Gold connector kit

Dave Helms is the owner of Scuderia Rampante Innovations (SRI) - so yes, one and the same. I believe you can get the kit for both a 348 or 355 from Ricambi America.

You can do the kit with the engine in the car but a few of connections will be a challenge. I know people have done it though...just much easier during an engine out service.

HTH.

 

Dave Helms owns Scuderia Rampante' Inc. (SRI) shop, so yes that is his creation. Pricing has been yet to be available but one guesses it to approach $1,000. When it is available, you can likely get a kit from Dave or from Dan of Ricambi (a site Sponsor and all around good guy).

As far as access, an engine out service is the best way to get to all the connectors. When the engine is in, there are some places that will be hard to get to. It all depends on your level of expertise, how small your hands are, and whether you have a lift or not. I know I can get to 7 (of 8) of the injectors, both knock sensors, barely get to the throttle position sensor, impossible to get to the coolant temp sensor in the front, coolant temp sensor in the back, cam position sensor, all the O2 sensors, all the MAF sensors, and all the TCU sensors. The ECU connectors are behind the seat and that is easier. But, working on those bending over the engine bay or crampped into the back of a seat is never any fun.

 

Which car? The 328? I would imagine it varies on the model.

If I am not mistaken, Eric (3forty8) was able to do it on his 348 with the engine in

 

Yes, you can do it with the engine in. It is just no fun...

 

It is not that difficult to get to the sensors in the engine compartment, at least in my opinion....maybe because I have smaller hands? The job is not particularly difficult, but is slow and a bit tedious, but extremely satisfying to complete. I definitely felt an immediately smoother idle, and hard to describe, but smoother and "cleaner" sounding engine throughout the rev range. I just completed the 5.2 Motronic ECU connector, that was more difficult than the rest, and requires more concentration, but doable. This one seemed even more dramatic in improvement. Particulary at cold idle, and starting off while cold, during the warm up drive. I would notice the engine is much smoother, with no hint of miss or stumble between 1k and 3k while cold.

 

Which model did you do it on? 328?

 

I have not installed the gold connector kit however I did (with the motor in) clean all my connectors with brake clean, air blew the connectors dry and applied an Acura dielectric grease to all the connectors. In my case I found no visible oxidation in the connectors and am not experiencing any electrical gremlins.
To get access to the wiring / connectors was not difficult and it took me no more than an couple of hours max.
Before going for the 'gold kit'.....try cleaning and dielectric grease first......this may resolve any gremlins you have.

 

And the dielectric grease I got from Acura was a product that Acura developed for electrical systems that have been exposed to water damage.

 

Greetings.. Stay away from the grease.. It does more harm than good and once its in there it is a mother to fully clean.. The gold kit is available from Dave Helms at Scuderia Rampante.. As far as I know the kits have not been available from Ricambi yet.. The kit is a must for these cars.. Take your time with the installation and you will be fine. No need to rush and try to do everything on one shot. When I did mine I worked on two connector plugs per day..this way I was taking my time, documenting everthing, checking it, and not killing my body from being in all different positions.. Call Dave he will set you up with what you need.

R

 

+1. I believe the Gold Kit installation instructions even state this.

 

Dave said the corrosion and grease film he found on the connectors was very hard to see even under magnification. It may look good, but chances are, the connectors are faulty.

 

The kit comes with grease, you'd have a tough time getting the new boots onto the wires without it.

 

Sir,

You have made the obvious first step that we took too many years ago. We all knew we had problems. We started with electric contact cleaners, then cleaners with geases to prevent corrosion, then contact enchancers stabilant 22, then back to just clean dry connectors and now to the gold connector pins.

The problems with ferrari connections are multifold. There is more to it than corrosion, more too it than connector pressure, more too it than engine bay heat, more to it than vibration, more to it than poor design cycles. There are a host of issues that conspire to make ferrari what it is today. the SRI gold kit solves all the problems.

 

by the way the grease in the gold kit is ONLY to aid in new boot application. Keep it far away from pins and put no grease or contact enhancer of any kind in there. You want clean dry joints and if any mechanic decides to put dielectic grease or stabilant 22 in a gold connector pin I would be extremely upset because once contaminated there is NO way to get the bad stuff out except to cut the connector and repin it.

 

I concurr...

R

 

Sorry but I completely disagree with you. Not only can this be done with engine in on any car but it is better in my opinion that it be done that way. If you do one connector at a time with engine in then that forces you to reatach that plug when done. This helps to idiot proof the process so that pugs are not switched. This is very important for those who don't have the skills to pull engines. Additionally, if you are a super paranoid and question your own mechanical skills for much of the installation, you can actually upgrade a connector and then start the car, upgrade a connector and start the car. This way you can't go wrong. I actually find the ECU plug easier to do than the rest of the car because I don't have to move around. I find one comfortable position and change the crimp jaws to their most favorable position in the crimp tool for my body mechanics and then crimp away one gold pin at a time.

Every wonder why the scars are so big after surgery??? ACCESS!!! You have to have access to make your life easy and do the job right and save time. So there is no reason to try and fight with the wires under the plenum for example. It is way faster to remove the 16 nuts and few other things for complete visualization. The purpose of this job is to get superior contacts. To get a superior conbtact you must have a perfect crimp. To get the perfect crimp you must have the right tool and the right access. If you work through a tiny hole you are going to make mistakes. Then you will be chasing problems that you are trying to avoid. Every crimp should be able to be done in a reasonably comfortable position and you should be able to pull and inspect every crimp before it goes back in its plug.

