Boxer Rebellion: a drive to save our sanity

A quick canter through the countryside.
All 3 cars were running modern rubber and exhausts that flow and sound nice without being too loud.
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Great from every angle.
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That picture is truly Art.

 

The "orange" really ties the 3 Boxers together. Nice picture.

 

Great looking cars, enjoy it in good health

 

Gorgeous cars!

 

Looks like that would be so much fun.

 

Back roads of NW Ct for about 2hrs. Even the roads that can get trafficky later in the am were open. It was pretty much all 3rd and 4th gear stuff, I think I went to 5th maybe once or twice.
The three of us all comented that its a pity so few boxers actualy get really excercised. Its quite a sight when you exit a bend flat in 3rd shift into 4th plant the pedal again, grab a quick look in the rearview mirror to see another boxer coming out the bend charging towards you. These cars also have amazing overtaking capability esp in 3rd and 4th, perfect for those short gaps on small roads. Many a smaller displacement "faster" car has to wind up to pass, whereas the boxer has all that 2 valve Tq.
Its really an imersive exerience, the car requiring so much more of you than a modern, for one, you definitely dont want to be backing off mid bend on a fast sweeper, that means thinking ahead, breathing on the brakes to set the car up for the bend, blipping and downshifting tot he right gear, easing into the throttle to the apex keeping the car settled while beeedign on speed and then comfortably flattening the go pedal off the apex and basting out on to the straight. Lean on the car, push it, get it right and its every bit as quick backroad as any modern can remotely sanely go. The difference is the speed requires 100% more from the driver, than any modern which makes it highly entertaining. Youre also using 80+% of the cars ability which adds to the entertainment.

I always say on the right day on the right roads theres nothing like a boxer. This was that day. Temps started in the mid 50's and went to the mid 60's perfect for engine power, you could comfortably ride with the windows open enjoying the sounds and neither cars not drivers got hot. These cars like good airflow keeping things cool, and not once did we loose airflow. We saw maybe 3 traffic lights the whole run and they were green.
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Time to think of a boxer gathering somewhere apropriate like the hill country of texas or colorado etc.

 

Temperatures make the day. Sounds like you had the right weather.

 

Thanks for the inspiring post guys, I'm not a Boxer owner, but I am a Boxer lover!! That's settled, as I have just got my major service finished on my 348, I'm off for an early morning drive!!

I enjoyed reading the story, sounded like it was the perfect day....

 

My only issue with Canada is the cabinieri there. Whereas I hear the Hill country of Texas is perfect flowing roads, great surface, good sightlines and a somewhat enlightened attitude.

 

Hang on to that steering wheel. You can almost slide into the vacant passenger seat, if you are not careful . fun car.

 

The Silver one has my curiosity - The mirrors and rear bumper/valence are BBi, but the leading edge of the front is missing the clutter of the small running lights, as if it's fitted with a BB bumper/valence, which won't fit because of the BBi's lower radiator framework. I only know this because I tried on 42849, and ended up filling the original's holes for the cleaner look, as you can particularly well see in this pic.

 

You can always tell a BBi from the rear by how close the two covers are to each other and the narrow middle louver. All 3 cars are injected.

 

Here's an example of a carb'd car, note the distance between the black covers on the rear clam.

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yes those seats were not very bolstered, and with more grip its a possible issue.
288 GTO had the same issue, so its good company.

The 288 Boxer comparison is good one. Same era ferraris, same interior controlls. The Boxer came with really crappy wheels and tires, which held the undelaying chassis back. Change those so you can run 17 modern rubber, add an exhaust that lets the motor actualy breathe and sing(stock is s cork for swiss noise and enviro laws), run the mixture towards the lean effcient side of things, then you have most of what a 288 offers(90+%) in terms of driving fun for 7% of the cost. Looks wise yes a 288 has an agression and they're rare, they're also derived from 308s looks wise. The boxer objectively, just as appealing, far less rare, but more origional shape.

Another change to a boxer that really pays dividends is running 100 octane race gas, motor runs cooler, throttle response is even sharper and you dont have to run so rich. These cars really dont like alcohol fuel, theyll work with it, but youre missing 15%. I lalso installed yeas ago a lightweight flywheel from corobu when an old clutch caused heat warping on the stock one. The stock flywheel is so heavy you have to wonder why, esp as the flat 12 has perfect balance. Apparently Ferrai wanted to make the BBs driveable in traffic so the heavy flywheels were thought to make it easier to pull away with low revs. Frankly with a odern clutch the lighetr flywheel makes it easy anyway, and the motor is just that much more snappy and fun.

