New 3.2 ownership experience | FerrariChat

New 3.2 ownership experience

Discussion in 'Mondial' started by nurlabys, Apr 4, 2016.

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  1. nurlabys

    nurlabys Rookie

    Aug 24, 2015
    7
    #1 nurlabys, Apr 4, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Hey everyone, I joined FC late last summer after buying the white over brown 1988 Mondial 3.2 in Vancouver. I enjoyed the hell out of my first Ferrari until winter came (in Wisconsin that means mid-November) and now that spring is coming I'm back in the saddle and I'm here to update you on my experience so far, and to pick your collective brains about a few niggling issues :)

    First of all, wow, what a car! I enjoy driving performance cars (nothing exotic, I have an M3) and classics (TR6, '60s Mini) but I have to say the Ferrari is special. It isn't the fastest thing in the world but holy cow the charisma...! Fortunately mine is well sorted mechanically (well mostly... more on that later) so I have no qualms about driving it the way it was meant to be driven. I took it to Minneapolis for a Cars & Coffee last year and never once wanted to turn on the radio during the 4 hour drive. The sounds it makes are intoxicating. There aren't many Italian cars in this part of the world so it does draw attention which is a mixed bag. Yes, it's real, no, I won't race you (never mind that your Jetta could beat me, better to leave them wondering right?)

    The history of the car is a little vague, but I was told that an eccentric collector in Vancouver imported it via Quebec in the early '90s and didn't drive it much. It is a US car with the speedo in mph. It sat idle for several years before Autoform (dealer) got hold of it and had it recommissioned by Milo European Cars in Vancouver (anyone know about him? I spoke to him on the phone and he was helpful and gracious). With 36k miles on the clock it seems not to have been abused. New bushings, belts, fluids, tires, etc before the sale.

    The body is straight and the under body looks great but it has been resprayed. Minor overspray on some of the rubber seals but even from 5ft it's hard to tell. The dark brown interior looks sharp with the white exterior (my interior picture is a bit washed out). Does anyone know if this was a factory color combination, and if so how many were produced?

    I've encountered two issues with the car, one fixed and one outstanding. I want to share to see if anyone has had the same problems and offer my solution:

    1) The gear selector has come out of alignment three separate times during short drives. I'm confident this is fixed now, but here's what happened: the shaft connecting the shift lever to the transmission has a threaded adjustment and lock nuts. I think mine must be worn, because it comes loose, causing the shift pattern to "shift" in the gate so that R/1/2/3 becomes 3/4/5. The solution, effected by Kelly Moss Motorsports, was to sweat plumbing solder into the thread as a sort of super-duty threadlock that can still be removed if necessary. Leave it to the Italians to transmit a torque force through a threaded shaft...!

    2) The instrument cluster lights do not work. At all. The clock is fine but there is no back lighting. It has been taken apart and examined (and I've heard of the rheostat problems, but does that cause the lights to fail completely?) and they claim the fix is to replace the entire dash cluster, which seems ridiculous. Can't the bulbs be replaced individually? For now I have a 12v LED light bar that I can plug into the cigarette lighter if I get caught out after dark.

    Like I said, really looking forward to more good driving weather! This is Wisconsin, so two days ago we had whiteout blowing snow and freezing temperatures, and yesterday it hit 71. Today it's cold again. If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes. The Mondial (no name) is sitting on a battery tender waiting for a window of opportunity.

    Happy to be part of this community and look forward to chatting in the future!

    -Nurl
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  2. M. Brandon Motorcars

    Sponsor

    Sep 4, 2007
    1,759
    Houston, TX
    Full Name:
    Michael Foertsch
    Great writeup, beautiful car, and congratulations! I recently posted about my experiences with my Euro QV coupe, and how I'm finally starting to "get" the Mondial.

    I love that color combination, especially the dark brown interior. From the sources that I have, that dark brown color was not an originally available interior color from the period. But, it does look fabulous.

    And my hunt for a great 3.2 coupe continues... :)
     
  3. paulchua

    paulchua Cat Herder
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Jul 1, 2013
    15,983
    Menlo Park, CA
    Full Name:
    Paul Chua
    #3 paulchua, Apr 4, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2016
    Excellent write-up!! Sorry I can't comment on the problems, I don't have much knowledge of the issues you mentioned , but I'm sure you will get the light issue sorted, doesn't sound to bad at all!!!
    Beautiful car!!!!!
    Congrats!!!
     
  4. moysiuan

    moysiuan F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 1, 2005
    3,628
    Canada
    I think if you register here eventually you can confirm the original colours of the paint, carpet and leather which they confirm from the factory. Maybe with Classiche and all being so profitable for Ferrari they don't do this anymore, but worth a try.

    https://www.f-register.com/about-us

    Hard to imagine the interior had a complete colour change. Looks fantastic with the white, probably will wear much better than the typical tan.

    I think I saw this car at Autoforum many years ago, they often sourced from Europe and brought in through Quebec. I recall the cars were typically of very high quality.

