FrankenFerrari - V12 Ferrari 308

mke said:

I didn't order replacements yet, I tuned up the drawing and asked for a finished price before deciding how to proceed.

The quote is $165 each mostly finished.  They can't hold the top flange tolerance unless I give them a much wider undercut than I use or am comfortable adding and they can't hone it...still it seems a wise investment.  I'll finish up the 1 I started and think is good then order 4 (or 5 depending on the weekend results) mostly finished and return the 2 blanks I haven't touched.  That will be 3-4 weeks so hopefully everything else can be finished in the mean time.

f1nxlife said:

In reply to mke :

I have never seen anything like this I'm in awe about the craftsmanship with that being said wouldn't it be more practical to just take a motor out of a 550 Marinello and put it in this 308 that's my 1st question .

2 reasons.  First is those engines are longer so fit is a bigger problem...maybe it could have been done...maybe....Second is the 400/TR is period correct so ferrari COULD hae put this engine in the car had they chosen to do so and I kind of like that.

My second question , do you have confidence that this car will run like a real Ferrari V12 should run ? I think it would be amazing if it did no matter what horsepower the engine makes I wouldn't be concerned about horsepower I would be concerned about the motor running correctly and having reliability

I have had a Ferrari 328 for many years and the reliability has been impeccable.

Thanks

 

I hope it will be reliable.  It only ran a couple hours on the first assembly which was really the second because of the coolant leaking issue....so to date reliable it ain't.  I THINK these are just teething issues that I'll get sorted knowing most anything can be fixed and I'm on my way to a good car.....but honestly there is no way to actually know what the outcome will be and whether I'll eventually fix the last issue or the project will just keep breaking new things until it eventually breaks me and I'll give up.  Fingers crossed this rebuild is the last for a good long while.

The new exhaust seats are here. These are 1mm bigger which is too big so they need the OD cut down.. another item on the to-do list....hopefully items start coming g off the list soon knowing spring it coming.....

I think the bearings and rods are actually bought and shipping now, should see them in a week then they can be measured and the crank ground to match.  All the GT Parts stuff came to about $1500 :(

The cylinders didn't go as well.  I did a little work with what I had and decided to just order 5 instead of fighting to make it just 4.  Sent the order off and got an auto response that they are basically closed until the Jan 6th....hopefully that was what caused the 3-4 week lead and on the 6th the lead time will be 2-3 weeks but I'm not really expecting to see have cylinders until mid Feb I guess since there is a week shipping too.  At 165 each that's $825 but I can return the 2 for 180 I think it is.....hopefully Lana takes pity on me for what I've done....

I sense a disturbance in the force....aka new distraction, the kids want something like this ...not share way the pic won't post but here's a link.  Getting quotes on 1000mm dia 304SS hemispheres now

deathstar firepit

edit, got it to post

In reply to mke :

Something like this would probably be a lot easier, if it was acceptable to the kids. ;)

mke said:

Distracted again.  Took nearly every clamp I own but I got the the warped mess of a door straight and now have a place to add insulation should I even get to it.  240 grit gave it a nice sheen.

I bought a 25 foot roll of ceramic blanket when I built my forge a while back, if you want me to send you a little bit for the oven door. 

Sergeant82d said:

I bought a 25 foot roll of ceramic blanket when I built my forge a while back, if you want me to send you a little bit for the oven door. 

If its not a bother that would be helpful.  The area is 18" x 10.5".  Shoot me an email at mark@gemellocattivo.com.

mke said:

I sense a disturbance in the force....aka new distraction, the kids want something like this ...not share way the pic won't post but here's a link.  Getting quotes on 1000mm dia 304SS hemispheres now

deathstar firepit

I guess the good news is it would cost abotu $4k for 10 hemisphers delivered to me making the project really way to expensive so now I'm mostly undistracted again.  I say mostly because I'm told the edger I thought I was throwing out needs to be repaired I'm told :(

What's wrong with the edger?

30 years ago I had a short stint working as a landscape gardener, and the owner of the company had hacked the tools we used for trimming/edging. He got rid of the plastic cord and associated feed, and replaced them with a really simple hub that had 3 holes in it. Each hole had a nut & bolt holding a short length of hard plastic. It was more dangerous than the cord setup (it could launch little stones pretty hard, and could damage the bark on trees), but it was much, much easier to live with for professional use. It also wouldn't damage concrete/brick sidewalks or retaining walls, or take much damage from them. I mention it in case your issue is something with the cord or its feed, this approach might make sense for you.

Syscrush said:

What's wrong with the edger?

