gemellocattivo.com

1-7-2008
I got no time on sunday and only an hour today, but I made the most of it by sawing a large chuck out of the transaxle case

1-7-2008
I try to keep it interesting

I have room for the intake and a decent air box and cold air tubes, the problem will be the front bank exhaust. Now that I've foolishly decided to move the engine forward I don't think I have room to bring the collectors out the passenger side anymore…at least not without altering the gas tank. It's looking like I'll end up coming over the top of the bell housing which I don’t really like, but I’m not sure I have a lot of choice. I’ll deal with it once I get the engine fitted to the trans and in it’s final location. The plan is quad exhaust, made of four 3 into 1 headers flowing to 4 mufflers…..if I can find room.

1-8-2008
Neither tank would have to come out, just cutting off the corner would do the trick and that may very well be what I do. I'll make that decision once the engine is back in the car and I have some time to ponder it.

1-8-2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artvonne View Post
I probably speak for a lot of guys out there who have watched in horror and never said a word, but even I have to admit at this point, Mark, YOUR NUTS
I can't believe it took you this long to notice

Quote:
No, seriously, gut that gearbox out and bolt it down to that 1 1/2 ton steel table your working on so it dont warp when you start Frankenwelding it.
Yes, before the welding starts the trans will get stripped and bolted to the table. It's still handy to have the input shaft in place for the rough fitting though for checking stuff.

Quote:
So if I am seeing this properly, your moving the crankshaft centerline forward and down, rolling around the gearbox input shaft, and will rotate the transfer gear housing so it all aligns with the engine in a lowered, more forward position?
Yes, exactly.

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Have you ever considered running oil lines forward and running a front mounted oil cooler?? Would save on engine compartment real estate getting it out of your way. For exhaust room, you could possibly modify the fuel tanks to a smaller capacity and get enough clearance to squeak your exahust past.
Better yet, a water/oil heat exchanger mounted in the engine cooling line like I used on the supercharged engine. no need for long oil lines and it just replaces a section of cooling tube that I need to run any way.


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Sure would have been nice if you could have just done a "normal" V-12 install, now you went and made the Goldman job look like kids play. Enzo would be very proud of you Mark, very proud. I hope your able to keep at it regularly so it doesnt stagnate. Your rapidly reaching the truly hard part of this project IMHO...the making it work part.
This is actually your fault you know. As I recall you are the one who insisted a 400 engine was a viable alternative to the 365 SOHC.

This is one of the harder parts of the project for sure. If I didn't move the engine forward there would would need to be pretty extensive mods to the bell housing any way becasue of the can/shock interferance that prevents this engine for being mounted the way the SOHC engines went in. Also I've never been a fan of the way the input gear alignment problem was handled in the past and with the 600 hp I think I'll make instead of 400 hp the SOHC engines put out it will need to be corrected.

1-9-2008
Thanks.

I'm planing to leave the body as is for 3 reasons. The first is I like the way it looks, 2nd I like when people get caught off guard, and 3rd, I s*ck at body work. The only thing I'm considering is how to go from the 285 tires it has now to 315 or so....I was planning to move the wheel wells in a bit, but I think the engine is taking most of that space now. Whatever I do will be a project for another day....it will probably stay stock looking though.

1-9-2008
Messing with planes is scary. If I screw something up I call have to call a tow truck, but if a plane is screwed up......

Those are nice compact coolers compared to air/oil. I never had an oil temp problem so I never messed with it but I always wondered why the in/out were right across from each other, 95% of the cooler surface is probably doing nothing configured that way. I'll bet only 1"-1.5" of the core is seeing any flow at all. I always thought the lines belong at opposite ends which would allow the entire core to work and should yet a lower pressure drop too. Or I could cut the cooler down and only leave about 3" and I'll bet it would cool just as well.

1-9-2008
I'll post the numbers when I get home, but technically it's not a 400 any more I guess. It's a 443 if I use stock 85mm 348 liners, a 453 if I bore to 86mm or hopefully a 458 if I bore to 86.5mm making exactly 5.5 liters. hmmm, maybe I should rebadge it as a 456 GTS

added:
F101C010
*00488*

1-9-2008
Yup.

The block is distorted and will require some work to straighten things out, the crank jounals in particular.


and there is a lot to worry about with the heat effects

On the plus side:
the welding rod starts as a non-heat treatable alloy so it needs to draw a lot of stuff in from the base metal before it can suffer heat effects

it has a melting temp below the base metal which helps reduce the stress in the base metal

ferrari blocks never seem to crack so there has to be a large safety factor built in

it's a water cooler engine so the block will never see over 200F.

On the minus side:
I did a lot of welding

I probably didn't get the block pre-heated as much as I should have

I don't know for sure I'm using the best rod because I don't know the alloy for sure.

I think it'll be ok but if the worst happens and the engine comes undone I'll mount it on a stand becasue it will still look cool and install a 400/412 engine with a supercharger to get the power back up.

1-9-2008
Stock is 340, so at 8-10 with no intercooler it should gain about 60% or 544. With the heads ported and better cam 400 is very reasonable as a base number making the boost number 640. My concern with adding boost is that is also adds lots of torque which is what breaks stuff. My NA engine should make 600ish hp but with around 400 ft-lb torque, certainly not more and not the 500+ ft-lb a boosted version should make. That's a big part of the reason I went the way I did......fear for the transaxle.

1-9-2008
I did some more work on the transaxles tonight, this time with a wrench. I still need to clean it, but it's all torn down.

I like the way Charles (atlantaman) jigged his on an aluminum plate the will expand with the case as it's preheated. I think I can lay my hands on a chunk of 1" think aluminum jig plate which is cast and ground aluminum sheet. It's not as strong as 6061 plate, but it it doesn't wrap either. If all goes well I should be ready to weld this weekend.