ITB's for the 550

Here's a little project I've been playing with while waiting for my block to come back from being overbored:

http://vid169.photobucket.com/albums/u228/cribbj/MVI_6388_zps4n4phthr.mp4

I've posted a complete thread on the engine overhaul elsewhere, but I know some of you don't frequent the other places, so I thought I'd go ahead & post here as well. These ITB's are only intended to be a temporary setup - if I like the way the engine runs, then I'll invest in a set of Jenvey's and some proper flanged mounts.

These are good enough for a proof of concept, and breaking the engine in on an engine dyno, IMO.

 

Taz, I "may" lose some low end torque due to the ITB's, but I should gain it back (and more, I hope) with the extra half liter of displacement when we go from 5.5 to 6.0 liters. I don't anticipate the ITB's will be the restriction on the top end, however I need to get one of my heads on the flowbench and see what kind of flow it's capable of with the stock valves.

With the increase in bore, my intake valve / bore ratio has dropped from a very healthy 53% to a still respectable 50%. Although I understand why Ferrari detuned the 550/575 engines to make them more tractable, I'm amazed they have some of the lowest specific outputs in the Ferrari family at only 88 BHP/Liter. So IMO they have the potential to be some real screamers with a little massaging

Carl, I'm going to try something kind of bizarre, and if it works I should be able to pass an OBDII scan. I'll email you the details.

Thanks GS, me too

 

Hope so Philip; I have to admit I'm doing it more for the "cool" factor (looks and sound) than more performance. To me the 550 already has a great balance of beauty, power, sound, & handling. I'm just hoping to enhance a couple of those points.

Willy, you're probably aware that many aftermarket mods like cold air intake pipes, or cool looking CF air boxes, etc. actually lose power, as the OEM's really do a pretty good job of "tuning" their intake designs for best performance, so anytime owners meddle with the design, they'll probably hurt rather than help the performance. As I mentioned before, I do expect to lose some low end power with the ITB's, but that should be offset by the increase in displacement. What I'm really curious to see is what will happen with the top end. With 12 x 42mm butterflies the engine will now have twice the intake area to breathe through as it did with the two stock TB's which have 73mm butterflies.

I think we discovered awhile back that when Ferrari redesigned the 575's air intake system from the 550, all components (TB's, MAF's, airboxes, piping, hood scoop) were made a bit larger, which I find very interesting.)

I don't know the exact sizes of the 575's butterflies or MAF's, so if any of you 575 owners happen to have yours apart, and could measure their diameters, it would be appreciated. That and the ID of the inlet piping?