Ferrari 360 Crankshaft Bearing Failure

Hello and welcome to the forum! Not the best first post as far as things go I guess, right?

My only advice would be to remove it from the dealership and take it to a qualified independent if you have one close by. Prices through a dealer on an older car are almost always going to be way more than what it would cost elsewhere.

 

Maybe take the engine to an independent to rebuild it? Or if you call around perhaps there is one already built somewhere that could take yours as a core. Not sure how much the price would be and ROI on a ~33k mi 360 w/o "original factory" engine....

You could always try and flushing out the particles and replace just the exposed crank bearings and drive it around. See if after another 3k miles you aren't burning oil or have issues.

 

I would go to an indy and get a quote on a rebuild if that's what will make you happy, but if it were me, I'd go used. These cars are not rare, nor do they have 'matching numbers', and as they age, originality will matter less and less. Since you only had the car for a few months, did you get a PPI before buying?

 

Get a good engine from a wreck.

 

try a recycler like Ferr Parts in Sacramento.

 

That doesn't look to bad from the pics, just a normal spun bearing, any good engine builder/ shop can easily re finish the crank and get new bearings and rebuild

 

I would call the bigger ones-

ferr parts

exotic recycling

pacific motors

Tell them what you are looking for.

ideally find one that is a wreck that starts but not drives so you can see oil pressure.

and/
Me personally I’d rebuild my motor as a project as well.
I’ve read you can deck the heads slightly for a little more compression I don’t know how true this is. Perhaps the f car gurus will chime in.

sorry you are in this situation.

 

The answer depends on your situation-

How soon do you need it back in the road?

do you have the space to keep the car apart while you learn to rebuild the engine?

do you have a trusted shop to do this job?



if you get a verifiable running engine out of a wreck then you can work on the swap only

You don’t want to swap in a bad engine..someone knowledgeable will need to inspect that engine.

plenty of options.




Generally in cases like this when I have a car hobby setback— I use it as an opp to learn about new thing and take on rather ambitious endeavors… it is my hobby.. at $200/hr shop rates I’m willing to gamble w my free labor on the outcome


If you have the space time patience and aptitude you can do the tear down and work w a qualified machine shop and rebuild.

but Illl defer to the f car gurus here on if there are some special tools and tricks to make it successful.

Gl

 

That's one has been on ebay forever. I didn't see any compression/leakdown test results. I'd personally pay a few bucks extra for a warranty

 

I don't see your location. My dad sent a Packard crankshaft to be ground on the MD eastern shore ands was really happy. That is saying a lot!

You should replace all the bearings and that rod and get the crank re-ground. Might need undersized bearings. Who knows if they are available from Ferrari.

In theory, you could swap necessary parts from a different engine into yours to keep "numbers" matching.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135255649028?_skw=ferrari+360+crank&itmmeta=01JHR34D1HRBFMWK1TW7MGXRHD&hash=item1f7ddd6b04:g:QLYAAOSwq8Nm6zyb&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKkGtqeXZRFRg3JTfYT0oiGTVJiACak4KZNJrMfdZpF%2BC2%2BKHbiXPypy%2FJq3ONwRXOS6kAydutoYzCq%2FH5JR3OtPnznvRWs%2BOlp9fUjtk1chGV2wbOmoGiHcbWy3N3JRS8F%2FNF8rHceZzYj5VPpjYKp8gL76F7SAN8sLokSmY75QN0%2FCPQAL7ccNB%2BHyUZlNA%2BgvY76SpiXEXnW5X3EaxE6zbXvsfHmZLfKS46a2Y4Z8FNTh%2BI%2BYpjxDCqU0YaycTEA%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4rRkYOOZQ

 

I’ve not done something this involved in an engine but I have gotten very deep into mechanical repairs and I have usually gone the “repair what you have” route and I have enjoyed it a lot. It’s harder and longer but I find it more rewarding to look at the car and be able to say I legitimately repaired the issues ailing it.

usually though about 50% of the way through I almost lose hope and get extremely frustrated.

 

i second this.. worth having the crank inspected to see if this is an option anyway.

 

Agreed.

Just ensure that the block and all passages inside are squeaky clean and free of any metal debris, oil pump and such. Probably replace the oil cooler & lines. Nothing worse than re-building an engine after spending dedicated time/money/energy only to have it fail potentially from debris lodged somewhere that maybe didn't get cleaned out entirely.

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this project. Unfortunate that it happened but keep posting updates.

 

If you were in Colorado I would recommend Geddes Racing Engines for honing the crank and installing the mains. Since you didn't post your location it will be hard to make a recommendation. What you want is precision and proven work with high performance engines and a fixed time table. Been there, done that. You can likely find a top machine shop in every state in the lower 48. Seriously though, get a handful of recommendations and go with one.

Definitely do not do a bearing slap and go. That person is nuts and/or in a chemically altered state. You can see bits of bearing material still stuck to the journal! As the cause of the failure is yet to be determined I'm not there to drag a fingernail across it but I can almost feel the scratches from your picture and it needs to be honed.

That kind of wear in 3K miles makes me question there were no particulates on the drain plug or in the filter prior to your oil change. That is a lot of wear in a short amount of time. If it was an oiling issue you will see evidence of wear on other bearings obviously so keep us informed. Depending on how lubrication flows you might see wear progression increase from the front set of bearings to the rear or vice versa. F131 engines are not known for eating bearings. I'll hold my speculation there.

Oil type, oil weight, and driving habits will have an impact on your bearings namely going too thick and racing it while cold. Do you know much about the history of the car? Reminds me of a video recently posted on Fakebook of someone driving a 430 redlining it in 1st or 2nd gear and the oil temp is still pegged on the 50C line and the owner asked if that could be considered abusive driving...

 

Excuse me for being too paranoic about it but who knows how long very little metal shavings have floated around the engine? I would inspect the camshaft wear too in search for bad marks. An (indesirable) "out of spec" cranckshaft maybe not the only problem. IMHO.

 

I would seriously consider shipping the crank to Marine Crank or another company who can fix them properly. Most local machine shops can't harden or nitride the cranks. You can get new rods where it spun the bearing, not sure about over sized bearing options. So I'd talk to whoever is doing the crank and make sure you can get the bearings to match the crank work.

 

Agree… the small block Chevy method change the bad bearing method may have what lead us to this juncture… get just enough miles to move on….

for something that rev to 8500 you want to ensure all bearings and tolerances are up to spec.

 

Plenty of car people in DFW and Texas in general.

I like your wife. Get a used engine, put it in, drive it while you rebuild the old one.

 

That’s what I would do.