FrankenFerrari - V12 Ferrari 308

I don't think I've posted in this thread but have followed the whole thing. Absolutely love it. Came very sickeningly close to getting my hands on a 308 last month.

does your efi deal have the ability to control vvti on a 2jz? We're looking to affordably standalone one for a challenge car

Patrick said:

I don't think I've posted in this thread but have followed the whole thing. Absolutely love it. Came very sickeningly close to getting my hands on a 308 last month.

thanks for passing it on to your buddy with money who loves 308s.

I had a simple job, install the pedal box, so you know I dicked with it for WAY too long.  I was remembering my feet hitting stuff so I decided to lower the pedals a little.....but realized I kind of couldn't, the adjusters are at or post ax really since jam nuts are already gone.  So I made a plan for nice mastercylinder spacers but I hate to invest the time until I really know what I wants....washers  :oops: 

An I was only about 1/2 or maybe 1/4 remembering why the brake was a lot higher than the clutch but did remember the clutch was about even with the dead peal and I liked that so 1 washer in the clutch, 3, for the brake.....hmmm...now that I moved the speaker and steering controller that it no brake pedal issue at all, but it is now the same height as the gas pedal and my OCD likes that.  The clutch though....pedal box back out, 3 washers in.  That give me good clearance PS unit to pedal, foot with a clunky sneaker fits nicely

But moving dead pedal to clutch requires a slight foot roll.  Its ok....but when the time comes to replace the carpet, which is in poor condition, I'll probably lower the dead pedal.

Patrick said:

 

 

does your efi deal have the ability to control vvti on a 2jz? We're looking to affordably standalone one for a challenge car

Just this evening I decided to step back from the ecu project but Ping Joe@epicefi and say I sent you.  For sure it can handle VVTi and 2jz.  I did reach out to the management here about offering challenge pricing but never heard back....if you've been following I'm sort of persona non grata but Joe has the power to hand out beta unit deals to projects that make sense, so give him your best pitch and if he bites he will give you a good price and a receipt for your book.

Good luck!

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Patrick said:

I don't think I've posted in this thread but have followed the whole thing. Absolutely love it. Came very sickeningly close to getting my hands on a 308 last month.

thanks for passing it on to your buddy with money who loves 308s.

I passed one for years in San Diego that I saw two car covers rot off of. Never got a chance to see the owner outside so I could stop and inquire about it. Probably would have ended up with an LS or a K24T in it. I am not unhappy that I never got to talk to the guy.

I thought I'd be wiring in a new ecu today but I've decide to part ways with the epicefi team, we'll call it creative differences ,  leaving me once again eculess.  I took a good long stare are the AEM board this morning and in my wee little brain, I believe I know what IC is broken and ordered a couple because they are $1.85 and I'm way out of practice.  Hopefully its this simple and I can kick the whole problem down the road a year or 2.

This leaves me mostly in a parts holding pattern on just about all the open items I think.  Shop cleaning day I guess, it certainly needs it.

That was a quick pivot!

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

That was a quick pivot!

Yeah.....just different ideas on where to head, more different styles maybe.  Anyone who's been reading this thread can probably guess my thoughts on "it's fine" and how I might react to hearing it.  I just don't do "fine" very well....even if it is fine.    Great guys and I'm sure what they are doing will be good.

Yea that kinda goes along with my feelings of it knowing its far from "fine" unless you want to spend more time learning than doing. 

In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah....fine normally  means "yeah, I know its not right but its not actually broken".  Its a struggle to try to be all things to all people and what I tried to explain was optimize for a single hw, simple choices on setup, no menu items that don't work for the feature.  My sudden change of heart came Friday night when I realized I wasn't getting what I was asking for on epic because the firmware guy had some pnp mkIV supra stuff he makes and was keeping everything compatible with that hw and feature changes compatible with his pnp tunes (facepalm).  So all it can be is "fine"...and I just don't do fine.  There is plenty of time for them to realize and sort it so fingers crossed for them. 

But my solder paste arrived and the chips have shipped so hopefully the aem/el will rise from the dead!  And it better because  I thought the ecu was sorted so I didn't save money for a new one. I spent all my car budget fixing everything else to the point that my April budget is already $25 over spent and I have not paid for the shock repair ($200-$250) and there is no oil in the engine ($200)....so May and June are also spent.  I did talk to Lana and got permission to spend June this month so the ecu has to work or no driving this year.  Plus I think all the ecus are imported so I don't even know what they'll cost next spring when I have money to buy one, or not....this one just has to work.

