I wish it was economical for you to make more of these deeply interesting and satisfying service & collector car ownership videos and the scripted Bourdain launch/travel videos. Love the series

Donnie: Sounds normal Matt: Stuck inside a glass cathedral

Sorry that this is turning into such an undertaking but holy hell is it interesting to watch the process.

The periodical episodes of Donnie dissecting engines like specimens are seriously some of my favorite.

I love Donnie videos, it's just unfortunate that they usually involve big repair bills.

I love these episodes with Donnie!

Thank you for posting this. I love how Donnie is excited about that fan-made 3D printed air scoop. My impression is most guys like him (that is, working in the classic car maintenance space) would probably have zero interest in some not-even-aftermarket homemade part like that, but he's into it and I think that's very cool.

It all started with a problem with the door, a problem with The Door lol

Man this is brutal. You've got the right attitude though. Definitely the ultimate "while you're in there" rebuild. But hey, financially it's worth it probably and you'll get to enjoy it for years to come.

Donnie is the best, please continue working with him.

Been there too many times on cars that were billed to be recently serviced. Aside from Harry and Tyrell I haven't seen anyone going this in-depth on a Countach or older Lambo tear-down so it's very cool to see, despite the hit to Mr Farah's wallet.

Doesn't look too bad, tbh. The heads just need to be hot tanked, valves cleaned up and likely just some new valve stem seals. The cylinder bores...hopefully just a quick hone will get the cross-hatch pattern back to normal and some new piston rings, but the bore and piston measurements will tell you everything. Love these videos, Matt!

Words that my mechanic would say which would make my stomach ache: wow, weird burn, that’s kinda weird etc. Farah is strong. Zero quiver of his voice when informed of all of this!

I think (layman here) that the cylinder glaze and piston rock is where all the carbon is coming from. Donnie was spot on about that being a problem, the oil sticks to the crosshatch and the oil is what seals everything, not the rings. VW had that carbon problem as well because they used low tension rings and intake reversion was gunking up the intake valves.

I know a lot about this building and analyzing engine wear. The camshaft spotting looks like wear from high heat/insufficient lubrication. My bet is this was likely caused by bad valve seals that allow gas to leak from the intake port past the valve seal/guide into the oil in the top side of the head. There it mixes mixes with the oil ruining the velocity and promoting high heat and wear. While the rest of the oil in the engine will mix and compensate for this such takes time for oil circulation. In the meantime, at the point of the gas entry to lubricated parts - the top of the valve guide which is very close to the the cam-lifter-valve interface - the gas concentration will be highest and thus there is where the oil will lose the most lubrication/cooling capacity and thus where you will get the most pronounced wear. This gassed oil will also affect the wear of the exhaust cam though likely not as bad. If the exhaust valve seals are also leaking then it will cause exhaust pressure to get past those valve guides/seals causing high pressure in the top part of the head increasing the oil flow past the intake valve guides and seals. This explains the camshaft wear. This is more likely to happen when a car is rarely driven allowing seals and cam lobes to dry, then driven hard, breaking dried seals. Leaky valve seals also explain a lot of other things Donny is seeing such as - large deposits on some valves but not others (those seals are blown) and oily combustion chambers. This occurs bc the leaky seals also allow oil to drip from the top side of the head past the valve guide and seal to the bottom of the valve then sit on the top of the hot valve caking up or going into the combustion chambers where the intake valves are open. If you still have some engine oil with a few thousand miles on it get it analyzed for rich oil. Otherwise I bet if Donny checks the valve guides on the valves with carbon deposits he will find the seals are blown out. That this engine already needed valve work, done by who knows who but with a preference for rtv gasket seal, also supports my theory. Bottom line, since you have the engine out and apart, it would be silly not to get the block honed, pistons cleaned or coated, new rings, wrist pins, and the valve guides replaced with new seals, a 3-5angle valve job and brand new valves. For sure a complete set of new valves given who knows who already did a valve job and they have differing wear patterns & thickness at the edge. Relative to the work you are already doing - this is not a major $ increase. Good luck!

