FrankenFerrari - V12 Ferrari 308

In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :

Solid.  Factory was shin over, I switched to shim under because its a lot lighter and the over shim have a bad habit of popping out with high lift cams.

Yeah, it looks like the intake is tightest at 7-8ATDC and Ex tighest about 10BTDC.  I found an output in Dynomation that matched what I measured pretty close so I can just measure at TDC and then pull the rest from DM it looks like

The intake clearance I picked was just unreasonably tight for this engine.  The idea that there a generic .080/.100 is somewhere right for every built is nonsense I'm still pretty sure....but its way more right than what I did .     The intakes ....yeah.....at least 80, 90 seems more right.  I need to cut another 45-50 thou out of the pockets. My exhausts are right around 85 and seem fine, the slop in the chain helps them so float or bounce is the worry there I guess.

I do so love a challenge

I admire your tenacity!

Friday I sent the spare piston for coating and ordered a set of head gaskets figuring they are probably the longest lead item.

Saturday I finished tearing the heads down Saturday and gave then a good clean...I'm still finding the kseal crap.

Today I was cleaning up oil on the floor and had to move the cam covers which reminded me I had epoxied a leak on one so I took care of that properly

The removed the epoxy from the oil return that was leaking....quite a hole

but sorted now.  

I gave the other one a good look and found or created another bigger hole which I fixed.

The the combustion chamber....a couple bits of seat were really deep

warm it up

and its welded and ready to machine.  

I need to look up what I did with the seats last time and figure out what to order.  I also need to look at my small tig torches and see what condition they are in and what I need to be able to get into the ports to seal the oil leaks there....the heads will keep me busy for 2 or 3 more weeks I suppose.

The idea of welding blobs onto my Ferrari heads so I can then grind them back down puckers the ol' rear main seal so tight I could make diamonds.

Kudos to you and your big brass ones

mke said:

 

Saturday I finished tearing the heads down Saturday and gave then a good clean...I'm still finding the kseal crap.

Don't mind me just watering my Ferrari

I've been quiet but there are a few updates.  I was asked a  couple months ago to design a set of 1 off 308 wheels but that was paused for tariffs, but tariffs are (mostly) paused so I was trying to knock that out....its mostly done and if there is any profit it will go to the engine repair.

The wheels should be done but I distracted myself with my power steering being over assisted.  A buddy gave me a CAN sniffer that actually works (unlike the one I bought) and hooked it up to the steering activation unit I bought for the fiesta PS unit.  So read what is being sent to the PS unit and it looks like this

I THINK the 730h is a system ok signal and I need to just have the ECU duplicate that.  Then the 201h appears to be  this

and I'm guessing the magic happens in byes 5&6 which is speed.  This is an OBDII channel so I'm thinking setup this to send real data to the steering controller and see what I have....hopefully it will be good and I can also use an OBDII ot bluetooth dongle to have data for TrackAddict or similar once its race-ready.  Another option is use a table to lei about speed to the PS controller and get the assist I want that way.  I did set the car on the ground so once I have CAN signals I can feel the steering force and see if its doing what I want.

Another part of the plan is to mess with the balljoint shims and A-arm bearing spacers to add more caster as another way of improving steering feel.  These are free but time consuming projects while I wait/save for parts.

On that note, a couple people who really wanted to see this going faster  (get it? going faster? its a pun :) ) ask me to set this up

Buy parts of parts

so I would knock of the whining about what parts Lana won't let me have this week 

Anyway, I'm trying to get the ECU talking to the PS this week, probably caster next week...then maybe the piston will be back and it will be  time to fix the valve pockets.  Oh, the valve seats cam so I have that to do as well.

The piston coating people called today to say they e-billed me a week ago and wondered if I planned to pay.....hmmm...no email but I do very much want the piston back.  Billing person was gone for the day when I got the message and called back so I'll take care of it Monday I guess.

I haven't really worked on the CAN stuff for the steering.  I played a little and I only see 1 message coming from the dongle thingy.  I think I can set up the reading software to transmit so I can try a few things on the laptop before trying to code anything into the ECU.  

I've decided to have a go at a push to start setup.  The inexpensive setups on amazon appear to be not very useful....I can't be sure because there are no description of function for most of them but I decided to not bother figuring even if it actually is what I wanted I'm not sure I trust it to not leave me stranded.  Probably the nicest option is to just put a latching on/off push button where the key was and let the ECU handle the starter.....and I may still do that at some point but I'm feeling KISS is the answer so I'll leave the ECU out of it for now.

I ordered a momentary push switch, 2 actually because the one I like I'm not certain is a momentary switch so I ordered a back-up that for sure is.

Then I ordered a 12v push button self-locking relay.  This will go to ignition.  push the button, ignition on, push again ignition off.

For the starter I orders dual standard 12V relays.  One will be triggered by the brake pedal, 1 by the dash button.  

so, $53 (but $10 back if I return whichever switch I don't use so $43) and if I've thought this through correctly it will function like this:
push = ignition on, push again = ignition off, no brake no start just ignition on/off

push and hold the brake + push and hold the button = ignition on and starter cranking, release brake or button starter stops but ignition remains on.

