Installing SRI Gold kit today - little help?

I don't know about anyone else I find it extremely disrespectful and utmost in poor taste the way this product is being taken apart from someone who has devoted so much to help others.

This is the first time I am ashamed to say I belong to this forum.

Peace out....

 

The funny thing is that only my sarcasm is quoted.

You disregard all the substance around it.

Is that hatchet supposed to symbolize the hatchet crimp job?

I am sad to admit that I only have a cheap crimp tool. I bought it online ...SG tool aid...I think I paid $32 shipped to my door.

here is the pic...can you tell how this would be the same or different?
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Ketel- How is the installation coming? Last time I looked at this thread, that was the subject.

 

Anybody have any extra popcorn? I ran out about five pages ago...

 

Let's see if I can concisely sum up these 30+ pages:

1. Some believe that the tin / gold connection will cause big problems at some unspecified point in the future (with a cigarette / cancer analogy mentioned for good measure). Any improvement documented by kit purchasers is either imaginary or due to tighter connections (with much useless blather about crimping tools).

2. Others (i.e. 100% of the kit users) don't give a rat's ass and enjoy what they believe is a much better running car.

3. There are many F car owners with engineering degrees and strong opinions.

Did I miss anything?

 

Taz - I'm down the runway now. All that is left is the ECU, the rectangular plug and a 3-prong sensor under the engine. Hoping to tackle these final connectors this wknd.

ketel

 

Yes - you missed the part about the OP of this thread who is almost finished installing the GCK

 

Excellent news Ketel, you will be done soon but I think you will find the effort made is worth it.
Opinions are like a you know what and everyone has one, but the only one that matters is yours as it's your car.
I have had the full kit in my car for over 2 years now and from my experience as an actual user of the product I think you will be happy.
Jeff

 

Will you be testing your car before you do the ECU?

 

Ketel- Good news. She should run great. But what do I know? I am only a rocket scientist.

 

Not planning to test the car before the ECU is done because I am still getting CELs which, as we all know, means that it will not pass smog.

Hopefully, with the final sensors complete my CELs will not come on any longer. That's the hope, anyway. If they still do come on, then I trust it will be something easily and cheaply addressed -- like new O2 sensors, etc - and these final gremlins will be behind me.

ketel

 

good luck ketel. admire your determination

 

here's one for gold + tin/lead vs. tin + tin vs. tin/lead + tin lead

gerryd, based on the emotional pm you sent me, i may have offended you when I call bill henderson, the man who claims to cure stage 4 cancer using homeopathic methods for a small fee, a quack. if i offended you, i sincerely apologize..
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If your error code was o2 related, why would you go through the trouble of installing this kit without doing cheap o2 sensors?

In fact, the only connections that make the most sense would be doing both sides of the o2 sensor union in gold because that harness sees the most heat. And if it's not the union, it could be the sensor itself. I believe others have said this to you, but I don't understand why you wouldn't go to the root of the problem first.

It is possible that you will have replaced every union in your car only the still get a check engine light...only to find that when you replace you o2 sensors you didn't need to do all this.

Please...if your error code is o2 related change these first and report if the codes are gone.

Others are saying that the gck has solved all their problems without even doing the ECU.

 

So if I read this "as intended"...for the number of cycles we would experience on our cars...the resistance is the same for gold or tin. Gold does get worse later (which I know you understand)....but no reason to think gold is anything better than OEM.

Another conclusion....that just finding the bad connection is all that matters in fixing a 355. And that a poorly running 355 may need to have its entire electrical system gone through in order to fix it. No magic in gold or tin...just find the problem.

I hope this thread will help others Fix their cars themselves without paying the F tax associated w Ferraris. Did any of you think that what sinks the values of these cars are the perceptions of high priced belt services, oil changes, and magical gold connectors? If the market just saw them as a car (that they could service like a vette or muscle car) then maybe the costs of the cars would start to go up due to their relatively low production numbers.

 

I'm saving up for a GCK despite the concern for dissimilar metals. When you think about it the tin and the copper wire aren't that friendly either. No perfect solution. However, I have considered hard-wiring the o2 sensors with butt connectors. How often do you disconnect them? Even with an engine pull they can stay put.

Dave

 

I understand where you're going, but your supposition is incorrect. I was not ONLY getting 02 sensor-related faults. I had thermocouple issues, exhaust bypass valve issues, etc etc.

Also, my interest in the GCK was not only to address 02 sensor faults. In my research, I found a lot of owners who'd done the GCK install report that their cars were transformed. More responsive, sharper.

