1992 Maserati 222 4V

Since the last post I've done one or two jobs to maintain progress, the first of which was a clutch master cylinder rebuild. Having previously tried to bleed the clutch, only to find no fluid reaching the clutch slave, I removed the master to find it was pretty much jammed inside due to some light corrosion. I bought a rebuild kit, cleaned up the cylinder and its internals to the best of my abilities, and reassembled the cylinder. After refitting it to the car I was still experiencing difficulty getting it to bleed properly, but after adjusting the length of the rod on the master cylinder (where it connects to the clutch pedal) finally it began to bleed properly. With the clutch slave finally working sufficiently, I jacked the rear of the car up, fired it up and engaged first gear. With a bit of funny noise (more on that below) the gear engaged and the rear wheels began turning. So, I now have a 222 4V that will run and (should!) drive! I should probably make sure it stops properly too...



There is another issue here though. There was a strange noise from the clutch when I selected first and upon investigating I found that there's a ring on the pressure plate that seems to have come loose. I have no idea how though?? I'm not even sure what its purpose is, though I assume it's there to 'even out' the force applied to the pressure plate fingers by the releaser. The question is, can it be fixed from underneath? I have good access at the moment due to the steering rack being removed from the car but it will still be very fiddly. I can get both hands into the inspection area on the underside of the bellhousing with relative ease. The picture is about as good as I could get, but there's a thin ring on one side of the pressure plate and a thicker ring on the other side.



As mentioned above, the steering rack is currently removed because there was fluid leaking out from inside the worn rubber boots on each side of the rack. I had planned on having it rebuilt but the quotes I received were quite a lot more expensive than I anticipated. I wondered here if a 'Maserati Tax' was being applied... anyway, I contacted the ever-helpful David Askew (well-known Maserati spares supplier) who sent me an identical used rack the next day for a very reasonable price on an exchange basis. Thanks again David!

All I need now is some new steering boots... which is proving to be a bit of a nightmare. I ordered some from Maseratispares.com last July and was told they didn't have any and would begin reproducing them, the first set should be ready in 2-3 weeks, and they would let me know (but they didn't). Since then, I've asked them for an update every couple of months or so, and they kept telling me 2-3 weeks. Fast forward to early February and I still haven't received them so I contacted them again and got no response, but I did receive an email from NL post to say I had a package from Arese Trade (same company) due to be dispatched to me. As of today (03/03/2018) the status of the package still hasn't changed - it hasn't been dispatched. I sent another email asking what the status was, and they haven't replied again. I should also mention that when I first placed the order along with some other spares, I heard nothing for two weeks until I asked what the status of my order was.

Normally I'm very patient and willing to forgive delays and/or mistakes, but on this occasion, I think it's a bit of a joke. I'd like to know why they've been so lax to communicate with me since last July, what's so hard about emailing a paying customer to tell them the situation? Just be honest with me? I have no idea if I'll receive the steering boots or a refund at this stage.

Anyways. I spent a bit more time working on the car's rust issues. I cleaned up the N/S floor, ground back the rust, cut out said rust, measured and cut some repair pieces and then spent some time shaping them as accurately as I could. I'm waiting for some better weather to weld them in though. Meanwhile I flatted (as much as I could be bothered ) the welds in the O/S floor, gave the floor a couple of coats of zinc primer, and then a few coats of paint. I also cut out one of the worse sections of the O/S outer sill so I could repair it and inspect the inner sill. I was pleased with what I found, considering the state of the outer sill:






The last week or so has seen little progress unfortunately due to the 'Beast from the East' or whatever it's called (for those of you not living in the UK, it's the name of a rather cold period we're currently experiencing). It's been so cold that up here in Yorkshire I actually wore a coat on my walk to work...

Haydn

Yeah it's really surprising to see it so clean, I expected some surface rust at the very least. But no!
I had a more detailed look at the underside of the whole car the other day - it looks very good if I'm honest, though there is of course lots of surface rust on all the suspension components. One of the propshaft donuts looks a bit tired too. But, on the whole, it's pretty good from what I can see. However, I also keep spotting lots of little rust bubbles on the bodywork that will need attention in the near future before they get worse.

Nice to see you are progressing with this. The refurb on the wheels looks great.

thebaron Thanks, it's good to get back to working on it. The wheel refurb is very good, not quite perfect but the price was also very fair for the work that was done so I'm chuffed with them. I just need to find some more screws for the centre caps, I only seem to have one of them...

Clement I'll scare myself, never mind other people!
I saw that diagnostic equipment posted on the Biturbo Facebook group. Impressive stuff, I wouldn't know where to start in making something like that. I gather the owner of said equipment was selling it but only under the agreement that it wouldn't be copied and thus replicated and sold to make a few quid. I can see where they're coming from but I imagine there would be a few buyers lined up if someone were to make some more.

I spent a few hours outside with the car today; just doing odd jobs really. Painting and undersealing some areas, refitting some bits of trim, testing some of the electrics, etc. Nothing too exciting, and thus there's no pictures today! But it definitely feels like the car is getting really close to being back on the road.

Great that you're getting there.

As for the coolant warning light at a guess I'd reckon the engine's normal operating temp is something like 86-88C, below 90C anyway, thus the warning light came on as the fan/s didn't kick in - solve the fan issue  and  warning light solved?

Keep the updates coming.

Well, I've just dropped the 222 off with the local garage for an MOT. I took it the long way round due to a) traffic and b) I wanted to check how well it was running/clean up the brakes and whatnot. 

So, first impressions... It's not all good news.
The steering feels very lazy and seems to take a moment to centre itself again once you've made a turn or gone round a bend. Not a big problem but something I'll have to look into. Tyre pressures and/or tracking would be the obvious culprits. 

The coolant gauge still doesn't work properly. As I got to the garage it suddenly dropped to 0 degrees and the warning light was also on. I got out of the car to find coolant running out from underneath the front right wheel. I wasn't very happy about this, not only as it's a bit embarrassing having your car pee on the garage's forecourt, but also as it's an issue that really needs sorting before I can fully enjoy the car. As does the next issue...

The car isn't boosting properly. With gentle acceleration you begin to feel what this engine can do, but then it jerks and seems hesitant to rev at around 4k rpm. The engine doesn't cut out thankfully but this is another significant issue that needs sorting ASAP. 

Other than that, no issues to report really. It sounds good, even if the cabin drone is a bit excessive. It seems to take a while to fire up too but that's not a big problem. I must admit though, that this morning's drive has knocked my confidence in the car a bit. Before today I felt pretty hopeful it would pass the MOT at the first attempt; now I'm not so sure...

1st attempt pass would be fantastic but very lucky for a BiT.

I jest partially but I think that it's a matter of patience as if you haven't touched something it's likely you'll need to at some point. They really seem to dislike periods of inactivity.

Fingers crossed for the pass all the same.

Again, it's probably easy to guess from my username how intensely jealous I am of your car. I've always wanted one. And a 75, so double jealous.

For the weird boost-cut thing check for boost leaks. My dad's 430 had similar symptoms when one of the two pipes coming off the intercoolers popped off. It was still getting enough boost through the other one under light load/low rpm to drive at least semi-normally, but as soon as you tried to go a little faster it would feel a bit like an ignition cut/hesitation.

Could be a simple fix at least (although 'simple' is a relative term given how much engine and pipework Maserati crammed into that engine bay).