Attention Ferrari Master Technician

If you need it the bulletin has often been posted in the 430 section

 

On the 355 it was definitely heat and the SOLE reason for their failure. I took pictures of mine and Brian(Rifle driver) used them in an article in Forza Mag. The tubes were melted and had bubbles in the tubes; ie, like someone blowing glass. I can’t find my pics but I try to find the article in Forza. Ferraris stainless that used was not up the task.

 

Well duh, I know that but the material used could be the same. Ferrari had trouble with the 355, 360 and 430 just trying to give extra info.

 

I can't speak to Ferrari related specifics but generally speaking what you have said about the issue being related to the design and not the welds themselves is one in the same from an engineering standpoint. Metals crack due to fatigue (imagine bending a spoon repeatedly until it breaks) and the fatigue life of a weld is basically a guess. A good design protects the welded joint from levels of cyclic stress so the fatigue life is not a concern. Again don't know about the specifics about the part itself but if there is a new part that goes on, there is likely something to add additional stiffness to the part itself or isolate it from another part that is putting stress into it so the weld isn't mechanically cycled as much.

 

What I find interesting from the service bulletin is that it seems there were multiple revisions more than the discussed MKI vs MKII.

I have assembly number 83720 for my MY2009 F430. It seems that there was a version for the 05 to 07 which had the extra sensor (MKI), in 2008 (starting assembly74557), the emissions changed so there was a new Manifold, but I would expect since they already had manifold failures by then they did some revision to it, then at assembly 79949 they had a new manifold and also a new one for the earlier pre-assembly 74557. So really the latest manifold should be though of as MKIII not MKII and really only the last assemblies of the F430 came with them from the factory.

 

If you are looking for a true statement for the failure of anything in a Ferrari TSB you will be looking a very long time.

 

I've seen a 355 failed header and you can see it's virtually melted and bubbled. My 430 header had a simple crack right next to a weld. I still say the rigid rear brackets are to blame. If the exhaust can't expand length ways then it's going to stress and it will fail at the weakest point, which is the smallest weakest tube, the header pipes.