Flames from a tubi | FerrariChat

Flames from a tubi

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by simon355, Jan 25, 2004.

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  1. simon355

    simon355 Formula Junior

    Nov 23, 2003
    650
    W.Yorkshire, UK.
    Full Name:
    Simon George
    On my 355 Spider i've got the Tubi with no cats option,but I'd just be interested to know under which circumstances is it more likely to spit flames!!? Would it be when I change up near the red line and hear a pop (sometimes a bang or both),or when I accelerate hard then suddenly lift off and hear lots of popping! Anyone any experience on a sure fire way of making it do this? Be simpler if there was a switch on the dash!!
     
  2. 355f

    355f Formula Junior

    Nov 1, 2003
    307

    You are more likely to experience this if you have 'chipped the car' (not reccomended) The first thing most aftermarket chips do is to remove the fuel shutoff on overrun, hence the petrol ignites in the exhaust.

    In other circumstances it will happen then you rev to say 7.5/8K and then back off
     
  3. tonyh

    tonyh F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Dec 23, 2002
    14,372
    S W London
    Full Name:
    Tony H
    I have same cat-less Tubi and so does another 355 Spider owner on this forum.I've been behind his car,and vice versa,on quite a few hard drive outs and haven't seen any flames! I guess this is a question for Manu @ Scuderia to answer.....

    Tony
     
  4. Dale

    Dale F1 Veteran

    Oct 7, 2003
    5,211
    uk
    Full Name:
    Dale Juan
    When the expanding gas leaves the cyclinder its still burning expanding
    so why the flames you ask?,exhaust crack,gasket leak,flange leak,ingnition timing,fuel pressure,fuel pulse width,valve timing,inlet manifold vac on overun what is it?
    start by getting the emissions checked it can tell all sorts,
    Dale.
     
  5. kenyon

    kenyon F1 Rookie

    Oct 7, 2002
    2,837
    East Yorkshire
    Full Name:
    Justin Kenyon
    Simon,
    I dought you have a problem with your car. I get flames sometimes and my car is fine. Racing cars have flames and they have not problems with their cars when you seem them racing.
     
  6. manu

    manu Formula Junior

    Feb 20, 2002
    981
    London, UK
    Full Name:
    Manu
    press for time - no need to worry guys... It's perfectly normal on de-catted cars
    - de-catted 360s spit small blue flames!
     
  7. kenyon

    kenyon F1 Rookie

    Oct 7, 2002
    2,837
    East Yorkshire
    Full Name:
    Justin Kenyon
    Manu,

    This happens at high revs then come off power to select next gear.
    Would you agree... Well mine does it then...
     
  8. simon355

    simon355 Formula Junior

    Nov 23, 2003
    650
    W.Yorkshire, UK.
    Full Name:
    Simon George
    Ahh you misunderstand! I want it to spit flames,the bigger the better!! Just wanted to know how to encourage it really!
     
  9. gumball3000

    gumball3000 Formula Junior

    Dec 17, 2003
    288
    East Yorkshire
    Full Name:
    Ed Neilson
    The best way to ensure flames would be to fit one of the propane kits, this supplies a nice stream of blue/yellow flames, Upto 10 feet out of the back. Often seen on Novas and Saxos. The Mister 2 (Mr 2) ((MR2)) Below should point out just how utterly wonderful they are.....

    Bring on the fake nitrous too!!!!!

    Ed
     
  10. simon355

    simon355 Formula Junior

    Nov 23, 2003
    650
    W.Yorkshire, UK.
    Full Name:
    Simon George

    Holy ****!
    Do they do a kit for the 355!! he he!
     
  11. paulnwgb

    paulnwgb Karting

    Sep 3, 2003
    177
    Dunmow, Essex
    Full Name:
    Paul Gardner
    I am tempted... if nothing else than to get my own back on tailgaters... :)

    can you imagine it - Mr M Power in his souped up Saxo suddenly finds his two front tyres and his paintwork in flames...
     
  12. ferrari355gtb

    ferrari355gtb Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,600
    UK
    Full Name:
    R
    Simon - there were flames coming out of yours when you revved it stood still. Must admit the flames do look good.
     
  13. Ade

    Ade Formula 3

    Jan 31, 2004
    2,102
    UK
    I've suddenly developed a real interest in this, cause my girlfriend saw a car in a movie spitting flames and was really impressed..... Sad, I know, but I have to compete (in typical male style). Sooooo here is my ridiculous plan of action, until someone talks me out of it, that is.

    I've spoken to my mechanic, and firstly the 355 will be de-catted (cunningly after an MOT!) and straight pipes put in their place. It seems the remaining trick is to ensure that a certain amount of fuel is passed into the exhaust system and ignites accordingly(?). It sounds like this can be achieve in a number of ways - but one is to ensure that the valve timings are set to have an amount of overlap (exhaust verse intake) under certain conditions(??). God knows how he is going to achieve this.... I probably don't want to know what the cons are!!!! Any thoughts? Who is going to watch on an laugh as I blow up a £40K engine??

    Tail-gaters beware!

    Ade
     
  14. ferrari355gtb

    ferrari355gtb Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,600
    UK
    Full Name:
    R
    I would have thought by chipping the ECU you could adjust the fuel over run.
     
  15. GTO84

    GTO84 Formula Junior

    Dec 13, 2003
    565
    The way it's done is two spark plugs are threaded into the exhaust, one on each side. Two coils are hooked up to the plugs. Autolok in the US makes the switch kit to divert the engine's coil power to the exhaust. Rev the engine and hit the switch, the engine coils go dead, the gas pedal is further depressed while the exhaust coils are lit, thus producing the huge amount of unburnt fuel flames out of the exhaust. Old school greaser trick.
     
  16. jimmy b

    jimmy b Formula Junior

    Dec 13, 2003
    501
    On a plane
    Full Name:
    James
    Simon,

    If I understand your question correctly, the time that flames will come out of the exhaust fairly naturally, (as alluded in some of the answers given) is when you lift off - and hence dump a small amount of unburned fuel into the exhaust where hot metal ignites it. Typically this is when you are changing down just before a corner whilst having just driven hard (translation: on a racetrack). Visit any trackday and you'll see lots of (either Fcar Challenge or proper race-) cars spitting flames on almost every corner. F40s do this spectacularly well as the waste-gate pipe from the turbos comes out between the two main exhaust pipes at the back, so LOTS of opportunity for unburned fuel to go pop!

    The normal Cats that you've had removed, mean that this doesn't happen so much with standard road cars, as any gas ignition is muted in the pipework. I had the straight-through pipes on my 355 and found a big improvement on mid-range torque. Hope you like it!

    Any of the more technical mechanisms for "big flaming" offered, I leave to your good judgement as to the value for money on....

    Happy motoring!

    James.
     

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