Nothing any more :)

It wouldn't start and I had traced it to the coil but I hated it a it eats belts and I personally find the shovel faster and easier so I planned to toss it.  Lana likes it it seems so new coil on last night and it ran with starting fluid....it has a tiny little main jet that the internet says plugs easy and sure enough, cleaned that out and its ready to eat belts again other than I seem to have lost the air cleaner......I'm pretty sure the original diagnosis work was abotu the time we swapted the the chipped engine onto the minibike and there were a lot of left over bit kicking around and I suspect the airclean was tossed in with them and into the trash.  Replacement will be here tomorrow.

A care package from GT parts arrived.....I'm behind where I should be I fear but now I can drop the crank off for regrind.  Sadly there are rock auto boxes also rolling in as the bmw needs some love....valve cover, wheel bearing and such to try to get another year out of it.

Edit... forgot the pic

So playing catch-up with driver maintenance.  Lana's car needed inspection which meant brakes and few minor things.  The front bosch pads came with the wear sensor misinstalled and destroyed....had to use the old one and had to re-drill the hole the correct size.  Odd for a brand name.

On to the BMW which is over a year out of inspection and started making a loud whistle calling much attention to itself.  The whistle was the PCV..which is part of the valve cover so $250.  While changing the valve cover I spotted a broken hose from the ir pump which I figured must be the cause to the insufficient air bank 1/2 error and was thinking inspection sticker was headed my way for just  $20 hose.....nope, code still there and now there is also an intake cam position error and intermittent exhaust cam position error.....WFT...how does changing the valve cover mess up cam position???  Google said clean the vanos solenoid or maybe oil issue, cleaned, no change.  Changed the oil and ran some cleaner though and while the clean was in the the exhaust was show failure, but new oil fixed nothing but I did pop my back changing it.  Replaced the solenoids, no change......I'll need to take it somewhere with a better scanner.

I knew it had a bad front wheel bearing and a growing in the rear so I decided to replace all 4.  My back is feeling better and I got the first 1 done and found a bad ball joint so ordered a couple of those. I had a code for no front left wheel speed, could have been the bearing but the sensor tested open and I got one of those....it also tests open,  WFT!   and its also bosch, I'm seriously starting to thing their replacement parts are actually crap.  It also needs front pads so more parts coming.  On to the right side.

I figure this would be a weekend and back to the ferrari.....but the bmw hates me.

On the ferrari I decided to order 12 cylinders so I know all 12 are exactly the same with no pits or scratches I was trying hard to not see.  They should be here in 2-3 weeks and I'm still hoping to be ready for them so back to the cursed bmw.

And of course the only way the second side was coming apart is with a cutting torch .....I hate this car .  

Is it stupid that when I hear about the BMW pain I think Hahahaha of course - what do you expect? But when I hear about problems with Bosch parts I think What? REALLY? I thought they're the best!

Good luck getting it all sorted out. I think that ordering 12 cylinders was definitely a wise move - but it's not the wise moves that have made this thread as amazing as it is, so I'm conflicted!

mke said:

So playing catch-up with driver maintenance.  Lana's car needed inspection which meant brakes and few minor things.  The front bosch pads came with the wear sensor misinstalled and destroyed....had to use the old one and had to re-drill the hole the correct size.  Odd for a brand name.

On to the BMW which is over a year out of inspection and started making a loud whistle calling much attention to itself.  The whistle was the PCV..which is part of the valve cover so $250.  While changing the valve cover I spotted a broken hose from the ir pump which I figured must be the cause to the insufficient air bank 1/2 error and was thinking inspection sticker was headed my way for just  $20 hose.....nope, code still there and now there is also an intake cam position error and intermittent exhaust cam position error.....WFT...how does changing the valve cover mess up cam position???  Google said clean the vanos solenoid or maybe oil issue, cleaned, no change.  Changed the oil and ran some cleaner though and while the clean was in the the exhaust was show failure, but new oil fixed nothing but I did pop my back changing it.  Replaced the solenoids, no change......I'll need to take it somewhere with a better scanner.

I knew it had a bad front wheel bearing and a growing in the rear so I decided to replace all 4.  My back is feeling better and I got the first 1 done and found a bad ball joint so ordered a couple of those. I had a code for no front left wheel speed, could have been the bearing but the sensor tested open and I got one of those....it also tests open,  WFT!   and its also bosch, I'm seriously starting to thing their replacement parts are actually crap.  It also needs front pads so more parts coming.  On to the right side.

I figure this would be a weekend and back to the ferrari.....but the bmw hates me.

On the ferrari I decided to order 12 cylinders so I know all 12 are exactly the same with no pits or scratches I was trying hard to not see.  They should be here in 2-3 weeks and I'm still hoping to be ready for them so back to the cursed bmw.

Your BMW is an E90, right?  Do you have sub 150k on it?  The fact that you have a secondary air pump tells me that your BMW probably has an N51, which has a 15 year, 150k mile warranty on anything related to emissions.  Since the valve cover holds in pcv emissions, its considered an emissions-related component.  The variable valve timing is an emissions component.  The cam position sensor is an emissions component, etc.  

If you've got less than 150k on it, I'd run to the dealer and see what you can't get fixed there on your motor.  

In reply to rothwem :

E90, N51...157k miles.  Had I know about the 15yr/150k I would have had the airpump issue fixed last year.  Oh well.

mke said:

In reply to rothwem :

E90, N51...157k miles.  Had I know about the 15yr/150k I would have had the airpump issue fixed last year.  Oh well.

i'd still call the dealer, tell them it's been a problem for a while now, especially if you've ever serviced it before.  they might hook you up.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

I have to tyake it somewhere with better diagnostic tools than I have, might as well be a dealer I guess.  Once the mechanical stuff is fixed.

In reply to mke :

bimmergeeks has excellent diagnostic software free for downloading. For the less technically computer saavy (me) it was a challenge to install, but once installed is dealer level powerful. The software suite also includes programming capabilities.

In reply to Eurotrash_Ranch :

I took a quick look at their site and honestly had no idea what I was looking at.  I saw an $85 app that needs a $45 adapter then some cables that seemed to go with software they said wasn't theirs and nothing about what it was....I assume that was the free path?  Wasn't sure what I was seeing beyond the APP+adtper they sell and I'm not sure I want to invest any more in BMW stuff....I guess even reading the BMW specific codes it can be a challenge to know what they mean.  With the ferrari I wrote the code so I know what can trigger what errors but I have no idea what could be causing an air pump error, the air pumps works, I check, the hose is fixed, the 2 NBO2 sensors are reading about 0.7V which is pig rich if real but the WB02 both say 1.0 lambda....same issue with the cam position, I know the sensor are good...timing chain just stretched?  Don't know.....a trip to the dealer to have it looked at is probably WAY cheaper than throwing anymore parts and tools at it.  I don't know....other than I'm unlikely to buy another BMW anytime soon.

I get your frustration, I've got an '07 328xi wagon (e91) that I have a love/hate relationship with. I should have been clearer in my post above, software is free (and in the public domain-bimmergeeks is one of the cleaner/more reputable places to get it) BUT... you need to get the cable (K+DCAN) to communicate between the laptop and the car. Cheaper cables are available, but Bimmergeeks cables are guaranteed to work.

While using an autozone scanner will give you relevant "P" codes, the BMW software will give you a more specific diagnosis, along with being able to check/troubleshoot the operation of pretty much EVERY system in your car, and more.

INPA and ISTA (BMW software) are similar to VAGCOM, VW/Audi's proprietary software.

Either way, enjoying following along on your 308 opus. Good luck with the BMW.

Eurotrash_Ranch said:

I should have been clearer in my post above, software is free (and in the public domain-bimmergeeks is one of the cleaner/more reputable places to get it) BUT... you need to get the cable (K+DCAN) to communicate between the laptop and the car. Cheaper cables are available, but Bimmergeeks cables are guaranteed to work.

I saw 3 software links, I clicked the first one that took me to a repository but had no ide what the software was supposed to be or do.  

What software do you have?  all 3?  Is there a read-me or instructions somewhere?  who wrote and maintains the software?

A few weeks ago I found OBDlink SX listed on a bimmer forum and the guy said it did all that. I bought it for $30 and it does P codes just like my hand held unit but can't clear any code that shows as permanent like my hand unit will and sends me to the web to figureout what the code is for, so almost worthless, at least on a BMW.....I say almost because it does let me see many sensor readings and it might be a usable K+DCAN cable that it came with....thats what the cable is I'm sure just not sure if its got something proprietary about it that locks it to their not so good software.

The bimmergeek app/bluetooth adapter says it does everything at $135....but does it?  my phone is about ready to be replaced...does the $89 app go to the new phone?  With so little info its hard to know what to do.....and I really just want to drive this car to death and play with the ferrari :)

In reply to mke :

If you have an Android phone then yes all of your apps, purchased and downloaded are able to be used with your new phone as they stay under your account. If you have iOS, I think you might be SOL and would have to purchase it again. I don't know much more than that as I've used Android for a number of years and have only used iOS sparingly, so don't quote me on that as I could be totally and completely wrong on that front.

In reply to mke :

I have the standard tool suite downloaded from Bimmergeeks, and used these instructions to install it (If it is verboten to include this link (another car forum) forgive me:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1405801 

Make sure your laptop is fully charged when installing the software, and when using it diagnostically. My understanding is that this is identical to dealer service software, if not the actual software. Edit:: it is often recommended to install this type of software on a dedicated machine

Being semi tech-illiterate, I had to google a lot of the specific actions for installation, but looking back it was not that hard.

Out of all of the tools in the suite, I have only really used INPA to pull and clear codes. Once you start to use it, it gets pretty intuitive.

I have no experience using the App, so I can't comment on that.