[bretm]

...I also have a vexing little problem with the engine harness and am trying to come up with some ideas for it. The OEM wiring is sheathed in a high temperature fiberglass sleeving, which has a neoprene, silicone or other flexible outer covering...

I came across this fire-sleeving in the Pegasus Racing catalog this morning and thought of you. It's reddish orange, but not prohibitively expensive. Just an idea.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=3299

I'm curious to see what you'll come up with for the intake manifold... it's very pretty in OEM form to my eye. In general, the 550 has a wonderful engine compartment.

 

[cribbj]

Thanks Bret, those fire sleeves could be an alternative, but I think I'm first going to try dabbing some black silicone paint on it and see how bad that looks. My ace harness guy didn't have any better ideas than the Plasti-Dip, and he recommended against that due to the hot environment.

On the manifold, if all the planets come into alignment, I think I may have scored a 456 intake and I'm going to try that on and see if I can make it work. If it does, then it'll be a black & silver theme, very similar to Dean's pics a couple of posts earlier.

Hey Josh, I found the solution to not being able to see my old degree wheel This puppy is at least 24" in diameter and I think even Stevie Wonder could see the degree marks on it:

Here's the TDC finder setup that I came up with. A Solex to AN carb fitting, a bit of 3/8" copper tubing and a length of 1/4" aluminum rod. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention, but it works really well. Not too pleased with the digital dial indicator, however, as it's hard to see unless the ambient light is really strong. I thought this thing was pretty slick, especially since it has the negative and positive analog sweep indications for 180 degrees, but the dial is just too dim. As my other dial indicator needed replacing after 30+ years I picked up a snazzy new conventional Mitutoyo with a yellow, analog face and will probably use it instead.

Solex carbs have an M12x1.25 thread, just like our 550 sparkplugs, so the fitting threads into the plug hole very nicely, then you get the engine close to TDC, put the rod in, shove the dial indicator into the 3/8" fuel line, which holds it well, and find your TDC:

As I had to bore the Solex fitting out a bit for the 1/4" rod to pass through it, I'm going to make at least one more "finished" looking model using Teflon tubing and a smaller diameter SS rod. So if anyone else's car uses plugs with an M12x1.25mm thread (ie any of the 456/550/575 family), and possibly the V8's and wants one of these, let me know and I'll make a few more.

 

[tazandjan]

John- I would be interested in one for my techs.

 

[cribbj]

Taz, I'll figure up what the materials will cost & let you know. I'm traveling next week, but hope to have all the materials in by the time I get back so I can work on them next weekend.

 

[tazandjan]

John- Sounds great. My belt change and cam degreeing will be done this spring, so no hurry.

 

[cribbj]

I've been fooling with the dial indicators and cams on this engine, and realised there's not much hotrod type data on our V12 cams and valve events, so I decided to compare what data there is on the 456/550/575 to see if there were any interesting tidbits.

In the 456 WSM I found all the valve opening/closing data from the timing diagram, and confirmed it from a specification table.

For the 550, it was the same procedure as the 456 - all the events were in a timing diagram (reproduced below), and confirmed from the valve specification table on page B8, plus I actually measured the valve lift at the buckets:

For the 575M, I found the valve events in a specification table in section B3.02, but there was no timing diagram, plus I believe some of these valve events are incorrect. The Intake Open (IO) event is shown as -7 degrees BTDC, which means it's opening after TDC, which is unusual for most engines, and is different from the others in this family. Likewise, the Exhaust Closing (EC) event is shown as 13 degrees "Before" TDC, which is also unusual, as it's normally "After" TDC:

I then constructed a little table to compare the cams & valve actions for the three engines, and the last entry is a corrected line for the 575M. I'd be curious to know if anyone has measured the 575's cams and can confirm it?

On the surface, it would seem that either the 456 or the 575 cams could be an interesting hotrod "upgrade" for the 550, with their increased durations.

 

[mark]

John:

I am interested inyour tdc unit too, I'll be doing the same work next fall. If possible please add it to your cop conversion kit. I contacted you a while ago about the cop kit, which you may remember.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

 

[tazandjan]

Johm- You can add one more data point. On the Superamerica, the cams are identical to the 575M, but are advanced 6 degrees to go with the higher (11.2:1) compression ratio from shaving the block. Timing is quoted as Intake (-1/50) and exhaust (42/7).

I have an early 612 WSM, but it has no cam timing data.

There seems to be a disconnect between what you are quoting and what notation Ferrari is using on the 575M. If you look at the SA numbers, they added 6 degrees to get -1 degree and 42 degrees and subtracted 6 degrees to get 50 degrees and 7 degrees, all with the cams advanced 6 degrees. I need to do some more thinking on this one.

 

[cribbj]

John:

I am interested inyour tdc unit too, I'll be doing the same work next fall. If possible please add it to your cop conversion kit. I contacted you a while ago about the cop kit, which you may remember.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Mark, sure do remember our correspondence on the COP's. I think you were shooting to do them during your major in late 2013? I'll put you down for a TDC finder too.

Johm- You can add one more data point. On the Superamerica, the cams are identical to the 575M, but are advanced 6 degrees to go with the higher (11.2:1) compression ratio from shaving the block. Timing is quoted as Intake (-1/50) and exhaust 42/7).

I have an early 612 WSM, but it has not cam timing data.