What a cool document of time Matt, love it! Those engines were massive - it's pure mechanic - great to see this inside - they don't come like it anymore, now you have a battery block even heavier. But you can be sure it's a sound investment with the re-build AND you will have so much more fun again driving it next year!

Pretty rad to see the v12 and it’s internal workings gone though!

Every visit, please bring the camera, I’m living vicariously through this whole experience.

Have you considered coating those pistons? The piston skirts on my Dino showed a similar wear pattern on the sides from "walking" as they travel and I sent the pistons and main bearings to Elliott Race Coatings and they came back beautifully. 2 Years later, in 2015, Ferrari OEM advertized that they had started coating their V8 pistons to reduce wear.

Commenting to encourage more of this. Much as I'm always entertained with the one-takes etc. this type of thing is awesome from a mechanical-nerd standpoint especially since I'm sure documentation of this type of work is SUPER thin for any pre-Audi Lamborghinis.

That engine was idled excessively. It was started cold and left idling a lot, running slow rich and cold. Washes oil off the bores and glazes them. Glazed bores let oil past the rings and combustion gases and fuel into the crankcase, leading to the carbon on the inlet valves.

I love this guy when he talks, thanks for micing him up

Awesome video! I hope you can make many more of this type 😁

Love these videos keep them coming!!

geez Matt, you're really brave letting this guy loose on your Contach, no disrespect, bet he's a nice guy, but me, I'd ship it to Iain Tyrrell in the UK, what, it's $2-3k shipping fee?

These cars were designed to mostly show and tell. 20k and ready for a 2nd rebuild. Matt talks cars behind the driver seat, but not mechanically inclined. Good thing Matt is rich, we need to keep Donnie and service shops alive.

I kind of feel like the engine was running in a constantly rich state based on what you are seeing on the cams and cylinder walls (two surfaces that rely heavily on retaining a proper oil film). Were you performing analysis on the oil with the changes? If it had a high fuel content that may be a good indication the above could have occurred.

Bro this is so interesting. Also gives me happy feelings knowing how I drive my car that my heads are probably clean as a whistle ^^ Drive your cars folks!

Maybe next time something small breaks on that Countach might be cheaper to ship it over the Atlantic to the UK.

Those cam lobes look like they have a lot of corrosion-related pitting on them. This is apparently a common thing in airplane engines when they sit for long periods of time without flying. Seems like that could be a similar situation with a car like this, where it doesn't get driven even once a week.

Fucking awesome video again Dude, Love the updates. The variety. The personal cars. Reviews. Podcast. Benchmark stuff and pinnacle auto enthusiast content 👏🏻

Long term Ferrari and Lambo mechanic here. I don't see a thing wrong with that engine that a hard drive or 2 cannot clean out. The tiny bit of piston wobble at TDC is very common, the carbon build up is very common and is actually very light on this engine. Trying to conjecture about the valve guides, rings, cylinders, and literally everything else is a complete waste of time if you didn't do a leakdown test first, then full disassembly which would ONLY be necessary if the leakdown AFTER a couple hard drives was not good. These seems highly shyster-ish to me so far.

I would say your engine looks as good as can be expected, having been driven some. Rings and bearings, a little oil and you'll be back on the road! I do wonder if those cams show the result of low zinc oil... I always add a little zinc at each oil change for cheap insurance against damaging the cam lobes. Everything Donnie said is on the conservative side, and it's worth being conservative when rebuilding an Italian engine. I've done a few in my 40 years of Italian stuff... Can't wait to hear her fire up! Good Luck!

a good slap, "Does that mean my rings are bad or ..." "Well its going to be a combo of whatever the most expensive will be" 🤣

The rebuild cost will stay with the car. Good man for giving the classic the service it deserves.

Donnie is the best, please continue working with him.. I love these episodes with Donnie!.

Haha Donnie is great to watch. Encyclopedia of knowledge!

ahhhhmazing episode - thank you

I’m not even a Lamborghini fan but I’m excited to see you drive this after it’s freshened up!

