Has anyone heard anything about the TC Maserati cylinder heads cracking?
Has anyone heard anything about the TC Maserati cylinder heads cracking?
The only substitute for cubic inches is cubic dollars, how fast can you afford to go?
Jeff, They can crack between valves like the swirls. Like the swirl, usually this doesn't effect anything except obviously have less press on the seat. Also like the swirls, I imagine once in a while the crack could continue on the other side of the seat and can eventually find water. These can be repaired. Overheat any cylinder head and bad things will happen. The exhaust guides and exhaust valves have been known to fail on these cylinder heads, resulting in large leak down due to valve not closing. What is the issue?
Todd
Hello Todd, I am looking at buying an 89 TC Maserati, owner claims that the head gasket has a crack causing an exhaust bubble somewhere in cooling system. He claims to drive it everyday 25 miles each way and thata it doesnt affect anything. Im thinking that head gaskets dont crack and there is a more serious problem. Anything else to watch out for in these cars?
The only substitute for cubic inches is cubic dollars, how fast can you afford to go?
you can get lots of answers here too........
http://forums.aaca.org/forum/39-chry...c-by-maserati/
plenty of 16 valve owners there
Thanks Todd. Some parts like the headlamps are very expensive. Even at $500.00 could be a bad deal.
The only substitute for cubic inches is cubic dollars, how fast can you afford to go?
Martin is correct, the resource he's given is a very good one. There are several very knowledgeable people about the Masi's there.
Todd is correct in that the exhaust valves and guides are known to be of lackluster quality (although I just took apart my 135,000 mile head and none of the valves have any run-out that I could see).
They *can* crack, but I own 3 (2 of which were beat pretty bad due to negligence) and have seen quite few others and none of those were cracked.
The headgasket is unique to the Masi and only MLS or modified aftermarket are the choices.
There are some parts for the cars themselves that can be expensive or hard to find, but people in the TC community are usually pretty helpful. For the Masi engine itself...it is *totally* unique (for all intents and purposes). Only main bearings and a few gaskets and seals interchange.
If you specified I didn't see it Jeff, is this a 5 speed TC or an auto? If auto the cylinder head *IS* a swirl head so subject to same wear and tear rate. If its a 5 speed car then the head as you know is very different, I've had a few of these and never seen one crack. As far as the head gasket weeping a bit, in my experience they don't seem to fail as much as the 8V motors but I'm sure it's possible. What's the color combo? Careful tho, if this is your first TC and you thinking it's like every other TM, it's not. TC Masi's are their own breed subject to their own challenges. Good news is, they have plenty of their own charms too. I bought my first TC to harvest the drivetrain out of, 400 miles later after getting the car home I knew I wanted to keep it intact and drive it-a lot I'm 6 TC Masi's later...
AJ (no More Alan) 84 Rampage RT TIII/568 Quaife 87 GLHS dealer optioned Red 16V Masi/568/Quaife
90 Masi 16V White/Ginger/Black
89 TC Masi 16V Red/Ginger/Black
86 GLHS #110 RoadRace Built 89 CSX-VNT Recaro Car
89 Turbo Mini 'Woody' 85 GLHT 'RedBox'
2014 Explorer DD'r 3.5Twin Turbo Ecoboost AWD and 500HP
My profile page has over 20,000 views, I'm somebody LOL
When mine overheated it warped but didn't crack.
John Laing
"The sole condition which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was once so complex is simplified, and reduced . . . . to a single principle."
-- Alexis de Tocqueville
"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."
--Ayn Rand
"To evolve, you don't need a Constitution. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box . . . . things will evolve as much as you want. All of these changes can come about democratically; you don't need a Constitution to do that and it's not the function of a Constitution to do that."
-- Justice Antonin Scalia
Well, it turned out that there were a raft of turbo mopar fans who were there ahead of me. I'm sure it's gone and I let the seller know I was out. Under the hood the car was pretty chopped up, although I only saw pictures. I had really been set to buy it but the posts I read indicated that numerous buyers were out to dismantle the car for parts. I sure appreciate the input that will be helpful if I run across another. I feel these cars will have value in the future plus they are very cool.
The only substitute for cubic inches is cubic dollars, how fast can you afford to go?
The one that got away then. Is it too much to ask to answer my question since I chimed in a tried to help you? How many valves Yo? Color combo?
AJ (no More Alan) 84 Rampage RT TIII/568 Quaife 87 GLHS dealer optioned Red 16V Masi/568/Quaife
90 Masi 16V White/Ginger/Black
89 TC Masi 16V Red/Ginger/Black
86 GLHS #110 RoadRace Built 89 CSX-VNT Recaro Car
89 Turbo Mini 'Woody' 85 GLHT 'RedBox'
2014 Explorer DD'r 3.5Twin Turbo Ecoboost AWD and 500HP
My profile page has over 20,000 views, I'm somebody LOL
That one from FB was an 8v auto.
Honestly that was way worth the $500, as that car could have been parted for thousands.
But even with needing a rebuild for the head or headgasket, i think it was a good deal. Had i been closer i would have grabbed it to resell after fixing.
Wayne H.
'91 Dodge Spirit ES 2.5L turbo 5spd
'05 PT GT 2.4T HO autostick (RIP)
'89 Plymouth Acclaim 2.5L turbo auto, "Slugmobile" yes, THE Slugmobile!
'89 Dodge Caravan SE 2.5L turbo auto, "Mean Mini" yes, Gus' Mean Mini! (Current best 11.699 @ 114.43 mph! - Oct 15th, 2022 Cecil County Dragway, MD)
MeanMini dragracing videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...URZLB1RxGYF6vw
and other cars, trucks and motorcycles
https://www.youtube.com/user/SlugmobileMeanMini
2.2, sorry. I overlooked that question. It was red with tan or buckskin interior with silver wheels. The AC was gone. Other than that it looked pretty clean. The owner said it it had one small rust spot but this is wisconsin so who knows how deep that went. Again my apologies for the late answer.
The only substitute for cubic inches is cubic dollars, how fast can you afford to go?
Gotcha, the pool of TC's is getting smaller and smaller. Fotunately some gearheads from this community have gotten their grimy mitts on them
AJ (no More Alan) 84 Rampage RT TIII/568 Quaife 87 GLHS dealer optioned Red 16V Masi/568/Quaife
90 Masi 16V White/Ginger/Black
89 TC Masi 16V Red/Ginger/Black
86 GLHS #110 RoadRace Built 89 CSX-VNT Recaro Car
89 Turbo Mini 'Woody' 85 GLHT 'RedBox'
2014 Explorer DD'r 3.5Twin Turbo Ecoboost AWD and 500HP
My profile page has over 20,000 views, I'm somebody LOL