[P2164]

Sorry but I hate typing and not very good at it, this is a copy from my post on another forum. If you have any questions please fire away.

208 turbo rebuild and modification
I would like to apologize early for my dyslexia, I spell incorrectly and read through it, its one of my downfalls.

I thought it time to show and tell about my 1982 208GTB turbo that I have owned for almost 20 years. I bought the 208 turbo from a broker who worked for an insurance company, the car was stolen in Italy and brought to the US where it was sold illegally, the Interpol's found out it and recovered it so I bought it from the Italian insurance company through an American broker I think, I have all the documents but they are in Italian.

Having owned many 308s a TR and a 512BBi I was familiar with Ferrari performance but my first drive in the 208 turbo was far from exciting, to be honest my sons Honda could beat it till boost came on at 5000 rpm. If you have ever owned a turbo car boost is like a drug and turbo lag is like when waiting to get your next fix, I know its a stupid example but pretty true I would think. The first thing I did was install electromotive EFI DIS which helped a great deal but still I needed more, so after that I cranked up the boost and made an intercooling system for the car. Like I said, once you have boost you seem to think you need more sooner so I twin turboed the car with some custom made turbos but it still had lag till 3000 rpm, but when it hit it was crazy all the way up to 26 psi. When you do things like this you find the next weakest link which was my clutch, it smoked the first trip out so I ordered a clutch and pressure plate from centerforce that was good to 350 HP, it smoked too so I took the dip and purchased a twin disk with a lighten flywheel from Mueller Fabricators, I posted on another tread it was Mcleod but after going through my records is Mueller. This fixed the clutch problems but I still wanted boost sooner so I bought some IHI rhb5 turbos and changed them out as an experiment, all I can say is was a good choice, boost now came on at 1700 rpm when the turbos where hot and hammered all the way to 26 psi. I had the power solved but found out that I need to stop so I put 15 inch brembos all the way around with a Stewart LBS valve in line to prevent the back brakes from locking up. In doing all this I had to make some special 17 inch wheels from Kinesis to clear the floating disks. Then the next step was to replace all the shocks with Alden dual adjustable aluminum shocks all around and all the suspension bushings where replace with neoprene. The car was perfect for tract and street, my wife and I took a many a 2000 mile trip with the car without any problems (other than one alternator failure) and enjoyed it till one cold morning with 0 degrees outside temp, I was getting a little crazy with the power curve and cranked up the boost to 28 psi to see if I could get more wheel spin in 3rd and it happened, I melted a couple exhaust valves. So I pulled the motor with the intent to bore to 2.8 liter, change the heads to 3 liter heads and up the compression ratio to 8.5 to 1 and go to individual throttle bodies. That was 10 years ago and many projects have gone through my garage since then but I had rebuilt a 308 GT4 motor for forced induction and put a GM blower on it, it ran very well with 5 psi boost but the car body needed help so I decided to pull the motor on the GT4 and take off the blower and put in the 208 with all the goodies I just mentioned plus use the 308 transaxle because it has a taller 1st and 2sd gear ratio than the turbo transaxle. So here I am writing this book. I will post all the old pictures I can find and some of the new as I progress. I do all my own work.

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

It looks immaculate !!! Must be a blast behind the wheel. w/ smiles Jimmy

[champagne612]

Jack

Thanks for sharing - keep posting the progress it's impressive work.

Off topic - let me know if you are attending the Ole Miss / Ark football game.

My son is at Ole Miss so I'l be there.

[P2164]

Thank You Jimmy its been a long time since I have been behind the wheel but soon my friend soon!

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

Originally Posted by P2164

Thank You Jimmy its been a long time since I have been behind the wheel but soon my friend soon!

Not at all ! I have nothing but admirations for people with such passions, skills and knowhows to work on your car. Looking forward to more updates. w/ smiles Jimmy

[tazandjan]

Jack- Beautiful car and I like the Boxer paint and Euro spoiler. The engine looks like you could eat off it, but that would get it dirty, so no go. Look forward to seeing more progress photos. Looks like you are almost there.

[Boxer]

This is another great project to follow.

[P2164]

Thank you all, I will keep you posted on progress. I have all my stainless steel in for the headers which I will start to make this week. Turbo placement may change if there is enough room on the front of the motor for two turbos. Getting rid of the water pump is a big savings in room in the motor area. I have made the water to air intercoolers and also the radiator for the water to air intercooler. Its coming together!

Doug, your not far away and if your ever in NW Arkansas look me up or send me a PM I would be happy to show you my collection.

[mk e]

Originally Posted by P2164

Sorry but I hate typing and not very good at it, this is a copy from my post on another forum.

