Hi all, As I plan to drive our Mondial pretty frequently (and even if I didn't), I'd like to make sure I'm don't all I can to treat the car as kindly as possible while driving it. I've come up with a short list of things I pay attention to, and I'd love any additional tips from you all! - Always let the car finish the high idle warmup before driving. This one is pretty easy, and besides anything else the car is pretty unhappy to be driving before that point anyway. - Allow a good amount of time for the transaxle to warm up, and shift slowly until that point. I also found double clutching is especially helpful when the car is colder, and a light preload on the lever before shifting seems to smooth things out. I also heel-toe on every downshift, as the transaxle seems to definitely appreciate it. Any other popular techniques for treating the transaxle kindly? - Always stay above 3000rpm. The car seems happier there, and I see no reason to lug the thing even if I could because the CIS does run kinda rich. Speaking of, do you guys notice a small puff from unburnt fuel when shutting the car off? I was considering removing the aluminum plug from above the mixture screw and leaning it out an eighth of a turn or so. - Use the headlights sparingly, don't use the fog lights. I'm planning on installing an auxiliary harness with unloader relays for the headlights, but in the meantime I figure it's not worth pushing the issue if not necessary. The lights do work perfectly, though. The fog lights noticeably load the system, though, for whatever reason. Other than that, the car is pretty durable from the look of it and I'm having a good time driving it around!
I use 2000 rpm as a low rev marker, requiring a downshift (on my 84 308QV). I usually don’t cruise at 2000, more like 2500 or 3000, but I wouldn’t call it lugging unless below 2000. A 1/8 turn of the mixture screw is a huge change! A normal increment change that is easily visible on a wide band O2 sensor (for air fuel ratio) is 1/32 or max 1/16, you should use an appropriate exhaust gas analyzer or wide band O2 analyzer to measure the AFR, don’t just guess! Gordon
In general part of treating the transaxle kindly is the standard Ferrari technique of skipping 2nd gear til fully warm Leave the car in gear rather than trust the handbrake
That fine, huh? Interesting Skipping second gear, I'll have to try that out and see how it feels. Do the handbrakes have reliability issues? I'll admit I always check it before leaving the car and I've popped it in gear if there's more of an incline, but the car never felt like it was slipping with just the brake.
I dont use the 2e gear at all, even with warm engine....no need for that. And often even dont use 4e gear....I'm a lazy driver. I keep the rpm as low as possible...always.
I do similar with mine... but a few minor differences. I do warm up the engine sufficiently after startup. If it's very cold outside, I'll pump the brakes a few times to make sure the fluid is... fluid. Check that the tire condition and pressures are in range, especially after a large temperature change in the local weather. I'll do the 1-3 shift for a few minutes, keeping things at a slow pace until everything is warmed up. Do not rush. When the car is warm, you'll be able to tell the difference. Once it is, I try to avoid using 1st gear! On the highway, I'll give it some more time before exploring 5k and higher on the tach. And if I just want to cruise, I'll put it in 5th and eke out a couple more mpg. LOL For headlight issues, I resolved mine by updating them with new units from Daniel Stern Lighting. These are higher power HIDs, not LEDs, and they use the original housing. Custom wiring harness was added and handles the additional load. Fog lights are decorations, IMO and I rarely turn them on. Not that I drive at night very often but at least it's not as scary since I can now see more than 5 feet ahead!
Re: pumping the brakes, the fluid should not be affected by temperature unless it's time to flush it and remove moisture. What's your interval for that? I've also been back and forth a bit about tire pressures, knowing full well there's a decently-large operating window since I'm not pushing the car very much at all. We put 225s on the front and 245s on the rear, and I usually set them at 31/33psi cold based on an old thread I saw here. I agree you can definitely tell when the transaxle is warmed up. I only use first gear when stopped; on that note, I always blip the car into first to help engagement--do you do this as well? I've actually chatted with Daniel already about the upgrade. I'm sticking with halogen because I prefer the look, but otherwise it sounds like I'm considering a similar setup. I agree the fog lights don't add much from a practical standpoint. I'm just happy they work so I don't need to address them, haha.
I don’t know if anyone else does this? I turn the key and wait till the ABS pump stops pumping before I start. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
The handbrake locks the brakes fine, assuming they are adjusted correctly. The issue is the lever has a ratchet mechanism, and the teeth can wear, allowing the ratchet to let go and release the brake. Sobering to think a 1mm tooth is holding the entire car in place. I dremel tooled mine when I had it dismantled, giving the worn tooth the proper bite. I have mixed views as to whether to spray some teflon dry lube on the ratchet gear teeth, to help prevent wear, but perhaps increase the risk of the tooth slipping. Always good practice in any manual car to leave in gear when parked on an incline.
I can't quite envision what purpose this would serve? Even if an abs pump fails the brakes would still work, the abs function would not. That could happen if one of the abs relays failed too for example. The abs pump pressure does bleed off after the car turns off but take quite a long time. After storage it would make sense to let things pressure up. But even then, it just means the abs function would be delayed, and it would seem needing abs on start up or shortly thereafter would mean you have a very aggressive style of driving!
The car is not an ice cube, it wont shatter. Putting any pressure on the shift lever until the clutch is pushed is just wearing out shift forks and sliders. Do not do that in any car. Driving below 3000 RPM is not lugging the engine. In a proper state of tune it should be perfectly happy at lower RPM.
True enough, but in my experience with various vintage cars I've found each of them to have particular likes and dislikes so it seemed to behoove me to minimize any chance of treating the car unkindly out of ignorance. As I'm sure you know, an appropriate preload before a shift only takes a fraction of a second, and therefore isn't doing much to the forks. The benefits I've experienced in synchro engagement seen to outweigh the "cost" as it were, but perhaps that's more to do with this particular car's previous treatment than a general trait of the transaxle. Think of it like a preload for a shift in a dog box, if you have any experience with those. If the car doesn't have a tendency to load up at lower rpm, that's good info to have. It just seemed happier at 3000+ rpm aside from steady state driving, so that's where I gravitated. 2000rpm is my usual benchmark with other cars. Thanks for the input!
I know synco and dog boxes very well. In 2nd gear as an example preloading the shifter since the slider is about 1/2 inch from 3rd gear syncro the only effect is going to be of a psychological nature, not mechanical but hey if it makes you happy go right ahead.
It may just be in my head, but I did seem to notice a repeatable improvement in smoothness when doing it versus not. It's a trait I've noticed across multiple synchro boxes from Alfa to Getrag to Ford.
My brakes are flushed annually. The reason I do the brief "pumping" is because right after a cold start, the pedal has a rock hard feel. Doesn't typically happen in warmer weather. Not sure why that is. But after giving the pedal a gentle, repeated tap, after about 10 seconds or so the pedal feels normal with full travel. I've never had an issue while driving and braking feels fine with normal stopping distances so I have not looked into that any further. Gotta pick my "paranoia" battles! LOL
For the life of me, I can’t remember why I do this. I seem to recall the dealer telling me to do this when I purchased the car. Who knows, I’ve always done this. Now it’s part of the ritual. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I wonder if it was to test for a hydraulic failure before the car was moving. It would make sense in a general context, though, not specifically because of a booster or ABS pump.