Man, if Donnie saw what the bores looked like on my Eclipse engine the last time I had the head off, he probably would have fainted. And we slapped the head back on and kept going---this was like 6 years ago now. But I understand wanting to do it right and if the engine is already pulled from the car it should probably be rebuilt.

Time for a new Patreon tier lol

Bravo, Donnie! 👏🏼👏🏼

I have a cleaning solution that will take off that surface rust. $50 fix. If it’s not broken why fix it. Valves looks more than fine, some buildup is normal. Not to be critical, if a mechanic is saying words like weird, odd, strange, and doesn’t know why, you should run.

My favorite series

Love the informational videos

I wonder if Donny has seen the latest from total seal? They've been doing some videos about bore surface finish with the latest advanced equipment to even image the cylinder wall. Could be something worth looking into for the Countache.

I’ve been waiting for this video!!

Love the workshop videos.

Matt-when you go back to see Donnie and pay the bill, to save some time, just walk in already grabbing your ankles with your pants down.

I have a feeling every engine that enters this shop needs a full rebuild.

Could spend hours just looking at all the stuff in that shop, amazing

I appreciate Donnie’s nod to Jay Leno in wearing his denim T-shirt 😁, most likely unintentional.

You knew when the motor came out that Donnie was going to touch, clean, adjust or replace every piece of the car. Might as well let him work his magic since you have access to the right guy and one of the coolest 80's icons.

Good point! Maybe making a video on why babying your engine too much will be counter-productive in some cases will be cool

Donnie reminds me of a neighbor we had when i was a little kid. I heard he worked on a crews in professional road racing. Indy type racing I heard among others. From a child on mini bikes. He'd always be the one I'd ask. He'd come out, and stare at it. Ask a couple of things to diagnose and out came the answer. After years, he allowed me in his garage. He had a workshop in there. All the goodies. I went from mini bikes, 125 dirt bikes, 250 dirt bikes, open class dirt to crotch rockets. I was already out of my parents house when I had Ninjas, VFR's and CBR's. That's when he was interested in the power of the new stuff. He was probably mid 70's. He raced Norton's and AJS's in younger days. Even Corvette issues I had, he'd always come out, stare, lean over, ask a few questions. Try this! Man of few words. I wish I would've told him how much help he was to this very annoying kid!

Don’t “warm them up” - that alone is a recipe for carbon build up. Probably also led to the glazed bores… Leaving them idling cold with a rich mixture is the worst thing you can do. Get in, start it, let the running stabilise for 10-20 seconds and go. Obviously don’t beat on it, but put some load on the engine and get combustion temperatures up as soon as possible. Idling cold on a rich mixture risks washing oil off the bores, fuel getting into the oil. As for oil circulation, if the oil light is out the pressure is up and oil is present throughout the galleries.

While I was getting a major done on my Testarossa, my mechanic showed me a Countach and a Diablo in for their rebuilds. The Countach had 1,800 miles on it and needed a complete rebuild, clutch and transmission! The low mileage Diablo was in for a new engine and it had been in his shop for a year. He said NEVER buy a Lamborghini 😂

I love these updates !

Gave the video a thumbs up, hopefully that contributes to the rebuild cost

Oh Donnie, the master of upsell.

While you're in there... I'm sorry this is becoming so expensive for you, but this is money that is (as you explained in the icon bronco podcast) _worth_ it. Between the enjoyment and peace of mind you'll receive from driving a fully sorted car, the cost of avoided future catastrophes, and the well documented process ensuring resale value, it's definitely the smart money. Props to Donny.

"It's too shiny in there." "Shut the fuck up Donny." Big Lebowski reference

Love the god echo of Matt’s voice in the shop 😂

matt seeing dollar signs the entire visit. meanwhile Donnie is over here having a blast casually whacking a countach engine with a 7 dollar hammer

that dude just wants everything new...hes cra cra

The "While you're in there" Isn't just a thing exclusive to exotics, it goes for all motorized vehicles, and for most things in life. it's just that the while you're in there thing is a lot more expensive on an exotic vehicles, than on a Dodge that's for sure.

