Hello All, In 2018-2019 I bought a F129B engine off Craigslist. I was told it had been rebuilt with mild cam and reliability upgrades as well as the Jenvey ITBs it for sure has. I received from a performance shop that works on Ferrari's. Owner wasn't happy with the numbers and decided to go another direction. It sat around for years before I got it. Don't have any paperwork to verify cam or dyno. Do have boroscope and it looked very clean. Anything I should look for, keep in mind, or avoid doing with this engine? Was going to put in my 240Z but reconsidering for something more reliable and easier to swap. Curious to what it might be worth and the best place to sell. Has a pretty low production number if that means anything.
Modified and removed because you aren't happy with numbers may be a hard sell. I would start with compression test and removing valve cover (s) to check valve timing/lift to find out what the cams actually are.
I'll remove the valve cover, than I'll verify. I'll do that and check that compression tomorrow. From what I remember it is still quite an improvement over stock, the previous owner had unrealistic expectations and went another direction that was still Ferrari.
What were the numbers? Totally depends what is in it. I think 355 engines go in the 15k range, so I'd think it'd be in that ballpark. For a 240z I'd do a straight 6 of some sort. Sbc/ls swaps are for people that don't care about engines, like Camry's are cars for people that don't care about cars.
But lots of data for doing LS in the 240 -280 series so it's an easy deal 90% off the shelf parts available. Many of those blocks are aluminum too with aluminum heads and 400hp in stock form. These days those cars worth more fixed with stock motors. Would you pay anything close to $15k for an unknown engine? At least with a stock one you know where to start. Nine times out of ten someone's juiced motor is untested and more problems. It's even hard to get a LS rebuilt. It took me 4 engines to get a good one. These engine builders are smoking crack. I just rebuild them myself now. Most non-stock mods will fail smog too so that cuts down the pool of would be buyers.
SBC is lighter than 6 and improves weight distribution. With TH trans stock trans mount, crossmember and shifter is used.
Sure, it's just a boring as all get out choice. Fine for a Camaro, but if you're going 240z put something equally as charming under the hood. There are plenty of aluminum straight 6's out there.
Well in terms of value the details really matter. You've narrowed your audience as even if considered healthy can't be installed in place of a stock engine. The owner may have had unrealistic expectations or as mentioned, the shop failed to deliver what is possible. Curious what size ITB's are on it. Certainly possible to go backwards on numbers if not done correctly. So if someone made the wrong decision on ITB's and the heads were therefore ported improperly none of that is worth using or fixing. Not saying that's the case but possible and the more info the better.
