When Jacob sent me details of his 1992 Ghibli 1a serie for our "Ghibli II Register", he pointed out that he had modified his Ghibli by installing a 3.2-litre V8 engine from a Quattroporte V8 evoluzione.

I had always wanted to know more about this modification, so when a fellow Maseratista emailed me stating that he was considering such a conversion, I promptly contacted Jacob who very kindly sent me this account along with a few photos. It makes for very interesting reading:

"Hi Enrico,

I was the guy with the Ghibli V8. I sold the car last year. But feel free to ask any questions.

Best regards,

Jacob."

It was a very complex project and you have to be persistent. On the straight, the car was as fast as a 911 996 Turbo. It was/is faster than a Ghibli Cup, but on a circuit a Ghibli Cup was better equipped.

The engine will fit but only just.

My Ghibli was a rare automatic. The previous owner changed it to a manual by fitting an original 6-speed ZF gearbox. But he did not change the rear differential. So I changed it by using one from a 3200 GT. This worked very well, but one problem remained. The speedometer was never accurate.

The previous owner also changed the front suspension by using that from a Quattroporte IV, with the bigger wheels. This had one disadvantage. The electronic suspension control was disconnected, because he used the Quattroporte's. I changed the whole set-up by using a tailor-made suspension. with increased stiffness.

When the engine was installed, the intercoolers were too small for the V8, so these were changed by using the intercoolers from a Golf turbo diesel. They worked fine. If I remember correctly we used the original 3200 turbochargers.

We designed a tailor-made exhaust system. It was modified a number of times. If you use it on the road, you don't want to wake the neighbours every morning when you drive away.

A big problem was the engine management system. The Quattroporte IV version was never installed. In the end we installed a racing system from Kronenberg Motorsports (KMS). This is a Dutch specialist. The first version would not allow the car to run stationary. But I believe the 3rd or the 4th version did the job. The end result worked well, but it never became a "stable car". I used it as a daily driver, parked the car outside most of the time. But I visited my friend in the garage on many occasions.

In total I used 3 engines and I overhauled one too. The first engine was damaged because of a disconnected oil hose and loss of oil pressure. A fault caused during the installation. This engine was completely overhauled using tailor-made high performance parts, replacing all bearings and pistons etc. This engine kept using a lot of oil. So much oil that I decided to remove this engine and replace it.

I got a used engine from David Askew. But after a very short time I ruined that one. I remember well driving back one evening from Luxemburg to Belgium. At very high speed the engine blew-up in a big way !

The last engine was the newer version of the V8. This never gave me any problems. Please do keep in mind that the last cylinder has an increased risk of overheating. When you do long stints on a circuit, you can see the temperature going up. This problem was never on the highway (in Germany). A specific drive from Amsterdam to Hamburg I will never forget, I have had many great cars and I drive a lot. But the Ghibli was just unbelievable. It kept up with an M3 for 200kms on the German Autobahn easily. The big fun is that not many people recognize the car and to be honest the car does not look all that fast.

At first the car was difficult to handle. If I remember it produced 430 bhp at first with 720 Nm. We then tuned it down a little to 400 bhp. The acceleration is beyond anything. I am sure the new 911 Turbo or a Veyron will be faster, but it is seriously fast. People that sit next to you in the car, will be shocked and frightened when you hit the accelerator. I went to the Maserat club meeting a couple of years ago, with my Bora and Ghibli. If I remember, the Bora pulled up to 225 km/h from a standing start on the mile. The Ghibli came to 238 km/h. It was faster than all the other and much newer Maseratis that day. On the slalom the Ghibli turned in as 2nd.

At first the handling was difficult because the front suspension was soft. Any turn at high speed was a risk. With the tailor-made suspension this problem was gone. But the car needs a lot of attention steering. The slightest bump and you have to correct. Another thing was the braking. We installed brake enforcers on the rear wheels for better balance. The brakes were also from the Quattroporte. But if I were braking hard, the car would flip around. After the balancing, this was much better. But in the winter this car is best kept safely parked.

I was thinking of buying another Ghibli, but I have decided to delay such a new project.

I will try to find some photos, and will create a Dropbox.

Best regards,

Jacob."