Ferrari

Bringing American Ingenuity...to an Italian Masterpiece

Ferrari

Whether you want to make some performance modifications, freshen up your guides and seats, or just routine maintenance, we will treat your cylinder heads as if they came off of our own pride and joy. The majority of our experience with Ferraris to date is with the 308, 328, 348, 355 and 360.

This head is finished and getting ready for final assembly.

308 HEAD REPAIR

The 308 engine comes equipped with hollow stem, sodium filled exhaust valves. Not only is this a weak link, but should the sodium come in contact with water during a failure, the reaction is extremely violent. There are very few builders using sodium filled valves today for this reason. We replace all 308 intake and exhaust valves with stainless, and have found that there is even room to increase the head diameter by a millimeter or two. The larger valve along with some porting seems to show a worthy improvement in air flow.

Here's a 308 head being flow tested after receiving the larger valves and some extensive flow work. Every Ferrari head is meticulously tested before leaving the shop.

Here's a 308 head finished and ready to be shipped back to it's owner. Larger valves were installed and the heads were fully ported. Even the lash was set so the heads are ready to bolt on.

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From Stock Restoration to Race Only applications, I can improve and maximize the efficiency of any cylinder head, stock or aftermarket. Achieve increased horsepower and improved fuel economy. I have experience with virtually all makes and brands.

355 / 360 HEAD REPAIR

The 355 is a 3.5 litre engine with a 5 valve per cylinder, dual over head cam cylinder head. It really is a very impressive design with one exception; in the early models, Ferrari used the same soft copper alloy valve guides that they used in the earlier 2 and 4 valve 308 and 328 heads, and they have a very short life expectancy. We replace these with a much higher quality manganese-bronze guide that will take whatever you can give it (see photo below). We also replace the stock valves with custom high performance stainless valves.

Here's a 355 head with the new valve guides. The seats are finished with a 3-angle valve-job where there was only a single angle seat in stock form. We also hand-polish the chambers to a high luster as a final touch. It's this attention to detail that sets us apart from the competition.

The guides we custom build to replace the non-flanged iron guides when necessary. Notice the small round "bump" we leave to insure the guide can not walk down into the head.

This 355 head is finished and getting ready for final assembly.

The copper colored valve guide on the far left is the original guide used in the early 355s and is made of a copper alloy material. This is a soft material that causes the guide to wear quickly and fail prematurely. The guide in the center is made of iron and came standard in the head that Ferrari used in the later 355s and 360s and also when they had to replace heads with failed copper alloy guides. The iron guides seem to hold up well and rarely need replacing. Notice, however, how it is straight with no flange. This could allow the guide to "walk" down into the heads and cause severe damage, especially if an engine were to overheat. On the far right is the manganese- bronze guide we use to replace the original flanged guide.

Just for fun: It's not everyday one gets a look at a 355 / 360 Ferrari camshaft, so here's a good shot of it. This cam design is an engineering marval. Look closely at the lobes; the center lobe looks normal, but the outer two lobes are conically ground to match the compound angle of the valves.

Here you can see our custom stainless valves available at a very reasonable price.