F40 Engine Rebuild - Don't try this at home!

Interesting Dave. I'm glad you or someone siad something as I was testing the waters.....

....On the first checks I did I thought I had one notch a whole tooth off. I was thinking "My god, they're right, at last, an engine that Ferrari have built a bit off"...... But when I re-checked myself I realised I was reading a whole lap of my dial gauge away from being correct, and when I re-set it to be back to the same spot but an extra lap around....it was perfect. It's just a fluke that a lap of the dial gauge corrresponds to almost exactly 1 tooth of the belt pulley.....

Another case where human error can cause misleading reports.

I bet you $1000 you made the same mistake and didn't correct it.

 

I came so close to jumping in on the thread with the gentleman wanting to become a tech in Canada. After 30+ years in this business I am still proud to say I am having fun. Not a joint left in this body that works the way it should, and hands that are reconstructed with man made products (Teflon I think they used). I have my lifes savings spent on speciality tools for these cars, and now being a shop owner again I get have "janitor" on my resume as well. Would I do it again knowing what I know now? Hell yes. It is the gratitude expressed by my customers that still make this fun to come to work each morning.
Grease Monkey, Naw. Think of it as a pig with ear rings, that is also a computer specialist, mechanical and electrical engnr ........
Dave

 

Pete,

All of what you say is true. I was taught the fine points of vintage Ferrari by an ex NART mechanic years ago. That old world "feel" is a black art. My problem with it is, when it works, it works well, when it doesnt work the results are catostrophic.

"While I am all for the finest tolerances, etc. some of us (myself included) do take this way to far and make our lives and others a misery."

No question about this statement! One has to experiance a "PERFECT" 12 cylinder Ferrari engine to know the meaning behind this. This summer I installed the engine and race prepped a SeFAC SWB that Rick Bungfeld had just built the engine for. Once one experiances this level of perfection, nothing else would be accepted. I had to rejet the same car for the Colorado Grand, as well as another SWB race car that had a "fresh Pro built" engine. There is NO comparison between the two engines yet they share the same components / parts. Rick's engine was an absolute joy to drive, the other would make you feel as if you had been riding a Harley for a day. That after back to back test drives ripping through the mountains on a sunny day in Colorado (Damn, someone had to do it!). It will forever be a question, what is good enough? I for one am not smart enough to answer this question, so I shoot for perfection hoping some day to obtain it.
Dave

 

Negitive. The two of us each rechecked it independent of one another 6 times each. Drove us both nuts for the better part of a day. Final product was exceptional performance producing exhaust readings that were cleaner than the air in the shop.
SO sorry, I did not mean to hyjack this thread. I just wanted to explain Fatbillybobs comments and the meaning behind them. This should be about Kevin (and crew) and the F40 they is doing. It would make for an interesting debate on another thread.
Dave

 

Man oh man I can't believe how small the engine is. I still think Ferrari should build a more durable engine. It's one thing buy the car and it's another thing keeping it running. Good Luck

 

I just found out about this entire discussion today, Dave I hope you concurred with Tom and my advice to that kid in Canada.

As to the topic of line honing/boring, all dealers were sent the gauge and honing bars in about 85 or 86, so anybody that was a dealer at that time got them. I would bet that most of them are getting used for a door stop. I have used them and as Dave says It is a very slow process especially in a 12. The only good thing I have to say about them is that it gives you the ability to fix the line bore in the absence of a machine shop that is equipped or willing to do the job. In my case I have a machine shop that has torque plates for most Ferrari motors and he can do one with the heads on for the others. I am quite lucky to have him.

As to my thoughts on proper cam timing before I was aware of this conversation I made my thoughts known on the thread Phil started in Tech Q+A.

Dave I guess that the people that commisioned you to do the PPI's and have flaked don't realize that Ferrari shops talk to each other as much as we do. I hope they really don't need our services in the future. When you get a minute email me a list of them.

 

I remember your first reply went something like "I wasn't aware we had met.".
My wife thinks I am already a good bit on the strange side, but when she saw me doubled up laughing, she figured I had snapped for good! My goodness did that hit home! All I could think of is that I have the $20-40K (up front money needed for tools that Tom spoke about) spent on just electronic testers to do the Ferrari's. Hell, that number is low by a factor of 5 or 6, and anyone that thinks the shop they will be working for will by most of those tools is kidding themselves. The dealers have the special tools, but you seem to not be allowed time to use them.
I will take the reply to the other thread on the other topics.
Dave

 

Excellent point!

 

turbo cars are especially hard on things when not warmed up properly. Its good to let it warm up even on hot days...

 

The first thing that crossed my mind upon reading the thread title was "cool...a tech post"


The second thing was "OMG! Thats a cutting torch being used on that block!"

Those things can generate around 6,300 degrees...

Judging by the pic, it was "hissin" pretty good and at close range too.

I think Al melts around 1,300??

Aluminum wont turn different colors like steel when subjected to heat (dull red, cherry red, white, or anything in between), so it almost impossible to evenly heat the stuff like steel unless you use an oven.


This might be the recommended procedure on these cars. I dont know, but if an oven couldnt be located, a rose-bud end on the torch that spread the heat over a larger area would've make more sense to me. Maybe even two of them waved on both sides of the cylinder cavity to prevent hot spots.


I know from experience that metal will "pull" away from its previous state when heated unevenly. That block is full of parts that operate within very close tolerances....a few 1/2 thousanths here and there add up.


On a normal car that rarely if ever reaches 4K rpm, probably no problem.


Pushing redline at full boost in that monster...who knows?

 

I'm surprised it didn't cross your mind that this post is over 2 years old.

 

Since this post is over two years old ... how did it come out? I don't seen any follow up as to how the engine is running in the F40? Any update?

 

I probably would have used a rosebud too, but I am in no way qualified to comment on building F40 motors. My guess is the mechanic knew what he was doing and the car runs like a charm.

This is a cool thread, and I'm glad it was brought back up after two years. I am definitely having fun reading the archives here!

 

FYI,

F40 running great and customer is very satisfied, this he said to me just the other day.


best regards, jim