What to do with 16v prototypes

[iTurbo]

Yeah I was surprised when it showed up! I really had to look for the coveted TIII valve cover! But it all arrived just fine and for the most part they are still sitting on the pallet.

[J&H Ryan]

Yeah, that was fun. I have pictures somewhere. I was going "this guy is going to laugh when he sees this disaster", but it got 2 complete engines and tons of parts to you.

[turbovanman²]

Pictures?

If I had $5000, those would be mine, lol.

My 2 cents. I hate seeing things sit, I don't like it when people buy a rare car, IE a GN, and let it sit in a museum, so for me, I would either use them or sell them to someone who will use them in a build.

[J&H Ryan]

edit: Found the crazy shipping pics:







I forgot I got 3 complete engines plus extras on a pallet. This is before everything was secured / Joel came by with plumber's strap.

[Ondonti]

So, I would think that based on standard collectable rules, modifying something to work would kill the collectable value (if there was or will be some value). Value to a racer is another thing.

[J&H Ryan]

If anyone buys turbo-mopar parts for investment value, you're going to have a bad time. I'd think the enjoyment received from one of those beauties pushing you back in your seat would exceed anything you'd get monetarily by storing all that for 20 years. The Shelby prototype covers on the other hand are small and should only be worth more.

[zin]

if an item is something that could be displayed and "bragged" about, it has collector value ( to my eyes). How much depends upon who's interested and how much"disposable" income that group have. In short, I'd enjoy your stuff and not worry that you might be defacing a piece of art.

Mike

[iTurbo]

Almost forgot about this. I didn't buy these for collector value at all. I only bought them because I'm an old school turbo Mopar fanatic and nothing is cooler than the TIII and Masi 16v in my book! The fact that either can be bolted into any old K or L based or or even a Caravan with little to no fabrication has it's allure, especially for somebody like me that has little resources to do custom parts myself.

So far I've got one of the Masi 16v engines installed in my Shelby Lancer and it is very close to running. I bolted an A568 to it and dropped it right in with little difficulty. The hardest part will be the wiring which I'm working on now. I do admit it is a bit sad to see these parts sit and I've sold a few cars in the last year alone that I would have liked to install them in. Changes with management/ownership at work have really made it a lot harder to have as many cars as I used to. I had to sell the Omni GLH, Shelby CSX, and a Spirit R/T. Believe me I would have loved to put one of these 16v engines in the GLH or CSX!

Lately I'm finding that I'm more into building engines than having cars. I have more than enough to keep me busy until I'm 300 years old, so maybe I should sell, but the only way that would be feasible is to rent a box truck and unload at SDAC but I can't make it this year. I don't mind holding onto them. If somebody made me an offer I couldn't refuse I'd think about it of course.

I've had a couple people express interest in the proto TIII. They are building cars that would be very deserving of that engine so that means something.

[Reaper1]

If at some point the stars were to align and you wanted to sell the prototype Masi and I had the funds...I'd be all over it!

[moparloper]

There are many iterations of the T-III stuff (i.e. prototype, pre-production, early production, etc..) and their use is best determined by what level of hardware they have.
The major difference between the pre and early production units are distributor provisions and balance shaft existence.
This makes the T-III blocks with the distributor provision good for those that do not wish to change the entire harness while supporting mods to use the distributor in the stock location.
On the other hand, the prototypes were very thick castings and support porting beyond what can be achieved on any of the later heads while also being thicker in the freeze plug boss area.
These are typically identified by not having the airbox mounting bosses on the back of the head and confirmed by small trapezoidal bosses within the rocker shaft area.

In short, someone wanting to push the envelope with a T-III would best benefit by a prototype thick cast head and a block that supports a distributor without balance shafts.
While the later iterations are good for over-all general use and in some cases come with the distributor provision just in case there's a desire to utilize it.

I take it that these are the bosses and lack of air box mounting you are referring to?

[moparloper]

Sorry for the thread hijack. I did have another question about the TIII prototypes; if the heads and blocks are different is there any differences in the cams?

