USA vs Euro F40 Delivered HP

Correct, John Amette the Ferrari Classiche Director based at Ferrari of Newport Beach can elaborate as he was part of the process of creating the USA version.

 

even with the cats - so what does a stock USA car make with no cats?

 

You'd have to dyno it to be sure.

 

I heard it had to do with the reinforcements due to crash testing (fuel tank vs. bladder, structural enhancements) that they increased HP.

That being said, has anyone put their car on a dyno?

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i know many of you will disagree with me, but.....i think its all bs.
i think all the engines were built by hand and they vary. and after any rehab, they will vary again.
i think all the engines exceed nameplate by some degree.
i think they had to tell the usa buyers that they had higher bhp to overcome the extra weight, just so that they would not balk.

i dont think many people have dynoed their cars, but if they did, and we had all the data, it would tell us nothing.
no discernible pattern would emerge, and i very much doubt that the usa cars would consistently have more bhp than euros.

anyway, thats only my opinion.

but i am sure somebody will come up with different opinions, maybe even backed up with evidence i dont have, so flame away.

 

If I remember correctly, US F40's had 478hp. It was just down to the tuning (nothing more). Privately, many FNA guys said it was more like 515 for the US cars.

 

You’ll need to put two perfectly running Euro and USA cars on the same dyno. Preferably the same day. Turbo-powered cars are sensitive.

Two cars could have the exact same tuned ECU maps, but if they are not producing the same amount of boost, results will differ.

 

Any differences will purely be in the software of the cat version of the weber ecu. The physical box will be the same.

Ferrari list a dedicated part number for the USA spec version of the ecu, over and above that of the ROW cat spec ecu, which suggests the software was tweaked for the USA spec version, probably upping boost limits slightly and fueling/rev limit to add a few more ponies to compensate for the added weight.

The Weber ecu used is very easy to tune, simply a case of swapping out chips and then adjusting overboost on the dump valve.


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Not exactly.

It was down to the factory tuning setup for the Tipo USA F40 in order to meet USA EPA & DOT mandates with emissions compliance in mind. Accordingly, Ferrari used a different ECU with tuned software for the USA cars adjusting the boost, fuel delivery etc in order to meet the mandates but ensure smooth power delivery.

Nothing more to it than that.

Naturally the USA factory setup upped the bhp to around 500 bhp, however because of the USA EPA & DOT components (of which there are dozens in the USA F40, just read the parts manual and compare it with the Eu/ROW parts manual!), chassis and front & rear body reinforcements the USA car weighs significantly more, so the additional hp doesn't help performance, so this topic really isn't anything to get excited about.

As I mentioned before but I'm not sure anybody noticed, John Amette the Ferrari Classiche Director based at Ferrari of Newport Beach can elaborate as he was part of the process of creating the USA F40 version, he can be contacted by anyone wishing to discuss this topic, I've known John for 25 years, and I can tell you he knows more about the design, manufacture, and technical specification of the F40 than anyone I have encountered, besides Materazzi, of course.

Well-stated Paul, this essentially is the reason for the differences as I've explained above.

Perhaps you'll enjoy this collation of differences between the USA F40 and the Eu/ROW cars as supplied to me 25 years ago by John Amette from his Ferrari factory papers, the point of them is the fact that the USA F40 is materially a very different car, here below are the highlights of the differences, there are many more in fact.

