California Upgrades

Novitec-Rosso makes several HP upgrades for the California. As for reasonable, I think it's all personal IMO.

You can find some prices at here. There are different performance numbers to consider depending on which of the 2 base car models you have.

 

We have very nice HJS 200 cell sport cats and an X-Pipe that pick up 13 HP to the rear wheels across the powerband. Coupled with our ECU tune, you will see 30+ HP to the rear wheels. These exhaust parts make changing the rear mufflers unnecessary in my opinion, unless you wanted the car to be really obnoxiously loud.
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The California is the only Ferrari V8 where an X-Pipe will help since it is a 90 degree crank V8 vs 180 degs in all other modern Ferrari V8s.

 

Although you almost always are correct, I thought that the Cali has a flat plane and not a cross plane V-8.

 

The bank angle is 90 degree, the engine has your signature Ferrari flat plane crank.

 

If anyone is reading this thread and is willing to drive/ship their car to Fabspeed, we have a few more ideas in store for the California that we have not had the time to test. We would be willing to give a good discount on product in exchange for having the car for 1-2 weeks in our beautiful facility just outside of Philadelphia.

 

The 90° cylinder bank angle of the California's V-8 is shared across the 360, F430, 458 and California platforms which all use different versions of the same F136 engine. They also all use flat-plane crankshafts. You can spot a flat-plane engine by checking the maximum engine RPM. Cross plane crankshafts are heavy and not practical for high RPM operation.

Ferrari's website has a good explanation at this link location

I don't know anything about exhaust tuning but I think the main difference between the Cali and other Ferrari V-8s is the California's front engine placement which makes for a much longer path for the exhaust plumbing. Like any conduit under pressure, a longer path can introduce more back pressure. Placing an X-junction at the earliest practical location would potentially maximize the benefits of the dual plumbing downstream from that point, given the timing differences between the 2 banks.

 

All right guys, apparently we need some Ferrari 101. Here is the crankshaft on the Ferrari California, which is plainly a 90 degree, cross-plane crank. Below it is the crank from a 458, just as plainly a 180 degree, flat-plane crank.

Of course the bank angles on both are 90 degrees. All early V8s, like the Hispano Suiza V8 fitted to SPAD aircraft, were flat plane cranks. Although the cross plane crank was developed quite early, around 1915, it did not come into wide use until much later with American V8s.

In the drawings from Ricambi's online parts catalogs, note the difference in the sizes of the crank counterweights, an advantage of a flat plane crankshaft.

So if California owners wonder why their engines sound magnificent, but different from an F430 or 458, here is one of the reasons.

If anybody wants to know more advantages and disadvantages of each type of crank, yell.

Chris- I assume your engineers know what kind of crank the engines have.
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Interesting. I had always thought that the Cali engine shared the basic config of the 430 engine, and that both had flat plane cranks. After looking at the diagrams you posted for the Cali and 458, I can see that the Cali has a 90 degree crank.

So that got me wondering about the 430 derivation. Looking at Ricambi's diagram for the 430, it looks just like the Cali's - 90 degrees. Then I was curious about the 360's and lo and behold, it's a flat plane, like the 458's. Below are diagrams for the 430 and for the 360. Any idea what gives? It is possible that Ricambi is using the wrong diagrams for the 430 and Cali? I thought both the 360 and 430 had flat plane cranks, but it looks like the 360 and 458, but not the Cali or 430.
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Terry, I know you always have good reasons for your arguments but I think this time you got some bad information off the Ricambi drawing. For instance, the F430 crankshaft on Ricambi also looks like a cross-plane shaft when it clearly isn't. Here, have a look:

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I do not have any automotive engineering expertise but I think there is likely something "funky" going on with the Ricambi renditions of the crankpins on these shafts.

I usually check before I stick my neck out and here is an excerpt from Ferrari's weblink - the same one I used in my previous post. As you see from the highlighted text, the author very purposely emphasized the California has a flat-plane crankshaft like the other Ferrari V-8s.

My truck also has a big cross-plane 5.7L V-8 and it behaves very differently from a flat-plane. My BMWs all had cross-plane engines and I know what they felt like. The F136 in the California feels completely different.

