This must have made quite a noise! One of the pistons on this engine “let go” and it was deposited into the oil pan. In the second photo you can see a piece of the wrist pin! Ouch.

I suspect that after the car was sitting for some time, the owner took the car for a spin. He did not realize that modern fuel looses its potency after a short amount of time and there was some major detonation from the decreased octane. Something else that may have happened is the jets in one carburetor may have plugged causing a lean condition in this cylinder which destroyed the piston. From what I have seen, when modern fuel evaporates it leaves a crusty white stuff which plugs small jets easily.

Of course it is likely that this was a mechanical failure, a valve that broke like the Daytona and Dino engines that we recently fixed. Maybe this, maybe that…

I think that adding a small ammount of Marvel Mystery oil in the gas tank will allow a oily residue to linger in the tiny orifaces in the carburetor passages and jets so the crusty residue will not accumulate. Maybe I am wrong but I like to think I know what I am talking about!

Major problems with a Ferrari V-12

We are not just doing the engine but are going to detail the engine and engine bay to a high level of finish and accuracy. The air filter housings were normal satin black and not wrinkle finished. Is this correct or should they be wrinkle finished? I will post photos of the engine for before and after shots

Piston Debris in a Ferrari 4 overhead cam engine

The Lusso engine is almost finished and looking great. It is not complete in this photo, a little dirty and the distributors are not timed but it is 90% there. I am happy with how it is looking. We installed 9mm lift camshafts from a 275 GTB engine and have slightly higher compression pistons and larger valves to match the cams. I am going to install threaded inserts in the headers so I can install wide band oxygen sensors with a rich/lean indicator to make sure the fuel mixture is correct. I do not want to blow this thing up!

When I get this thing a little closer I will add more photos.

V-12 Ferrari 3 liter engine