getting her sorted out

You might remember a couple of threads from a month or so ago about the rosso fiorano GTS that elicited so much interest (it was priced reasonably aggressively, rare color, GTS, 6 spd), then left me stranded on the maiden drive from Charlotte to Atlanta with a failed fuel pump and while sitting on the side of the highway I was passed by one of the interested buyers.

Fast forward to today -- I got the fuel pump replaced (thanks to FCI for stepping up to the plate and paying for it) and then after a couple of weeks ownership I sent her back to FoA to get a number of things fixed that I and the PPI identified.

Not surprisingly for a F car it turned out to be a bit more involved. The major issue time wise was the exhaust. The car has Fabspeed headers, hi flow cats and a Nouvalari muffler. It turned out that the exhaust had several leaks from the components not being sealed properly including about a 1/4 inch gap between the cats and the muffler. Both the bypass pipe and muffler were sitting on the car frame. Also the heat blanket put on the headers was coming off (it was just clipped on). When the headers were removed to be re-wrapped properly with Thermo-tec wrap and high temp sealant it was found that the exhaust head studs were stripped (they were replaced with updated 430 studs). Phew!

Motor mounts were replaced (probably why exhaust was sitting on frame), leaking shift shaft seal replaced, driver side window regulator cleaned and fixed, window switches were fixed (they were loose) and the battery replaced. I also had the pads and rotors replaced -- the PO had racing pads on the car which squealed like a stuck pig. Blissfully silent now. Other minor surprises -- alternator ground strap was missing, the car was missing a bunch of hardware holding the splash shields on, and the bumper wiring was routed incorrectly.

After three weeks in the ER I picked her up yesterday and promptly drove about 50 miles. What a hoot -- there is nothing like a Ferrari howling at 6000+ rpm...

Thanks to Matt & Thomas at FoA -- the exhaust work in particular was much more involved that they thought to get it all right but they stuck to the original cost estimate and did not charge me more. And for those of you that insist that you cannot buy a well sorted car for less than $70k....trust me you can if you are patient. Of course my car has 36k miles but frankly 15 yr old cars with less than 10k miles make me a bit nervous from all of the sitting. My car will never sit in a collection but it is sorted out and runs like a bat out of hell!
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