FFF. Finger free, any issues?

FFF. Finger free, any issues?

Author
Discussion

NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Tuesday 27th June 2023
quotequote all
Hi

Thinking of buying a series 2 Tuscan S with the Racing Green FFF head, etc.

Any issues to worry about?

Thx.

Nic

m4tti

5,427 posts

156 months

Tuesday 27th June 2023
quotequote all
No, it’s a cracking piece of engineering.

The FFF2 had improvements over the first FFF.

Is it running the simplex chain set up?


NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Tuesday 27th June 2023
quotequote all
Will find out tomorrow. Seeing it afternoon.

Nic

ridds

8,222 posts

245 months

Tuesday 27th June 2023
quotequote all


Non-doweled caps and the bucket supported on one side. Not for me.

I'd work with Al's original design and put back in the features it was supposed to have (like a proper oil feed from the FF that actually hit the lobe).

Cam direct to bucket loads are massive compared to the FF design.

m4tti

5,427 posts

156 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
ridds said:
.

Cam direct to bucket loads are massive compared to the FF design.
it’s using the same lobe to bucket design as just about every manufacturer out there these days.

Agree that the lack of dowels however, is fairly non standard.
Edited by m4tti on Wednesday 28th June 08:41


Edited by m4tti on Wednesday 28th June 08:47

NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Hi, dowels in the cap? Can someone explain? Cam followers are normally designed to rotate, so wear looks circular.

Seems the car has FFF2 plus simplex chain mod. Plus syntex(?) control system. This gives various modes, including traction control at various levels, holligan mode, mot mode, valet mode.

Sounds good?


Nic

Speed 3

4,581 posts

120 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
NicBowman said:
Seems the car has FFF2 plus simplex chain mod. Plus syntex(?) control system. This gives various modes, including traction control at various levels, holligan mode, mot mode, valet mode.

Sounds like Syvecs, quite a few have put them on S6 powered cars with decent results reported.

Phil_D

119 posts

237 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Is this the Blue one that’s for sale at HM ?

TwinKam

2,987 posts

96 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
NicBowman said:
Hi, dowels in the cap? Can someone explain? Cam followers are normally designed to rotate, so wear looks circular.

Seems the car has FFF2 plus simplex chain mod. Plus syntex(?) control system. This gives various modes, including traction control at various levels, holligan mode, mot mode, valet mode.

Sounds good?


Nic
'Dowels in the cap'... to accurately locate the cam bearing caps to the cam carrier, rather than just relying on the bolts (or the journal) to centre them, typically they're hollow and concentric around the studs.

m4tti

5,427 posts

156 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
NicBowman said:
Hi, dowels in the cap? Can someone explain? Cam followers are normally designed to rotate, so wear looks circular.

Seems the car has FFF2 plus simplex chain mod. Plus syntex(?) control system. This gives various modes, including traction control at various levels, holligan mode, mot mode, valet mode.

Sounds good?


Nic
Give woody a call at TVR101 and see if he knows the car. He built most of the FFF engines.

Phil_D

119 posts

237 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Is this the Blue one that’s for sale at HM ?

NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Yes. Blue.

NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Looks like I have sold my Griff, kind of a surprise sale, I didn’t even know I wanted to sell it! So, looking for decent Tuscan. Low miles, engine done, well loved. No dark colours.

Nic

Phil_D

119 posts

237 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
Email sent

ridds

8,222 posts

245 months

Wednesday 28th June 2023
quotequote all
m4tti said:
ridds said:
.

Cam direct to bucket loads are massive compared to the FF design.
it’s using the same lobe to bucket design as just about every manufacturer out there these days.

Agree that the lack of dowels however, is fairly non standard.
Edited by m4tti on Wednesday 28th June 08:41


Edited by m4tti on Wednesday 28th June 08:47
The issue the lack of support opposite to the Cam Towers. This will promote bucket tilting and accelerated wear. I've seen Buckets bust out of head castings quite happily before.

What Durability testing was carried out on the design? Are the buckets off the shelf, can replacements easily be sourced? Same with the Shims?

Edited by ridds on Thursday 29th June 01:23

NicBowman

Original Poster:

785 posts

239 months

Thursday 29th June 2023
quotequote all
Good questions? Is the design still supported by Racing Green?

Actually the blue car in question is not bad, but I think I can do better. It is overall pretty good but needs a lot of titivation to get back to perfect.

Nic

Stunned Monkey

351 posts

210 months

Tuesday 25th July 2023
quotequote all
Nice to see my video getting some views smile It's finally on the road as of a week ago too.

The head is made by Ultimate Performance, so the idea of needing dowels to locate the cam bearing caps has probaby been put to bed to their satisfaction on other heads they've designed.

The simplex chain mod is a poorly thought-through solution to a simple problem. It's totally backwards to reduce the most heavily loaded chain on the whole engine to simplex, all so the sprockets can be removed in situ and to "fix" the half-time bearing. They even admit the cam sprockets experience accelerated wear. Here's what I did:

1) Turn down the original sprockets to allow them to be removed in situ.

https://www.facebook.com/mys6cerbera/posts/pfbid0v...

2) Bore out the half time sprocket and fit roller bearings and a spacer

https://www.facebook.com/mys6cerbera/posts/pfbid0o...

On re-mapping: I've fitted refurbed Bosch 791 brown tops from a 993 turbo (handily available in sets of 6) and an adjustable regulator which I'm running at 2.9 Bar to approximate the original injectors. My adaptives are working hard but seem to be happy within their window, at least for the running-in period. There is a nasty flat spot between 1500-2000rpm which I was warned to expect. I'll be sending the car to Joolz for a re-map on the original MBE once it's run in. The Syvecs system was a complete non-starter for me as it relies on a single lambda sensor to monitor both banks, which means half your engine could go very wrong and you'd never know.