360 Exhaust Manifold Cracks

I thought there was a law that said something like an auto manufacturer must build parts for a car 8 years after it was discontinued?

 

Gee, thanks for reminding me of the 456 manifolds

good thing is, only Brian and not even factory dealer, no names please, got to the root of the problem. Not sure if factory dealer having tried twice to diagnose the problem was looking at waving me off a complaint or what...thing is, I rarely complain about anything...even the time, while servicing one of my cars, they dented my door [and repaired it]: Like the living reed, bend with the wind--P. Buck


Brian;
Procrastinating: still need to split, the 456 mani to display on Fchat....should be an interesting scare tactic for 456/550 owners :|

Perhaps this winter......NOW, bundling the 456 off to Brian yet again....these problems, IF not for them my new Mondial leather would be in next week :|

rik

 

Of the 2 bad ones on the 550 this is the better one.The really bad one I did not cut open.

I am confident a couple of yours are far worse.
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Interesting thing about the 12 cylinder models, is they split out the manifolds so there should be, you might think, less heat to do damage like the 8 cylinder models.

There are four manifolds for the 456/550[Latter, I think is same] so there are only three pipes to consider, but when going south the 12's seem to fry real bad, or more so than 8's.

 

BC, Please tell me that you bent the crap out of that when you pulled it off and that it did not come from the factory with that poor quality smoosh tubing.

 

I had two cracked manifolds on my 430(with 2800 miles on it) after tracking at Homestead - the dealer fixed under warranty and told me it was a $16,000 fix

 

Thats not how it was made, that is how they fail.

 

I expect it to be high, the real problem is that most people are not aware that their exhaust manifold is cracked until something really nasty happens with their car.

Since the exhaust manifolds are wrapped it is difficult to tell if it is cracked from visual inspection.

 

You need to listen to your car....when the manifolds initially start cracking you can hear a ticking noise at cold startup (which goes away when hot as the metal expands and seals the crack) but eventually it gets worse and the pipes deform/fail.
Also the fiberglass insulation gets blown out of the heat shields into the engine compartment so there is some physical signs of failure as well.
Just be vigilant , so that you can catch the manifold failure before the valves get damaged.

The only other way to inspect the manifolds would involve periodically removing the heat shielding for a physical inspection (then re-installing the heat shields) or removing the manifolds and using a boroscope to examine them from the inside.....but either method is not cost effective or practical.

This problem seems to be common to all late model Ferrari's since 1995.

I suppose if one had extra time on their hands they could carefully grind the heat shield welds to remove the heat shields and weld a 1/2 dozen screw fittings around the edge of the heat shield so that the heat shields could easily be removed for a manifold inspection with the engine in the car (annually) just to keep on top of the problem? Hmmmmm.....maybe I will consider this for my car.

 

What about using the Fabspeed headers on the 360? At $2700 for a set it seams as a resonable alternative to the factory junk.

Anyone running Fabspeed's?

 

If you even suspect a bad header, I wouldn't drive the car until it is checked...the resulting damage isn't only limited to valves.
I have three 355 engines in the shop right now for total rebuilds because of worn cylinder liners. In each case the car had bad headers.

 

Interesting.. could you explain how the leaking headers cause damage to the valves and liners? TIA

 

Lean condition in the combustion chambers, possibly even some of the semi-molten metal from bad header being pulled into the chamber due to reversion. One engine had the liner wear discovered by me, the other two were found by the mechanics that took the heads off to send the heads to me for valve/guide work. When the wear was found the heads were put back on and were crated up and shipped.
The first 355 with liner wear I had was about two years ago, it also had bad headers.
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Interesting 6 cylinder there in the pic!

Parts are on the way, I'll call when they arrive.

 

Hey Brian....the other 6cyl. half of that engine is out being welded, I should have it back soon. Then I'll start seeing if I can get a camshaft back in it!

 

Hey enginefxr, i think you might have something wrong with the timing belt in that 355 pic! Lol!!

 

Just replaced the manifolds in my 430 with the new model. I should see just how long these will last. No one seems to mention QV in London for manifolds. I used them with my 355, and they got another 30k on them, before I sold the car, without problems. They were cheap (if Ferrari parts are ever cheap), and the worked very, very well. They are "rebuilds" and use your old manifold parts and were for the 355. I haven't checked with them, but I suspect they are making 360 manifolds now. Might be something to consider. I think I paid less than 1k per manifold for the 355 replacements.

Art

 

Not me
The engine was shipped to me like that...they had the heads off and just stuck everything back together for shipping!

 

Getting the heat shields off in a way so they can be reused is a big job. I did it once as an experiment.

A smoke test will reveal cracks earlier than ony other method.

 

Which is why I have started doing a smoke test at each oil change for my 355/360 customers. Plus the mandatory leakdown before a 15/30K, these things are becoming very specialised in order to keep ahead of problems.

 

Will aggressively driven cars develop header problems more quickly than 'babied' cars? TIA

 

When my 430 manifolds cracked, I could tell almost right away because of the change in sound

 

What is a smoke test? How is it done?

 

Any estimate of the total repair cost for these 355s?

 

I did a WCD (World Class Driving) driving event in May. While I driving the 430, the manifold CRACKED! The interior filled with fumes and I couldn't breathe. The car from the outside sounded like a an VW bus. So, if it cracks, you will hear it instantly, at least in my case.