My $20,000 Ferrari Engine was Ruined by a 22 Year Old Part Failure (Or So I Thought...)

That block looks like it will clean up without the need to sleeve the cylinder(s)…need to pop the pistons out and check the rings and ring lands. From what you have shown I suspect you have an excellent candidate for a rebuild. Toss the chap who gave it to you 2k and he can get himself a replacement LS or money to rebuild or upgrade his turbo when the time comes.

You have convinced me that I should admire Ferraris from afar and if I want to drive one go and rent it. I did go to Exotics Racing in Las Vegas and drive a GTB-488. It was a lot of fun.

The tool you want is called a torque adaptor. Its a 12 point box end wrench on one side and it accepts a 3/8 torque wrench on the other.
There are specs to achieve correct torque with these tools and if the box end is too thick grind it to fit.
FRDHM15 is the snap-on part number its like $32.00

Use something like a fish scale on that wrench -- you'll have to take a proportion of the wrench length (e.g. the distance from the center of the bolt to where you hook the scale is 6 inches, multiply ft-lb by 2). Hook the fish scale to the wrench at your chosen point, and pull until it measures that calculated number of pounds.

Drill a small hole in the handle of that wrench, measure the length from the center of the head to the hole, then use a luggage scale hooked through the drilled hole. Force x distance = torque.

Looks like a good honing. Most machine shops will look at it for free and give an estimate.They will clean and degrease it then check for cracks. I would let the shop mic the cylinders for size / roundness, the crank ect. They can professionally hone one for $10-$20 cylinder ish. Your honing drill setup wouldn't be close.
All engines are basically the same to them. That would be your best bet. They could reassemble the block back. I would have the heads cheched for squarness, cranks and that they seal good. Valve guides / seals are normally cheap. Valve jobs are about $100-$300 a head. Having it professionally inspected is priceless.
Wouldn't.fcp euro be a good source for cheaper parts ?Always could call the great Alex Palmeri. I bet he would work for a free Florida trip or a coparts car.

Definitely worth rebuilding and maybe you could do something like stick it into an old Alfa (although I have heard it is a lot of work ;) ).

Still think this is going to be my coffee table in the rat cave

I build German engines, I don’t think you even need pistons. Looks like a hone, fresh bearings and rings, maybe valve guide seals and whatever valvetrain components are damaged, if any. On something like this, I wouldn’t replace every valve if a few are bent; just lap all the old in again with the new, fresh valve guide seals, etc

For a torque wrench, tighten it, but then make your own crows foot wrench. Make that wrench basically short and just the head, and weld half of a crows foot end on the other end and just stick a 3/8 extension on it. Should work like a chsrm

Sam before you try honing those bores, check what they are made from. Some of these engines use exotic materials in the bore that need a particular process to hone correctly, and some are OK to use a standard process.

Again another great video Sam and I have to admit I always learn a lot from you ! I was very surprised to see that there wasn’t any substantial damage on this motor. Can’t wait to see the project you need that transmission for 👍😀

so far there is lots of good advice in the comments. one small thing that you might want to check is to turn over the crank and stop when each of the the pistons are traveling down just take a wooden handle of a hammer and push on the top of the cylinder if it moves, then you need to look deeper into rod bearings. just one small thing that you can check before spending a bunch on honing cylinders. Definitely have a pro shop hone your cylinders. A pro shop will do it far better than you ever could with home tools.

Check out Heidi and Franny's channel for an adapter she used for torquing bolts with a wrench. It clamps onto the wrench and you just put a torque wrench on it at 90 degrees to the handle of the wrench and tighten the bolts to torque. She has a Ferrari 308.

Sam, put the torque wrench into the open end of the spanner. You might have to weld it up or find another way to get a tight fit. You've now got a fix but there's now leverage involved. You'll have to research the reduction ratio to apply. I did this years ago on some head bolts, it worked a treat.

