456m cams

PK- The lobes can probably be welded up and reground, but not sure it is a good idea. Check with these guys, who do a lot of machine work on Ferraris on the west coast and see if they have any ideas. I have seen performance cams for Daytonas and 308s from Crane, but not sure if they made any for later Ferraris, and a 2+2 was likely not a large enough market to bother developing performance camshafts. Crane went under in 2009, but are being reborn through the company who bought their assets.

I would be willing to bet you a case of beer nobody makes a performance cam for a 456M, but someone might be willing to grind one for you if you provide the specs. Going to the specs on the 550/575M cams would probably be about right, as long as lift is not changed. If lift is changed, you could have piston/valve interference issues, which would be very expensive.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Lesco Automotive Machine
3000 McMillan Ave.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 596-0400
Fax (805) 596-0205 ,
E-Mail: [email protected]

 

Leave them alone.

 

Terry and Brian,
What about using the cams of the 550 or 575 on the 456?
A.

 

Neither had an automatic.

There is no such thing as Euro or American cams. The cams were designed by some very smart guys to provide good torque and high RPM performance IN CONCERT WITH an automatic transmission in a heavy car with the engine management system in use. The transmission programming and torque converter stall speed and rate of lock up were designed around that engines performance.
Compromises were not made with the cams for smog or gas mileage.

Everyone here who thinks they can outsmart the collective wisdom of the guys in Maranello to achieve that, raise your hands.

 

I agree with leaving them alone. If you want more power do the simple things like intake and exhaust upgrades.

In order to gain power, you must give something up. It becomes very expensive with minimal returns in performance.

Newman cams is manufacturing our camshafts for the Razza pura project. The car will idle rough and we only expect 20 whp to be gained from the camshafts.

 

Alfredo- The 456 and 456M have the same timing specs for their camshafts, but the parts are different because of a different firing order. On the 456, even the 2.7 and 5.2 Motronic cams are different parts. The 550 and 575M have different timing specs for their camshafts from each other and from the 456/M, and they are designed to work with the variable length intake system for more top end power.

Brian is correct, there is too much going on for an amateur to screw around with the cams. A lot more complicated than when I swapped the single cam in my 327 or 427 Corvette engines.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Sorry for my stupid question guys, I did not realize the question was for an automatic.
I was not asking for my car: it is fine the way it is.
A.

 

Alfredo- The automatics use the same camshafts as the manual transmission cars.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Paul- Eric shipped them last week. Ops check and we shall see. If they still do not work, we know how to fix without a doubt, but that will take additional time. Will not send out without 100% chance of success.

The critical number for ABS problems seems to be about 4-5% difference from OEM sizes on one axle. They can all be bigger or smaller, but the differential front to rear should be less than that 4-5% number for the V12s, which run near same diameter tires front and rear. Will 4.1% work? Probably, but 5% will never work, so it is somewhere in there. For cars with staggered sizes like 360s and F430s, it is the same 4-5%, but of the differential between the front and rear tires.

My 575M idles nicely at 750 rpm, with the constant contact throw-out bearing dragging on it the whole time. I had Corvettes that idled at 450 rpm, so no reason why the 456 should not be happy at 600 rpm with all those power impulses on each rotation as long as you are not burning valves in the process from too lean a mixture. The 550 idles at 1000+ rpm.

The low oil is not a good idea and would not affect much because of the dry sump system. The dry sump tank is the repository for the oil and the lubricating oil comes directly from the tank, not the sump. All you have down there in the sump are scavenge pumps. You obviously never want the oil level to go below the pick-up point for the dry sump tank, or things will go south in a flash. The scavenge pumps feed the sump oil to the bottom of the tank, but the pick-up for the main oil pump is higher up, in less turbulent and cooler oil. There is an oil thermostat that shuts off flow to the oil radiatior until it is warm, so screwing with the system is probably not well advised. You could conceivably create a smaller dry sump tank, but seems like a lot of work for minimal gain. You could also cap off the oil radiator, but that is not advised if the car would be used for any long trips. It would lower the overall oil capacity.

Taz
Terry Phillips