Better check out the transmission also had problems in my LM 002 Harry's Garage had in depth videos on all this though

I'm a little floored that the engine looks like that with less than 30k miles. Crazy. Goes to show just how different life is for a Countach as compared to a Honda or Chevy or something. This thing wore itself out as fast as a 2-stroke.

The "Lets fly to Italy" flywheel part number 002121340 is $900 next day delivery. The funny part is we order our parts here in Europe from America as most of the cars ended up there.

Matt can you share more about the scoop? Would love one for my 87!

The car probably wasn't driven enough to remove the moisture from the engine at one point in its life, and it start to suffer some minor oxidization on some surfaces like the cam lobes when the oil surface tension broke and exposed the polished metal surfaces to the moisture

Is there a Patreon level where we all get to ride Donny's boat? We are reaching CarTalk levels of silly.

Nice audio. I've always wondered how a person trapped inside a Tupperware sounds like...

Make the Lamborghini great again 😂 good luck 🍀 remember not everyone can have this type of history in automotive ownership it has good days and days like this in the it’s going up in value in future so have fun bud 😊

this series might turn into on of your greatest gems on youtube

I see so much of my own OCD in this video and in Donnie. There is something so satisfying/addicting in taking a car and COMPLETELY making it buttoned up. Super expensive, but you hope that the confidence and before/after will be worth it.

These episodes with Donnie are so fun and informational. It's a shame the audio is always so fucked.

Just woke up and tried to watch this. 🤨 I'll drink more coffee and try watching it again later.

I am currently in the “while you are in there” situation with my 911sc engine rebuild 😅

"While you're in there, rebuild the whole engine."

You’ve spoken with both Harry Metcalfe and Iain Tyrell about the work done to Harry’s Countach, wonder how you feel Iain and Donnie’s approaches differ to repairs, and how much does their differing methods of communication affect what you understand’s going on

Looks over carcass and heart of classic lambo talking about all the expensive things to put right... Now I'll drive my Ferrari home. Baller

LTX swap time :) jk. Time to call Total Seal and get some modern 0.9mm steel piston rings (new flat top pistons), and a plateau hone. You *could* swap to a Motec ECU and Denso 420 cc/min injectors to improve driveability and response, while you're in there ;)

(worst case scenario happens, still starts video like this...) "HEY EVERYBODY!" ahaha 💀

Was the wrong cooling liquid used? Seems like the head has strange oxidation on the cooling ports

Donnie is the man!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

What would have cause the cylinder mirroring?

Cool stuff

Oh oh... hoping you get your car back Matt. This Donnie fella is gonna be in jail for a while.

Matt, were you burning "Top Tier" fuel? Would a fuel additive with PAE have helped with cleaner combustion and reduced carbon buildup? Asking as a Porsche owner with similar engine characteristics.

When I look at the head the first thing in my head was, not driven hard enough. 2 seconds later Matt asks the golden question. Gotta rev these motors out and get them hot, same thing with a diesel that's babied around town picking up groceries.

Sorry to hear. Hopefully the work goes quick

You should consider switching to a modern engine management system. IIRC the Lamborghini V12 exhausts consist of 4 three into one headers which then join into the tailpipes. You could run four wideband sensors, each monitoring three cylinders. That way you would know straight away if there was an issue and narrow down the source. 1980s and early 1990s ECUs just suck.

That mirroring and valve sludge is from varnish

"Those guys" safety wired the flywheel incorrectly.

WaoW, new cars just don't last like they used to!!! 😂😂

I thought Matt allready rebuilt the engine in the Countach

Is Donnie's shop open to the public? Wondering how much this job costs.

I love the way both Lambo anf Ferrari stretched the limits of their blocks and heads for injection. Old tech mixed with new on a tiny budget.

Commenting because real car guys love this shit!!! Donnie is the man