I know that people have spent 30+ pages debating all this so I do NOT want to kick up that hornet's nest again but, for me anyway, I had a number of objectives in mind when I decided to go GCK. If I was just getting the odd 02 sensor fault then, yes, I would have spent the 80 clams, installed a new 02 sensor, and might have resolved the issue then and there.

ketel

 

Ketel,

In medicine, you can try to predict all you want, run experiments in test tubes and lab rats all you want, but at the end of the day what matters is the clinical results.

It was tedious, I learned a TON doing it (that may have actually been worth it alone, to me at least). My car was good before, it was great after. Oh, and my CELs went out.

Best regards!

-J.

 

Thanks, J Salmon.

That was precisely my point, though you said it better. I, too, have learned a TON just doing this project. All the cursing and grunting aside, I appreciate my 355 even more now and I am a lot more confident noodling around in the engine bay.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: There's nothing sadder than a grown man scared of his own car. That knee-jerk reaction some Fcar owner have that they must run off to the dealer at the slightest indication of an issue because they are afraid they'd do more damage to the vehicle trying to tend to it themselves. This is why I believe a lot of owners sell their Ferraris after a short while.

When you literally get your hands dirty working on your 355 you remove some of that unreasonable fear and uncertainty. You realize it's just a car - perhaps a beautiful and finely-tuned car, but a car just the same.

ketel

 

I never "fret" about driving my car thousands of miles, I ALWAYS have a nice LONG reliable drive. How about you?

So if we would all just purchase an electron microscope we could watch the "buildup" daily, micron by micron. I'm saving for mine now.

And I'm glad you got that cleared up gold is gold and tin is tin and the proof is in the pudding, just ask anyone who has installed a gold kit.

 

Ketel,

I agree that you are learning.

And, I hope that after this all your cels go away.

Infact, I think the DIY will teach you that you could have done all of this without the GCK.

A very expensive lesson albeit.

What if your CELs still glow after this? Will you have taught us anything?

We will never know what was wrong with YOUR car if you do not test it along the way....is it really that hard to drive it before you crack into your ECU? Don't you want to know?

Lets say you still have a CEL after all is said and done? YOu can rule out things if you methodically test along the way. Really a piss poor decision to not test because you can't go backwards. (that will be a learning for you too)

Only one thing is certain....it will not be the gold that solves your problems...it will be finding out what the root cause of your problem is....Tin will not be to blame.

 

Why would you "fret?" all of your connections were refreshed. Tin or Gold, your result would have been the same.

And who should he ask???? Technically....you didn't install a gold kit....someone else did it for you. Infact, what if all yours are still TIN and you were just the placebo group? You really can't say because you didn't install it. FACT....what if someone just unplugged your CEL?

So if the proof is in the pudding (not really sure what that means)....then you really must agree with all of the proof listed here, right? All of your engine tests, conductivity tests, and god sakes your butt dyno. You have provided nothing. Zippo. Nada.

I just read attacks on the information others provide....source after source after source. You say nothing about the information to even suggest that you read it, you simply brag about how far you can drive. I hope hemroids don't plague you with all of that seat time.....statistically you are at a great risk.....and all of that extra power from the GCK may cause quite a flareup.

 

Ketel, I feel for you having to read all these hi-jack posts. Keep on with the project you chose to undertake it's your car and you have the right to do with it as you please. The others posting about this is better then that and it could be done cheaper etc. Man up and start your own thread, trust me we won't be visiting it and you can debate the pros and cons all day long.

 

Same here, you will have an improved car per the experience that others have had and they will have their argument that won't make your car run any differently.

 

What I am saying is that the harness.....where the O2 sensors connect could very well have been your problem.

O2 sensor--------------harness--------------------------ECU harness
(in the engine bay) (in the car)

if you have learned to disassemble the harness in the engine bay....then cut off both ends (the one attached to the 02 sensor AND the one that goes to your ECU. Crimp on the male and female gold connectors. I have said use gold here because it MARGINALLY has lower resistance with high temp from the engine bay where this connection is. Does this solve your o2 code?

If not, you have to wonder if it is the o2 sensor itself. now install new o2 sensor (but dont forget to crimp on the gold at the connection) If the cel still exists, then maybe it is a result of the ECU connection from the harness to the ECU (at the ECU)

If your ECU can not read the air/fuel ratio from your ECU then your throttle response will not be razor sharp. Any resistance on this circuit will be bad because it operates at such a low voltage (.5V) So if this is your problem, (20 year old corrosion of this circuit) you will fix it by installing fresh crimps. Gold will for the 100th time not be what makes your car run better.

So, if you look at the diagram above, your problem can exist at any junction in this circuit.