MythBuster: Are Ferrari Engines Redlined Prior To Installation?

I got this information as hearsay from several Ferrari Enthusiasts:

"All Ferrari engines are red-lined for 45 mins - 1 hour before being dropped into the engine bay for final assembly and distribution."

Myth: Plausible? Confirmed? Busted?

 

I can't believe that is even close to true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They're bench tested beforehand. I'd doubt they'd run the crap out of them but would vary RPM's like they tell you in the manual

 

The engines are bench tested for BHP. The engine must meet or exceed the specification. Then the engine is installed and each car is driven on the track for a multitude of tests. All day long cars are driven in and out of the factory to the track in Maranello. You cannot sit there and not see at least one new car come out of the gates in a 15 minute period.

I do not think that each engine sits on the bench for too long but certainly part of each break in period is on this bench before installation into a car.

aehaas

 

Since ALL Ferrari engines include F1 engines, I sincerely doubt that they run at redline for more than 1 minute to save the engine for the race.

 

Ferrari tests thier engine using what can be described as a mototune type way. (go to mototune.com to see why). They are run hard, as hard as they run any other car. It seals the rings against the wall better from what Ive read and seen. There are some factory 'hotrods' I hear that actually make a noticeably higher amount of power and are faster out of the box.

 

I'd be very surprised if each engine is run on a dyno before installation. That is a big deal...connecting all the sensors, electronics, fuel, exhaust, etc. I know these are premium cars...but that's a bit much. I'd buy a flat out track test for some time, or at least a chassis dyno....

 

If you visit the factory you will see for yourself the engine dyno room where EVERY engine is hooked up the dyno and tested

 

ok, never been there...but if it's true, wow. That is a big deal...

 

Running the hell out of a freshly rebuilt engine is an old hot-rodders trick to seal the rings and make sure it holds up to hard use.

I don't see why it wouldn't work on a new engine, same as a rebuilt one.

Of course, one must wonder why any further breaking in would be required, e.g. keeping rpm down for 500 to 1000 miles after taking delivery, which is the norm for most other cars.

 

Is this actually going to be on the show? If so when?

 

http://www.motortrend.com/features/scenes/112_0406_bts_fer/index5.html

 

I have been to the factory 3 times- once in the 70s, once in the 80s and once in the early 90s. Each time I have seen the engines on the dyno being tested. In fact on one of thes visits they had a client's 250 GT Lusso engine they had rebuilt on the dyno. They had it howling 7,000 RPM and it was running at that rpm for the several minutes I was standing there. They also had the 348 and TR production engines on the dynos. They were running them up the rpm range, holding them at redline, and then bringing them back down. I was told that all engines were dynoed. Then they take them out an run them on the track or roads for further checking. Once when I was there they had a V-12 F1 engine on the dyno. It was the most awesome sound.

 

I was at the factory about a month ago. The engine were hooked up and on the dyno but I didn't see the figures or the revs they were running at. We were told - and as I'm a little happy from the bottle of wine I just consumed I may be a little out with the precise numbers - every V8 is run for 100 hours and V12's for 150 hous before being fitted to a car. The car then is driven for approx 150km on a test drive before being delivered to the new owner or showroom. No clocks are turned back. So your new car will always show at least 150km when you recieve it brand new.

 

The wine is getting to you. Slow down a little.

 

There are as I recall 16 dynos but not all in one place so the tour does not see them all.

Every motor is run for about 3 or 4 hours and is on a preprogrammed computer operated run. The engine speed and power setting is gradually increased over that time. It spends a few minutes at very high RPM. I have spent some time standing there watching. I was watching so many things I really don't recall if redline is reached but if not it must be close. All the operators really do is install and hook up the motor. During the entire run he is either standing there watching or helping the next guy over move and change engines.

 

"Is this actually going to be on the show? If so when?"

Hi, BLK85.

Answer to your question above, is "No."

I posted this issue to this community because I wanted to find out whether or not the myth of red-lining Ferrari engines for 45 mins - 1 hours before installation and distribution is plausible, confirmed, or busted -- in my past experience in this community, I found the knowledge base extremely useful and helpful. I got the Ferrari red-line information as hearsay, and my legal background always pushes me to find out whether or not hearsay data are true.

Moving on...I submitted this issue to the MythBuster team, 5-December-06. If they respond back, I will let you all know; however, according to MLS's link, above, it looks like the myth is plausible and close to confirmed -- my only hesitation in confirming the myth is that the call of the question is whether or not the engines are redlined for 45 mins or more. Thanks MLS for the link -- I found it useful.

 

While a Ferrari engine is usually capable (without limiters) of redline RPM and beyond, this is most likely not done......we routinely test engine driven equipment to 100% of "rated capacity" for extended durations but this is well below the engine RPM redline..

I would think Ferrari is doing much the same thing mainly to protect themselves that engines rated for XXX horsepower do in fact meet that rating.

Customer satisfaction combined with a little CYA.......

 

So if Ferrari tests every car at the track in Maranello, they're not necessarly zero miles when you order from the factory, are they?

 

No, Fcars always have delivery/testing mileage, maybe not 150 but always some.......never 0.

Heck, the new Toyota truck I picked up had 8!

They have to drive them on and off the boat, after all..........

 

I used to belong to PCNA (porsche club) and they once showed a video of the Porsche factory. One of the features was putting each new engine on an engine dyno and running it up for a few minutes. As I recall it was considered both a break-in and a spec-check. They pretty much showed it getting redlined for around 15-20 seconds, but running at other varying RPMs too.

And, yet, they always put in their break-in instructions in the owners manual(at least in the old 911 t-e-s aircooled days) not to use more than about 5000 RPM for the first hundred miles or so, and then slowly work up to the redline.

Go figure.

 

typical new ferrari has 50-55 miles on it when delivered, sometimes more.

the most interesting part of the engine test room is when they are running the engine at very high rpm's and you can see the exhaust headers glowing orange.

 

Info directly from a Ferrari engineer at the factory: a 308 4V will flutter at 9,800 rpm. The reliability may suffer but these engines are capable to rev well beyond the redline of 7,700 rpm.
Lets not forget that Dyson ran 348 motors in his race cars...why because they were reliable and able to achieve incredible horsepower.

 

In the old days each car was tested for at least 40-50km, most cars were delivered with 60-150 km. You could count the times the car failed testing by dividing the km/miles by 40-50 km or equivalent in miles. Many times testing failure meant adjusting the car to the test driver preference. I have been with the test driver in the car tested on more than one occasion in the 80' and yes all ferrari mototors are run on dynos ( i do recollect that the time was a minimum of 2 hours if there were no problems and no I never did see the max rpm... the noise was unsustainable)

 

Urban legend or not - here goes...

The story was that when Ford/Gulf took over the Porsche 917 Lemans effort, they took several of the flat 12 aircooled engines back to the Ford engineering labs here in the states. They had decided to do a long-term dyno test on the engines as part of the development effort.

The engine dyno rooms were individual little temporary-style buildings outside of the main facility. One little garage-style temp building per dyno - this was to avoid the noise problem during testing.

What the Ford guys did not realize was how much air that big fan in the middle of the Porsche flat 12 could suck...they just vented the output of the cooling air to the outside, and let the intake side fend for itself.

During the first runup to full power, the Porsche-motor casually sucked the walls of the little temp building inside out like a tin can.

Revenge of the nerds?