Gold Connector Kits

Good day.
After installing a Scuderia Rampante Gold Wiring connector kit to an F50 i felt the need to
write a few words about my experience with these kits over the last few years.
This particular F50 came in with a few faults, no 5th gear, numerous engine oil leaks and
intermittent engine check light coming on, and it wasnt running very well, misfiring, not the power you would expect and poor throttle response. I suppose you could say, its difficult to say if the gold connectors actually worked, was it the rest of the work carried out that made the difference, IE, cam timing, new plugs, that kind of thing, well they may have helped in some way but i didnt really see any problems in the cam timing or plugs, or injectors, so i would have to say that what made the difference was the gold connectors, it now runs nice and smooth, power is there, good throttle response, no engine check light, and this time round i enjoyed the road test.
I attached a few pictures of the original wiring showing the condition of some of the terminals and rubber weather boots, and as you can see they were not good.
I would also like to comment on the kit itself, the thought and effort that goes into making up the complete kit is indeed commendable and i now appreciate Dave Helms comments regarding doing the whole kit and not just replacing a couple of bad terminals or just the rubber weather boots, and why he refused to sell us just a few connectors and would only sell the complete kit wasn't just a salesman's pitch but there was a reason behind it.
Having done a few gold connector installs over the last few years, all in all i can only recommend them to anyone doing a major service, do it at the same time, and to anyone having electronic and engine check light problems the old dirty connectors could well be at the route of the problem.
No im not a salesman for Scuderia Rampante but just a mechanic who genuinely enjoyed the experience.
My thanks to Dave and Jenni down in Boulder.
Cheers
Steve
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Unrelated question out of curiosity ---

What is the crankshaft sitting on the bench behind the engine ? I assume it is not from the f50 ?

 

Agreed, Gold Kit and new O2 sensors solved my 348's issues. Not only a were the original connectors crappy, but when trimming the wire ends I found many wires badly corroded. If the insulation was tough to strip off, when it finally came off, the wire underneath would be all black instead of nice shiny copper. I suspect improvents from Gold Kit were a combination of improved connectors and cleaning up wire until shiny. Not a quick Saturday afternoon task.

 

If the connectors are the problem, yes. All these parts are available at much lower prices if you know where to look. Even gold plated if you think that matters. But as has been discussed here at length, the GCK is just a blue pill.

Remember, even after installing the GCK the other side of the connection remains tin.

 

"Blue pill?"

Really?

The GCK gives a clean, tight connection.

That's what you need.

Dave's invention seems to have solved all the electrical issues on my F-car.

 

OEM.????...the connectors are an industry standard! Ferrari would get them from an AMP supplier like anyone else could.

I do like the packaging that Dave offers. I think it is the finest plastic that the earth has to offer.....it might be NASA spec. It amazes me that people still don't get this.

on a side note....what is the crazy F50 harness?

Can we offer a Ferrarichat connector?

 

Just had a quick thought....

If I were in the business of Ferrari repair....I would also buy one of the crazy priced kits. Then I could also justify an equally crazy expense to repair the car.

It would be hard to charge 2K for doing a harness repair if you only showed $100 for materials.

Just a thought.

 

A big plus for clean tight contacts, but ask yourself what the roll of the gold is? Blue pill. It's purely an illusion of quality. Reality is that unless the mating pin is also gold it's potentially detrimental to the longevity of the contact.

 

You have a fair point if only one contact is gold, if both are replaced with gold that changes things.

The technical discussion has not touched on electron mobility and galvanic corrosion. fretting degradation and insulative buildup. Gold should also only be plated over a nickle base. Gold and Tin should not be used in mated contacts, Tin will transfer and plate to the Gold surface and the problems all start over again.

Ferrari electrical contacts are sealed from the elements like a screen door on a sub. It's no wonder they have issues, replacing the terminals and plugs with weather sealed ones would be the best option, 'course that is a major undertaking. So liberal use of dielectric grease is second best.

 

I understand people have differing views and opinions on things.

FWIW, here is an earlierl thread about Dave's gold pin connector kit:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q-sponsored-algar-ferrari/312756-sri-gold-connector-pin-kit-strikes-gold.html

 

Actually most of those issues have been discussed at length in other threads. But thanks for mentioning them here.

 

Yeah...that thread should read.."strikes fool's gold"....

 

It seems the usual individuals are back offering their thoughts both positive and negative regarding the SRI GCK which is absolutely acceptable, robust debates are always good. I have documented my initial experience with it in the past (see post #5 as well as some of the follow up posts for context if interested: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328/408593-328-love-story-scuderia-rampante-gold-connector-kit.html). As with most customers that have actually installed the kit my experience was a favorable one. It seems the folks that take issue with it have as one of their primary concerns the use of dissimilar metals in some of the connections. As I shared in one of my previous posts, when you add up all of the terminals that get swapped out in the 328 kit, more times than not the final product is gold on gold. Indeed, some of the terminals to fixed sensors with tin plugs end up with dissimilar metal connections and I promised to keep a close eye on those and report back.

It's now been 2.5 years and 3000 miles after installation and I have continued to pay close attention to the plugs in question. On this kit I feel the most important plugs with dissimilar metal connections that could affect drivability include the TDC sensor, Tach sensor, frequency valve, and O2 sensor. Visual inspection of these terminals every 4 or 5 months has not revealed any concerning findings (Included are photos of the tach sensor plug and TDC sensor plug from 2 months ago). With the understanding that untoward effects could be occurring despite normal visual inspection I have been performing period oscilloscope readings on the TDC sensor both at the Jofatron plug as well as back probing the appropriate pins on the microplex to confirm appropriate TDC waveform which have remained consistently stable. I'll do my best to continue reporting back yearly on my findings. In the meantime, the car is an absolute joy to drive. My only concern is that the 328 won't get driven as much now that I've acquired a 355. One thing is for sure, when it comes time for a major on the new car I'll be installing another SRI GCK.
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Seattle M5...