So not TRULY push to start because you need to hold the button for the starter but mostly.  I'm a little concerned about turning off....I usually pull in, hold  brake and clutch, engine off and that would cause the started to try to engage for as long as the button is held.  I might add a timer, pretty sure I have one up stair on the shelf or learn to set the parking brake so I can release the brake pedal  :lol: 

it also leaves me with no actual key or locking anything preventing theft so that is something

Totally unrelated there the rear window defrosted switch had been broken I think since I've owned the car.  I found a used one for $250 and did not buy it, which is why I never fixed it.  My 1st car was a very sad 1966 austin healey 3000mk3 (which is where my user name mke - mark E kind of like 3 comes from and I thought it funny the same way I chuckle every time I initial anything "me") and I would swear the overdrive switch looks like the ferrari switched so I bought 1 on ebay for $20, the lever is wrong so I'm betting the $20 I can pull it off and slip on the ferrari lever and once again have a working switch sitting in the console designed for no useful purpose but perhaps if I think really hard I can come up with something.

I decide to buy the cheapest shift light I could find, $18.59

The plan is to use it as starter lock out.  It says 1k-11k rpm and 4, 6, 8 cyl settings.  A normal 4 cyl tach is 2 pulses per rev, but my Tach is 2.6 pulses per rev so 1k setting should be about 750 rpm which is just about right.  So rip it apart and wire it into my starter relays and pressing the button when the engine is running should not engage the starter.  In theory....if I wire it all correctly.

In reply to mke :

Nice idea, simple and pre engineered, but try it first.

I had a cheap shift light, to come on when it was time to shift at 8000, which was about 2000rpm lower than redline.  It could be safely ignored if I was going to be braking soon, in other words.

What I found was that it would only light up for a second, then turn off.   It wasn't even a tuned RPM window thing because it wouldn't come back on as I decelerated back through 8000.  

You can see this behavior in this video, I'm shifting well past 8000 and you can see the cheap light shut off while I'm still accelerating.

Maybe it was a dud?  It *was* $5 at Summit Racing's returns shelf...

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

That is the problem with cheap stuff i guess 

I do have a shift light setup in the ecu so worst case I could use that..bit I was hoping to make this stand- alone.  

I found time timer i have.....pretty sure it's about obsolete and worthless.  .  I might order something most useful...with a timer AND the shift light it could be a true push to start.

mke said:​​​​​​  

I found time timer i have.....pretty sure it's about obsolete and worthless.  .  I might order something most useful...with a timer AND the shift light it could be a true push to start.

So you all probably already know I ordered a timer relay. $5.98 for a 2 pack so it could have ignition on then like a 1/2 sec delay so the ecu boots and fuel pump starts before it cranks, then crank until engine starts or like 5 sec of cranking.  So it can be a fully functional modern push to start but built with 1950s technology 

I kind of got started

The install on the last switch maybe wasn't my best work

and then Amazon delivered my buttons!

.....yeah.....I feel like I did as a kid when I ordered anything from the back of a comic book  They are both much too small and would look silly  :( 

so back I went to button searching and settled on this almost double the size:

It comes as part of a $50 push to start kit which appears to be modular so no unwanted locking feature.  Info on all this stuff is about impossible to find so I'll see when it arrives.  I might be able to return all or most of the stuff I already bought or the fall back plan is buy an OEM button and make it work I guess

The diff was very clunky so I also grabbed some different limited slip additive while it was on my mind.

The push to start kit came and the button is not bad

The controller is kind of a pita honestly and the instructions I would rate a 3 out of 10 maybe.,...not quite worthless but not very helpful so it took a bit of trial and error to figure what it wants and what it does.

plus side
brake on and the button starts blinking to tell you is armed and ready, the tap the button and you get ignition on, about a 1/2 delay and starter on for either 0.85 or 1 sec or press and hold the button and you get the 1/2 sec delay then starter  until you let go or 5sec. That seems ok.

no brake it cycles acc, on, off with each push.

Minuses
1) You need to push the brake for ignition off if it things the engine is running.  not a fan of that, I REALLY like to have a kill button/switch handy.  This might be a deal breaker....I need to thing about it.
2)it shuts the ignition off after 5 sec if it doesn't thing the engine is running.  Blue wire to 12V ign on disables that but it seems a worthless function. Power to the blue wire stops the starter would be more helpful
3)Its kind of hard to enable/disable, I simple switch won't do.  There are 3 wires, white+brown power on/off enables, white/black + brown power on/off disables.  This would need a switch plus a pair of timed relays I think? or maybe put a relay on the switch and LED wires? Either way its not trivial

Not sure it this is worth keeping of not...I did realized thought that is I do a DIY I still need like 30A relays to actually switch the starter and ignition.  I ordered 10A relays to do the control login not realizing there are no actual power relays, so I would need to add those is I return this unit.

The button I just got and kind of lie is a VW/audi button in a custom mount I'm pretty sure...but its still a touch small for the hole in the dash so it eight needs an adapter for the adapter of a new larger adapter if I want to use it.  I've also found a plain unlabeled push button that is large enough for the hole, but I'm worried it will just look too big, I might order it just to see.  I've pretty much decided to just return the push to start kit.....I might keep it to use the button and the 4 30A relays inside a neat box but I don't like the functionality...still pondering the path forward here but I"m inching closer and closer to dragging the ECU into the fight.

I've also thought about a race car start panel where the AC controls are but I keep thinking about fixing an AC system...or a panel on the dash...I still might do that if this continues to annoy me.

English vs Italian

Popped off the handle with a little heat...still a match

What bit me was the Healey switch had a hex nut (I could have sworn my old car had a round one....maybe a year thing) but no problem I'll, just use the ....oh man, old English stuff has English threads, but I have a lathe that cuts english threads

and Bam!  1 point for me!

Small win to take my mind off my push button that is keeping my mind off my engine

hmmmmm........

1 more...it kind of matches the gauges a bit i think

In reply to mke :

This is another option I guess