Skunkworks

It's the "skunkworks" so you are not supposed to know anything about it. Well to be precise, perhaps they don't want Ferrari to know.

Its a group of erudite elderly gentlemen that offer bespoke products, such as coil on plug ignition for the 550 and other modifications. I have several of their products and am very pleased with the thoughtful design.

 

There are a few here that are part of the "Maranello Skunkworks", they have the name in their signature at the bottom of their posts. Send one of them a PM and ask them about it.

 

"Ferraridriver" is undergoing surgery, so he will be out of commission while the entire forum sends him best wishes.

"Cribbj" is also a member of fight club, I mean MSW.

 

We keep a low profile because Lockheed doesn't like other entities using their term "Skunkworks"

Anyone is welcome to contact me about our stuff, either by PM or email: johnacribbATyahooDOTcom

 

How is that motor John?

I have been lucky enough to get involved with some MSW products. Everyone is OEM quality or better and works flawlessly.

IMO for example I don't see why any 550 owner would still have coil packs and plug wires unless they were doing a concourse. That MSW modification wins on all fronts.
Engine bay is cleaned up
Performance is enhanced
Spare parts easily available
cheaper than factory
less to fail
modernizes ignition like the 575
easier trouble shooting

 

Carl, first thanks for the kind words about our stuff As you well know, we sweat the details and test, test, test to ensure everything works before letting anything go out the door. Our mods always follow these guidelines:

1. Tasteful and genuinely useful
2. Plug & Play, ie the car can always be returned to stock if desired
3. Usually easy enough for a DIY'er to install

About my engine.....well, I've been waiting for quite awhile for the water pump to be tested and shipped back to me, but it hasn't happened yet. I really wanted to know how the new impeller and modified pump housing would perform on a water pump test rig, but that component is holding everything else up. So I need to forget about testing it, and just get it shipped back to me so I can proceed with the rest of the engine.

 

I am assuming the coil-on-plug works for the 456 as well?

I have an issue with my wire set and just noticed the cost of the OEM - ouch...

I bought one side last time and used it together with the pair I had to make the one good set, but now I have a plug boot that has oil contamination and is not working well.

 

Dean, I've got a fair amount of 456 OE wire components here including a new bank and a few used plug boots. Drop me a PM with your needs, if you decide not to do COP.

 

Dean, I think the 550 COP setup will work fine on the 456M, however the older 456's have a slightly different ignition setup where the ignitors (power transisters that switch on/off the current to charge the coils) are external to the Motronic ECU's, whereas for our 550's and the 456M's, using the later Motronic 5.2 ECU's, they're inside.

This just means the COP system would require a bit more engineering. I don't have an older 456 local to me at the moment that I'm aware of, so I can't really do much in the way of engineering until one pops up.