SRI fuse box/gold connector kit upgrades

I was one of the original beta testers. I was only having a few minor issues, and the kit did resolve them. One was the connection to the idle control valve was causing some idle issues. I found that someone had redone the pins on the connector at some point and used the wrong type! I also found many, many connectors that the pins were loose from wear, and others that had corrosion, because the boots had been torn and allowed moisture and dirt to get in. Most of this was going to be causing issues down the road. I would never have known until tearing into it. The boots in the kits are silicone and should last for darn near forever! The stock boots are plain rubber and rot away in a few years from the engine heat.

 

This is like watching a good movie rerun.

 

I had SRI do my TR fuse box as it was starting to show discoloration on the white connectors (im not sure what the clues are on the 550/575). The TR fusebox is an issue that was only going to get worse. It took a load off of the system and my mind. I also went though every electrical connector I could get my hands on in the engine bay (clean/lightly sand to ensure bare metal etc). Im sure the gold kit is worth its money, but I needed to do the fuse box first. If I start to run into strange gremlins down the road, I might get the gold kit. But for now im solid. So no, I dont think they NEED to be done at the same time.

I would like to think I notice my radiator fans pulling more air but that might be in my head. For added comfort, I leave the fuse box panel open in the trunk...more air flow and better heat dissipation.

In a nutshell, Im a very satisfied customer of Dave Helms as I dont have the knowledge to rewire a fusebox.

 

Comedy or horror story?

 

I had tried to repair several bad and burnt connections all over my Mondial "T" and decided to send the fuse board off to Dave Helms. No regret! Some of my repairs seem to be holding well but I no longer worry about the fuse box.

 

Hello,
When you have some time, can you check to see on your Fuse box if these 2 relays are still running warm, after driving the car with the running lights on. I also did the SRI mod, still a bit concerned.
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I too was one of the beta testers and pre gold connector and fuse box kits I had MAJOR electrical issues, after installation of kits ALL electrical issues were resolved. No more crappy idle (when occasionally it would die at a stop or turning a corner), no more dropped banks, no more flashing slow down lights, no more emission reports telling me unburned hydrocarbons were detected, and on and on. First 5 years or ownership a complete electrical nightmare, the last 5 years after installed kits it has been nothing but 15,000 miles of driving nirvana. In a nutshell these kits have made my car a truly RELIABLE car I can, and do, drive anywhere.

 

The newer vehicles with electronic pulsed fuel injection are more sensitive to voltage drop than the older CIS cars. A half volt drop or faulty ground and cause intermittent problems. The TR fuse box white connector is also an issue.

 

I was also a BETA tester for the Testarossa. To me it's an absolute must. Do they have to be done at the same time. No. But its a good idea to get it done. There is more success in doing it yourself. Take your time and don't rush it. When I did mine I broke it down in segments. I only did two plugs per session. The larger ecu plugs I did one per session. After a session I would fire her up and go for a spin. If I did something wrong I would only have to trace back two plugs or one large ecu plug. Doing the whole kit in one shot or not breaking in segments with drives in between to me is not the way to do it. The kit made my Testarossa ultra reliable. I no longer own the car but new owner is still driving her. Dave put a lot of research into these kits. Worth the money. So far the kit is in the car maybe 5 + years and not a single issue. Thru those 5 years probably 15,000 + miles of driving.

R

 

I was not a BETA tester for the fuse panel but rather an IDIOT tester...If I can do it everybody can...And I did it. Very glad I did!

 

I guess I was a beta tester for both the kit and fuse box upgrade for 456 GT's, as Dave said mine was the first 456 he'd developed product for.

Had my car for a year, as development takes time, but in my book it was time (and money) well spent.

 

Bonhomme!

 

I was a beta tester, then put the kit on my second car, and did it for a friend on a third car. I can't say enough good things about the GCK. Bottom line it works. I'm sure it will not be the last kit I install.

 

I think it's fair to give an alternate point of view.

I am not a "believer" in the gold kit, and I did not put it on my 348. In my opinion it is way too much money and is not worth the cost. My solution was to use tin plated junior power timer type pins. I repined both wiring harnesses in my 348 for about $140 total. Here is the DIY http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q-sponsored-algar-ferrari/444155-348-motronic-2-7-connector-harness-repin.html I am happy with the results of my tin repin.

As for the fusebox, I have no opinion on that.

 

Mine was the first 328 to have an SRI GCK installed. About 2 years and 2500 miles later the car is running extremely well. I was very pleased with the results. See post #5 for my specific observations: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328/408593-328-love-story-scuderia-rampante-gold-connector-kit.html

 

I put a laser gauge on them after pulling into the garage after 30 minutes on the road with the lights on. Outside air temp was 62F and the top right relay was 94F and the other one was 88F. So take that for what its worth.

