550 Dyno Run

As we're prepping our '99 550 for winter storage and possible sale next year (my wife wants a Lusso) we decided to have it put on a dyno to see if 50K miles had degraded the horsepower. The answer is an absolute no. The car makes as much, if not slightly more horsepower than when new from the factory 22 years ago. It's putting out 430 brake horsepower which converts to almost 500HP at the crank. So it's still at the as factory new horsepower of 495HP which really says something about Ferrari engines at higher mileages. This explains why it still pulls like a plutonium powered freight train to ultra naughty speeds. The extra horsepower may be coming from the Tubi exhaust system. I recommend having a dyno run. You will hear your car in a way you never do as the driver. It's a thrilling sound you will never forget.

Link to video (crank up your speakers...):



This is on the dyno at Ultima Race Works in Crystal Lake, Illinois (great folks).

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qEVSFtxBAGpDJTnFx7dRA4EFzwWHGFMg03lmWTVUiWYx2bgSxUHGx3yvDSgjmZfDgbxBAzBf-kuzG039fDzwJw2DAQMAYgYdxCVsaTnHVGvPGROJoPQuOm02n1Yc65J4ZlVB-5XGUOjz8J5wBEwX2ojo8M5upDuT5EWpievvNyq5LRobbuxP8Emy4_yf9Dh633G2Pl2LsIWVz0Kq8wCsnLFrzt5Z3jr4n7gi1UZF9v6b8zvIgnu06yBoaixIZds5ngsadEOkzhPC8XLIMFONPNPxjyGh9q9cWrE9oIKtRZSRXje_SdpZgJBgC8KP7lX1iB3lolLpxGI0v9_YYZMgE9V5NvhE37Zgslwg-pdy1RFy6XjoWUQHlYEZSSDoVWdTItBa_k88c_7U_CeZ2uw9IfFGBOD4WnhJybp4BJaz-n7HbQDXfln9xYLv8cBnME-CuLoOI4_LlyHOGw_FRGGOiKY9d2mfnQsoEW4Jm-Od2JeBu-oYjupuajzAUiyzCVoCeHg37Oy2Sx8oIwXl-uiBzYZvQDqFDItONkp6EZAz-skcwdviDXHSwN7eopEMO0TOwzt4B3vyRjyISmZYyLT3UWhITemBd7ZxGaAn4fJW2I7l3eX8vNbmxtZ4wNRnhv_IWVKp4mXPW5nVz75dRePk7H4R266xKqqvtjyIfCn4Ct7oKWQtIfYcyel9N6nMQb4kmIj0UEIG2-WT3Uw=w2886-h1300-no?authuser=1

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HP (DIN) was originally 485, not 495, so she is doing pretty well. 15% losses would be 495 and 20% losses would be 516. Many high performance engines do better with some miles on them. Yours obviously got a good set of valve guides.

 

430rwhp without the benefit of the pressurized airbox effect you would get at speed.Very nice!

 

My 1999 550 has over 100k miles (165.000 kms. now!) and it is faster than the claimed top speed and pulls right up to 330 kph. every time. And it hasn’t been over serviced either. These engines are BULLETPROOF. A precition and quality that is just amazing. This is why I love the car so much. It is actually damn f good car! End of discussion.

 

Wowza. "100K miles"? This makes you and your car legends! Any major issues? The only non-service thing of note we've done to our 550 at a 'mere' 50K miles is have the steering rack rebuilt as Continental AutoSports (Chicago) had found a small fluid weep during a periodic inspection last fall. We sent the rack out to Advantage Steering near Palm Springs to be rebuilt (they do high-lines like Bugattis, Ferraris, etc.). They did a *fantastic* job. The steering is subtly sharper and feels more dialed in than before.

 

Very cool, thanks for posting your chassis dyno results!

Chassis dynos are better suited for tuning vs. determining actual horsepower, given the potential variables between different dynos, whether or not (or when) the dyno was last calibrated vs. what set of standards, whether or not results are corrected for density altitude, etc. That said, this is an impressive result and would seem to indicate that your engine horsepower at the flywheel is at least what Ferrari originally quoted (assuming roughly 15% driveline power loss between flywheel and rear wheels). And, yes, given proper maintenance engines do typically produce more power with higher mileage (to a point) as internal tolerances loosen up somewhat.