360 story and engine rebuild

[Bebs]

Thanks for the comments guys, I hadn’t realised my little inconspicuous thread had made it all the way to the PH news page

In case anyone missed it, here is the link to the first engine start up!

https://youtu.be/0Gl4TnsGuik

[Bebs]

trackdemon said:

Great stuff Brian! good to see old red is still in rude health; I'm just surprised the mileage isn't higher On serious note, would you be interested in doing a magazine feature with her once the weather improves?

Hey mate how are you?
Other cars got in the way of the miles
Yup, happy to participate in spring/summer. She won’t be back with me for some time yet.
PM me for contact details

[Bebs]

LordHaveMurci said:

What a great thread, thanks for sharing the journey with us, lots of luck both good & bad but the end result should be amazing!

Are you planning to dyno it once it's run in?

We might do that yes. Would be interesting to see what it puts out.

[Bebs]

RelentlessForwardProgress said:

By the way, did you show a B5 touring back on the first page? Any chance of a thread for that or some more info. I take it it’s had the correct oil filters through it’s life!

Well spotted, yes that’s my E61 B5 #048.
Funny you should mention oil filter.. no is the answer! It had the e61 550 oil filter in it when I bought it... not the correct 545i filter! I changed the supercharger because of that. Luckily the Alpina supercharger is available at European dealers for £2200. Not the £4500 that BMW UK wanted, for the exact same part. I raised this issue with Alpina themselves and their reply was that BMW UK set their own prices and nothing they could do about it.. what a rip off! It’s ridiculous but sadly it is true for a great deal of high end stuff imported into the UK. Take Miele white goods for example.. we bought all ours in Belgium for close to half the UK price. I tend to refer to it as the ‘island tax’.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to rent a van and pop over the channel and back again the same day.

Edited by Bebs on Monday 17th February 13:19

[Bebs]

V8 FOU said:

Very interesting thread.
FYI, scored cranks from a bad seal can have a sleeve fitted. There is a company who make these - you glue a very thin sleeve on the crank and the seal will cope with a 1mm increase in diameter easily.

It was certainly an option we considered initially, but given the mileage, we decided to strip the engine. Now, on reflection, I’m glad we did. With the issues found it was clearly a ticking time bomb.

[Bebs]

Just emailed you Steve

[Bebs]

Girthsham said:

Not pistonhead related but a link to this would be good. Thanks

Just do a search for Miele on Belgian websites (.be). Exchange rate not as good now as when we bought at 1.4 but it’s still far cheaper in Belgium/Holland. High end Hans Grohe bathroom taps is another example.. £600 in the UK, £350 in Holland, identical item. Go figure. I could go on and on.

[Bebs]

Thank you guys for all your positive comments. The feedback is much appreciated and it’s great to know the thread is of interest to some PHers at least.

[Bebs]

Angelis said:

That's what happened to my 360 a few months ago. Gearbox oil in the coolant and coolant in the gearbox.

All fixed by AV Engineering as well

Hey Sy

At least you now know why I had to cancel various events last year

[Bebs]

Thanks Luke and Roadrunner. Really nice to know the thread is of interest. We could very well have exchanged thoughts on cigars Luke

[Bebs]

ooid said:

Thanks for sharing the story, great read. If I remember correctly, you also shared your 996 rebuild (hartech) a few years ago here? How was it so far, would you say it behaved well after the rebuild? or similar 996 issues came back?

Blimey, you have an excellent memory! Yes I had Hartech rebuild the M96 engine after a valve dropped in. It was lovely after that. Sold it due to lack of space during a house renovation and then made room for a Granturismo S.

[Bebs]

Engine is being run in at the moment plus a number of other little fixes being completed. Obviously not much is happening currently due to the lockdown but signs are good that the engine is in fine health following the rebuild.
I will update further when I have something tangible to post.
Thanks for the interest.

[Bebs]

Just a quick update on this thread. Covid-19 obviously put somewhat of a halt to proceedings on finishing the car. However, AV have kept at it and the car is now finished and ready. I visited AV recently for a test drive.

Far more work and attention has been undertaken in addition to the engine rebuild and gearbox stripdown. Everything on the car has been inspected and assessed. I wanted the car to as good as new and if I’m honest, it’s actually most certainly better! The clutch has never been this easy to operate (soft as butter), the handling is unbelievably sharp yet smooth and steady, but the biggest difference by far, is the engine. Some of you may have already read Aldous’s blog about ECU mapping:

https://aldousvoice.com/2020/06/01/ferrari-360-eng...

The retiming of the engine that AV undertook, combined with the correct ECU map, tailored precisely to my car, has completely transformed the power unit, and I don’t say this lightly! (I’ve gotten to know the 360 engine quite well over 105,000 miles and in addition have driven many other 360s).
It simply is not the same car to drive, the instant access to power is incredible.. no lag, no waiting at low rpms, touch the throttle just lightly and it’s off like a scalded cat. I used to describe my 360 as ballerina, light on its feet and incredibly nimble... it still is, but with the added bonus of a Saturn V rocket behind the seats. It has absolutely transformed the car and I cannot wait to collect it and put some serious mileage on it once again. Bravo AV Engineering!

[Bebs]

There are loads of photos on the earlier part of this thread. Apart from the mechanical engine rebuild and engine bay restoration, much of the further updates and work was replacing worn suspension, AC compressor, wheel hub, clutch/flywheel/release bearing, gearbox cassette inspection and so on, on a like for like basis so not much to see there.

Recently I’ve been putting some mileage on the car and I’m still blown away by the power train transformation and handling. It seriously is hard to believe that this is the same car that went into AV Engineering for a timing belt service!

[Bebs]

pauloroberto said:

Fascinating thread.
Dare I ask what the work cost?

It won’t make any sense to put a total figure on here as so many additional things not listed on this thread have been done to the car to bring it up to ‘as new condition’

With regards to the actual engine rebuild the fixed labour cost was 45 hours at AV Engineering’s standard hourly rate to remove, strip down, assess, rebuild and refit engine. Obviously this is plus parts, which all depends on what exactly needs replacing. 8-10K in parts just for the engine is probably not far off the mark for mine.