 

Any "fresh" connector is far, far better than old, corroded ones (the OE ones will definitely corrode, and nearly all have done so by now on most of these cars). The advantage of the gold ones is that they stay un-corroded for a much longer time --- and most likely for as long as the car will last.

New tin-plated ones will last for several years before corroding again, and then needing to be replaced again. So, it's a simple matter of whether or not the extra cost of the gold is worth it to you ---- if paying a premium for the "one and done" approach makes sense to you, then go with the gold connectors. Plus, SRI throws in a lot of nice extras with their kit.

Whatever you decide, do NOT waste your time trying to clean your original connectors. It simply does not work, as they will corrode again very quickly and even worse than before. Once corroded for the first time, the plating is already gone / compromised --- it doesn't come back --- and "cleaning" just removes more of it. It's just like the enamel on your teeth

 

I agree with Finnerty. SRI has the only commercial Ferrari specific kit with tools and instructions. This job is not easy and it is tedious. For a first timer with limited electronics skills going alone and finding all the right tools can be difficult. Limited skills and a marginal tool effect results in a negative way. A good set of tools can compensate for some lack of skill.

 

+1 on what you and Finnerty are saying. I respect what Ernie did, and that result should be positive, and last for many years...but I consider the SRI gold kit, as you guys stated, a nice, simplified package with well tested and researched tools, parts, and instructions which should result in a good outcome, even for a rank novice like myself. The tools worked well, the silicone connector boots should last decades...just super high quality stuff.

 

This is what can happen when you put a gold connector on a tine contact. Will it happen in you car? Depends on a number of environmental issues. Note that the gold on tin connection is "chemically" welded together. The other end, which was plugged into a gold plated RCA jack, was unaffected. I offer this only for informative reasons. You can trust physics, chemistry and engineering or... myth.
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Yeah Hugh, the real problem is when you have little connector refresh experience and then buy a crimp tool that does not help you. An experienced guy can make due with a lesser tool but the science of crimping is much harder than squeezing a metal tang over a braided wire. Then there is the time it takes to source the best pins and sometimes just sourcing any pin. In the 550M there are at least four different pin types. Then if you attack the ECU's sourcing the right Bosch white block is not easy and using your old block is even harder logistically. So now that I have done it a few times sure going alone works
But if I was a first timer lower level DIY guy using the SRI kit is the way to go.

I did not know SRI did fuse boxes. Years ago I rewired my entire box. It was tedious and took me a week of figuring it out, ordering high temp wire, and doing the job. What a nasty DIY job. If you make a mistake good luck finding it. And if anyone goes down that road realize you will be working for a dollar an hour. If a fix is available buy it from SRI or someone else.

 

I think it was allready said but should be mentioned again. When i did mine on my 355 6 out of eight rubbers for the injectors were damaged very badly. You can go out and buy boots as well but the nice thing is getting it in akit form as said earlier. I do agree with ernie to a point though there is other options and if your handy they will work. For me i have had the car for 10 plus years and plan on keeping ot another 10 so the expense in my opinion was worth it. I hope i wont have to ever do this again because it is a pain in the butt.

 

You can get the Bosch connectors, for all the two terminal sensors, with boots, pins, and new style housings here: Bosch Fuel Injector Plug Kit Includes 4 Connectors and 8 Contacts with Boots | eBay I purchased two sets of 4 just to chek them out. Very high quality. The nice thing about using new housings is you don't have to waste time extracting the old pins form the original housings and perhaps damaging the old housing. Additionally, these new style housing are made so that the pin carrier slides out so you can remove the pins easily if you would ever need to replace any pins again, God bless.

As for the install. It's been documented right here on FChat that even with the tools that come with the SRI kit you can royally screw up the crimps based on your mechanical skills. The flip side is that if you have such skills you probably won't have any problems making good crimps with a $50-$60 tool, Ratchet Crimping Tool for JPT Terminals

 

John

There is corrosion between tin tin connections. Tin tin certainly is not immune. We know that ferrari tin tin is lame. We never would have these controversial discussions if ferrari took some lessons from BMW or any Japanese manufacturer. In this instance we only have a gold kit. No one makes a tin kit. Maybe you should make a tin kit and corner the market. At this time the sin of going gold tin seems to work. It works better that what ferrari has given us. Could tin tin be better? Maybe but the only person to go full tin tin is Ernie. That's one datapoint. SRI has many data points. If the gold tin goes bad in 10 years I will just do it again. But in the meantime I have already got nearly five years of painless ownership that was not possible when these cars were new. So are there some issues with gold on tin? Maybe. But does it work as advertised? Yes.

As to tools yes there are some really lame SRI crimp tool pics. I know because I'm the one who took those pictures. Can you imagine what those crimps would have looked like with a lesser tool? My guess is they would not have looked better. Quite frankly I'm not impressed with Ernies crimp either (pics also on fchat). He is very skilled, I'm sure if he had a better tool his crimps would be better. One of these days if he try's my crimp tool he will understand the difference.