Hard to describe how great and precise the throttle response is on these cars. I guess 997 Gt3 comes to mind in terms of throttle pedal precision and pickup.
Rollign along backroads in 3rd or 4th with the revs playing between 3500 and 6500 revs is a joy in and of itself, the motor is so smooth and unstrained that its really just the sound that indicates revs.

The ultimate for a BBI is a car Newman redid that I tried, hi comp pistons (ie more than 9:1 comp ratio) and high lift cams(the FI wont tolerate much more overlap but does fine with lift), that ones pulled like a SBC and picked up a greater pull on top. Probably you're going from a real 340 hp to 400 but also picking up a broader powerband esp up top.

All these changes dont change the essential nature of the thing. The wheels and tiress just remove the compromise ferrari made with michelin for F1 support, as opposed to lamo who went to the p7, or the 288 which went modern rubber. The exhaust and flywheel were done to make the cars pass some laws noise and basic emission laws back then. Youre really putting the car to how it was meant to be had ferrari not given up in the maliase era. Basicaly youre talking 365/512 carbed performance, tractable Fi, and tires that do justice to the underlaying chassis.

Nick Masons 512 BBLM, which is essentialy a 400hp BB lightened and with some aero, running race rubber(same chaissis and suspesion) was multiple seconds per lap faster than his F40 same day same driver.

Of all the changes listed above, only the wheels and tires are visible or apparent to any concors jusdge. Even then the image wheels from UK are so close to the originals that its only when you look at the tires you realize it cant be the stock wheels.

Vintage ferrari race car for the road, that can handle and easily keep up if your know what youre doing, that starts and will tolerate traffic if need be. Comfortable to be in for hours on end, but you'll also be really hot inside on a warm(75+) sunny day, so its a cool weather, early am friend.

Im preaching tot he choir, you all already know.

 

The silver car had covers/sheilds over the small running lights which the camera may be hiding.

I think we need to arrange a Bozerpalooza in the hill country of texas?

 

I noted that, as well, but didn't mention it because of the other BBi cues, in contrast to the missing running lights in both the larger group shot, but especially the closer shot in post #9, no matter how closely I look at that edge.

If he hasn't filled them, his covers blend very well.
I'd love to do a Boxer drive, once my everlasting restoration is finished.
Your notes regarding releasing the engine's potential are promising, as we've now got higher compression pistons, headwork, and hotter cams, and a lightened flywheel. Waiting for a header replacement from Tubi - the left-side set wasn't jigged correctly, and hung down an additional 2+ inches by the time the collectors passed under the crossbar.... just in time for the C19 virus shutdown. Ugh.
Is either of the cars running 17 inch wheels running the Group 4 wheels? I've got a set (actually, set & a half) waiting for the rest of the car to be ready.

 

DWhite can answer which type of wheels they are on those cars. I have earlier carobu wheels, work fine and are light but its a 288 style.
One thing I found from driving Newmans Koning, narrower front tires really give you fantastic steering feel, like lotus esp at lower speeds. On my car I went with 245's up front as stock was 240. Next time I will go with 225's up front(maclaren F1 was 235 up front and no one complained about grip there) For the rear 275's fit great and work really well, lets just say while you still wouldnt want to try your luck and back off at the limit mid bend the rear is really planted now and wont bite you.

 

I enjoyed reading this.

Sean,

Try adding beach towels to the seats. It helps. Leather conditioning will only make the sliding problem worse .

 

Willrace, I have the silver boxer in the above photo and I did fill in the front valance flash / passing light holes. When I purchased the car the front and rear valances had a rubber strip across the front edging so when removed I had several holes from the striping. I decided not to go back to the lights since I felt it was too busy looking with the all the different lights and like the cleaner looks of the carbed cars. I also purchased the Cibie Fog light covers since I had to restore a broken lens but again also like the clean look with those covers on as well. I figured I can always have the front valance redone and add the lights back in if I wanted to. Regarding the wheels as with Dave I'm also running the group 4 rims with BF Goodrich g-force sport comp 2's with 245 in the front and 275 in the rear. I like Sean really like the 275 rears and really plants the rear of car through the turns. I've also played with several tire pressure settings and have used 32 lbs front / 34 lbs rear with great results. Sean or Dave might what to chime in on tire pressure's they used as well for comparisons. I also would consider going to 225 fronts the next time around as well. I'm lucky I have the cloth insert seats so I'm not sliding around as much as if all leather.