Oh that little thing.... one day I will finish that Carm, one day. No different than we have here, one must have a clear defination of what constitutes "Done", for me its always a moving target. Too blasted bad I waited to chase a hunch until these cars were considered Vintage.... always a day late, a dollar short and a Also Showed at the track.
Dave, quit playing on FChat and get back to work. We all have a laundry list of products we need you to develop. Don't make me come back over there again today! Don't think I won't! Oh...wait...I guess I should get off FChat and get my slackin' azz back to work.
Dave Helms Sorry to hijack this thread but ........ Is it a crazy idea for me to ship my 1995 2.7 F355 with 56000 miles on the clock from Spain to your shop for cambelt change, timing check, full engine check up and full installation of the gold connector kit that I have here for the past 2 years? I just can't trust anyone here to do this work....and I won't. Anyone in Europe ever ship their car over there? I am so impressed by your commitment and knowledge. Howard
That is an interesting thought. The only thing that may make it unrealistic is how much you are willing to pay for the transport and how long you are willing to be without the car. You would have freight over the ocean both ways and truck freight from the east coast to Colorado and back. I'm not sure how much the ocean trip would cost but the truck shipping would probably run $1000 USD each way or more.
From my part of the world Ottawa, Canada it will cost $2,200 USD each way and I will pay that gladly to have Dave do all the 355 updates on my car since I know it won't need another engine out service after that for probably 10 years!
Can be without the car for however long it takes. 5k usd i would pay for transport to get my beloved into that virtuosos workshop and my engine on that test rig to check all connectors and oil leaks. Think i will give Dave a call.
If you can get transport for $5k USD it seems justified to me if you don't have anyone there that you trust.
Since Dave can run your engine on the "test rig" you may be able to save a bunch of money if Dave would consider servicing your engine out of the car. I would prefer to send Dave the whole car since I want brakes and suspension upgrades to match but just an idea for you.
guys...dont mean to stir the pot.....but...I talked with an engineer at AMP that says that the gold connectors are a BAD idea to mate to the tin on the motronic ecu. he thought that the benefits were cutting off 20yr old connectors with a new one that had a higher clamping force, but again did not think gold was a good idea. he said that in the sort run it would be fine, but was concerned over the long term ramifications. he said there is numerous sources of data on this. If there is info to the contrary please post. this is not intended as a scare tactic but for anyone to chime in with additional information.
^Define long term (as in how many hears) ramifications cause several cars have had this for many years "without" said ramifications.
Well, there are dozens of us that installed the GCK and can attest to the improvements. For years. When does your friend believe we would experience negative consequences? 5 years, 10 years? And how do the negative consequences manifest themselves? Corrosion? Outright failure? Kai
Again....just post any data....i will also be looking. if you read what I posted, he is saying that recrimping anything will be great in the short term (undefined) these crimps are approaching 20yrs old and definitely have corrosion and resistance that will affect the ecu...also a tendecy for the clamping force to diminish....he agreed on this. he just thought that a TIN connector with higher clamping force would be better than dissimilar metals.
Well, he "thought" that tin would be better... I think Dave has proven that gold is better. Not sure what data you are looking for. Usually, the person not believing this is the right thing to do presents the data showing why it's bad. AFAIK, Dave did not start out with gold but trial and error lead him to this superior solution. Kai
Do the 5.2 cars benefit more from a SR Gold kit since they are more complex in nature than a 2.7 car? Is the improvement as significant on the 2.7s? Curious about that...
I should have put the flame suit on.....I should have realized that all of the satisfied customers with over 4 years of experience with a gold connector ....most know more than a connector engineer. WOW. Im not sure that even the factory connections went bad within 4 years. To make you sleep better, he said that if you had the ecu contacts plated in gold then there would be no issue in the long term. I suppose you did that, right?
The 348 and Mondial are 2.7 or older and they have had positive results with those. I am not sure on the more or less significant point though.
Good night all.... http://www.te.com/lighting/lib/pdfs/TE_Connectors_101_0409.pdf "Mating Gold to Tin So, what about mating a tin-plated connector to a gold-plated connector? One could reason that youd get the benefits of both systems. In this case, that reasoning would be wrong. In reality, what happens is some of the tin actually transfers to the surface of the gold during the initial mating. This transferred tin forms the nucleus for tin oxide growth on the gold plating. In the end, you still end up with the same fretting corrosion possibility with a mixed plating system even though you paid a premium for the goldplated half of the connector system. " A few blurbs...enought to put you to sleep This is what data looks like.....but I suppose I also prefer seat of your pants dyno crap too...
PS...you may also want to look up The TIN Commandments #7 Mating tin coated contacts to gold coated contacts is not recommended.
I personally have experienced the benefits of the SRI GCK and consider myself one of the lucky ones who was recently given the opportunity to test it out on my 328 (see post #5: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328/408593-328-love-story-scuderia-rampante-gold-connector-kit.html). I installed the kit myself and found the provided instructions well written, the key is to follow the steps in a systematic fashion. I stand with the others when I state that my car has been transformed with this kit and I simply can’t stop giggling when I sit behind the wheel. Beyond improvements in the car itself, I have to say that my experience with Dave and the SRI team has truly been the highlight of ownership. People who have worked with Dave know that he treats these cars as if they were his own. Well before I installed the GKC, he worked with me on an elusive spark plug wire issue related to quirky EMI phenomenon that I suspect would not have been discovered by most Ferrari mechanics (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328/382789-scuderia-rampante-rescue-interesting-328-spark-plug-wire-solution.html). The man continues to amaze me with more recent discussions regarding fuel injectors which have taken me down a path that, yet again, has led to an improvement in the performance of my car. Bottom line Howard, when you ask if it is a crazy idea to ship your car from Spain to Colorado for Dave to work on it . . . my answer is HELL NO, ship it over! You won't be disappointed.
WE have been through all that 2 years ago. It is old news with no merit in this application. "Where we go from here" is look at what we know right now. Anyone who has owned a Ferrari for any amount of time knows this to be true. Here is my baker's dozen: 1- When new off the showroom floor these cars had electrical gremlins the ONLY solution FNA came up with is to "part swap." Luca called the 348 the worst Ferrari ever for a reason. 2- Successive owners all have stacks of receipts documenting the ghost chasing such as multiple 02 sensor codes, changing 02 sensors, changing cats, bypass modifications etc. 3- Everyday on Fchat there is at least one 02 sensor "need help" post 4- At least once a week on Fchat there is a "slow down ecu" post 5- Ghost chasing never ends. Today it is the A/C. tomorrow it is the window motor. Next week it is a suspension light. 6- The ghost chasing is not an "old used" Ferrari problem. It is a universal Ferrari problem. 7- Ferrari's part swapping solution is not a lasting one 8- Every Ferrari with OEM pins has spreading connector pins reducing pin clamping force. Go look at your motronic ECU connector plug under a good light. 9- SRI gold connector kit is the only lasting solution and every gold kit owner has reported better running overall. 10- How long do gold kit benefits last? Nobody knows because they are all still working perfectly 11-Who has a better solution? Nobody 12-Who has more success data than SRI? Nobody 13-If I have the gold kit my car and my records show less ghost chasing it is worth more than your car when I sell it because gold connectors make the car work.
