Nothing mon ami! It gets you to the track and back with no drama! But it does lack a certain je ne sais quoi! The A/C works great though! Merci again for a fantastic weekend!! Birdman
Jeff, my wife saw your comment and is now signing her e-mails from work to me "Your Saintly Wife". And I think it will be a while before she lets me take a Ferrari on a long drive! They will have to prove their reliability for a while! I will unfortunately have to watch the US GP from home! Birdman
I read you story and was total facinated, brilliant and I bet you are glad you did it. Every two years my wife and I go to the Classic LeMans in our 84 Mon. The first time we went in 2002 we got stuck in a two+ hour traffic jam in temps around 95 degrees or so. I was hoping that the guy in the next lane in a Lambo would not move in front of us as the heat that thing was blasting out would have heated our hour for the winter. The car made it with flying colours but the worry about the 20 year old hoses did weigh heavily on my mind. As the car is in the garage having lots of little jobs done, the hoses will be changed, don't forget the one under the Phelum (however you spell it) chamber. What are the thoughts on Silicone hoses? The other thing I am looking into, again is an electric water pump, has anybody done this conversion, it makes total sence to me. I see high performace muscle cars fitted with them all the time over here.
Way to go..takes gonads to drive a car like that to a GP. I worked for BMW for about a decade and went to alot of races 'round the world. It's nice to watch it on tv with commentators and camera angles etc. but the thing i miss the most is the sound..no substitute for that. Great story and a great looking Mondial.
Great story (glad to hear you found your problems as well), How about more pictures of the Paddock? A place few of us ever get to go. Thanks. Kevin S.
Great story and pics...reminds me of getting all the way to Le Mans in 05 without drama from London. Stopped to check into the Hotel, lots of people around (you know whats comin!) back in the car and................nothing! Turns over but no go. It was the first time this had ever happened. Luckily had mobile with me and called Phil Stafford who knows about these things. 'take the cover off the fuse board and whack the relays' he says. So I do and it works! Brilliant, all of the technology and we resort to brute force! Done it several times since so really really need the replacement board guys.............Oh yes, on the way back on the ferry I left the chilly bin plugged in...had tro be push started at the other, highly amusing to the assembled throng who fell about laughing until I was ushered to the front of the queue and left the port first!
Same here, I was sitting over in grandstand #11 and could look down the pit lane road into those club seats thinking "what would it be like to sit there" well now I know, Thanks for the pics and story. This was my first canadian GP and you can get a lot closer to the cars on the track than at Indy. Stood at the far end of the grandstand by the track for a little while and were only about 20 feet from the cars as they excelarated out of the corner, engines reving, traction control grabbing, the cars sounding like jet airplanes taking off. Like you said you can hear and feel the cars when you are that close, an experience not soon forgotten. Good advice on the coolent hoses. Just replaced all the fuel/vapor hoses this past winter and the coolent system is planned for next winter, hoses, clamps, flush and pressure test the rad, ect. mine are only 19 years old, but its time. Once again, great post.
holy crap, i just now saw this thread,and its 4 pages! it will have to wait tomorrow! Birdman, i will send you those 308 front lenses tomorrow, as soon as i get off work and to the post office! i look forward to reading this ! michael
read it, great job!!! i had to go to a VW /BMW place to get the 160 degree thermostats last time. let me know if you found them to work ok. i put one of them in the marrone 78GTS. i think i have another one in my pile of parts. shame on you for driving it all this time with original cooling hoses! i would have failed int on preflight for that.... replace them every 5 years or so man!!! and drive it like ya stole it! i am off today again... i love the slow time ro relax for a change. i am on the way to mail your lenses....
Yeah, they looked a lot better on the outside....it never occurred to me to change them proactively. Fuel yes....coolant, no. Anyway, I just got the 160 degree thermostat at Napa, no problem. The number I gave them from the thread they didn't have listed, but they just ran the 1980 VW, whatever model it was, and they had it. I also got some 1.5" ID coolant hose with a thick wall that looks very much like the OEM hose. They said it was truck hose. It has the same "spiral wrap" look on the outside. I'll be going through the whole car in the next week or so, flush it out, replace all the hoses (I can hardly wait to try doing the ones in the V below the plenum) and probably have the radiator re-cored. What a mess! Birdman
Holy crap....I just went and put the Mondial on the lift to do some dissection. For some reason I was thinking that the long coolant lines that run under the belly of the car from the engine to aand from the radiator were aluminum hard pipe, using only short sections of rubber hose to connect them. WRONG! The Mondial has two 5' sections of 1.5" ID hose running under the car. They each are completely coming apart inside. I took a picture that will make you want to puke. I need to dump the camera to post it. Wow! No wonder the radiator was clogged! At least the dilemma is solved. Anyone replaced the hoses under the plenum without removing it? Looks almost impossible. I'm looking for any advice. I'd love to avoid yanking the water pump because that opens yet another can of worms. If this was winter and I had nothing better to do, it would be one thing, but it's driving season! Thanks! Birdman
Thanks for sharing! I was a guest of McLaren at the 2001 USGP. Once you experience the VIP treatment, it's hard to watch a GP any other way. I know a few of the marketing guys at McLaren. The bloke (with the mic) on Alonso's left is one of them.
Well, I called around and the only place I can find hose in this length is McMaster-Carr. The longest section of coolant hose that the local car and truck parts places can get is 3 feet. Leave it to Ferrari!!
While not original, would it be possible or advisable to replace the long coolant hoses with a stainless steel or similar metal piece? It seems a quality muffler shop could bend a piece of s/s pipe to fit. What's it look like down there, Mario?
Russ, A good idea but not possible. The slots where the hose go are too far up under the car to get a straight piece of rigid pipe in there. I expect that if it were possible, Ferrari would have done it that way. You need a flexible hose to get it in and out. Birdman
You guys asked for some more pics, so here are some more pics! By the way, the co-owner of the McLaren Mercedes F1 team has seen this thread and reportedly liked it. "Peter" thought it was cool and sent him the link. A little McLaren publicity on a Ferrari site isn't bad I guess. Maybe I will get invited back! I hope so! Man, I had so much fun, and Alonso was cool. To the pics.... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
OK, a few more! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yeah, i can see it now. Next year you get the invite from MM and when you get there they will take you out back and well, do you remember the scene from that movie "Casino" where they had the guys head in the presser?? "This is what we do with Ferrari spies" (saying it in a accent) Anyway, nice pictures buddy.