Hello! and Ferrari 512M project

[Rod Brace]

Welcome! Looking forward to your build.

 

[james woolley]

This is going to be a great build. I too am a big big fan of the 512M, as well as the F360. Matter of fact a 360 engine and manual gearbox was purchased for my SLC as the original thought on the powertrain. Reaity struck, and I figured (for me) I'd bit off all I could chew with the heavy body modifications I envisioned. So ended up with the comparatively mundane LS7 package.

Still have intent on using an F360 or the much less expensive Maserati variant in something, so I will be watching with max interest as you make your way through.
Best of luck.

PS Please post some pictures of the RC bodies you made. I was an 1/8 scale gas racer in my youth!

Hi Mesa - yeah Tamiya played a large part in my upbringing! the 512 and 917 models I made were 1/10 and could fit touring car chassis or tamiya 'group c' chassis... i made about 20 of each and sold most. you need to make thousands really to make it viable financially - I did this just for the exercise really... the ferrari had 3d printed wheels and spoiler

 

[james woolley]

1/1 scale 512 design is coming along and keeping me sane ish during lockdown... I have ordered a seat from tillet and deciding on pedal box. I think the car used a 320mm steering wheel but not found any firm reference to back this up. I will make a cardboard one to start with.. aim is to mock up driving position to check I can actually get in the car... it will be a close thing...

 

[Udo Selter]

Welcome James, Really looking forward to following this build. I love these, especially the one that Penske / Donohue raced.
It's going to be great!
Regards, Udo.

 

[james woolley]

thanks Udo - the penske car is awesome - Donohues book 'the unfair advantage' is an essential read for folk like us if you havnt already read it..
it details the story behind the 512 that they built and raced. incidentally the tail section I have came from a mould taken from the penske car. it has some unique details that are only present on that car. it came from a uk specialist that restored the penske 512... sadly he no longer has the mould.

 

[Gavin]

thanks Udo - the penske car is awesome - Donohues book 'the unfair advantage' is an essential read for folk like us if you havnt already read it..
it details the story behind the 512 that they built and raced. incidentally the tail section I have came from a mould taken from the penske car. it has some unique details that are only present on that car. it came from a uk specialist that restored the penske 512... sadly he no longer has the mould.

Hi, I am also looking into building a 512. Have available a full original body, new wheels, V12 with slide injection, and a few other bits. I would be very interested in finding out if your chap in the UK has any more uprights or access to patterns, another front screen or whereabouts of a genuine transaxle. I'm a kiwi in the US. Thanks

 

[Troy]

Talk to RCR, they should be able to help you out.

 

[james woolley]

Hi, I am also looking into building a 512. Have available a full original body, new wheels, V12 with slide injection, and a few other bits. I would be very interested in finding out if your chap in the UK has any more uprights or access to patterns, another front screen or whereabouts of a genuine transaxle. I'm a kiwi in the US. Thanks

thats great Gavin - will be interesting to see another 512 project.

there may be a set of un-machined magnesium uprights available in the uk.. they are the only 512 pieces that I didnt buy as I preferred to accept the weight penalty of ali at a lower cost. if i recall he wanted around 3k uk pounds.

windscreen is available from pilkington classic glass made to order - it took about 9 months for them to make mine but now they dug out the tool perhaps they will be quicker. it cost about 850uk pounds.

I doubt there are any original moulds remaining however various owners have made moulds from their cars... i know of no original drawings or pattens of the 512m - only moulds taken from privately owned cars.

I asked fran at RCR about 512 moulds however he said there was nothing left as they were damaged a while ago and scrapped.

are you using a ferrari engine? Im considering a maserati V8 with ITB as seems good bhp per buck... v12 would be nice tho.
also - do you have 512 wheels? they are really rare.

I know of a company that can make anything for the 512 but only if you own an original car. the moment you mention replica they wont help. progress on my car is paused as work means no spare time for CAD work. im close to being happy with the frame design tho and will be going to see an original car soon to take some measurements / pictures. would love to see some pics of your project if you would be so kind... will give me a kick up the ass to get on with mine!

 

[Gavin]

thats great Gavin - will be interesting to see another 512 project.

there may be a set of un-machined magnesium uprights available in the uk.. they are the only 512 pieces that I didnt buy as I preferred to accept the weight penalty of ali at a lower cost. if i recall he wanted around 3k uk pounds.

windscreen is available from pilkington classic glass made to order - it took about 9 months for them to make mine but now they dug out the tool perhaps they will be quicker. it cost about 850uk pounds.

I doubt there are any original moulds remaining however various owners have made moulds from their cars... i know of no original drawings or pattens of the 512m - only moulds taken from privately owned cars.

