"Hi Enrico,

First of all, congratulations for your website, it must be the best one out there, certainly that I know of…

I like to ask you a question, about corrosion inside the engine of a 2.24V.

I have read that the aluminium block has aluminium liners treated with NiGuSil (Nickel, Guzzi, Silicone) and would like to know if that is going to rust in any way, i.e. if exposed for a long time to moisture and so on…. Thoough, I’m not sure if this is the case for all surfaces, but I am only interested in the portions involving air, gasoline and combustion, so the ones exposed to the elements that are to be burnt (certainly intake manifold, combustion chambers and exhaust system). Of that last one I know is not, as my exhaust is fully rusted, but that one is the easiest to obviate, with coatings, plating, or plain stainless-steel replacement.

The reason I ask, is that I saw some (hundreds of…) videos on You Tube of people using Hydrogen to reduce pollution and increase mileage, and like to do so too. An even more incredible theory says that you wouldn’t even need the hydrogen, and that the car would feed from the ions in “ionized water” and in fact burn just plain air (Joe’s Cell).

But there are actually people selling these things on the internet (scam?).

For good results on EFI (injection) engine, it is also necessary to adjust the timing (for implosion instead of explosion) and to “fool” the ECU in some way so it is not going to feed more gasoline as it senses high contents of O2 at the lambda sonde, but you may have a suggestion for that too…

As a matter of fact, theoretically it sounds good, and even a 25% - 40% reduction in emissions and gasoline usage will do great for my 5-7l/100Km thirsty 2.24V…

I hope I’m not making you crazy with this story, but really like to have your opinion in applying this things to my car, and maybe which one of them all…?

Believe me, you certainly know that having such a car is very expensive, left or right, especially if you really drive daily as I do. One major problem is that already, I am not allowed to drive downtown Amsterdam, as my car is not complying with the emission norms as recently changed by the law.

Moreover, lately I fell kind of guilty about, especially because (reading about all that…) I discover that the fuel efficiency, especially with a catalysator, is so low, less then 20% typically, which means we just throw away most of it, and gasoline is primarily used to cool the combustion process. From the very moment that all the special mixes arose, I use Shell V-Power, which is even more expensive, but I thought that was good for my car and the environment, it seems is not… The day that Maserati makes a clean car, I will be the first in line to buy one, but until then, I hope I can keep mine running as long as I can, even if it costs me lot in transformation.

Second, between thinking about, and doing it for real, can be a long leap… if you would answer my question, I would appreciate, as either way I will have to stop using the car at all, for the reason mentioned above. and that would be a big loss for me. Just tell me if the engine or the valves will rust excessively: what are they made off, and where can I find stainless steel replacements?

Thank you for your time and effort.

Chris."

"Fellow Maseratisti,

If there are any technically minded enthusiasts out there who may have some pertinent information concerning Chris' question, please let us know.

Your information will be extremely useful to us all.

My understanding is the the valves are NOT sodium filled, but are made of a special steel.

I know of a Gh2 litre Ghibli engine that was stripped at 200,000 Km and showed no signs of excessive wear or corrosion.

If the car is used fairly regularly, there should be no problems. Problems will arise if the car is left unused for lengthy periods, a year or more, and moisture finds its way into the engine.

The 2 litre engine has a block made of aluminium with aluminium liners treated with Nigusil, not a coating. The 2.5 and 2.8 engine has aluminium blocks but were fitted with cast iron liners.

If I am wrong on this point, please don't hesitate to correct me.

Enrico."