Here are some photos for Derek who seems to get very turned on by Ferrari engine photos, mostly the “basamento” which translates to “base” and in this context it stands for Engine Block.

Testa Normal

Bassimento 250 GT Ferrari

Here is a early Porsche 911 Engine that Casey has finished and will hopefully be running later this week.

We seem to have an influx of 250 engines all of a sudden, the one Nate is working on just completed its first test run on the bench after overhaul and the other is coming apart because of problems with the cylinder heads. On this engine, the valve guides are loose in the heads allowing oil to pour into the exhaust system that made smoke pour out of the exhaust system once it heated up.

Bill took some video of the other engine running on the test stand so keep an eye out for that clip on youtube soon.

Ferrari 250 engines

Last week I visited a friend and drove this amazing 1971 Ferrari 356 GTB/4 Daytona around town and was blown away at how nicely it performed. The odometer shows around 20,000 miles and based on the overall condition of the number of original components, I believe it. Since the car has had one conscientious owner for over 30 years it has a complete handbook set and full tool roll and has been serviced to make sure its in top condition at all times. Most Daytona’s are missing the original Magnetti-Marelli ignition boxes or Digi-Plex units but this car has them fitted on the front wheel arches in the engine bay.  My friend is selling the car so if you are interested let me know and I can make arrangements to have available for viewing.

Daytona

I had the great pleasure of driving this 1969 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 from Quebec City in Canada to our shop on Tuesday April 12 2011. It was fanatically restored by its owner who made sure every little detail worked in addition to making some upgrades to make it better than new.

If an electrical engineer looked at the wiring set up on the car they would run and hide. All of the electrical current that the car runs through the ammeter which is horribly under capacity. This car came from the factory with a wimpy 55 amp alternator, a paltry 40 amp ammeter and when the A/C is on, headlights blazing, don’t make the mistake of pushing the horn button or open the windows because you will have an electrical meltdown! The Previous owner happened to be an engineer  who remedied this in a very clever way.

He also kept the classic stereo VOXON in the dash but had a specialist modify the internals, now it operates as a modern high watt unit with all kinds of capabilities. The stereo sounds great and with the ice cold A/C, power steering and great power and visibility, you could drive this car every day without feeling like you will get run over by high speed traffic.

These Queen Mothers are hard to restore because they have so many intricate details.  To me they feel more like a Mercedes Benz than a Ferrari. The coachwork is impeccable, the car feels heavy and planted and it gets about 4 miles per gallon just like a 280 SE 6.9!

Radio Cheat Sheet

356 Queen

Maybe this is the reason Lampredi design features are not used in current engines such as Honda or Mercedes Benz and the reason Ferrari had the most success with the Colombo designed engines. The V-12 Lampredi engine has cylinders that thread up into the cylinder head instead of pressed into the block, but the camshaft and valve actuation are similar to the Colombo designs.

The block of this 4 cylinder Lampredi engine is actually the head, a huge casting with enormous cylinders that thread into it like the V-12′s. The valve actuation is a different style with a huge aluminum followers and a roller of the same size as the V-12 engines. There are huge and very strong “hairpin” style valve springs and enormous coil springs to keep the aluminum followers from floating.

Ferrari 750

Cam Follower Ferrari 4 cylinder

Roller followers Needle Bearing

Ferrari Camshaft wear repair

Due to lack of Ferrari Factory  testing in the mid 50′s, they didn’t observe that this is just too much spring pressure for the roller follower to handle so after less than 2000 miles something gives up, be it the roller follower or the camshaft… and in these photos you can see what happens. The tiny needle bearings come apart and scatter in the engine and the cam is torn up. Maybe the load is too much for the roller follower and it blows apart or the camshaft gets worn and hammers the roller follower until it deteriorates?

Ferrari water pipes

Here is a fixture we made to duplicate the often rusty steel water pipes on Ferrari 250 engines. I make them from Stainless Steel so they should last for much longer than the originals.  I have a drawer full of the parts needed to make these such as the 2 ear flanges and the temp sensor ports as well as pre-bent tubing.

Ferrari 250 GT coolant tubing

Based on my experience and what I have heard on another Ferrari Message Board, the FISPA mechanical fuel pumps on Ferraris are a bit of a problem. They should be so simple and basic, identical concept and overall design as the fuel pumps on millions of industrial machines, cars, trucks and boats all over the globe, but for some reason, you put them on a Ferrari and problems arise.

I have purchased kits from different suppliers and the internal components are slightly different but I have figured out how to make them work reliably and with all kinds of different components. It would be easy to blame the ethanol fuel but so far I have not seen that to be the problem.

The camshaft that operates the fuel pump on V-12 Ferrari’s has very little lift, so the first thing I do is replace the rocker shaft pin and make sure there is no play on the mechanism. The solution to this problem is very simple but is a trade secret. Next I clean all the parts and send off the top cover and the hardware to be re-plated. I have tested the original check valves against ones sourced from a tractor parts supplier as well as the aluminum ones that come in many of the current rebuild kits for the FISPA pump and have found all to work well. To my knowledge, the original check valves no longer exist so I am happy to find that other styles work just fine. The issue I have found is that the replacement diaphragms are the source of the headache.  The diaphragm material is a black single thick layer rather than the 3 thin layers on the red original equipment stuff and in some instances it does not seem sealed properly at the head of the operating rod. Also, they seem to make too much pressure. I realize that the regulator should reduce an over-pressure situation but the red material consistently makes less than 5 psi where I have experienced  the black material making as much as 12psi! With testing the black material for leaks at pressure, I alter the return spring to get the pressure where it belongs which gives me the confidence to ship it!

FISPA Ferrari

Overhaul Fuel pump Ferrari

With all of the recent interest in Ferrari’s manufacturing practices, it seems only appropriate to post this video. It is quite pleasant to watch, and you might learn. Plus the soundtrack isn’t bad either, a few famous guys made it.

This engine had low miles on an complete overhaul. It came in for us to check out, but after finding that the compression was low and the leak down numbers were terrible, we pulled it apart.

The cylinders were polished like a mirror and piston rings had lost their temper. The main and rod bearings are wiped out, and due to major detonation, the rod bearings were hammered to the point that they fell right out of the cap when they should be held in firmly with spring tension.

What a mess. I am doubting that it was actually overhauled because the whole engine was “buzz-bomb” painted right over dirt and all of the hardware.

Ferrari 209

Main bearing

We received some questions after posting the video below about calling the 512BBi motor a flat V-12. Mainly, if it is flat, then how can it be a v format?

The answer lies in a technicality. The moniker “boxer” refers to the piston timing of an engine, rather than the direction the cylinders point. On the Ferrari 512, the crankshaft isn’t a true boxer crankshaft – it is a V-12 crankshaft with the cylinders laid flat. Here’s why:

True boxers have one crankpin controlling only one piston/cylinder, and 180° engines share crankpins.

A true “boxer” (horizontally opposed engine) has corresponding pistons reaching top dead center simultaneously.

A 180° V-12 engine has piston pairs sharing a crank pin on the crankshaft and reaching top dead center half a crankshaft revolution apart. Most flat 12s are actually 180° V engines, including the Ferrari discussed here and the famous Porsche 917 racecar.

Interestingly, phase has always been of great concern to the motorcycle industry (think big bang configuration) as it directly effects vibration and riders sit right on top of it. Read more here.