Can this Ferrari V12 be saved?

 20

Ferraris are beautiful cars. They reward the driver with an amazing experience close to the hilt of sensationalism. Period. When things go bad, however, the sensations can be the polar opposite. This was the case of a front-engined Ferrari 365 Grand Tourer Coupe (GTC) that was headed home from the 2016 Monterey car week in the hands of a spirited driver. Boom! A blown motor is never a fun experience, no matter what you are driving. But a catastrophic failure on a classic and collectible from the stables of Maranello has got to be amongst the worst.

 13

The 4.4 Liter, V-12, 4-Cam motor was pulled from the ailing (and not particularly prancing) horse. It was taken to Losee’s Eurotech Performance in Riverside, California where it will be repaired and rebuilt. Two significant holes in the block and oil pan repaired? Yes indeed. The motor is a numbers matching block and can be made whole again and be just as good — if not better than original. Here we take a forensic look at the failure and what will be done to fix it.

 10

According to Bill Losee, master mechanic, “Obviously it looks like the engine had been over extended — either that or rod fatigue. However there is no ‘blueing’ so there did not seem to be a loss of oil problem which leads me to believe it was over revved. There are also two other bent rods. When the rod in question broke, the bigger part of the rod was still tightly fastened to the crankshaft. So you have this rod that is flailing around and it made windows on both sides of the block.”

 19

“We do have a new block sitting here, however, because this is a numbers-matching block, we are going to see if we can repair the block, Losee explains. “This needs to go to a fabricator who is a really good welder. The early aluminum blocks are very porous so they are not easy to weld. But the rest of the engine is in really good condition. The failure did not even hurt the crankshaft. I am going to recommend that we replace all the rods as if the failure was caused by rod fatigue, the others are not far behind.”

 16

Losee did not know the milage on the engine, however looking at all the carbon buildup on the valves, he was able to decipher that this particular 365 GTC had greater than 60K miles on the clock. “This is definitely a higher-milage Ferrari, and the engine has never been apart. When I disassembled it, all the factory gaskets and factory paint marks were all still there.”

 23

“As we rebuild the motor, if we can keep the block we can put a larger sump on it — which has big holes too. There are no chassis numbers on that so all we really have to worry about is the block. The heads are in really good shape, they can be reconditioned. Beyond the rods, I also want to replace all the pistons. Two of the sleeves were damaged as well so those will need to be replaced, if we can keep the block. All of the parts will be sourced from Ferrari.”

 5

If the block can be saved, it will be sealed, through fabrication and welding the exact fitting fixes to the holes. Once complete, the block will be inspected using Zyglo. This is the preferred penetrant inspection method for sensitive fluorescent detection of cracks and surface inconsistencies in aluminum.

 17

We will check back with Bill Losee to see how this turns out.

About the author

Tom Stahler

At eight months of age, Tom Stahler sat in a baby stroller in Thunder Valley and watched Chuck Parsons and Skip Scott win the 1968 Road America 500. He has had the car bug ever since. He has won several awards, including the Motor Press Guild’s Dean Batchelor Award and the International Motor Press Association's Gold Medal for his writing and photography. When not chasing the next story, Tom drives in vintage road racing events.
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