You really need to understand that "OEM Ferrari" is a myth for many many parts. They purchased the parts from manufacturers that make the same parts for Ford and others. Bearings and rings in a LS that can withstand 20+ lbs of boost and well over 1000hp certainly don't cost that much. Go to the manufacturers not the "rebranding" company.

For torquing your heads, try a Napa Torque Wrench Adapter Part #: CHT TA38115M. It should do the job nicely. If it doesn't fit the little pocket perfectly, grind it. It's only $17.

To make the $5 wrench work with a torque wrench you can either cut a square hole into the wrench using a drill and a file to make it compatible with a 1/4in drive or drill a hole and weld/jb weld a bolt onto it then torque it down. Another option I usually wouldn't recommend is to tape both the wrench and the torque wrench together with gorilla or t-rex tape (it'll only work with the old fashioned torque wrench the one with the needle).

For the Improvised Torque Spanner. Drill a hole in the spanner and file it square to take a 3/8 torque wrench. Then do a calculation or bench test of how much extra torque is applied by the extra length and you are sorted 👍

Hey sam. I am currently going through a rebuild on a sbc 350. At least from what i can see it looks to be easily rebuildable. Take all of the metal components apart and soak them in a 50/50 blend of pinesol and water. Then take a hard nylon wire wheel on a drill to clean them. If they aren't aluminum you can even soak the parts in chem dip- a simple light honing job will easy restore those cylinders. 10-15 passes may be all it takes. Just don't go overboard

Without measuring the upper and lower cylinder wear its hard to say if they can be honed out. If there's enough material left to do the hone it appears to be fine. You would need a dial bore and Ferrari specs for that.

For the tool just cur the wrench weld a 1/2 or 3/8 box to the end and use a regular toque wrench you just need to add the mechanical advantage of the extra distance of the welded thing

Motion Pro Adjustable Torque Wrench Adapter P/N: 08-0380 No adjustments to your torque value, just use at a 90 degree angle to your existing combination wrench that Scott gave you.

Torque socket adapter with doubled (tripled?) nut on a bolt as an extension for the tool you already have. Basically a 'torque adapter' for what you need.

You have to measure that cylinder sleeve in several spots up and down the stroke to see if they have the thickness to hone them.

For torquing maybe use like a suitcase weight scale, Nm = length X force.
Just make sure the scale is perfectly perpendicular to the wrench

If you don't want to do a full rebuild, then you could reassemble and do a compression test, to see how healthy the engine is. Would be tricky to get it hot enough for good numbers, but I think this would be a good way to know how healthy the short block is.

You can use calculations to find the amount of force you need to apply on the torque arm(the wrench in this case) in order to obtain the torque needed on the other end(on the bolts).

As far as the cylinders go I would say that it depends largely on what they are made out of. If they are cast iron then they should be able to be honed so long as it doesn’t exceed clearance specs. If they are made out of something like Nikasil then replacement is probably the answer. The MB 116/117 engines used a very interesting process wherein they would bore the cylinders of a high silicon content aluminum block to the prescribed size and then fill them with a very specific acidic solution for a very specific amount of time which would etch away the aluminum and leave the silicon particles “hanging out”. In other words the cylinders were essentially glass with “valleys” in between to hold oil. They virtually do not wear but require repair by only one or two machine shops in the U.S. (or so Mercedes said) and I am not aware of what that process entails although I have never known of anyone to have one repaired as used ones are fairly readily available. Hope this helps. Also, I would guess it also depends on the amount of damage (obviously) and if oversize pistons are available if needed.

To make the spanner (wrench) work with a torque wrench just weld a socket to the spanner, yes leverage would offset change the torque slightly obviously the closer you weld the socket to the end of the spanner the better but im sure there is an equation that you can use to account for the difference

There is an official automotive guide for using torque wrench extensions, so if you find that angle and length table you can use the same wrench (used to unbolt) with torque wrench on the other end to torque these back to spec. Search for something like "Using torque wrench adapters or extensions"

For torquing up, use the same tool, grind a notch in it 20cm distance from the centre of the box end side, take a baggage scale, calculate the force needed for a 20cm lever from the torque required, pull until the scale shows the force. Might need to calculate force to weight first. Quick and easy.