I'm exactly the same. I re-read some of the stuff I've typed a couple days later and just shake my head but at the time it all looked perfect.

This in no way excuses you for posting pictures though

Hang on to the 208 heads....they are a MUCH better starting point for a 3 liter project than the 308 heads IMO. I got to play with one on the flow bench last year and was pretty happy with the result:
308 2V head porting

[P2164]

Now that is a interesting thread! Thanks

I still have the 208 heads and cams plus a spare set of 75 model 308 heads and cams.

I own one of the three twin turbo LP400 Countach motors Bob Wallace (chief engineer for lamborghini) built in the mid 80s, I wish you where closer, I bet you would like to see some of the work he did on these heads. To adjust valve lash on a lambo you must take the measurements, write them down, pull the cams, pull the cam followers, then add or subtract from the little shims under the cam followers, replace the cams then remeasure them. Bob machined sleeves the OD of the lambo cam followers then used the cam follower from a 308 ferrari so you can change the lash without removing the cams.

I have the engine for sale but no takers, its a piece of history. I am sure the person who has the car would like to have it back but I have not been able to make contact with the owner. The car was in Canada now in Europe somewhere with a 4 valve engine in it.

[a1exander]

Very pretty car and pretty neat work there.
Pictures are a must (like looking at all those shinning thingys)

[P2164]

Originally Posted by a1exander

Very pretty car and pretty neat work there.
Pictures are a must (like looking at all those shinning thingys)

Thank You, my SPF GT40 is from South Africa.

[a1exander]

Love the bubble on the roof.
Great car iconic more accurate.

Did you build it?
What size motor?
What goodies in the motor?
What type of fuel injection and management?
What type of brakes?

Sorry for all the questions

[P2164]

Originally Posted by a1exander

Love the bubble on the roof.
Great car iconic more accurate.

Did you build it?
What size motor?
What goodies in the motor?
What type of fuel injection and management?
What type of brakes?

Sorry for all the questions

Yes, I did the build
427 dart 351 aluminum block, solid roller camshaft (motor built in North Carolina by nascar nastruck guys)
AFR225 heads dyno'ed at 576 hp with 4 downdraft webers but had to remove carbs as the deck height of the motor would not allow the carbs to fit under the rear bonnet without hitting. Sold webers and bought TWM throttle bodies (they are shorter) and used electromotive TEC2 for efi and dis. No distributor, use coil on plug with MSD DIS4 driving them. Roughly 620 HP with total weight at 2300 lbs.

Wildwood brakes.

[tazandjan]

Jack- Looks like a real one. Even has the Gurney bump in the top. I was able to drive a GT40 Mk 1 in the early 70s. Fun car to drive with RHD and right hand shifter.

[a1exander]

Sounds like a labour of love.
Some trick parts you have there.

How is the handling with all that power? does the tail break out exiting corners under throttle? or is it manageable?

[P2164]

Originally Posted by a1exander

Sounds like a labour of love.
Some trick parts you have there.

How is the handling with all that power? does the tail break out exiting corners under throttle? or is it manageable?

Terry, your a lucky man, they are so valuable now all you get to do is look at them.

The handling is bad under power, it has a tendency to blow out when you least expect it, usually on cold days with cold tires and in 3rd gear when your doing about 65-80 mph. I have had a couple OH SH--t and caught up with it before I went around. I plan on taking a couple hundred HP out of it when I get the chance. If you don't feather the throttle in 1st and 2sd all you get is tire spin.

[JayG]

Are you using a GM 3 bar map sensor? I would think you could dial in boost settings depending on gear with electromotive as well correct? I had to that with ecmlink on an eagle talon to get the best launches. Worked well.

[P2164]

Originally Posted by JayG

Are you using a GM 3 bar map sensor? I would think you could dial in boost settings depending on gear with electromotive as well correct? I had to that with ecmlink on an eagle talon to get the best launches. Worked well.

I did use a gm 3 bar map on the last motor, this time I am keeping it 14 psi max so I'm using a 2 bar GM sensor. AEM (the efi dis unit I am using) uses a 2.5 bar map but the system will take any map sensor you have. I did not use the general purpose output on the old TEC2 in the 208 for the boost control but do on my wrx powered VW Vanagon which has a TEC2 unit. The AEM unit has many GPO's so I will be able to control boost, fans, and turn on and off the AC compressor.

[P2164]

My nephew just emailed me and said he did 10 laps at the Las Vegas speedway in a Italia. He said it was wonderful, I wonder if he is trading up from his black 88 TR???? Don't forget Uncle Jack!!!!!