What you are also trying to achieve here is to take the time to do the precision work that Ferrari never took the time to do. Its your car. You love it take the time and effort to do it right.

 

Nonsense.
Every car I have had in the last 20 years came from the auto manufacturer with dielectric grease in most of the electrical connectors exposed to moisture and NONE have suffered any electrical failures in a very hostile winter climate.
This includes american, japanese and german cars.
Further I have had the dielectric grease in my 355 for several years and the car has been trouble free.
I suggest you check the connectors and sockets in your daily driver.....you may be surprised.
Just use a quality product recommended from the manufacturer.

 

I have had the dielectric grease in my electrical connectors for SEVERAL YEARS and have ZERO electrical problems. The cars runs with no issues at all.
Perhaps you used the wrong product (I was never a fan of stabilant).

 

I have cleaned electrical connections (when replacing specific pins) by using aerosol brake clean with a small paint brush.
It may take me 30 seconds to clean a connection.
Was'nt a problem for me, anyways but I was cleaning dielectric grease.
If you were using something else then maybe there was an issue with that (stabilant?) .

 

Negative.. but to each there own.. If that is what your using and have success then all the power to you.. New cars do have grease in the sockets.. yes you are correct.. what you dont want is the grease to act also as an insulator generating more heat and more likely to have the terminals spread from heat.. it is used to shield water in areas that are air tight. low voltage conections act as insulator.. this grease absorbs moisture in connections that are not totally air tight (like in are older Ferrari's) which promotes corrosion.. Hence creating a greater problem.. Have fun with your grease.. I will never use the stuff..

R

 

Sure this is no prob in other cars. I drive them too. This issue has been well researched and Dave has posted pictures of the contaminates to our connectors with corrosion done in a controled manner with magnification. The science for the ferraris is known. Ferrari does weird things like use the lowbidder for supplies etc. A number of conditions contributes to problems we don't have with bmw etc.. All I can say is that you have come to accept a certain running of your ferrari and that is what most have come to accept. There is no convincing you. You will have to try it yourself. But if you are going to use anything but a clean dry gold pin then don't buy the kit. All you will do is give it a bad name. This gold kit is a system and for it to work properly you must follow instructions. This kit is not about the pin not about the goldnot about the crimp. It is about the system that makes it work.

 

I am getting giddy just thinking about installing the kit soon...

Kai

 

Chris,
You may not see any corrosion, because it cannot be seen without removing the terminals from the the connector housings and examining with a lupe. The problems are many, but some are the following:

1) Rubber boots rotted. This allows water, moisture and dirt to get into connection from the rear. It affects the connection between the wire and the pin/terminal. How do I know this? When I removed the terminals, and stripped the wire back (removing the insulation), there was corrosion present on several wires. Dave and I both have photographic evidence of this. That is the reason he includes stainless steel brushes and recommends brushing the wire strands and flushing with plenty of contact cleaner before crimping the new connector on. He recommends this even when the wires "look okay".

2) Dielectric grease does not enhance or improve an electrical connection, only seals out dirt and grease. If used properly, and only on the sealing portion of the connector, no problem, but if used on the terminals themselves, it MAY cause a problem.

3) Connector contact pressure. As mentioned by FBB, and Dave Helms, the oem terminals have only very few cycles of use to reach their life expectancy. After that, terminal contact pressure is lost, and they may or may not make good contact. Dave's new terminals have a cycle life of over 100.

Chris, if what you are doing works for you, great. And I encourage others to try cleaning first (no grease or contact enhancers like Stabilant 22a). But longterm, it does not appear to be a good solution. AND, absolutely everyone needs to replace all their rotted connector boots with Dave Helms. His fit much more tightly to the wire/cable bundle than the oem ones. I found water inside one connector at the vacuum solenoid valves in the lower right bumper area. And this was after fitting new oem boots! Replaced with Dave's and not more concerns. His require grease to install, BECAUSE the fit so tightly to the wire/cable bundle, sealing so well, there is no concern with water/moisture intrusion.

 

I believe in diagnosing the actual electrical problem, by following the circuits through the car and identifying the bad circuit.....and repairing that lone connection that makes your car run poorly.
I think that by changing 100 electrical connectors with the the gold kit you may eliminate the electrical gremlims you are experiencing.......however the reason your car is now running properly is likely because in the process of replacing 100 connectors....you indadvertently repaired the defective connection.

There is a method to diagnosing electrical glitches and it is both logical and satisfying.
For example.....I repaired an NSX with a technique I use when reparing circuit board failures in laptops.
The NSX was running intermittenly poorly (cutting out randomly and with out notice- I initially checked all the connectors- no problem)......now replacing the connectors in this case would have been a waste of time because what I found was that the relay which powered the main cpu had cracked solder circuits on the circuit board....(when the relay got hot...the cracked solder joint allowed the circuit to disconnect for a moment- hence car stalls-but starts up again 2 minutes later and runs for 2 or 3 more wks....till it acts up again). With a magnifying glass I examined all the boards and found 3 defective solder joints. By re sodering the connection on the circuit board-problem fixed.
I would rather repair the actual fault then replace every electrical component on the car and hoping I found the fault by accident.
To each his own.