Usually when the timing skips only a couple teeth, or in this case, belt grooves, there is no valve to piston interference. This is why VVT or vanos exists on newer engines. There is some play room for valve timing. As for the marking on the cylinder walls, Either there is something not balanced from the piston to the crank. Or the engine was revved high for long periods of time. Personally i wouldn't worry too much about it and it might not make any sense to do a complete overhaul.

For the torque wrench, use a welder to extend the 15mm spanner, measure the length from the center, and use a force gauge to pull the spanner in the direction you want. Multiply the force by the length to get torque.

to recreate the tool for assembly, use a hanging scale and hook it to the wrench. Then use the scale to tighten the bolt to spec

Get prices on engine bearings and piston rings from Maserati.
It’s the same engine, just match the part number.
They might be cheaper.
Also turn the heads upside down and poor fuel onto the valves to make sure there’s no compression leaks.

Drill a hole through the wrench 1 foot from the center of the box end. Attach a hand held luggage weight scale (looks like a fish weight scale) to the hole in the wrench. The weight you pull will be equal to ft-lbs of torque.
Or can you get to them with a swivel socket from the top?

Torque is distance x force. Get a scale that works in tension (like what they use to weight produce). Measure length of wrench x lbs in scale = in-lbs. Vuala 👌. You can also use this to verify your torque wrench is not completely off.

For the torquing the head to spec a kamasa tools K 2615 may help you. It's a crowfoot 3/8 wrench, so it'll fit a number of torque wrenches and will probably fit that gap. I have these in a set and they're useful in these weird to access places. For like $7 worth a shot, I guess

To torque the head bolts I'd weld an extension bar to the spanner and use a luggage weight measurer to apply a known amount of force.
Known force X known length, there's your torque.

I'm in a tiny minority it seems, but my choice of what to do with that engine is just thoroughly clean it, and reassemble with new gaskets, water pump, and belts/tensioners. If you are right, and the only thing stopping compression was the belt jumping a tooth the worst you would end up with is wasting the gaskets, the rest of the components could be reused with a full ground up rebuild anyway.

I have a idea my grandfather tried this whenever I was 19 he had a similar issue so what he did was cut off the head of an old manual torque wrench weld on the head of a cheap wrench with narrow sides box end and he welded it together and made it extremely strong he also added the couple gussets to make it more strong and grind it down to where it was thin enough that is a simple way I'm torquing down the head bolts without buying a $500 tool

The standard comparison check on a surface finish is to use your finger nail as it amazingly sensitive !

You should see my smile when Ratarossa showed up on the scooter, t-shirt and shorts. Nice to be out of the british weather :-) Loved this episode and love the dynamics between you guys!

everything looks reusable, have the block resurfaced, honed, pistons polished, replace piston rings and consumables. also, have the block checked for micro-cracks first to save time and money.

I would cut/file a 3/8" key in the wrench as close to the head as can fit and use a beam type torque wrench on it. If the specified range is wide enough it should be fairly accurate. the difference in moment force can be calculated if need be.

I'd check the rings, ring lands, lap the valves, hone the liners, inspect the rest and a helluva deal. I did notice one of the timing belt covers broken but that could have been for other reasons. Nice 599 it looks like you have now.

It's all gonna come down to how bad the pitting from the rust in the cylinders is. The scoring isn't a concern if you can't feel it with a fingernail. Get into a good machine shop and they'll let ya know pretty quick. Rings are most likely toast from the water though.

