Between Rock, Hard Place: Fitting Turbo Ferrari Headers
Aaron Kaufman of Daily Driven Exotics builds twin-turbo kit for Ferrari F12, discovers difficulty fitting headers in tight space.
There’s nothing like letting a Ferrari go full-tilt on the road. The sound of the big V12 screaming like a banshee, letting the world know you mean business. For most owners, they’re driving perfection personified. A few, though, wonder what else could be done. Would a supercharger help? What about a turbo or two?
Daily Driven Exotics’ Aaron Kaufman is working on such a thing. Recently, a customer brought in an F12 to receive a twin-turbo upgrade. The only issue? No such kit exists. Until now.
“This is the first header I’ve built on the table, not on the car,” said Kaufman. “If you’re having a hard time understanding, on race cars and a lot of other vehicles I’ve done, I can reach in, I can tack, I can work inside of it. This vehicle allows none of that. I can’t come in through both the frame rails, inside the fender, over the top of it. The valve cover and head cover obscure most of it. It’s difficult.”
Thus, Kaufman’s been building the header by looking at the 6.2-liter Tipo F140 V12, then doing his best to get it right. Lots of test fitting, lots of going back to the drawing board, lots of dealing Maranello’s engineering in the engine bay. And to make it more difficult, Kaufman said he built a header which would’ve fit perfectly. Because “it just wasn’t cool,” though, he’s stuck on getting it all nailed down.
“The next question is: where’s the wastegate gonna go?” said Kaufman. “One of the things we’re gonna do on this one […] on the housing for the exhaust turbine, I’m actually gonna punch through it, and then mount the wastegates [next to the turbo].”
Despite the overall madness of a custom twin-turbo Ferrari, Kaufman says the 2,400-mile drive back over to Canada should go well, as drivability is paramount for his builds. However, he adds he needs to be sure the build won’t breathe through the wastegate the majority of the time on the road, delivering “a perpetual fire coming out of the hood.”
“Any time we put a turbocharger on a car, we’re looking for more power,” Kaufman said. “The question really is: how much power will the F12 make? I don’t know […] It’s really, really strong for an N/A car, but part of that is done through RPM and super-high compression, which, in this case, ultimately becomes a hindrance.”
According to Kaufman, the twin-turbo Ferrari’s down to make anywhere from 900 to 1,000 horses on E85 as-is. With lower compression and exotic fuels, though, the same combo is ready to leave 1,400 to 1,500 horsepower on the asphalt. Ultimately, it’s a balancing act between a drivable car, and a car that wants to kill. We can’t wait to see where Kaufman winds up with this build.
