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Welcome aboard Pappy_SP. Glad to have you. You are correct in the acceptance part. You plan would be crucified on other forums but here? No, you are among friends.
I do agree with mk e, transverse mounting is the way, I think making enough room in a Dino for a V8 and gearbox out the back would ruin all of the lines that make those cars what they are.

But a 348 on 328 gearbox sounds like a great plan. You have many many options for added HP on a 348 engine.

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Wade Williams
Master Ferrari Tech
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Engine Machinist
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Many thanks for the kind welcome and wise words - it's nice to feel accepted!

With regard to the transverse/longitudinal engine mounting issue - this is one of the reasons why I came here seeking the residents' collective wisdom, and as I need to settle my mind on the matter please consider my questions to be 'in search of the truth', and not any kind of challenge to your knowledge:

So - as far as the longitudinal option potentially ruining the Dino's beautiful lines, surely the motor, etc. would all be well below the bodywork, so that unless you lifted the cover (or fitted a transparent one), you wouldn't be able to tell? From what I can see without having an engine here to measure, the rearmost part of the intake system (which I'm taking to be the highest point) would still be significantly below the roof-line (or whatever you call it at that point)?

Going back to the 348 idea - as I've never looked very far in that direction I clearly need to do some heavy research into what's possible!

A couple thoughts. The 348 and newer intake manifolds are quite tall so regardless of mounting direction you'll need a new intake to stay under the deck lid I'd expect.

Mounting direction. There are a couple dimensions that matter if you want longitudinal mount but probably the most important is firewall to axle. I don't know 206/246 car but a couple people have gotten a 355 engine/trans into a 308. Engine as far forward as possible and the axles end up offset about an inch. This trans has the axles as far forward as possible and it works. Then the overall length of the setup puts the back of the trans (I guess that's where the clutch is because they moved the axles forward by moving the clutch) and it ends up sticking out the back of the car or at least wanting to.

Here's some more food for thought....I had myself convinced that a TR engine and trans was possible in a 308 with minimal work and I know the swap has been done in a 355. This setup puts the trans under the engine so much shorter overall length and the axles are also pretty far forward. The tradeoff is height, this setup sits a bit taler and the 355 had a bulged deck lid to cover it.

Interesting - for C of G reasons I don't think I could make myself raise the motor enough to fit a trans underneath it, but it would certainly be a pragmatic way of reducing drivetrain length!

Having done some rudimentary measurements, I don't think I need to worry about the dimensions in the longitudinal axis as the 246 has 35.5 inches from the axle to the firewall (if I move it forward a bit), but (so I'm told) the V8 360 family only needs 34.5 inches. Rearwards from the axle there's loads of room as I don't really care about whether the rear boot space has any carrying capacity.

A boxer engine has a much lower CG .....and it a 5 liter 12 that males 400hp stock, 600 with little effort, 800 with actual effort. I'm using TR heads so I know they can be made to flow. That would be the world's only 12cyl 246 I believe .....and no one comes to e for good advice

I hear your words on the measurements but I've seen rhe pics of 308/328 engine conversions in those cars and it sure looks like the engine is tight to the firewall. The 308 firewall is angled giving the appearance of room at the bottom but no room on top....is the 246 similar perhaps?

I think you need to get it dug out before any firm plans are made.

It's so long since the engine was in place that I have absolutely no recollection as to how the firewall sat! I started a PhD in Engineering as a mature student, and bought the 246 about a month later. After about six months of being obsessed by it, I realised that I had a stark choice - get my doctorate, or do the Dino. That was 25 years ago, and I've barely touched it since. I did get to be able to say 'Trust me, I'm a doctor' though!

A 12 cyl Dino certainly bears thinking about...

Life happens, that's for sure.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what I would do, you're the one doing the work and paying through bills so do what you want. Projects that can be finished in 6-12 months have WAY more chance of getting finished (I've been at it for 15 years so beut it hs taken its toll mentally) so advice like buy a TR / trans or build a 328 eng/trans is unhelpful if it's not what you want.

Pull it out, figure out what you have then figure out what you want and get started.....just have a plan for a windshield is all I ask

I should say that the thought of cutting the car in half in order to widen it is not because I think it's the best way to proceed, simply that I need to explore the concept thoroughly from an engineering standpoint before ruling it out. If I don't, I'll have a nagging ear-worm keeping me awake at night. Once I've convinced myself that it's a stupid road to follow I'll be able to erase it from my consciousness!

Further to the request for a photo of the Dino, here is a shot I took of it a couple of minutes ago, hiding in the furthest recess of my garage. As can be seen, the new front and rear clips are hanging above it, and most of the glass is in the box on the roof. You can also see that I wasn't kidding when I said it was derelict...

Please excuse the pile of junk behind it - I've been having a massive shed clear-out, and that is the edge of a huge stack that will shortly be going to the local scrapyard.

Although it doesn't look it, the car is pretty well complete (with all the sensitive bits in boxes in the house next to the central heating unit) - albeit that some of the components are decayed beyond reasonable hope. What it does mean, however, is that when I make a final decision as to how I'm going to proceed, there may well be a lot of parts that are still good enough to be considered fit for use which I can sell to help fund the project.

Oh well, back to the garage!

NICE!

perfect project car

Just spent the last 2 hours running simulations of 2v 308 engine wiht $139 ebay turbo or 2.....about 380hp-700ish depending and setup. So for budget hp that setup is hard to beat and still have ferrari parts

...but I still think you need a TR engine