Now that you know what you are doing (ie you have done your 328) why not order the connectors and pins (gold and silver) from any electronic vendor? Humor me, please. See if you can then come back here and tell your same story.

Spend $75 instead of $1200 and see for yourself. Then come back and post if you think your money was well spent.

I have no argument about the improvement better connections make. I have needed to do this on other car circuits. Usually Bosch connections are 2 pin or 3 pin. I am just trying to help you and others .......but sometimes people need to see their parts in a yellow and black box with a horse on it.

 

Can someone please enlighten me. What's a "Blue Pill"?

 

Viagra
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Alright Tim, I'll play.

Will "any electronic vendor" provide me with the correct pins/plugs for all the elements that need to be addressed on a 355 F1? What do you think the response will be when I call up "any electronic vendor" and say that I need the correct plugs and pins for all of the problematic sensors/ECUs on a Ferrari 355? While indeed I am now familiar with how to install the kit on a 328, the 355 is a completely different animal and I wouldn't know where to begin. Sure, I could spend the multitude of hours required obtaining the wiring diagrams, mapping out the sensors, climbing into the engine bay to inventory all of the plugs/terminals that I need, researching here and other forums to determine what should and shouldn't be swapped out, all without any guarantee that I truly have what I need, . . . or I can simply make one phone call to Dave Helms at Scuderia Rampante and get exactly what I need on my door step in a matter of days. Will "any electronic vendor" help me out when I have a specific question about the installation of one of the plugs on my 355?

Oh, and another thing, will "any electronic vendor" be able to provide me with a plug boot that won't fall apart and leak water within a few years? I live in the beautiful Northwest and yes, my cars sometimes see rain so I need a plug boot that actually keeps water out. While rarely mentioned in these discussions, the advanced plug boots developed by Dave are a thing of beauty and in my opinion are a must if you're going to spend the time installing new plugs/terminals.

So Tim, how did I do? Were you sufficiently humored?

 

"The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are popular culture symbols representing the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill)."

 

As you point out, the GCK does provide a useful service in that all the tools and parts are includes. But all those parts are commonly available, granted, provided you know where to look. Other than cost, my objection has been and remains that using gold plated connectors on tin plated pins is not an acceptable practice. Try selling that to Boeing or to NASA on a deep space probe, or to any computer or cell phone manufacture. As you have pointed out, you have monitored your 328 and found no problems over 2 1/2 years. That's great and I hope you continue to not find problems. But just because you don't have a problem doesn't mean it's acceptable to do things incorrectly, at least not to me.

I understand that many people are ignorant of the potential problem mixed metal contacts can cause. And note, I said potential problems. I did not say you will have a problem. That is the point of rehashing this over and over, to educate. Installing the GCK doesn't not mean you will have a problem down the line. And using the correct materials doesn't guarantee you won't have a problem in the future either. But using the correct materials eliminates a potential source of failure.

Do your self a favor. Take a look at your 355. Pull the MAF connector. You will see tin contacts and tin pins. Then pull the TPS and check it out. You will see it has gold connectors and the TPS has gold pins. In fact, as I posted before, manufactures are pretty insistent on not mixing metals in electrical contacts as demonstrated by this picture which shows a 5 pin connector to the throttle body on a 2002 Toyota truck. Note the on the TB there are 2 tin pins and 3 gold. The connector, shown above, also has 2 tin and 3 gold. There is a reason to do this. It isn't just because they felt like it.
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John, out of curiosity, do you have an opinion on the *right* way to solve FCar connection issues? Do the connectors themselves really need to be replaced? Do contact cleaners and/or enhancers have any place here? I realize that ideal solutions (such as a new wiring harness) would be very difficult to implement, but what are the practicable solutions available to the average owner?

 

Are Ferrari OEM wiring harness inherently bad; or is it the low miles, i.e. fewer heat cycles to keep moisture out of the harness that is the problem?

A well known mechanic on Fchat has stated that just unplugging and replugging connectors, which gives them a fresh metal on metal connection, has solved rough running engine problems.

 

John is 100% right. The connectors and plugs are available easily if you know where to look. The other side of that equation is also the mfg and plating options, but it's not hard if you know what to spec and have some familiarity with electrical connectors.

Todd, OEM connectors and harness are not terrible but weather-resistant terminals and boots didn't seem to be a priority for Ferrari until at least the 360 where things got better. For those who may not know, most all connectors have an option of an 'O' ring seal or weather seal, however that option does increase the cost of said connector. The majority of connectors Ferrari used from the 70's thru the early 90's had no weather seals. Also the harness itself was not always sealed on open ends so moisture and water would find it's way into the cabling and migrate into the back of the connectors.

DC power is exceptionally harder on connections vs AC, add in moisture at any point where there is an anodic gap and plating will occur speeding up corrosion and resistance in the circuit.

The absolute best option would be to strip the harness out and 'peg board' it up, then go over it and replace every connector that is not weather sealed and also seal up the harness sheaving to keep out moisture. But that's a fairly expensive option due to the time it would take.

mechanical abrasion of the terminals will temporarily fix things but as corrosion builds again as the plating is scratched away to the substrate metal the insulation layer will build back up and the problem comes back again. I'd suggest using stabilant 22 first, I've used it on everything from flood damaged Ferrari's to high tech lab equipment and projects and everything inbetween. It's pricey but worth every cent and every drop.