I asked fran at RCR about 512 moulds however he said there was nothing left as they were damaged a while ago and scrapped.

are you using a ferrari engine? Im considering a maserati V8 with ITB as seems good bhp per buck... v12 would be nice tho.
also - do you have 512 wheels? they are really rare.

I know of a company that can make anything for the 512 but only if you own an original car. the moment you mention replica they wont help. progress on my car is paused as work means no spare time for CAD work. im close to being happy with the frame design tho and will be going to see an original car soon to take some measurements / pictures. would love to see some pics of your project if you would be so kind... will give me a kick up the ass to get on with mine!

Hi, Thanks for the lead on the glass. It seems like a very good price for what is basically a 1 off. Yes using a Ferrari V12 with the slide injection. Not sure about the wheels, they came with everything else but dont appear to have had tires fitted. I would be very interested in the contact or the uprights if you could share as the cost of making new ones would be similar.

 

[Leon]

The 512 has always been a favorite of mine as well but trying to find Ferrari bits in NZ would be a mission. I can tell you from experience that making patterns to make parts is satisfying but so much work if you can buy the parts then do it. Looking forward to watching the progress. Another little bit of advice, don't put a time line or budget on yourself, you will just end up disappointed.

Cheers Leon

 

[Gavin]

The 512 has always been a favorite of mine as well but trying to find Ferrari bits in NZ would be a mission. I can tell you from experience that making patterns to make parts is satisfying but so much work if you can buy the parts then do it. Looking forward to watching the progress. Another little bit of advice, don't put a time line or budget on yourself, you will just end up disappointed.

Cheers Leon

Yep, I have done a lot of patternmaking and know how long it can take. I've also built 4 Sakers, a few specials and a couple of Sports racers as well as restoring various cars so i know what I'm getting into.

 

[Leon]

Sounds like you know your stuff, so I'm expecting an awesome project. Can.t wait to see the photos

Cheers Leon

 

[Simon]

@james woolley, how is the build going? I now own the 512 Gavin was mentioning. I would love to share notes along the way.

 

[Neil]

hello everyone please allow me to introduce myself - I am a design engineer from the uk and I am working on a project to design and build a Ferrari 512M replica.

I am a huge fan for the big engined sportscar GT40 era machinery and can tell I am in good company here! the wealth of information and skill on show in this forum is astounding…. every inspiring!

so my project began when I had some time out from work with which i decided to design and make 1/10 scale RC car bodies of the ferrari 512S coda lunga and porsche 917…
I got a lot of satisfaction from designing and manufacturing the model car bodies and I started dreaming of moving to 1:1 scale…

around this time I found a great guy up in scotland who was selling an Ultima based project with a set of 512M bodywork made from moulds taken from and original car and using 5.7l ferrari V12 engine…
whilst this was indeed a unique chance to buy a great start point I was convinced that I wanted to build my own chassis so we couldn’t come to a deal and I started making enquiries elsewhere.

then I got lucky…. I asked a well established Ferrari specialist in the uk who had a lot of experience on 512 restoration and operation if he had any old parts left over or knew who might have pattern parts or pieces available.
the reply led to my acquisition of the following parts…

front and rear clip
one door skin
set of magnesium wheels
windscreen
car set of aluminium un-machined uprights.

so now I have the basis of a 1:1 scale ferrari 512M!

the intention is to build a car thats generally true to the original design however with some simplification / redesign to take an un-stressed Ferrari 360 V8 and a centrally mounted fuel tank rather than pontoon tanks.

I have schemed out a basic chassis using 35mm diameter steel tubes and intend to do a basic stress analysis to see if I can reduce some tube diameters of where I should be reinforcing. It will be a semi-monocoque with Aluminium skin as per the original car.

I will be looking for a chassis fabricator once I have a complete set of drawings so I would be very interested in any recommendations from people here who have done this kind of thing…

I would be interested to see if there are some general rules of thumb builders are using for tube diameters on parts like wishbones / radius arms & drag links… its very similar to a GT40 / T70 in geometry.

Im designing hubs to fit the original wheels that work in the cast uprights I have that will be machined to suit..

I am planning to use a Titan steering rack as they seem to be the people to go to.

currently i plan to mock the car up in my kitchen and confirm overall dimensions and driving position.

I would be very interested to hear if anyone has installation drawings for the Ferrari 360 engine - I currently intend to use the 360 drive train too - however it results in a quite high driveshaft angle (around 6 degrees) but i think the original car also had that issue so might be ok..

I used an app on my iPhone to do some rough scans of the body panels the results of which are shown in the pics!

this is my first ground up car project so any advice and recommendations would be very welcome.

thanks & best regards,

james.

This is a link to Chapter 16 of Kirk White's book "Don't Wash Mine", a story of his career with classic cars, his dealership, and Ferraris. This chapter tells of his involvement with Roger Penske and a Sunoco Ferrari 512M at Daytona. Read the whole book if you have time.

Chapter 16