We dynoed this blue 512BB last summer, and I cannot remember the exact figures. But, I do remember the incredible torque curve and how it made the maximum HP and torque at 5000RPM then plateaued out. I think it made just under 300HP at the rear wheels. We are going to be overhauling and enhancing this engine soon and it will be cool to put it back on the dyno to see the new numbers.

Here’s a link to a similar 512BB on the dyno this winter – this time in red. http://www.ferraricraft.com/2010/01/video-1984-ferrari-512-bbi-at-the-dyno/

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.

He used wool on the BBI and foam on the 250, what it is Syl?

Polishing

He wanted me to get him the acid etched part numbers on the gears to determine if they were shaved or ground gears but I said, “who cares if they are shaved or ground, I want a matched set of ground”.  Leave it to Ferrari to have even thought shaved gears would hold up to the torque that these parts need to withstand. By the way, if the odometer and the condition of this car is correct, there are less than 10,000 miles on this transmission! Great stuff! I could not find any acid etch numbers to confirm that the gears were shaved but I am sure that they were and not the higher quality ground gears.

As you can see in the photos, the smaller gear has many pits from metal fatigue, not from abuse or lack of lubrication, just poor quality materials and process. What a bummer.   Geof just located gears from a Testarossa transmission that cost a prohibitave amount of money but at least this transmission will not be apart for months and months while we wait for gears to be re-made!

Ferrari Boxer transmission repair

OK, the wait is over, the HP and torque results for the 3 Ferraris was as follows.

330 GTC. 287 HP and 284 Torque. See the video here.

Daytona Coupe 337 HP 315 Torque. See the video here.

365 Berlinetta Boxer 328 HP and 288 torque. See the video here.

I will work to put the graphs on the blog later this week so you can see the HP and torque curves. It was interesting to see the peak torque curve on the BB to be at under 4000RPM!

Here is a youtube clip of the 365 BB run