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Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

roadandtrack.com

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Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#101

Post by nmhancoc »

mannykannot wrote: post #74
nimbius wrote: post #12

hi, im a professional diesel engine mechanic and can easily explain what youre hearing. Most italian/european sports cars (with the exception of Mercedes in the past 3 years because American customers) have machined their crankshafts as "flatplane" cranks. Flat-plane cranks, no matter what firing order they have, will always alternate from bank to bank. This yields optimum exhaust scavenging and thus doesn't require…

Thanks for summarizing the main points of the article so concisely. The article also points out that GMs LT6 flat-plane V8 for the Corvette Z06 has a sound different from the F355, this apparently being deliberate design choice made by choosing which harmonics to emphasize in the exhaust system. You say that flat-plane engines do not require the complex header primaries that have to cross over from one bank to the ot…

Not the one you were responding to, just a car nerd.

> You say that flat-plane engines do not require the complex header primaries that have to cross over from one bank to the other, but AFAIK typical road car and truck V8s do not have such headers[1]. Would the purpose of such headers be to give a cross-plane V8 scavenging about as good as a flat-plane one, all else being equal?

Yes, but as you point out deployments of this technique are limited due to packaging, cost, and even other performance parameters. See the GT40 “bundle of snake” headers for an example.

For a notable example of the other performance parameters, exhaust header lengths are tuned to the powerband of the engine such that shorter headers are more efficient at higher RPMs and longer headers at higher RPMs. This can even get into resonant effects as with intake runners. It’s difficult to design cross bank headers short enough to suit modern high-rpm engines, with the exception of the “hot-V”, exhaust inside intake outside, concept deployed on German V8s from BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche on the 918 (though the latter is a flatplane crank).

> In that case, would the cross-plane engine lose most of its distinctive sound?

Yes

Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#102

Post by vr46 »

mulmen wrote: post #94
vr46 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VFR had such a great unique sound, could hear them approaching in the city. I had a 1998 which didn’t last too long but it was fabulous sounding. Only four cylinder bike I owned, it’s been twins all the way for me otherwise and for my ears, nothing beats the V-twin grin :) But older VFRs before they got heavy are wonderful. On the subject of the article, I hooned an F355 around Silverstone and while it sounded go…

The VFR400 ran for three generations (NC21, NC24, NC30) from 1986 to 1992. The successor was the RVF400 (NC35) which had a similar (same? different cams?) engine to the NC30 but a different intake and tank and inverted forks. It only ran as late as 1996. There were complimentary VFR750s for some of those years, including as late as 1998. Was your VFR a 400 or 750? If it was a 750 you had one highly desirable bike. Fr…

I had an 800 and it was slow and heavy to my mind, was not devastated when it was stolen.

We didn’t see too many 400s in the UK, I think they were all unofficial imports but was a long time ago to remember.

Mate has a VTR1000 Firestorm if that’s what you meant? Outstanding bike, extremely hard to keep under 100mph, fuel tank was genuinely stupidly small. The SP1 and 2 were the superbikes IIRC and different beasts to the Firestorm, never had the pleasure of riding one of the superbikes. But yes, a Duke 998 over an SP1 I think.

Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#103

Post by mulmen »

vr46 wrote: post #102
mulmen wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VFR400 ran for three generations (NC21, NC24, NC30) from 1986 to 1992. The successor was the RVF400 (NC35) which had a similar (same? different cams?) engine to the NC30 but a different intake and tank and inverted forks. It only ran as late as 1996. There were complimentary VFR750s for some of those years, including as late as 1998. Was your VFR a 400 or 750? If it was a 750 you had one highly desirable bike. Fr…

I had an 800 and it was slow and heavy to my mind, was not devastated when it was stolen. We didn’t see too many 400s in the UK, I think they were all unofficial imports but was a long time ago to remember. Mate has a VTR1000 Firestorm if that’s what you meant? Outstanding bike, extremely hard to keep under 100mph, fuel tank was genuinely stupidly small. The SP1 and 2 were the superbikes IIRC and different beasts to…