[iTurbo]

No problem, and I hope somebody can answer your question on the prototype TIII camshafts. It might take a cam doctor to be sure though. The TIII prototype I have lacks the bosses for the airbox assembly and also has plug in the block for the distributor hole. The Masi 16v prototype I have has a very different valve cover than production models and also a very different thermostat outlet. So I'm sure they are both legit and appear to have very little run time. I'm sure neither was ever actually installed in a vehicle.




To be completely honest.... At this point in my life I just want out of this stuff. I hoarded like crazy after my twin brother died (sorry if thats TMI) because I just didn't know what else to do. I want to put this part of my life and my "iTurbo" persona behind me and become Jeremy Mitchell v2.0. I would love either to find the right buyer for these engines (5 TIIIs/5Masi 16v) or preferably somebody to just buy me out completely. I made a big mistake and I will take a HUGE financial loss but I'm still 37 and I need to find some real hapiness. Besides that I've already sold a few cars I had planned to put these in. I need to move on because life is too short and having this stuff lying around is not making me any happier.

[2.216VTurbo]

It's really not uncommon to 'collect' when you are trying to fill a void, I did it too AND took a loss when I pared down my stuff to a reasonable level If I didn't have 3 'spare' Masi motors and 2 heads, I'd be a buyer. I think realistically tho, I have enough powerplants to last me thru all future projects. Life is good again for me now and I hope you get to that point as well, I had hoped you'd fly into SDAC this year and we'd swap stories

[Wastelands Warrior]

No problem, and I hope somebody can answer your question on the prototype TIII camshafts. It might take a cam doctor to be sure though. The TIII prototype I have lacks the bosses for the airbox assembly and also has plug in the block for the distributor hole. The Masi 16v prototype I have has a very different valve cover than production models and also a very different thermostat outlet. So I'm sure they are both legit and appear to have very little run time. I'm sure neither was ever actually installed in a vehicle.




To be completely honest.... At this point in my life I just want out of this stuff. I hoarded like crazy after my twin brother died (sorry if thats TMI) because I just didn't know what else to do. I want to put this part of my life and my "iTurbo" persona behind me and become Jeremy Mitchell v2.0. I would love either to find the right buyer for these engines (5 TIIIs/5Masi 16v) or preferably somebody to just buy me out completely. I made a big mistake and I will take a HUGE financial loss but I'm still 37 and I need to find some real hapiness. Besides that I've already sold a few cars I had planned to put these in. I need to move on because life is too short and having this stuff lying around is not making me any happier.

I can feel for ya, bro. After my wife passed away in 2012 I can't even tell you how many cars I bought and sold and how many projects I started and didn't finish. But it helped keep me sane. The only vehicle I have left from then is my SRT-10 Ram, and I'm planning on keeping it for a loooooong time.

[turbovanman²]

Wish I could afford to buy your TIII stuff, maybe I can remortgage my house,

[Wastelands Warrior]

Wish I could afford to buy your TIII stuff, maybe I can remortgage my house,

House? I thought you Canucks lived in Igloos....

[MPI_duster]

To be completely honest.... At this point in my life I just want out of this stuff. I hoarded like crazy after my twin brother died (sorry if thats TMI) because I just didn't know what else to do. I want to put this part of my life and my "iTurbo" persona behind me and become Jeremy Mitchell v2.0. I would love either to find the right buyer for these engines (5 TIIIs/5Masi 16v) or preferably somebody to just buy me out completely. I made a big mistake and I will take a HUGE financial loss but I'm still 37 and I need to find some real hapiness. Besides that I've already sold a few cars I had planned to put these in. I need to move on because life is too short and having this stuff lying around is not making me any happier.

I'd have interest in some of this, if you still want to part with it. Let me know.

-Deryk

[5DIGITS]

I take it that these are the bosses and lack of air box mounting you are referring to?

Correct.

Additionally there are the tell-tale bosses within the rocker rail area.
As a side note, the three bosses circled in green are the original air box mounting holes.


From here, we can dig a little deeper and determine how early of a protoype it is.
Machined freeze plug bosses are earlier than the later units that left the cast material in place.