Putting in my electromotive FINALLY! | Page 3 | FerrariChat

Putting in my electromotive FINALLY!

Discussion in '308/328' started by Birdman, May 10, 2006.

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  1. jwise

    jwise Formula Junior

    Apr 2, 2003
    781
    Portland Maine
    Yes- his engine is quite filthy...;) That only means it's being used.

    Thanks for the great post, sounds like it's going to be a resounding success!

    p.s.- I haven't forgoten about the buyer's guide; I'm about halfway through it.

    jwise
     
  2. Sloan83qv

    Sloan83qv F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    Mar 8, 2001
    2,537
    with BIG Dave M.
    Full Name:
    Little Dave M.
    Gap should be:

    .035"- .038"
     
  3. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
    Full Name:
    THE Birdman
    MAN that's close! I would be worried that vibration would allow enough movement in the balancer or the cam cover that they would hit each other. Am I just being paranoid??

    Birdman
     
  4. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

    Apr 20, 2002
    10,676
    Worldwide
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    Steven
    Birdman,

    Congrats!!! As for the dirty engine, it proves you drive the car :)
     
  5. Sloan83qv

    Sloan83qv F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    Mar 8, 2001
    2,537
    with BIG Dave M.
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    Little Dave M.
    Yes you are being paranoid, I have installed almost a dozen on 308's to date.
    Your gap is way to big.......
     
  6. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
    Full Name:
    THE Birdman
    OK, will fix ASAP.

    Birdman
     
  7. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
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    THE Birdman
    OK, sensor gap is 0.036" now, plugs are changed, everything is back together, and if the flood waters ever recede, I can test drive it! Will post dirty engine bay pic later tonight when I dump the digicam.

    Birdman
     
  8. Sloan83qv

    Sloan83qv F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    Mar 8, 2001
    2,537
    with BIG Dave M.
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    Little Dave M.
    What did you gap your plugs to ?
    Hope you read the instructions as Plug Gap is no longer Ferrari Spec.
    You should be at .035" - .037"
     
  9. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
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    THE Birdman
    Yes sir! Nick told me that. Gapped plugs at 0.035". I tried NGK BP6ES. What plugs do you like?

    Can hardly wait for a drive.
     
  10. Sloan83qv

    Sloan83qv F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    Mar 8, 2001
    2,537
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    Little Dave M.
    Good plugs for a carbed car...... Looks like your ready.

    The Electro Motive on the Carbed 308 is as close to awakening a sleeping giant as you get. Your car will start like a FI car plus you will never again foul a plug and when you step on the Gas it will just amaze you.

    ENJOY
     
  11. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
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    THE Birdman
    oh boy oh boy oh boy! <big grin> I can hardly wait to drive it!!! This weather SUCKS!!!!!
     
  12. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
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    THE Birdman
    Here's the final pic of where everything ended up. Yeah, the engine bay is dirty. It's gonna stay that way too. Last time I cleaned it, the thing was dirty again in like 2 days!

    Birdman
     
  13. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
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    THE Birdman
    #63 Birdman, May 18, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  14. greg328

    greg328 F1 Rookie

    Nov 17, 2003
    4,178
    Austin, TX USA
    Full Name:
    Greg
    Very awesome!


    Greg
     
  15. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
    Full Name:
    THE Birdman
    Henry,
    Nice looking install! Where's the brain?

    The engine is clean but not too clean, very good!

    Why don't you take that air pump out of there? It's not hooked up, why cart the sucker around? It must weigh 10 pounds! Just throw it in a box in the basement!

    Birdman
     
  16. hanknum

    hanknum Formula 3

    Nov 1, 2003
    2,050
    Santa Barbara
    Full Name:
    Henry
    Hey Birdman,

    The brain is in the base of the coil pack. I have an old HPV-1 (installed it about 10 years ago).

    Thanks, cleanliness just means it isn't driven enough ;) I've got about 102k on it.

    I've considered pullin' the pump, but I run it about once a month to make sure the tubes don't get plugged up. I still have to have it tested every other year so I don't want the tubes to clog up or the pump to seize. Where I live, we have to do the phase II testing where the car is put on a dyno.

    Henry
     
  17. blainewest

    blainewest Formula Junior

    Aug 26, 2005
    729
    Kelowna, BC
    Full Name:
    Blaine W
    Wow. Great stuff guys...I was so inspired by this thread I started putting my XDI in this week. Had an aluminum mounting bracket fabbed up (by a friend) which attaches to the original 3 post coil bracket. Just installed this alum. bracket today..looks good. If I can figure out posting pics I'll do that later.

    I'm still undecided as to where to mount the brain and the tach box. My car is a 75 gt4. My preference is not to mount the brain in the cabin of the car. There is a square frame rail that runs along the rear firewall of the engine bay...or on the front of the trunk box. Do you guys think it'd be ok to drill holes and mount the brain there? I'm concerned about heat (from rear exh. manifold) and any weakening of this frame rail.
     
