[GrndLkNatv]

So a retired guy who rents my fathers cabin and I were talking the other day about my 2002 Maserati Coupe... He was asking about horsepower, rpm, etc.. I was telling him that it rev'ed up to 7500rpm... Ron, the guy I am talking about used to work on Maserati's and was telling me he remembered old Maserati V8's that rev'ed up to 12,000rpm as their top end and that they sounded so much sweeter than my car back then... Do any of you know which V8 he would have been talking about?

 

[johnei]

I doubt it. I can't recall any highly strung Maserati V8s that might have revved that high. They did make a 3 liter V12 in a Cooper F1 car in the '60s but as you can tell from the following story, 12,000 revs was well past its normal range.

http://www.octane-magazine.com/front_website/octane_interact/carsforsale.php?seecarsforsale=14496

 

[BigFoot]

I'll try to do some diggin' and report back

 

[xraygun]

Can any engine with valve springs rev that high? I think the gentleman is exaggerating. Certainly no street car built by Maserati had an RPM range anywhere close.

 

[GrndLkNatv]

So in talking with Ron more it was this...

A V12 Tipo 8

http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/maser18.htm

http://www.lucasinjection.com/Lucas Injected Engines.htm

When in 1961 engine size was reduced to 1500 cc for Formula 1, Giulio Alfieri experimented with the idea of an engine being mounted in a transverse rear position. The resulting engine was designed and built in 1963 and developed in 1964 to run in the F1 World Championship reserved for the 1,5-litre single-seater. The 60° V-12 engine with transmission in unit was designed to be mounted in a transverse rear position, a really unusual and new design for that period. This V-12 engine underwent long delays in its preparation, was bench tested for the first time in 1963 and after further delays was abandoned in 1964 when for the 1966 Grand Prix season a new 3-litre formula was to be introduced. However, this Maserati technology was later adopted by Honda for its F1 car and by Lamborghini for its Miura.




Ron's memory is getting little weak these days, he's a disabled vietnam vet... Apparently he was involved in building these for testing....

 

[xraygun]

V-12 cylinder at 60° - 1,493.3 cc - 200 bhp at 12,000 rpm - Lucas indirect fuel injection

Wow. I wonder how they kept the valvetrain together and off those 12:1 pistons.
I bet that did sound sweet though! Especially when it exploded.

 

[johnei]

I didn't realize they were using a 1.5L V12. Very interesting.

 

[BigFoot]

Good find GrndLkNatv

 

[johnei]

So what was Ron's connection with Maserati?

 

[GrndLkNatv]

Apparently Ron...

worked for Maserati back then doing engine assembly, etc... He told me that he would receive all of the parts, block, heads, everything and then completely assemble the engine, fire it up on the test bench, make sure all was working and then they would put it in the car and send it on it's way...

He told me the timing gear on the crankshaft didn't have a keyway, it just pressed on... I will try to get more info out of him when I head to my dad's place here in the next few weeks.

 

[Jalpa_Mike]

What about the 1957 250F-T2?

I see on this page its rated at 310Bhp @ 9300RPM.. but, I'm sure the 2 they built might have pushed more RPM then that....

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1903/Maserati-250F-T2.html