The shift knob is a super thoughtful gift. You did a remarkable job getting it to run and stop. Sell it before it reverts to its native state (of inop). Enjoy whatever else follows you home next. It's not about the car...
The shift knob is a super thoughtful gift. You did a remarkable job getting it to run and stop. Sell it before it reverts to its native state (of inop). Enjoy whatever else follows you home next. It's not about the car...
Another vote to move it on while its a running car. You've reached the pinnacle of owning it - astonishing the whole forum, great family/friends time, bringing smiles to the whole Challenge gang. I can't picture a scenario where it gets any better. Keep that shift knob, whether its in a Miata or on the wall. And thanks for doing what you did! That was awesome!
Wae,
Huge accomplishment. Well done, you should be proud. You unlocked a level at the Challenge that many thought was not possible, even using the original Italian drive train. 
Another vote for keeping the shift knob. That was gift from your daughter to you. Not a gift that has to go with the car. Sell it before it catches fire, and move on to the next chapter of your automotive pursuits.
I bet your daughter would LOVE to Rallycross. 
So I took the car over to the shop today so that we could pop a little asti and celebrate a little. In order to get a picture, I had to start it up and move it. Everybody was laughing that I seemed far too confident that all I had to do was just start it up and drive it. I said it was going to be just fine and jumped in. Of course it didn't want to start! The starter turned, but the gauge cluster stayed totally dark. After a couple attempts, I pulled the key out, put it back in and tried again and it started right up. So very Biturbo!
Now that it's off the trailer, I need to get the vinyl off, take a bunch of pictures, and see about getting it listed for sale.
wae said:So very Biturbo!
Of what you wrote, the most BiTurbo thing was the involvement of a trailer. 
In reply to wae :
My sides still hurt from that moment
John Welsh said:wae said:So very Biturbo!
Of what you wrote, the most BiTurbo thing was the involvement of a trailer.
I said I'm an idiot. Not a complete fool! 🤣
Cooper_Tired said:In reply to wae :
My sides still hurt from that moment
If I had been recording video of that, no one would have believed that it wasn't a scripted moment! But we didn't have to push it!!
Indy - Guy said:I bet your daughter would LOVE to Rallycross.
She does, actually! She did a couple events with me last year and is planning to continue this year. In fact, when she had some trouble getting the time off work for her first event last year she almost quit her job over it! Talk about a proud papa moment!
I'm also very proud of her because this was the third racing event that she's driven in, not counting rental karting, and the first where she didn't hit anything with my car! At her first event, the course had some tractor ties that were too close and she gave one a bit of a kiss. At her second, she drove over my portable air tank and high-centered the car on it. But she earned her driver's wristband in Gainesville by not hitting anything. Including me when I was over-explaining where and when she needed to stop to activate the lights for the drag.
You need to track this guy down and start some kind of "Running BiTurbo" club. From the looks there isn't a lot of Maserati left in the tow vehicle.
DANG!
In reply to jgrewe :
That is absolutely amazing!
Got a chance to take some pictures today and put it up on marketplace to see if I can get any nibbles. Kind of sad to think about selling it off, but also kind of looking forward to it. Definitely mixed emotions on this one.
In reply to wae :
You won't miss this E36 M3box but you'll cherish the memories.
It's time for me to write the final chapter of this story. Last night, the Biturbo was driven onto a rented trailer and hauled home to its new home in Illinois and in its place, I have a modest stack of hundred dollar bills. This young gentlemen reached out to me not long after I had posted it on Marketplace and at first wanted to give me a deposit or pay half while he got the money together, but I didn't want to deal with having a half-sold car, so I told him that I would be willing to just hold it for him until he was ready. Because of his schedule and mine, the short period of time that we were originally talking about dragged out to a few months, but we had agreed on a sight-unseen price and we started getting serious in the last couple weeks. Originally, he asked me for the VIN so he could get insurance on it so as to drive it home. At this moment I realized that either this dude had balls to turn the Vegas Sphere green with envy or we had a major disconnect between my telling of the condition of the car in the ad and his understanding. My return message to him started with "Ah, I want to be certain that we've got the right expectations set here..." and I explained that while it does run and drive, I've not put any more miles on it other than a couple drag passes and some autocross passes and it's not really a "car" but a "running and driving project". No problem, he said, he just needed to get his truck fixed up and rent a trailer. The poor guy had some difficulties getting on the road yesterday with the trailer lights and didn't hit the road until about mid afternoon instead of the mid-morning departure he had planned.
While waiting for him to arrive last night, I went ahead and got the hood propped up so we wouldn't have to fiddle with the latch, and that's when I noticed that the JBWeld fix I had done on that coolant return hose nipple had cracked and sprayed coolant all over the engine. The day before he showed up, I had my daughter go out and start it up and let it idle for a bit just to make sure it was still running, and I guess it popped off then. It's not the end of the world for him, because the threads are still good inside the radiator tank - all you'd need to do is find a barb fitting with the right thread and an o-ring to seal it. But I didn't have time to do either of those things.
I told him about the coolant line when he rolled in and then showed him the car. He asked some questions about the car and what I had used it for and we dug through the spare parts that came with the car. I was nervous as hell when he went to start it up, but the only problem it had starting was that the battery was a little low, so I broke out the jumpbox and it came to life right away. The car was running a little rough, but he had the choke pulled all the way so I pushed it all the way in and it smoothed out perfectly. I let them alone to talk and think about it a bit and after a little while he came back in with an offer. He gave me an offer that was a little bit less than what we had originally talked about, but I wasn't interested in trying to beat the guy up. His offer was within the range that I was willing to take and I was glad to see it go to someone who had the time to resurrect it.
We signed the papers, loaded up his truck with parts, and he drove the Biturbo onto the trailer. Speaking of his truck... He and his buddy arrived in a 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser that had its rust repaired by bolting on old license plates. It was pretty cool to see the Biturbo being pulled by that rig, but I didn't get any pictures because I'm a bad writer. As he was getting out of the Biturbo on the trailer, I noticed that there was suddenly a wooden Maserati shift knob installed. I asked him about it and he said that he had already bought that knob in anticipation of buying the car!
As I watched them drive off - literally into the sunset! - I just smiled. I really wish that I had the time or the space to have worked on it to make it the fun about-town cruiser that it should be, but in the end letting it go was really the right answer.
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