F355 coil-on-plug conversion

You are right of course. There's a lot that I need to learn. The car seems to be running OK but after hearing all of the "seat of the pants" perceived start, idle, off idle and smoothness claims (as well as neatening up of my engine bay, I thought that I would like the results.
One other thing. My 355 spark plug cover plate looks like all the ones that I have seen photos of but does not have the five valve script. Does that pinpoint the year of my engine?
Thanks

 

By the way, I am in Orange County, Southern Calif. Any of you experienced folks near by?

 

Post a picture of the engine compartment, but can't you just look at your vehicle title or registration papers? What did the seller state as your model year? How does one purchase a car and not even know what year it is?

 

As you might guess from my "handle" and my initial post, I do not have a Ferrari 355 car. I have a 355 drivetrain in a replica 1966 Ferrari P4 race car. My car was initiated in England in 2007 I believe and came to Arizona to be completed by a shop there. I purchased it a year ago but they didn't know the origins of the 355 components. My car does not have the stock Motronics 2.7 or 5.2 for any number of reasons but the one that I am familiar with is that my engine does not utilize the intake system from the filter boxes, the MAF sensor or the intake plenums because the rear deck of the car would no close with the plenums in place. Therefore, I have the 8 individual stacks with filter screens installed. As a result, with no MAF sensor for an enclosed intake system, I have a totally different ECU from ProEFI in Mesa Arizona. This is why I can't strictly follow this thread CoP conversion but want to learn what I can and glean the elements that do apply to my situation.
I'm not smart but I'm not a dumbass, who bought a stock vehicle without knowing the year, either.

 

Sorry never saw your original post explaining your car. Your engine block number, and photos of as much of the engine as possible may explain its production period. There may be telltale fittings on the heads for sensors unique to 2.7 versus 5.2 that would help determine it. I don't have the expert eye, but by scanning photos of both engines on line through google searches should narrow it, as should the engine block number

I would suggest starting a new thread in the 355 section to do this, as this thread is now going off in a different direction.

 

Did you check this?

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Looking from below on a 2.7...

Image Unavailable, Please Login

If you have no sensors fitted, then I probably wouldn't go by the number of holes in the crankcase. I don't know if they blank off one of the holes on the 5.2 with a coverplate or if the block is cast differently.

 

I an still interested in the 355 CoP conversion and know to learn all I can even if it doesn't directly apply to my project. Hope these photos come through.
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That is amazing. Please start a new, separate thread for this car! It deserves its own thread.

 

man I wish I could have unseen that. Now I want to build something similar.

 

It looks like Ferrari have ground off (cut off) the mounting point for the lower crank sensor on the 5.2 engine.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Another view for ya.
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I purchased one Ferrari 360 CoP unit (from Latvia) to experiment with as to fit. What I discovered was that the actual contact with the plug top is not what I am used to (a metal clip-on connector, but a coiled spring. I first thought that the spring had to snap over the nose on the plug but that wcould damage the spring at removal so I am now thinking that the actual connection is simply the spring being compressed against the top of the plug. This might be born out by the fact that the coils get bolted to cam covers or such in order to maintain the spring compression. What is your understanding and what kind of connection do your motorcycle coils have. Seems to me that the snap on type of connection would not need bolting down (standard remote coil plug cable connectors don't require bolting down}. Do the motorcycle CoP units bolt down or just snap on?
Also, would like to hear from all of the folks performing the CoP conversion as to which coils they selected and why. I tend towards the 360 coils because they are proven Ferrari and I plan to bore holes in the stock plug covers to let the coil be exposed to less temperature and straight forward electrical connection. I don't like to "mess up" the Ferrari cover plate but it seems the best approach to me.
P.S. I currently have aluminum stand-off spacers beneath the plug covers to allow me room to separate the plug wires from each other because "old school" tells me to keep the wires from touching each other.

 

The coils used by Jeff, attach to the top of the spark plugs threaded post (you have to unscrew the nut and remove it). You really need to reread the entire thread and take notes....the information is there if you read it.

 

That's like trying to read the COVID Relief Bill. I was hoping for a synopsis of the latest info

 

Jeff,
Trying to understand this.
Correct me where I go wrong.
You are using one, 4 channel, Dis4 plus spark box. I assume that the box has 4, 12V, output wires. Do you split each output to fire 2 coils in the wasted spark arrangement where one coil is firing on a cylinder that is at the top of the compression cycle and the other coil is firing on it's cylinder's exhaust cycle ?
I guess that the "box" knows (is set ) to fire every 360 rather than the required 720 degrees.
Do I have this right? What cylinders get wired together. Are they on opposite banks and, if so, did you mount the box in a central location or just run some longer wires to the opposite side of the engine?
I believe that you mounted your coils under the stock cover plate so, did you run the 12V wires to the coil connectors though the old 4 plug wire gromet ports at the back of the heads up to each coil?
Any photos? Thanks for any help.

 

What are you using for engine management

 

Engine management systems are a very weak area of my expertise. The folks that took on the assembly of this project in Arizona decided on a local company called PROEFI. The Ferrari production unit (either Bosch Motronic 2.7 or 5.2 could not be utilized because those systems utilize a Mass Air Flow sensor located in the air intake plumbing that can't be utilized with this car because of rear deck clearance issues. Without cutting a large hole in the rear deck for the air plenums. I don't know specifically how they work around this, and other, deletions as it was all decided before I got involved.. We do have ambient air and exhaust gas sensors. I took the car to a chassis dyno tune guy in Huntington Beach, Calif. and he seemed impressed with the capabilities.

 

Jeff, I found the 2 videos interesting. It seems that wasted spark is a result of having one coil used to fire more than one cylinder. I'm not clear on why not use the proper number of coils. The crank wheel would tell the ECU the correct time to fire and the cam wheel would tell which of those 2 180 degree positions was compression. The cam wheel could do all of this by itself since it rotates at 1/2 engine speed.
My car has 8 coils but I still have a wasted spark system - I will need to look into that.
You didn't say how you ran your 12V leads to the coils under the factory cover plate.