The RC51 was the successor to the RVF750R (RC45) which was the successor to the VFR750R (RC30) and was built to beat Ducati at their own game in the superbike world championship. In the US the RC51 was called the RVT1000R, in the UK and Australia it was called the VTR1000 SP1 or SP2. The VTR1000 Firestorm (SuperHawk in the US) is a different bike, not intended for racing homologation but designed for the street. The VFR800 was a sport touring bike, very different from the RC30. The NC30 and NC35 VFR400s were sold legitimately in the UK after several years of grey import but were unreasonably expensive. My 1991 VFR400 was originally sold in Japan (1991 was JP-only), was imported to the UK (grey) and made it to the US as soon as it was 25.

These bikes were the end of an era. After the RC51 Honda went to the inline-four CBR1000RR Fireblade and never looked back.

Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#104

Post by cdot2 »

afguoibiobio wrote: post #36
qbasic_forever wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans like it because when you sit in a big V8 and smash the accelerator it jolts you forward and pins you in the seat while the engine is roaring like a lion. It's fun, like going down a hill in a rollercoaster. That's really all there is to it. Hearing it makes you think of the fun yourself.

A "dinky", "small-displacement", "underpowered" European or Japanese sports car will do the same job. There are many replacements for displacement. The American preference for big, heavy vehicles with big, heavy engines is just aesthetic.

You can't get the sort of low end torque with a turbocharged i4 that you can with a large displacement V8 even if they both have the same peak horsepower. More low end torque give a better throttle response and different characteristics than more high revving engines.

Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#105

Post by lutorm »

mulmen wrote: post #93
lutorm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have exactly the same bike as well! :)

Cool! I have had trouble finding Bridgestone Battlax tires for it. I still have a decent pair on the bike but they won't last much longer. There are some tires available domestically that are close but nothing is quite right. I have had great luck getting parts from Rick Oliver and occasionally Aliexpress. They are from a sweet spot in history. There was adequate technology to make them reliable and high performance…

Where are you located? Here in the US they're incredibly rare and except parts that were used on other bikes that were actually sold in the US, you pretty much have to order from the UK. I had to order my BT-090's from thevisorshop.com and ship from the UK. Stupidly expensive...

My NC30 is actually an EFI conversion project running Megasquirt. I got tired of trying to get to the carbs... ;-)

Re: Why the Ferrari F355 sounds so good

#106

Post by mulmen »

lutorm wrote: post #105
mulmen wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool! I have had trouble finding Bridgestone Battlax tires for it. I still have a decent pair on the bike but they won't last much longer. There are some tires available domestically that are close but nothing is quite right. I have had great luck getting parts from Rick Oliver and occasionally Aliexpress. They are from a sweet spot in history. There was adequate technology to make them reliable and high performance…

Where are you located? Here in the US they're incredibly rare and except parts that were used on other bikes that were actually sold in the US, you pretty much have to order from the UK. I had to order my BT-090's from thevisorshop.com and ship from the UK. Stupidly expensive... My NC30 is actually an EFI conversion project running Megasquirt. I got tired of trying to get to the carbs... ;-)

I’m in Seattle. The shop I bought it from had two. They specialize in importing “classic” foreign vehicles that were never sold here. Mostly kei cars from Japan.

When I did the valve adjustment I asked for parts for some other Honda that was sold in the US. There’s only two diameters of shim so once you find a compatible model you just order parts for that. Same for oil filters and non-exotic parts. Other than that you’re calling Rick.

My carbs work perfectly and I refuse to ask or answer any further questions on the topic ;)

Thanks for the tip on thevisorshop.com.

I'm intrigued by the EFI conversion. That seems like a big project. If you want to chat more send an email to my username at the domain in my profile.

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