    The t shifter is cable actuated, and more fussy with adjustments than the earlier rod actuated Mondials, sounds like that was sorted. The dash light problem sounds odd, must be a simple fix. Maybe a fuse or relay, maybe just switch out the relay with one of the others of the same type and just pull out the put back the various connectors on the fuse box, and /or maybe just need to look around under the dash, remove and reinsert some connectors, use some deoxit on the connections.
     
  5. Rapalyea

    Rapalyea Formula 3

    Jun 18, 2013
    1,511
    Georgia Mountains US
    Full Name:
    David Rapalyea alias
    Nurala,

    First of all you nailed right on the head: "...but holy cow the charisma...!" My 1986 3.2 Prugna Metallica coupe is ALL about charisma. I like to say that, well, perhaps Enzo is in the driver's seat, but Federico Fellini is in the passenger seat. This is a DisneyLand 'E' ticket ride. Anyone who drives one vigorously will think he is going fast. And more yet. If, like me, you CAN go fast it will not kill you if you get in over your head.

    But get used to the shifter fix because it might not be the only one of that sort. Italian wiring can make Lucas look like the Arch Angel Gabriel! I have owned my 1986 3.2 about three years and 15,000 miles and going to need my third set of tires shortly since I live in the N. Georgia mountains. But I really need to keep a copy of my observations so I do not need to re-write them every time as follows.

    1) If your starter key ever becomes reluctant to activate your starter solenoid you need a Bosch WR1 intermediate relay [$25] which you mount down by the starter.

    2) If your hydraulic clutch goes bad do not DO NOT install cheap Alpha parts like I did. I have replaced the master twice and would pay someone $500 for the next time but have my doubts if anything but child labor can do it. Up under the dash I used a 12 inch 90 degree pair of pliers to physically, by main force, drag out the cotter key AND the turn buckle pin as well. Then re-installed it upside down and used a self locking cotter key.

    3) My fuel injector grommets were hard and introducing just enough vacuum leak to cause light throttle surging. The proper thing to do is replace them. I simply dripped a few drops of power steering stop leak on them in the first month. That softened them up and have been perfect ever since.

    4) Similarly with engine seals. The first year I got an engine oil leak from either the passenger side main or passenger side cam seal. Smoked so much thought it might catch fire. So I bought each and every one of the various 'stop leaks' from my local Autozone. It took a few hundred miles but perfect ever since. I now add half a bottle of AT-205 Re-Seal at ever oil change. It is a simple 're-polymerize' but do not know if all stop leaks are the same.

    Some people attribute oil leaks to 100% synthetic and there may be something to it. I now change oil half/half 10-30 synthetic and mineral. Which, I believe, was the original installation?

    5) We have mechanical fuel injection and I initially added 8oz synthetic 2cycl oil every tank. More recently I have been using Marvel Mystery Oil. In general I want the entire fuel system to have a slight coating of oil. Oxygen is very reactive element and I use oil like garlic against Count Dracula.

    6) Then there is the cooling system. It would do a light water nuclear reactor proud. I forget if it needs two or three dozen hose clamps. I decided to depressurize the system [just enough expansion-tank cap torque to keep a slight seal] and have been using 60/40 glycol. You can actually go to 70/30 but I never needed that. In three years I have never added one ounce of coolant.

    And I run hard, at 2,200 elevation sometimes 90F but the radiator fans never come on except idle at 230F. But what makes me slow down is when the oil temp hits 230F. My oil cooler fan does not work. It takes some doing to get 230F oil!

    7) These cars run like lazy cats at 1,500 rpm uphill in third gear but does them no good. In my case it took the better part of a year to make the thing run like a Cheetah. It was done with LOTS of techron type products but mostly driving full throttle up to about 6,500 many many times and seldom running below 3,000 rpms]. However, I do not recommend many 7,700 shifts. I scattered my clutch plate at 7,700rpm 90F though I attribute that to the cheap Alpha parts.

    I have a special hill-climb with which I test all my cars from standing start to the yellow right curve sigh and it approximates an actually timed 1/8 mile drag strip I did in my 220 hp Maxx [10.1 @ 71 mph]. The Ferrari did it at about 80 mph when delivered. It now does it at about 90 mph [7,700 rpm in third]. Next month I have an invitation to a 1/2 drag race and will get some real numbers.

    8) My dash fan works intermittently, the A/C not at all. But I live in a place where I do not actually require either one. What I CAN not tolerate is the intermittent hot water heater temperature control. These cars have TWO heaters and even without a dash fan warm weather driving is impossible if the hot water control is always on. In my case it has been intermittent.

    The DIY thread may address this in a practical way. I did it by main force. Specifically I bought a small set of vice grip pliers and very carefully and with great calibration identified the hot water hose under the front bonnet and clamped it off! In recent times it has been working as required. But I keep those pliers up there! I did not install a simple on/off valve since there is not a lot of extra hose and I did not want to air/bleed the thermonuclear cooling system.

    9) Wipers and windows never get enough exercise. The wipers always work when the windshield is wet so I make it wet by driving in the rain, using wipers in car wash. And even, when feeling lucky, over a dry windows. The wiper will never match so much as a Yugo, but I trust mine to the rain.