I see all the comments about measuring the block for out of round, I’m not saying it can’t happen but I’d be extremely surprised if any of those cylinders are out of round. The difference in materials in this engine differ significantly from other engines. The compression and rpm’s these engines rev to require higher grade material then your typical ford, Chevy or dodge.
As far as honing goes you’d have to know what the specs are, and stay within those specs. Replacing all the rings, bearings and seals at this point would be required and sonic checking a really good idea. I’m not sure I’d try to reassemble this engine without at least a factory manual and I’d sure want someone who knows these engines to at least make sure it’s right. If it were a cheap and plentiful engine it be a different story but these things are not cheap nor plentiful. This could seriously become the most expensive mistake a person could make even though it was “free”. But then again thinking of the content it might be worth the gamble, but then the value later is questionable.

You can use physics to recreate the tool
Torque = force x length
Get a well calibrated spring scale
Measure the wrench and pull from the same spot every time
Multiply the force x length to get the torque

Unfortunately you were unable to check the timing marks before you removed the belts. Jumped timing is a guess. In my opinion the biggest problem is the water damage at this point. The original problem to me would be that scored cylinder wall on 1 cylinder. A cracked ring land can cause that damage and zero compression. Pop those pistons and check that crank. It was in a puddle of water too.

Classic, almost expected.

You could make some form of adapter for the wrench/spanner you used to remove the bolts. This would enable you to connect a standard torque wrench to the spanner.

Bend that wrench into a "U" shape, so both ends are aligned. Then use a torque wrench, if you can get it fit. Maybe weld on a different open end to it

Here's the bush mechanic option, with some fine wet or dry sandpaper around 320 grit, sand only the parts of the bores with honing oil where they appear damaged in a cross hatch pattern similar to honing, don't take off much, see if they clean up with 4 or 5 strokes. That might be all you need.
Needless to say disassemble the piston and rod etc first, fastidiously clean afterwords until you can rub a white rag over the bore without it getting dirty.

Simple. Take out the crank, drop the pistons, hone the cylinders, get oversized rings if needed, new main and rod bearings. With the heads done you have a new engine. A spare for your 360.

One of the chambers of the cylinder heads is covered in oil/fuel and the exhaust valve have a big line of rust. You should check that cylinder. Also REMOVE the headgaskets and inspect them.

Great to see the both of you👍🏻

I've always been told unless the pitting/scoring in the cylinder walls is deep enough for your fingernails to catch, you can get away with just a hone. I'm no master engine builder, but I've honed a few blocks with very similar levels of corrosion and had zero issues. I'd say you scored big time with that engine

Woohoo! Now you have a spare engine to drop straight in for when the first one sets on fire lol :)
Think you hit the jackpot here Sam :)

Connect a torque wrench to that wrench maybe by machining a spot for a 1/2" drive to fit in it. Then use another torque wrench, set on the desired torque to calibrate the desired torque on the Frankenwrench.

Easiest way to retorque the head bolts is to weld a socket(that matches the torque wrench)onto your spanner a known distance from the centre of the ring. Then you calculate the the extra leverage you've gained, and reduce the setting on the torque wrench accordingly.

You can get a wrench similar to what you have but the other end won’t be open ended…it’ll be a loop just like the side you put on the cylinder head bolt
You put one end on the cylinder head bolt
Get an Allen socket that fits inside the other end of the wrench attached to a torque wrench
Then torque … torque wrench will read the torque through those tools

I would have just took my grinder to the first wrench and made it fit lol. Props tho for finding a tool that worked.

Nice transition to sponsor segment. Smooth
edit: also nice haircut :-) 8:14

You can simply use the same wrench and a pipe with a specific length which you use to extend the wrench. At the end of the pipe you pull perpendicular to the pipe with a luggage scale. The bolt torque is computed by torque = distance bolt to end of pipe x measured weight x earth acceleration (in correct units). You can rearrange the equation to compute weight you need to measure to reach the specified torque of the bolt. The pipe should be more or less horizontal otherwise you need to include the torque created by the weight of the pipe in the equation or use a relative leight pipe.

