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I think I just had my 2nd epiphany in 1 week. For years now I have had no idea what ferrari was thinking when they setup the suspension the way they did. The front springs are way too soft, the front roll center way too low....I Just couldn't figure out what they were thinking and its had me 2nd guessing my choices I can't tell you how many times.

I have all the suspension apart and stuff everywhere but the other day I had to get out the rototiller so the right side wheels are now in my walk way....so I've been walking past them and one of my buddies had (ok, has) me questioning if the fronts are maybe too narrow


So, you know..math
My tires are 225 & 295, so a front/rear tread split of 43/57%. My car weights are 1228/1744, so 41/59.

Google says a 430 is tire split 44/56 and weight43/57, a 296 is tire 45/55, weight 41/59

So my very scientific choice to choose the largest tires I could get under the fenders and still steer had me kind of splitting what ferrari has done on the newer cars.....so I'm probably just fine tire size wise.

Which brings me so stock 308s. Originally they had 205 all around do 50/50 tire but 41/59 weight. Then the QV got 205/225, so 48/52...with a 41/50 weight. Just setting aside the dynamic braking into and accel out of a corner, mid corner the rear tire will be WAY over loaded. Having a little more front tire can help with braking and turn-in loads I guess but a couple % not 10%. That means to try and get it balanced mid corner you need to do everything you can to transfer load to the front....like use stupid soft springs and a low roll center.

I think my wheels/tires should be fine as will my roll center and spring choices.

The ecu chip is now tomorrow the tracking info says and nothing else arrived...so I'm futzing.

By far the most important thing I did was mess with wire routings a bit and BAM! the seat belt light is installed! Concourse here I come!


I collected and cleaned all the alignment shims. There was quite a stack in the right rear trying to set toe which should be a non-issue now. The rest were kind of distributed but I have no idea what needs what now.


I'm thinking the best way to maintain the new spherical bearings is motorcycle chain lube......at least it seems like the best option.


I was playing wiht my brake setup spreadsheet, added the real weights, but decided I should reweight with me in it. Also I'm pretty sure the CG is lower than I was using....I lowered the car and lowered the engine in the car. What I have is fine....but I probably could have gone with a pair of 5/8" masters rather than 5/8 & 0.70" and had 10% lower pedal force is the normal braking range. Once I decide about pedal height and tear it apart to remove the washers I'll probably swapt the master but not changing anything today.

Forgot to mention yesterday that part of futzing was hooking up the clutch and bleeding it. I dropped the pedal position for better foot clearance but I also set less travel...and it feels a little odd compared to before and I don't know it there is enough travel to fully disengage until I try it I guess. I'll leave it for testing.

Today's work. The chip for the ECU came and it looked right so I removed the old and cleaned up the pads


Added (too much) solder paste

and soldered it in

It looks right so I setup a little test station

and it appears to be working. Yellow is the crank signal I was feeding it, magenta is coil 1, cyan is coil 2 and it all looks correct and working.


next is finish hooking up wires to the engine and get the ECU back in. There are a few broken coil connectors that should be here Sunday I hope. and I'm waiting on a tps connector. It should be ready to make noise by next weekend but for driving I need the shock and the front hub seals which I guess were shipped by donkey.

What is the opposite of circuit boards? Dirt and rocks! and its been some time since I posted any pics of dirt or rocks so here you go!



This matters because it shows that I believe I will need to be able to get the ferrari out and that means I can't park my DD in front of the door. I may dig a bit more tomorrow but its functional.

Wow. I was really looking forward to seeing what would happen with EpicEFI with you as an active part of it, but this is really cool and inspiring to see. Congrats on this repair - replacing surface mount ICs is very impressive.

Yeah...so was I but I am not a C guy and the the guy doing it mostly just told me no and did what he felt like doing.....which is pretty normal for anything opensource but is unacceptable for a business. I was wasting my time. They are moving forward and were interesting in working with you and I will certainly give you any help I can.

So I spent another 6 hours digging Sundays and a couple hours tonight and probably will spend a couple more tomorrow. Also taxes.

But The replacement brake line came a couple days ago so I got that installed tonight. The guy did a great job and he was fast, he made and shipped it the same day I placed the order.


And it fit perfect. I like it better than the goodridge line its replacing.

The coil connectors came yesterday so I fixed the couple broken ones...I THINK this is still heat damage from way back when It was still running the Evans coolant and had head gasket leaks, that stuff burn really hot.


Over the next couple days I'll get all the wires hooked and fill the oil so I can spin it over and confirm all is well with the spark. Still no hub seals (just asked for the tracking number because its been nearly 2 weeks)or any word from the shock people, tomorrow is 4 weeks.

The replacement TPS connector came the other day and I got looking at the old one, it sure look like the tire threw a stone cuz it sure didn't look like this when I installed it the last time...but its replaced now


New oil and filters and and the system primed....and so far the oil is staying in


I went to install the coolant tank but the little rubber isolator broke...and then the stud broke removing it. so delay for that


Then hooked up the ECU and....no spark on channel 1 or 2, the same 2 channels I posted good scope traces from so WTF? Spark on all the rest....back to the test bench and spark on all 6? hmmm if I wiggle the test lead it comes and goes and 1&2 but not on the others. Tried resoldering the pins to the board but no change so I got a bit more extreme and move the outputs to other pin. There is now spark at all 6 coils.


The front hub seals came today so I'll pop them in tomorrow. That will let me bleed the brakes and that will let me test the clutch pedal throw. Then see if the engine will make noise and the oil stays in. A lot of ifs...but if all that goes ok I'm thinking I may register for an autoX so I have a deadline to get it all sorted.

I'll lead with the engine is running again so that is good news

It is just pissing oil out but the engine itself is clean and dry as far as I can tell, I found no oil anywhere but on this hose


I think its just the fitting, a new one will be here tomorrow so should be an easy fix. The brakes are bled and the pressure sensors reading correctly again.

There is a lot of stuff hanging that needs to be tied up or installed so that will be the focus for the next few days so it ready when the shock arrives.

Good progress! What will you do when this is finished…