from any angle and is arguably a good looking car. With the proper engine and chassis set up this 20 year old car will perform along side any recent mid range sports car. If all the DeTomasso era cars were set up the way ours is, I think history would judge these cars in an altogether different light. Our car has turned out to be the perfect GT machine for us. Frank’s Alpine sound system with French Focal speakers and Ipod interface is fabulous. We can travel for weeks without hearing the same song twice.

Reworked center consul housing the Alpine sound system. A tweeter is visible on the far windshield post.

At a little under 9 pounds per horsepower and with lots of torque available this car will perform, no doubt about it, but is docile enough to behave without complaint in heavy slow traffic. It is very comfortable to drive on long trips, reasonably economical depending on how you drive and has that sumptuous leather interior to sooth your senses. Where else can you get a car with an engine that pushes oil through the crank shaft into the main bearings except in a Formula One car. Frank jokingly says you can’t use Maserati, simple and reliable all in the same sentence.  With attention to detail, we believe a Maserati can be made reliable with an expectation of long life.

The finished car has clean, classic, elegant lines.

Epilog… The car is complete and passed its emissions test with flying colors. It has been driven for about a thousand miles with no major problems.

Was the effort worth it… it is always a bit of a thrill to take the car out for a spin and listen to that slightly nervous rumble from the exhaust turn into a scream when going through the gears. Sharon is an excellent driver and loves to drive the Mas. With a little smile and a quick double clutch downshift into a corner then on to the throttle at the apex of the curve, that corner is history. What a kick to drive!

The car looks great from any angle.

We did swap out the old gas tank for a new one. Somehow, rust like sludge kept building up on the fuel filters starving the engine. Brake pads were upgraded to a modern composition to cut down on the carbon residue on the wheels and to eliminate an annoying squeal. Mark suggested that we might want to swap out the rotors at the same time for grooved ones having improved cooling. But for now we are using the originals, we are retirees and are not that hard on brakes.

We had a hot summer for Colorado this year, 54 days above 90 degrees. On long uphill pulls, I'm talking ten miles or more starting from 6000 feet of altitude, the engine temperature would rise sometimes to dangerous levels. Again, Mark and boys came to the rescue. Mark discovered that Maserati makes a drop in assembly which moves about 60% more air than the original. The down-side is that it also pulls that much more current. We nearly burned up the original fan relay during one outing, so Mark set us up with redundant fan relays, one for each fan, and upgraded the wiring. Now each fan is on a separate heavy duty circuit, no longer shared with low beam headlights. What was Maserati thinking? On later models, Maserati, added some sheet metal ducting to prevent air entering the front grill from spilling under the car, rather than going through the radiator. Stuart sent these parts to Mark and, with a little alteration, they were added to our car. We also came to realize why the later cars had functional hood vents and added them to our car. While we were at it we added the alte model fuel line inercooler to the gasoline return line. This helps to reduce bubbles in the gas tank in hot weather. With these final modifications in place we no longer experienced overheating under any condition we have yet encountered. Other than that, the car runs better and better as it continues to loosen up.

Craig Brooks, master engine builder, is no longer at Competition engines. Mike Cook, car builder extraordinaire, has also moved on to work for a French team building a new car for the upcoming ’07 Le Mans race. Mark, Frank and Jed at Concours Cars are continuing to restore, rebuild, modify, service, and maintain exotic cars on a nice shady side street with good restaurants nearby in old town Colorado Springs.  

1. www.concourscars.com
2. www.calicocoatings.com
3. Bell, Corky. Maximum Boost: Designing, Testing and Installing Turbocharger Systems. Published by Robert Bentley, Inc. c 1997. ISBN 0-8376-0160-6. Available from  amazon.com and highly recommended reading for any Maserati enthusiast.
4. Blough Turbo, 1925 State Route 72N, Lebanon, PA 17046, 717-865-3276

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