I think I've learned from you Sam, never buy a 360. Learned from Hoovie never buy a Bentley or anything that runs on mineral oil.

*This build has been brilliant because it just keeps on bringing more and more content* 🤷‍♂️

You could also grind it down to make it thinner. And also for tightening grind down a crow foot and put your torque wrench to install to spec. But def replace the sleeves it. It’s already torn down with heads off so you might as well.

Cut that wrench in Half and weld on a half inch extension to make a L angle then use a torque wrench on that. You Will have go calculate the torque change but it is possible.

Be careful with the folks telling you to just slap an adapter on your torque wrench and go at it. You do need to know if you are giving yourself a mechanical advantage. Last thing you need is a snapped head bolt from over-torque.

Hey Sam how is your stepmom and uncle Rich? Since no other engine builders are saying anything here is what I would do. I sold all my engine rebuilding equipment so I would be sending it out if I hd to. Your best bet is to hone the cylinders and replace any of the parts known to fail on that Ferrari. You will end up spending a fraction of a total rebuild and from the looks just a honing is what I would do. Now I do not know the makeup of the metal in the cylinders and if it is a speciall alloy that needs sleeves but I would be satistied just honing and replacing parts tha tneed upgrading. Love ya Sam. I wish I was down in FLA right now. I went to USF for Chemical Engineering and used to live on Siesta Key. Now I am up in cold PA.

Hey Sam you could totally find a machine shop with a water jet to cut you out a wrench for your head bolts. Same dimensions on the 12pt head as your autozone wrench. Give it a 3-4 inch handle and have a half inch square cut in the end for your torque wrench to fit in. This tool rotated 90 degrees clockwise from being straight out would give you your torque spec

Hi guys from uk 👍 (solution as made one) cut wrench that fits to the hard to access bolts weld a socket or summit to fit torque wrench 3/8 1/2" at closest point you can and trail torgue on old block or summit and adjust your torgue down or up to get required spec (only trail as you and adjust as you have extended the leverage on torque setting ) so in nutshell on trail torque 1 to spec then keep on that one with you ""new made"" attachment til you find your required spec. Rite it down say if 40lb and you back off 10 lb to find your extended torque as (your bit longer now ) rest be 40lb and u should effectively be able to to reach required spec (might take few goes ) but it is effective if done right set rest to 40lb and hard to reach at say would 30lb + 10 of extended = yi 40 (cos u trailed this) all should be to (THESE ARE HYPERTHETICAL NUMBER QUOTES NOT REQUIRED SPEC FOR EXPLANATION PURPOSE ONLY)

Who in their right mind would consider rebuilding a Ferrari engine to put in another vehicle? Sam-on-crac!

They way they made these engines made me understand why the previous owner just swapped in a turbo LS.

@ 12:08
1. Put the wrench on the bolt head the same way you took if off.
2. Put a bolt and nut together and put one end of the nut/bolt in the open end of the wrench.
3. Get a torque wrench and socket and attach to nut/bolt near open end of wrench.
4. Measure center to center distance on wrench. This shall be L_1.
5. Measure center of socket location to center of handle. This shall be L_2.
6. Torque wrench setting shall be T_s.
7. Torque requirement for cylinder head bolt shall be T_c.
8. Compute
T_s = T_c*(L_2/(L_1+L_2))
for proper torque wrench setting. This setting should be lower than the cylinder head torque requirement.

Nice video,.. filled with thought provoking questions as usual...
I wouldn't rebuild that engine in any case,... for all the effort I don't think the money will cut it IMO

To torque the head, there might be specific adaptations to use the key with a torque wrench and then depending on the distance to the center of the key it is just a coefficient to apply ont he torque of the wrench.

Great video and content Sam!

To torque the cylinder head get you some box end crows foot wrenches, you just have to do some calculations for the offset of the extra length.