Differences between the USA F40 and the Eu/ROW F40
1. USA production spanned from early 1990 to late 1992 (European production started late 1987).
2. USA F40s weigh in at 2878 lbs dry. Actual USA F40s weighed by FNA with all fluids and half-a-tank of gas weighed in at 2969 lbs (European cars are stated at 2717 lbs dry).
3. USA F40s have aluminum gas tanks with twin fuel pumps mounted within the tanks ( European cars have rubber fuel cells which require replacement each 7 years with externally located fuel pumps ).
4. USA F40s have twist-off gas caps (European cars have the locking items).
5. USA F40s were all supplied with the variable ride height system deleted (some European cars were thus supplied).
6. USA F40s have 2 piece seats with reclining backs and a passive restraint system (European cars have single piece seats with 3-point seat belts).
7. USA F40s have their tow-hook attachment mounted directly into the chassis (European cars attach to the front body).
8. USA F40s have a final drive ratio of 10-29 (European cars are rated at 11-30).
9. USA F40s achieve maximum torque of 58.8 kgm/427 ft lbs at 4300 rpm (European cars achieve this same torque at 4000 rpm).
10. USA F40s are rated "at or above 500 bhp" @ 7000 rpm (European cars are rated at 478 bhp at same rpm).
11. USA F40s were the first car to utilize metallic (titanium) based catalysts to allow faster warm up and greater resilience.
12. USA F40s have a secondary air injection for emissions that can be heard at each start up.
13. USA F40s had to pass DOT front, rear & side impact tests. These include the 2.5 mph front and rear tests. Accordingly the bodywork is strengthened.
14. USA F40s have a drag co-efficient of 0.34CX including the rear wing (European F40s are rated the same).
15. USA F40s have different gear ratios:
First gear - 1:10.707 (USA), 1:10.069 (Euro)
Second gear - 1:6.628 (USA), 1:6.262 (Euro)
Third gear - 1:4.745 (USA), 1:4.463 (Euro)
Fourth gear - 1:3.724 (USA), 1:3.501 (Euro)
Fifth gear - 1:2.965 (USA), 1:2.787 (Euro)

 

Joe, please be corrected! These points are USA and ROW KAT against ROW NON KAT.

The ROW KAT also got air injection, lower gear rating (no. 15 is due to no. 8). I just have two F40 ROW KAT Gearboxes on the workbench and they both had the 10-29 FDR. One car is one owner matching numbers.

FYI: there are two ROW Speedos. One for NON KAT and one for KAT to compensate the different gearing (when new, there is a sticker across "catalizata".

All the best!

 

I Imagine there must actually be 4 versions of the ROW speedo, 2 in kph and 2 in mph?

 

There is nothing to be corrected, my comparo obviously intentionally leaves out the Eu/ROW catalytic cars for brevity's sake and because it makes for the most striking comparison between the most different F40 variants, USA F40 cat cars vs Eu/ROW non-cat cars.

To make you happy I can add an asterisk to include the information for the Eu/ROW catalytic cars, but then I might as well include all the different production variants and assorted features, including winding windows / sliding windows, adjustable suspension etc, meanwhile I wasn't trying to list all the F40 differences, that's another comparo for another day.

Exactly.

 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? as in ROW Cat F40 or USA spec F40? that will really determine which is based on which.

 

No

 

Ok Brian, so there's no difference between US and ROW motors/tuning? Or the reason for the variation is something different?

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Not at all. I just said there was. The concept that Ferrari gave the car in one market area more power to compensate for a few extra pounds of equipment is silly and quite typical of wives tales from ill informed quarters. The fact is the ROW car was a finished, finalized product before the US sourced tuning for the NA model was done.

 

What will determine it is well known history. Not someones guess work to support a preconceived outcome.

 

Or you can just trust the observations of people like Gianfranco Fantuzzi who was standing there observing the dyno runs. Or John Amette or his boss Ken McKay who were involved in the cars being tuned in a lab in Detroit to pass emissions.

 

Exactly.

I find it funny how the information generously shared by the actual people directly involved is dismissed in favor of opinions & theories.

 

Well since we are talking about sharing; what can your friends share about this F40 version?
("there were limited F40s made called the F40 Lemans Ecologico which were street legal exhaust systems but combined with a race ready chassis".
As per Enzo Francesconi. July 2004)
Never have heard an explanation of this particular Ferrari program...

 

I can ask John Amette when I see him soon.

 

Is he still working? Tell him I said hello. Have not seen or talked since not long after store sold.

 

Yes and will do.