There seems to be a disconnect between what you are quoting and what notation Ferrari is using on the 575M. If you look at the SA numbers, they added 6 degrees to get -1 degree and 42 degrees and subtracted 6 degrees to get 50 degrees and 7 degrees, all with the cams advanced 6 degrees. I need to do some more thinking on this one.

Taz if you can find timing diagrams for the 575 or the SA it would help a lot. Ferrari's translations aren't the best, but their diagrams are better.

 

[David @ FluentInFerrari]

TDC Indicator

Although a tad pricey, the Hill Engineering unit sold by Ricambi works perfectly. In that it comes with 10, 12 and 14mm plug hole extenders, it's perfect for a shop (or individual) that owns/works on multiple cars of different vintages. As determining true TDC is critical to all of the cam timing measurements, the accuracy of the "first step" becomes paramount.

Ferrari Parts : TDC-KIT-01 : TDC-KIT-01 Top-Dead-Center Tool Kit

 

[tazandjan]

David- Hoping John's comes in a bit cheaper than $441, since I just need it for my techs to work on my 575M. If it works on other Ferraris, even better. Call me cheap. Looks like a very nice kit for the pros, though.

 

[David @ FluentInFerrari]

David- Hoping John's comes in a bit cheaper than $441, since I just need it for my techs to work on my 575M. If it works on other Ferrari's, even better. Call me cheap. Looks like a very nice kit for the pros, though.

Perhaps Daniel Son would cut a pro such as yourself a bit of slack? Pricey, no doubt, but it does work the "nuts." Hill quality is just outstanding. I suspect that the Yellow-boxed tool is double the price.

At least the water pump seal tool that Ricambi sells is reasonably priced. and works awesome! (Disclaimer: I manufacture and distribute that tool through Daniel.)

 

[tazandjan]

David- I did all the maintenance on my three earlier Ferraris, but am happy to let Aaron and John do the work now. Old and lazy.

 

[cribbj]

Picked up v2.0 of my new radiator fan shroud yesterday and this one fits in the engine bay much better than v1.0, I had built for a pair of 17" Ford Taurus fans.

Since the 550 radiator/oil cooler only has a 32" wide core, the Taurus fan setup had a significant bulge on each side, which I thought I could work around, but in the end it would have required some cutting on the car, which I wasn't prepared to do. So v1.0 went into the scrap, errr “future projects” pile, unfortunately. <Sigh> that’s prototyping…….

This v2.0 setup uses smaller 16" fans from a Volvo, but the motors are still the the big 2 speed Bosch motors as fitted on the 17" Taurus fans. The Volvo fans are still a bit larger than the OEM SPAL's and (to me) move significantly more air, and of course the shroud itself is head & shoulders above the OEM 550 arrangement. I'll initially run the car only with the upgraded fans & shroud via a pair of PWM type, variable speed controllers while I'm having a new radiator fabricated.

I'm committed to upgrading both the fans and the radiator itself, however I don't wish to do both at the same time, as I'm really curious to see which change has the bigger/better impact. This should also be useful for other owners to know, if they're struggling with their marginal cooling systems in very high ambient climates.

Here’s a couple of shots of the new shroud & fans:





I’ll grind the welds down a bit and have this puppy powder coated before installing it.

Here’s the 575’s shroud, without fans mounted. This is a much improved design over the stock 550 shroud because it covers the complete core of the radiator, but it’s not a very strong shroud and feels “flimsy”. Ferrari had a service campaign on these and sent out some foam vibration isolators, evidently because they were vibrating too much.

This shroud is made from 2.0mm sheet aluminum, same as the stock 550 shroud, and my new custom shroud is made from 11 gauge (2.3mm), but the difference in rigidity and robustness is amazing. Perhaps it's the reinforcing rings that were welded in the new shroud that help.





This is the stock 550 shroud, and as you can see, it doesn’t even cover the full core of the radiator, which may be one of the reasons some 550’s aren’t happy in higher ambient climates. This shroud is made from the same 2.0mm sheet aluminum as the 575, but it feels stronger. Probably because it's a basic rectangle with only 90 degree angles, while the 575 shroud has a number of complex bends & angles, which may weaken it a bit.

 

[tazandjan]

John- How will you control the 2 speed fan? Also, bends in a piece of sheet metal should actually make the overall structure stiffer.

 

[cribbj]

Taz, at this moment, I'm thinking to only use the high speed wire, and vary that with a pair of PWM type variable speed controllers.

It's odd about the aluminum; perhaps the custom shroud is a better grade or has a higher temper, but the difference is apparent as soon as you pick up both shrouds.

 

[cribbj]

Just acquired a 456 intake manifold, and here it is sitting on my 550's engine...... the 550's fuel rails, etc. bolt up fine. If I want all the 550's blowby hoses, etc. to fit, I can just use its side covers.

I have plans for you, my pretty

 

[tazandjan]

John- Sure leaves a lot of spave in there compared to a Maranello intake manifold. Nice degree wheel. Even a blind man can see the numbers on that one.

 

[cribbj]

No kidding; they call this one the Stevie Wonder Special

I don't think I'll be leaving any more horse imprints on the hood insulation with this setup, although I may be leaving some high end HP on the table with the loss of the variable length runners. We'll see after it's been cleaned up & tweaked a bit.

 

[KAMF]

Manifold

That looks awesome. If anything, it is an interesting experiment testing the compromises that were made between the two models with the intake systems, cams, etc.

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

I wonder what going the other way would be like for 456 owners.

Have to find a controller I guess - hmmmmm....