About that specialty tool for torquing the cylinder heads. Just weld a nut to the 5$ wrench, measure the distance from the center of the nut to the center of the 15mm ring and then put the torque wrench on the nut so it is in line with the spanner. Now set your torque wrench to the required torque(ft lb) divided by (1 + the measured distance in ft).

one option may be to find something that fits the bolt, have at it with a saw or a dremel, then weld it to something that will fit onto your torque wrench.

You can also hook the ring of the other spanner over the open end and use it as leverage.

I’m so happy for you. This is a great find.

You can calculate the amount of force needed to torque the bolt using the wrench you used to remove them. An analog force gauge should allow you to match the amount.

Minor thing but that infamous oil/water unit in the V of the engine isn't an oil cooler; you can imagine that's a weird place to put a cooler. It's actually a heat exchanger that uses hot engine coolant to warm up the gear oil from a cold start and reduce the stress on the gear change for both manual and, particularly, for the F1 transmission.

To get the correct torque on those bolts you need to cut one of those spanners in half and weld it to socket so that it will fit on a torque wrench, then you need to caiberate it as the length of welded on spanner screws up the reading on the torque wrench. The way to do this is with a 2nd torque wrench, you need a bolt running through a sleeve with a nut welded on the other end, hold the sleeve in a vice and use a torque wrench on each end, you can then read the correct reading on the one with a normal socket on it to see what the one with the welded on spanner needs to read for the same torque :)

To create the tool to torque down the head just cut the ring spanner short and weld a cheap 1/2” drive socket onto the cut end, then just use a regular torque wrench

The valves are at least bent on one bank, it is an interference engine so when timing goes out of order the piston hits the valves. But replacing valves and fix those issues should not be to expensive.

That date (00.12.01) at 8:04 indicates to me that they followed the ISO 8601:2000 extended date format (YY.MM.DD). However it has a Y2K issue in that the year was mentioned with just 2 digits instead of 4 digits which can only cause confusion ;-)

to torque the bolts you can use the wrench you used to take them off just make a mark 1 ft from the centre of rotation and use a pull scale that you would use to measure a bag before going on a flight to apply the force at 1 ft distance thus making a torque wrench

I bought a set of Mac box end micro turn wrenches in the late 80's specifically for these types of issues. They can save you a lot of time and headaches.

For the tool I think I have a couple of ideas.
- you could get a double box ended wrench and instert a hex attached to a torque wrench in the external end and take into accont the leverage you make with the wrench.
- you could bend the wrench ratarossa gave you and then weld it to a 3/8 or 1/2 extension.
These are a couple of ideas, hope they help

Use a slim crowfoot, like Hazet 848Z-15 in 3/8". If you have it 90 degrees with your torque wrench, the torque applied should be correct. If you have it in front of the torque wrench theres a formula as it applies more torque than indicated. Else you need a torque wrench type with an insert tool (stahlwille, hazet).

Cut the wrench and leave about 3 inches on the box end and then weld something to accept a 3/8 or 1/2in drive from a normal torque wrench. Then when torquing adjust your values based on the added length of the tool.

Use both wrenches. Tighten the 15mm. With the closed end wrench. You can adapt a 1/2" drive socket so you can use a torque wrench.I wish I could send a photo.

Hey Sam, Mahle makes Ferrari bearing sets and I imagine Clevite does too, way cheaper than the parts from Modena...

Hi Samcrac and Ratarossa.
First love both of Your channels.
Herby a idea and from me in DK on how to manufacture Your own "homemade special Ferrari torque wrench" = cheap..:
So there is multiple versions of torque wrenches, one of them calles "open end torque wrench", this is for mounthing a tool in the end..
Get one of these and cut one of the "special UK keys" to fit into this with a anglegrinder, but remember to not mess with the length of this, keep it exact the same as the once that comes for "open end torque wrench", else You will mess with the torque..
Have a great one. Brg. Jannik

Hi from the UK where we get the dates the right way .😆 Interesting topic Sam