The Maserati, an Italian designed car engine. The Bora had been launched in 1971 and represented the typical Maserati GT concept, with its big classic 4.7-litre V8 and the beautiful line sculptored by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
The Merak utilised a great part of the structure of the chassis of the Bora and the body design was placed once more in the hands of Giugiaro who cleverly maintained the Bora’s overall shape; but the new car was powered by a 3-litre V6 directly derived from the Maserati engine already in use in the Citroën SM. Reconditioned, Used or Secondhand Maserati car engines are available for you at enginesandgearboxes.co.uk
The main differences between the Merak and the Bora
were at the rear, both visually and mechanically: a longitudinally mounted 3-litre V6 was installed.
This V6, derived from an abandoned V8 engine design from Giulio Alfieri back in 1965, was manufactured by Maserati in a 2.6-litre version for the Citroën SM. The capacity of the V6 engine rose from the SM’s 2675cc to 2965cc by increasing the bore size from 87 mm to 91.6 mm and the engine now developed 190 bhp (170bhp in the SM) with a declared top speed of around 240 kph.
- In order to reduce costs, the tubular chassis of the Bora, with its costly rear subframe, was replaced by an all-steel monocoque with a more simplified rear subframe due to the smaller lighter V6 engine.
The V-6 four overhead camshaft engine with two valves per cylinder 2965 cc engine, fed by three twin-choke downdraught Weber 42DCNF carburettors, produced 190 bhp @ 6000 rpm with a maximun torque figure of 188 lb ft @ 4000 rpm.
In 1975 Maserati introduced the SS version with bigger 44DCNF carbs and engine power was increased to 220 bhp @ 6500 rpm with a maximun torque figure of 199 lb ft @ 4400 rpm.
In 1977 Maserati introduced the 2000 GT with its 2-litre engine (1999 cc) 44DCNF carbs developing 170 bhp @ 7000 rpm with a maximun torque figure of 131 lb ft @ 5700 rpm.
The GranTurismo is an upcoming 2-door coupé. The engine is the same Ferrari-sourced 4.2 litre (4244 cc) block which is currently used in the Coupe, Spyder, GranSport and Quattroporte, however it is uprated to 405 hp. There is speculation that a GranSport model will carry a 470bhp 4.7-litre V8 from Alfa Romeo’s 8C Competitizione.
The Mistral, Maestrale, the engine was a direct descendent of the 6-cylinder unit mounted in the Tipo 350 S sports racer and boasted a close relationship with the engine that powered the Tipo 250F F1 single-seater, driven by Manuel Fangio, to Maserati’s one and only F1 World Championship in 1957. It is worth remembering that the crankshaft was manufactured adopting same technology used for Maserati’s competition engines. The engine, a derivative of the DOHC 3½-litre engine, was at first increased to 3700 cc and later to 4014 cc. The cylinder head has hemispherical combustion chambers with camshafts driven by a double chain, twin-ignition by distributor with 2 spark plugs per cylinder and fed by a Lucas indirect fuel injection system; a technical characteristic of which Maserati had been at the forefront in applying it to its Gran Turismo cars.
The original prototype was fitted with the 3485.3 cc engine but by the time of full production this had been increased to 3694.4 cc, achieved by increasing the stroke by 6 mm. In 1966 minor alterations were made to the bodywork and the interior. A bigger engine was available as an option, this time 4014.2 cc giving another 10 bhp, with a top speed of nearly 160 mph. The classic 6-cylinder engine could not have found a better epilogue for its glorious career that ended with this model.
- Models available are:
From 1946-1969: A6 · 3500 · 5000 GT · Mistral · Quattroporte I · Sebring · Mexico · Ghibli I
From 1970-1979: Khamsin · Bora · Indy · Merak · Quattroporte II · Quattroporte III · Kyalami
From 1980-1999: Biturbo · 420 · Spyder I · Quattroporte III Royale · Shamal · Karif · Barchetta · Ghibli II · Quattroporte IV · 3200 GT
From 2000-present: Coupé · Spyder II · Gran Sport · Quattroporte V · MC12 · GranTurismo
Racing Vehicles: 8C · V8RI · 6CM · 4CL/4CLT · 150S · Tipo 63 · Tipo 65 · 250F · 200S · 300S · 350S · 450S · Tipo 61 “Birdcage” · Tipo 151 · Tipo 154 · MC12 GT1 · Trofeo
Concept Cars: Birdcage 75th