    Window lifts are a conundrum. Mine have behaved the same for 15,000 miles. Specifically, the driver window is just fine. The passenger window is dead but not received the telegram. I never run passenger window all the way down. The sunroof in my case works flawlessly but it has, apparently, been modified.


    10) Over the last few years I have experience sudden, temporary, total ignition failure [never to a complete stop]. Sometimes partial ignition failure. The dual ignition systems are neither expensive nor difficult to replace. In my case I just kept driving and have not had this problem recently.

    11) The CV joint boots are getting very very long of tooth. All four of mine developed cracks and and failed. Some people simply remove and replace the boots and re-grease the joints. That can be a herculean task, given the hex head bolts have been in place 30 years. I had my local wrench not only replace the boots but all four CV joints. It was expensive but these will last the remainder of my natural life. The local wrench said he would have rather done my clutch again.

    12) Front wheel bearings are robust but are not an easy matter to grease. I had the local wrench re-grease them but he looked at me sideways afterwards. Its not clear of the rears CAN be re-greased, or if they even need it. If mine fail I will simply buy the replacements.

    13) These are not cars for the faint of heart. If you have a good local wrench, or can do the simple work yourself [lots of DIY threads]. The cars are rather simple. The longer you have one, keep it repaired, and DRIVE it the better it will become. I have about 57,000 miles on mine and it is not clear it will ever wear out. And it is clear to me it has been much improved over the three years I have had mine.

    These are my random and inexpert observations. However, if you are new to this Ferrari animal there is no harm in humoring the local crank - like me - not the least of which I might animate others who disagree or have their own observations.

    PS: THIS time I am saving my post so as not to re-write the whole thing again.
     
  6. dfranzen

    dfranzen Formula 3
    Owner

    Aug 31, 2013
    1,577
    Ponte Vedra Beach , FL
    Full Name:
    Don Franzen
    First Welcome to the Mondi family!

    So you bought the white/chocolate interior it was discussed in the cars for sell and that is a factory combo as I recall...unless someone paid way over 5G to replace doable but not practical

    about your instrument lights check your fuses ...clean all of them while your are in there

    mondis seem to have a higher issue of fuse box issues and seems more than likely that a circuit is out not all the lights

    the "overspray" may not necessarily mean repaint as it seems that OG Ferrari painting can get into nooks and crannies

    Enjoy !
     
  7. rob

    rob F1 Rookie

    May 22, 2002
    4,130
    Vt
    I had wondered what happened to that car I love the color combo! Glad you posted here and threw in some pictures!
     
  8. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
    2,248
    Full Name:
    David Lind
    Welcome to the tribe! Grrrrreat looking car. I always thought white looked fabulous on a Mondial, and it results in some interestingly colored interiors such as maroon, blue, and chocolate. I have 86,000 miles on my 3.2 coupe, and I put 60-something on myself. I have never had the problems you mention - others; yes!
     
  9. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
    2,248
    Full Name:
    David Lind
    PS: I wonder how that chocolate carpet would look with a tan interior? It might be fantastic! Has anyone ever seen that color combination?
     
  10. nurlabys

    nurlabys Rookie

    Aug 24, 2015
    7
    Thanks for the responses! I really appreciate the detail :) I'll take a closer look at the electrical issues myself. It was in the shop for transmission and electrical work already and they claimed they could not fix it. I trust this place (Kelly Moss) for mechanical work but I don't think electrical is their forte so it's possible they weren't as thorough as they could have been.
     
  11. Faber

    Faber Formula Junior

    May 5, 2011
    954
    TX Hill Country
    Full Name:
    Tom G.
    Beautiful machine. Let me know if you need to unload it quick..(-*
     
  12. David Lind

    David Lind Formula 3

    Nov 19, 2008
    2,248
    Full Name:
    David Lind
    What Faber means is "quick & cheap"!
     
  13. davem

    davem F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Jan 21, 2002
    8,211
    Stepford, Connecticut
    Full Name:
    dave m
    Regarding the dash lights if all else fails, believe someone here replaced them with led.
     
  14. kevinkw

    kevinkw Karting

    Apr 19, 2009
    114
    Seattle, WA
    Full Name:
    Kevin
    Great buy, I was looking at the car and trying to figure out a time to drive up to see it in person. By the time I had time to drive up, they said it was sold to someone in the mid-west.
    Enjoy the coupe!
     
  15. Bell Bloke

    Bell Bloke Formula 3

    Dec 6, 2012
    1,839
    UK
    My dash lights were a dry joint on the board where the dimmer is, I replaced the dimmer also, now all is fine but yes that little dimmer will knock out the entire light cluster. My thread on it is here, about 2013ish
    Regards Bell
     
  16. ronfrohock

    ronfrohock F1 Rookie
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Aug 16, 2004
    3,919
    MA
    Full Name:
    Ron Frohock
    I really like the color combination. Wonderful car!
     
  17. jgoodman

    jgoodman F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Aug 29, 2009
    3,201
    Central PA
    Full Name:
    Jay Goodman
    Welcome Nuri! Enjoy in good health!
     

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