At any rate, there is no benefit to Ferrari using a cross-plane crankshaft in the California. None. It would just cost them a lot more in the end.
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Michael- Thanks, looks like I screwed this one up. Will do some more research and maybe I can find a photo of a California crankshaft.

 

Terry, I admire the ability to see these things. If what you did was Ferrari 101, I think I need Ferrari 1a, or pre-Ferrari 01 or something similar. I do hate it though, when someone says "plainly" and "just as plainly" when it is a total mystery to me LOL. I have a friend who is a chemist; he lays out complex chemical representations, then says "See... See! Right there!" so it isn't an isolated phenomena for me not to get it. Bob H

 

It's interesting for sure why that crank made it into a factory drawing as I don't know of any Ferrari that uses a non flat plane crank. I think, if nothing but for marketing reasons (sound), Ferrari will never use a cross plane crank again on their V8 engines.

 

Bob- In this case I was full of crap, but the concept of a flat, or 180 degree, crank is fairly simple, easily visualized and looks like the bottom image shown below, without the confusion of the counterweights. All the throws are flat or in one plane. Above is a cross plane, or 90 degree, crankshaft and note that in this case the plane of the throws are perpendicular to each other.

The flat plane V8 is really two inline fours on one crankshaft and the crossplane is four V-twins on one crankshaft. Racing engines like flat plane V8s for the simplified exhaust and general light weight of the crankshaft and counterweights. Street V8 engines usually use a crossplane crankshaft for its increased smoothness, especially at idle, because there are no primary or secondary imbalances. One reason some American V8s would idle at 400 rpm or less.

Funnily enough, my degree is in chemistry.
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Thanks- the cross-section view does it for me; not sure I could explain it to someone else, but I think I get it now. I appreciate the explanation. I just thought it was the firing order (and great fabrication) that gave the California its unique, but pure Ferrari, sound. I can now mystify others with my newfound knowledge. Bob H

 

Decent explanation Terry. Cross-plane engines tend to have a lot of low end grunt but can't wail like a Ferrari flat plane. The M62 BMW engine in my 540i Sport (6MT) could pull the car up a steep hill at 800 RPM without stumbling, probably one of the best engines of all time. The intake howl it made at parking lot speeds was intoxicating. I loved that engine.

BTW, my original degree was in microbiology.

 

Ok, while we are on degrees, I have a JD. But it's not like the Cali is under powered, so I can't understand the need to add power. May be I need a different qualification.

 

Yes, your current degree would probably not help much in this matter.

I think some people just like to make their own vehicles "a bit more special" and perhaps personalize it or maximize its potential. Some of the results can be neat and very creative. Of course, you can also overbake the car in the process.

 

Thanks Terry ... interesting stuff ... something else for me to look into.

 

All you need to do to know if it has a flat or cross-plane crank is listen to it. The sound is absolutely unmistakable. It sounds more like a souped-up I-4 than a regular V8, since it's basically TWO I-4 engines attached to the same crankshaft . You can identify one from a mile away.

 

+1 no mistaking the sound......

 

For the last 2 weeks Fabspeed had in house a customer's 2012 California for a Sport Cat & X-Pipe install. I asked the customer if he was interested in allowing us to R&D a header modification that I felt would increase high rpm horsepower & torque, and he was kind enough to let us to do so.

The headers Ferrari uses on the California are a mass produced type and, while they "do the job", leave room for improvement. The collector they use is flat with some weld bead overhanging into the primary tubes. There is also a nice lip where the collector and the flange meet.

I thought I could help high rpm power & torque by guiding the exhaust flow a little better than Ferrari does on the OEM header. My hope was the increase in laminar flow at the collector area will help exhaust scavenging of the cylinder and this in turn would increase high rpm cylinder filling.

I chose to accomplish this by TIG welding in what is called a merge collector spike. This is a cast stainless steel spike often used in aftermarket & race header manufacturing. We have these on hand for use in our 458 headers, and they fit the California OEM header perfectly.

Results: My initial theories were correct - the merge collector spikes did increase horsepower and torque above approx. 5,000 rpm. The gains were a solid 8-9 whp and 4-6 ft. lbs torque all the way to redline. Peak HP gain was 5 whp. Looking at the graph, you will see some spikes in the torque curve. The California proved somewhat difficult in maintaining perfect ignition signals throughout the run - you can ignore these spikes.
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