All 400i's used GM (Turbo 350) auto transmitions right? Thanks
If I remember correctly it is not a direct match. Different bell housing, and inner stuff to alter shifts, etc.
you have to change the guts of the trans. Basicly you remove the old gm stuff and replaace it with new gm stuff. Same thing as the Roller's and Bently's
I know what I'm about to say is borderline herecy but here's why I asked... Having recently been married, my wife has (slowly)grown fond of the 308 and the other cars I have. Where she'd previously only been interested in her Toyota Camry. Anyway, we've talked about adding a second ferrari to the garage, a mondial or 400 (something a little more understaterd than another 308 or ??) for her to drive and have fun with. She'd like this car mostly for the summer and to commute to work. It's a long commute for her and it would be big trouble if she didn't make it due to unreliability issues. As such I've seen a couple of 400's for sale (or being parted) recently that have engine issues... (Here's where the herecy begins!) Since I thought that 400's used GM trans I had the wild thought that it might be possible to take out the v-12 and drop in a GM motor? Please dont flame... I love the 308 but after 4 years I'm still finding problems with reliability and I don't have a good shop just around the corner. I've done a lot of things to make my car more reliable and trouble free but the gremlins keep coming. The nearest place for (good) repair support is GT Cars in Mpls almost 200 miles away and the car wouldn't be much fun for her if she had to deal with little problems all the time. Anyway, I was just thinking that perhaps for more reliability, ease of opperation for her that we could possibly save another 400 from being parted out by conveting it to a GM motor and actually using the car. Again, I love Ferrari's but I'd just like to know if this might be even remotely possible. Thanks for listening
Wouldn't you have to cut a hole in the front hood for the carburetor? Seriously, it could be a problem unless your replacement engine also has a very low-profile intake system. Don't know anything super-specific myself, but I believe it's the reason F was "forced" to use side-draft carbs on the 400. Also, a 90-deg V8's width may be problematic -- or were you thinking inline-6?
When I was a kid, I found a 400i in CA for $15k with a Chevy 350 in it. The engine seemed to take up about half of the available engine compartment. The car ran and drove great and it had a nice exhaust note. The guy said it could get about 14MPG The car couldn't be smogged in CA and I only had about $8k to spend on a car so it went to another home. I guess if my motor in my 456gt disintegrated, I would consider a Z06 motor.
I was thinking along the lines of v-8... FI most likely. All my old corvette's are carb so I can't measure the difference between the height of carb vs injected. I assumed injected would be lower, perhaps not.
It would probably be similar to a 350 engine swap in the jag xjs. The jag v12 uses a gm 400 trans also, but difference is that the jag uses 12 mounting bolts for the trans, and gm only uses like 4, so the housings are different. Jag also made it so the transmission shifted rediculously smoothe. I don't know how the ferrari set up the trans. I'm thinking probably for more responsiveness. The ferrari 400i is probably more suitable for every day driving than a 308. So the original 12 in it probably wouldn't be a bad thing. The only thing I would really consider is fuel economy. If her drive is long each day, she may get tired of having to fill up so often, and with the price of gas nowadays, the fuel bill would be like having an additional car payment. I love v12's but the 8-12 miles a gallon on an everyday basis kills me. So I guess the 350 could come in handy here in a 400i. You know what I say, I say get her a mid 90's corvette. She can have fun in that.