  18. blainewest

    blainewest Formula Junior

    Aug 26, 2005
    729
    Kelowna, BC
    Full Name:
    Blaine W
    I forgot to mention that as part of my conversion to the XDI I am removing the dizzies and capping the mounts. In my car this involved plugging the intake cams on the dizzy ends. Birdman you were fortunate yours already had the plugs installed.

    I removed all the cams (am also doing complete 30k service) and in the end I had Racewerks (local Porsche race shop) silver solder plugs/caps (which he fabbed up) on the ends of the cams instead of banging out the pin and machining a plug to fit. The soldering will ensure that it will be easy to revert back to the dizzies should someone want to later on. He did a real nice job...looks factory and he polished my lobes and charged me $100.00. Assuming this works I consider that a bargain.
     
  19. hanknum

    hanknum Formula 3

    Nov 1, 2003
    2,050
    Santa Barbara
    Full Name:
    Henry
    That is a bargain.

    I wish someone would polish my lobes ;)
     
  20. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
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    Blaine,
    Mine weren't plugged really. The ends that are pinned on the cams to drive the dizzies did not have a hole through into the cam, so they didn't need to be plugged. I'm curious why yours did have a hole through.

    Henry, did yours?

    Birdman
     
  21. hanknum

    hanknum Formula 3

    Nov 1, 2003
    2,050
    Santa Barbara
    Full Name:
    Henry
    I'm not real sure. All I know is I didn't have any oil there when I took of the dizzies, so I left well enough alone. I do recall someone telling me I might have to plug them.

    Henry
     
  22. blainewest

    blainewest Formula Junior

    Aug 26, 2005
    729
    Kelowna, BC
    Full Name:
    Blaine W
    Birdman, there is no question that my cams on the dizzy end were open to the oil journal. There was a small O ring on the dizzy shaft which was relied on to prevent oil (under 80psi) from getting into the space between the seal housing and the distributor base. This seems to me to be an iffy sealing proposition and may be why Ferrari issued the retroactive work service bulletin instructing plugging same. I know from a review of my car's service records that oil leaks at the distributor where it mates to the head/cam cover were fixed on several occasions. Anyway I'm happy to have this issue fixed (I hope). As to why there was a hole...who knows. Maybe this is one of the inconsistancies Ferrari is known for. I have another one I think...on the belt end of my camshafts there are no flat spots for wrenches and I understand on most 2V cars there are. Hmmm...maybe my cams are aftermarket.
     
  23. Nick

    Nick Formula Junior
    Sponsor Professional Ferrari Technician

    Oct 31, 2003
    506
    Full Name:
    Nick Scianna
    Hi guys, I was told about the thread & I just had to read through it, always use one heat range colder than stock for plugs, I use Champion 2415 gold for the 308 application, I just removed a set after 5 years of driving & I am so impressed with how the plugs looked. Taylor spiral pro wires are what I use & it is what I send out to my customers also, if you wish the ultimate in plug wires, they are the Magnecor wires & they are also the correct resistance for the XDI, HPX, HPV OR TEC 3 systems. Do not use MSD wire with these ignition systems!

    When we switched over to the ½ inch sensor from the 3/8 inch, like Paul Sloan has, it allowed the sensor gap to be pushed out to.060, which is what it also recommends in the installation manual with the ½ inch sensor & a 6 inch trigger wheel.

    My plugs are gapped at .035 on my red 308.
     
  24. Birdman

    Birdman F1 Veteran

    Jun 20, 2003
    6,687
    North shore, MA
    Full Name:
    THE Birdman
    Interesting. My dizzies had the o ring on the shaft going into the end of the cam, but when the dizzy was removed, there was no trace of oil in there. Just some dry dusty rust, indicating that no oil has ever been in there. I looked carefully in there with a light and a mirror and could find no trace of a hole where oil could get in. I even poked around with a dental tool.

    FYI, it is possible to have oil leaks from around the distributor area without oil going through that fitting because between the distributor and the engine is another plate with the cam seal on it. If the plate with the cam seal has a leaky gasket, you get oil dripping from under the dizzy but it is not coming from the dizzy itself, but from the head. An oil leak into the dizzy through the shaft would be a BIG problem! Maybe that's why there was a service bulletin issued to plug those suckers. (Got a link on that bulletin? I would like to read it.)

    Now that I have run mine for a few minutes to test, maybe I'll pull the cover plate off and see if any oil came out of the end of the cam. Never hurts, just to be sure.

    Now that the floods have ended here in MA and the sun is out, I might actually get a chance to DRIVE this thing today.

    Nick, thanks for clarification on everything.

    Birdman
     

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