QV distributor cap

Nope, it is a Ferrari...if you don't like it, buy a Toyota.

And watch out on the reproduction caps, there was a bad batch a year or so ago...probably best to stick with the original Marelli ones. Check with Ferrari UK, they had good prices on them...but still expensive, by any standard.

 

Sorry, my bad, but every 308/Mondial owner goes through the price shock of parts after purchase...(Hey me included when I got my 308), but all of these questions have been answered repeatedly, and a 2 minute archive search would have found your answers.

Fortunately, the caps last a long time, so replacements are infrequent.

Regards,
Dave

 

The 308 distributor caps are indeed unique parts. If you search the archives, you'll find quite a few futile attempts at matching them up to some other vehicle.

Unfortunately, 3x8 unique parts prices are also a matter of low volume vs setup costs.

A couple of years ago I looked into having a major US aftermarket supplier make me a run of distributor caps. They wanted $10K NRE up front, and a minimum order committment of several thousand pieces. I think that if I just ordered the minimum, they would have cost me almost $200 apiece, then I'd have to make a profit, the dealers make a profit, & the price came out very close to the Ferrari UK price. Since I didn't have $20K or so, much less being able to have it tied up in inventory for a couple of years, I had to drop the whole idea.

What has been done successfully are two conversions:
1) There's a couple of kits for adapting US 8-cylinder distributors to the 308s. Norwoods makes one. Can't remember who makes the other. There's some info & pics in the archives.
2) Nick's Forza Ferrari sells a full electronic ignition conversion including coil packs, again a search the archives.

 

Its a bit of an odd one though because if you look at the Ferrari classic parts site the cap in question (115518) was used on a lot of 308s (EU and USA) as well as Mondials and 328s so the volume is not THAT low.

AT £160 a cap its more expensive than disty caps for Dinos, 288 GTOs (which are only about £54 each) and even the caps for things like 400s & 412s. The only one I could find that was more expensive was for a 512BB at about £220 - but then one cap does the whole engine.

Also, if the caps are unique, does anyone know what the items are that Superformance are selling? Are these copies & if so has anone used them?

I.

 

By auto aftermarket mfg. stds, it's so low that no one's been able to get a mfg interested in tooling up to source them.

I don't know where Superformance is getting them, they may well be going back to Magnetti-Marelli & having them run some off from the orig. tooling. They may have gotten a company to source them.

Superformance.co.uk is one of the oldest aftermarket suppliers in the world. They have well established solid reputation. I've bought from them in the past & wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

 

I had trouble with one of my qv caps about 8 years ago. I took it Mohammed Bin Suliman's Rally Mecanic in Dubai. Ivan re-placed the carbons inside, I have done another 25000kms since without a hic-up.

Just a though if the cap is not physically damaged then you should be able to get someone to rebuild it.