I said I couldn't find the oil cap...so amazon brought me a new more better top shelf $13 chinesium one.  Which I proceeded to cut up and rework a bit....

now its "fine"  

Paint will be dry so back on tomorrow.  I guess i should get the oil and filter.  The new chips for the ECU  will be here Thursday, I'm thinking test the ecu while I'm cranking to print the oil system and maybe fire it up if all seems well.  Then it's just the shock.

I've been kind of eyeballing the front spindles....man it sure look like they are toed out.  That got me thinking about the upside-down spindle fiasco and king pin angle and.....yeah, dropping the balljoint 1.6" means i need to space out the lower a-arm mount 0.28" ...my front camber spacers are too small so the couple turns i put on the tiered ends gives me toe-out.  Need to fix that.

After last nights epiphany about king pin angle up front I checked the rear and its much more vertical so my space should have been like 1mm longer to put that where I was thinking is a good starting point....not enough to bother changing since it was a guess anyway.  Up front though I made new 15mm spacers to replace the 8mm and it no long loos obviously toed-out.  That is more there I was mentally planning to need but still leaves me enough thread on the new bolts that I about 6mm would be would leave the nylocs where they should be and 8mm..well.... with loctite it would be fine so I think all is still well

Oil tank is sorted, I think looks much better black and I like the new cap better than the old lost one, I just hope I made it short enough to not hit the deck lid

and the new front brake pressure sensor came so that is installed and that leaves me out of parts for the night.

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 to stock 308s.  Originally they had 205 all around  so 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 with my brake setup spreadsheet, added the real weights, but decided I should reweigh 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 swap 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 looked 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.

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.  I used tefzel aircraft wire for all this so that stuff is good to 400F or more, but the connector clips not so much it seems

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.  I have no idea how a failure like this happens but  there is now spark at all 6 coils again. 

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.

Terminals wear out with repeated disconnect/reconnect cycles.  Most automotive grade terminals have a design life of only four cycles.  You could get a male terminal of that size and do a drag test, or you could just go nuclear and get some Stabilant-22 for the connections.  Semi-literally "nuclear" as its development was funded by the US military in the 60s or 70s to help solve connectivity issues for electronics in things that went very very high in the atmosphere.

It's a miracle chemical, it's a conductivity enhancer at up to an actual gap, but beyond a certain distance it is a dielectric.  You can actually just swipe it across something like a computer's SIMM.  For automotive use you use the supplied brushes to dab a drop into every female terminal.

It's expensive, but a little really does go a long way.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I'm kind of wondering if maybe it's related to the me removing the coolant tank cap and spraying coolant everywhere. It damaged my mulitmap board....it could have gotten into the ecu connector.  Whatever the cause, hopefully this sorts it.

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.

The new fitting came, I thought about just popping the new fitting on, but decided to cut the hose back like ?I'm supposed and WTF?  The ID is completely blocked

A new hose is on the way so a couple day delay until it runs again....but how bizarre.  When i was looking for the leak I was sure the hose was leaking but couldn't see any damage so figured it had to be the fitting....nope, the hose was leaking.  Its also completely blocked so I question if this pickup was doing anything last fall when the oil leaking started.

There were a couple dips on the other side today too but I couldn't see from where.  The plan is run it at least 1 more time on the stands, maybe I'll find it then.  

I did try to register for the Pocono autotX 6/28-29 but registration doesn't open until 5/26 so I put a reminder on my calendar so that is the current target.

what's blocking the hose?

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

what's blocking the hose?

the hose itself.....its like it imploded.  It was hard to get a decent pic but you can kind of see a tear with a small hole near the cut end and inside the rubber its flaring and spreading around the full ID to create a seal internally.  Its an oil return line so its a vacuum not a pressure inside and I guess it sucked itself shut.  If there is a repeat I'll switch to hard lines but the braided lines were easier to fab so that is what I did.

Last fall I was saying the oil leak, at least at first, was like it depended how much oil was left in the sump when I shut down and now I'm thinking that is because only 1 or the 2 returns was working so only 1/2 the return flow it should have.  Now it finally just got up to the fitting and tore so I have a leak.

The shock is done and shopping today so I need to crack on the the important work of wire and hose routing and tying....I think this is a winner for the engine bay: