Ferrari Mailing List: Re: [NFC] Four-wheeled brick

[Peter Rychel (dino308gt4]

Britt wrote:

" … ( imagine if the total chemical nature of gasoline changed every 8-10 years and your car and all its sensors had to work on this “ new” fuel or you still had to be able to buy the old stuff……)
I don’t know how it’s going to work out but batteries in cars isn’t going away….. and batteries do wear out….."

Actually this is happening.

I'm seeing this in my Mondial.

I've got it laid up for the winter and am tackling service work and repairing some issues. I have the gas tank out to do the timing belt, water pump, coolant hoses, etc.

As of 2023, Canada has legislated - across the board. Coast to coast - all gasoline MUST have ethanol (up to 10%). We were lucky here in BC that there were still a couple of stations selling the high-test stuff as non-ethanol, but not anymore. I pulled the fuel pumps out... you'd be shocked at the level of corrosion on the components inside...

At least I have sourced out replacements that fit and flow correctly (that are rated for use with ethanol) but first snag is the rubber isolator that the pump fits into. Surprise, surprise, what's available from any of the suppliers is NOT compatible with ethanol-content fuels. Mine are cracked and hard. Thank you very much.

Not to mention ALL of the metric fuel hoses are, what I have to safely assume, are the originals and I've got my work cut out for me this winter. I'm planning to convert all connections to AN-6 so that I can use the highest of spec E85 compatible hoses and fittings.

I don't want to stoke fear, but your 512 TR is from this same generation and Europe & Canada have a hard-on for going "green". You have fair warning to use your car accordingly.

There's plenty of talk that ethanol content will only increase with time. The higher the percentage, the leaner the fuel becomes. 10% is okay for now, but anything more and old cars like these will run too lean. Our cars use narrow-band O2 sensors, so the ECU's can only trim fuel rates slightly either way. I've been gathering up info on how to extract and flash the EPROM chips in these Bosch Motronic ECU's, so that they will be able to run a correct mixture (even with E10, the correct ratio is not 14.7:1 but more like 14.1:1). 

When I get back to my 308 GT4, I'm in the process of future-proofing it with full electronic engine management.

I don't think people realize how big of a change (and not in a good way) is coming. We have the first taste of it now.

Peter

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From: Ferrari <ferrari-bounces+dino308gt4=hotmail.com [at] ferrarilist.com> on behalf of BRITT ROTHMAN via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: December 16, 2023 9:10 AM
To: PeterGT4 <dino308gt4 [at] hotmail.com>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] [NFC] Four-wheeled brick

 

I don’t think anyone will have a choice. Everything is going to batteries like it or not. Somebody will need to start thinking about how to replace battery packs that sre built into the chassis of cars. The cost of the batteries is rapidly coming down but they still wear out due to heat, fast charging, using more than 80% of the gross capacity ect…. Just like your iPhone battery…, nobody is going to throw out a 296 after 10-15 years do something will have to be done to be able to swap in a new battery pack. And seeing that battery technology is changing so quickly, somebody will have to engineer a backwards comparable battery … ( imagine if the total chemical nature of gasoline changed every 8-10 years and your car and all its sensors had to work on this “ new” fuel or you still had to be able to buy the old stuff…… )

I don’t know how it’s going to work out but batteries in cars isn’t going away….. and batteries do wear out…..

Sent from my iPhone