What Gold Connectors Are Easier To Replace With The Engine Out?

The hard ones for me were the injector connectors. The rest can be done without too much problem in the car. The crank sensor has to have the bottom panels removed and car on a hoist to get at. This is on a F355

 

The knock sensor if your car has one. The injectors for sure. Doing it with the engine out will insure you can still walk upright for the next few days. Also send your injectors out to be cleaned properly while the engine is out if you have time. Clean the throttle bodies and make sure they are not leaking at the base. If any leak then you will have rough idle. The paper gasket at the base of the throttle bodies are very cheap if you need any. Leaks can be seen by little traces of carbon marking the leaks. Clean the springs on each throttle body as well and relube. If your spark plug wires are original, you might want to replace them. Kingsbourne make good wires at a third the price of OEM ones and they come in nice colors. Make sure your tensioner bearings are replaced with Hill engineering ones. They are also much cheaper than OEM and many times better. Check your clutch while the engine is out. Its only an hours work. You might want to replace the throwout bearing with a Hill as well. If your mechanic has a scope and im sure he does, check your headers for cracks, collapses or leaks.

 

kit was designed for engine in the car. There is a slight advantage outof the car forslight access advantage. There is also a slight disadvantage engine out because now you can't change a connecotr to gold then test your car and keepdoing this until all connectors are done. This will prevent miswirings or at least getting too far if you are not paying attension to detail. The kit is easy just pay attension. I think there is an advantage with minimum skilled diy'er to do a few connectors and check do a few and check and that means engine in.

 

Speaking as an old guy with a bad back, installing the entire kit with the engine out was marked advantage!
I am still amazed at the improvements noted in my 355!

 

Speaking as a much older guy than you with a bad'r back than yours I must agree with your comments...lol

 

The only ones I found particularly hard to do in the car, was the big Motronic plug in the passenger compartment. The ones in the engine compartment are not that bad. I could see engine out would be a bit easier, but I would not wait to do it, just for that slight additional ease.

 

Great string. I am considering the gold kit, two questions. The Supremo kit or the Mormale? About how many connections are there? I have a 2.7 355.

 

Mine is a 2.7. Theres 10 or so plugs plus your 8 injectors. Cant remember for sure but there are over 70 individual wires (pins). Some plugs have 2 wires some have 3, 4, or 5. If you do them when you have your 30k service your back will thank you plus you have a better chance of doing a better job. If your worried that you might make a mistake, once you peal back the old boots you take a picture of the connector and pin placement before cutting . They are numbered 1,2,3,4,5 (depending on the number of pins) where the pins slip into the connector. Once you crimp the new wire on the pin. If your not sure you made a good connection on a certain pin then just solder it. You then pull the new boot over and plug her back in. Use a continuity tester if your worried. You get faster and better at it as you go along.

 

My 550 started as a perfect car. The supremo made it better! On a 348/355 which have the worst electronics of any Ferrari ever made and IMO (not shared by many) one cause of the dreaded 355 valve problems in apparentaly good working cars, I would go supremo as mandatory. I believe that bad timing without proper cam timing plus poor mixture control from garbage in garbage from the ecus causes eating of the cats etc... I don't know how many share that opinon. If you look at my virgin connector plug earlier in this thread you can see a major reason for bad contacts. I don't think your 355 ecu plug is any better. After seeing my ecu connector plug as a typical example of a 10 yearold plug how could anyone do anything but the supremo kit?

 

I think you are on to something. My 348 ran rich prior to supremo kit, barely passed smog and one cat had just started to disintegrate. Post-installation the car runs a much better mixture and passes smog easily, not to mention all the other benefits the kit provides.

 

Great thread, thanks again and I am in proces of odering my gold kit...supremo of course

 

In 348/355 if ecu plug access is an issue it is easier to remove seat vs the engine