Maseratis are so cheap
 

would it make sense to get a $25K to $35K car with a 400hp Ferrari engine to put in any kind of project car and then part the rest of the Maserati out for 50% to 100% of original price?

Great idea. That Ferrari mill will likely go up in value. Valve covers say Maserati though no?

If you're in the car biz and parting out is relatively easy, I don't see any issue with this plan. I think any hot rod project with Ferrari power would add value over something similar with the ubiquitous SBC or the like.

You could probably buy Ferrari valve covers for a few thousand euros ��

I've wondered about this too...

Edelbrock makes some nice valve covers.

Why not just drive the Mazerattti?

there was a guy who toasted the engine in his 355 and ended up putting the Maserati v8 in it (with a ton of fabbing).

Exactly. I keep walking past these Maserati sedans and wondering how cheap they have to get before it would make sense to own one. The style and performance of the early ones, (10 years ago?), is almost unmatched, IMO.

Buy one, drive it, wait for it to lay an egg and then part it out or assess your options. I also can't imagine what type of "project" would be worth transferring an entire Maserati drivetrain and electronics into. And that's what would be involved. :cool:

Put it along with the tranny and the rear suspension in a chopped and channeled '34 ford three-window

Ferrari Engine in a project vehicle????

1977 Jeep Wagoneer The Jerrari - Jp Magazine

I like the idea. It's like getting the Ferrari engine for $12-18K. Sell the Maserati shell and let somebody put an LS* motor in that... The first thought I had was to put the motor in something Italian, like a Fiat 124 Spider, which would make it sort of a poor man's Ferrari 275/330 GTS, one of my all-time favorite cars. But I know the Fiat isn't "enough" car to justify that motor. Maybe a Prius!

The way modern electronics are tied together in cars, I really just do not see the willingness to swap engines around between cars.

Drive it till it has issues, then part it out if its throw away money.

Ferrari is trying to hold on tight to the software in their cars. Pretty much dealer only on recent model engines if you run into trouble.

Which models have the Ferrari engine?

And Shaun, don't you have enough to do yet?

I think everything with a V8 from 2002 and onward.

What's so special about the Ferrari engine, aside from the noise it makes? You could have "bragging rights" at the car show, but I don't see what the Ferrari engine would do better than another brank. I thought the transmissions were garbage on the earlier ones? Didn't OWP own such a Maser? How would you run the engine that is made for a paddle shift transmission work with a stick shift gearbox?

G

what does the motor weigh ?

is a ls1 lighter and smaller ?

I think the engine noise from the F136 is going to be a lot more tingly than a LS1.

You have to weigh both engine and transmission, a lower torque higher RPM drivetrain will not weigh as much. On the flipside, a high RPM engine needs much stronger connecting rods, pistons, and crank. I would imagine the gearbox is lighter fitted to the F136, however, the variable multi cam high revving engine is carrying a lot of extra pounds to get the horsepower from the smaller displacement lump.

The only way you would come out even is if someone paid you to take the Maserati away. Speeder's and my friend Eric (Kaisan) set up a different friend of mine with a Maserati Quatroporte with 3,500 miles but it was out of warranty because of its age. It was a complete garage queen and it was just off warranty. It was better than sex in every way except one. It was freekin' beautiful and the interior was better than anything I've ever seen. Some day I'll have a car like that. But it made my Audi RS look like an endurance champion.

The transmission went out twice and the engine went out once in less than two years. Every time I saw him he was driving a Cayenne Turbo because that was the loaner vehicle the dealership gave him when his car was in the shop. Which was all the time. I don't think he was able to get 20,000 miles on it. Even though it was out of warranty the factory helped him out on the engine failure. The bill was more than $20,000 but he paid a mere $4,500. They didn't help him on the two transmission blowouts.

After one too many check engine lights that turned into a $5,000 trip to the dealer, he traded it in on a 997 C4S. Now that's a car. He got about $15,000 in trade in on the Maserati. The urban legend of owning a Ferrari is that it costs a dollar a mile in maintenance. Owning a Maserati out of warranty wishes it could cost only a dollar a mile.

That's the problem. Buying one used for any price is simply the admission fee to a nightmarish experience that will bankrupt you beyond your imagination. Your money will go like schit through a goose.

This thing?

Put Buick badges on it, and 99% of people would believe it.

http://images.usedcarsgroup.com/2006...07187820-3.jpg