Some TLC for my QV

Guido I suppose it could. Officially, all car fuels sold here are 95 Octane and have been for a long time. I am getting Shell V-Power at the Airport so I am not suspecting any fraud though.
Excessive ignition advance would be another option. However with the Digiplex it seems unlikely. Other than that additional noise, everything is fine from what I can tell, performance-wise.

 

Yeah that's worth a try. There's Caltex and Shell I could try; I am avoiding the "local" brands.

 

Hi John thanks for your input - on these engines the ignition advance is mapped and controlled via the Digiplex units, based on rpm/tdc sensors and manifold pressure, and the distributors themselves are mounted fixed. I think the probability of an excess advance is slim but I might hook up the strobe light soon.

 

2023, despite having been out of the country for almost 4 months, I covered a bit over 9'700 mls.

Before Christmas-NY holidays, I delivered the car to the local Ferrari Representative to have a few items looked at that I wasn't able to resolve myself and get the car through the MOT for next year's registration while I was away.

Here a shot of the old parts they came off/were replaced:

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The first item concerned the replacement of the steering rack. As I mentioned before, the road surface quality here is horrendous and it did take a toll on that passenger side rack bushing, essentially turning it into sand... here the shots from that side's grease without the grease:
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I will rebuild the rack and fit a brass sleeve to resolve the problem for good. However I was lucky to find a NOS item for refitting in the meantime:
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The rack got replaced including the rubber bushings inside the brackets.
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By coincidence, a couple of weeks prior to the delivery the brake failure warning light started to appear/disappear. Nothing was wrong the brakes themselves though. I traced it down to a likely issue with the front/rear pressure differential warning switch, an item I have never touched and is probably original. It is behind the rack on the lower bulkhead. So I got a replacement valve:
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The reason the warning light came on was simple: The connector had corroded off the valve and cable started to short out on the chassis depending on its mood.
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Valve with missing connector tab; I'll repair that.

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As the brake fluid would be drained and replaced I decided to replace the rear proportioning valve as well - it too was never touched.
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The last thing that was addressed on the brakes was an annoying brake pad rattle on one of the front callipers during cruising. One of the spring clips was a bit loose. Problem mended.

None of the above has changed the brake pedal feel or performance so I am confident the items were indeed in good order (other than the electrical connection). The warning light stayed off so far.

When inspecting the original exhaust muffler I noticed cracks, which might have been audible as they are located at the rh inlet side. This will get welded up properly: Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Pinging issue: Resolved - loose cam belts; see clip:

 

Those belts were fitted in 2019 and had covered 23k mls. The tensioner bearings are in very good condition, the belts feel "new" and there was no obvious play in the drive pulley bearings. I don't know why or where they lost tension. Please chime in! All got replaced, incl. the crankshaft seal:

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The only slight deterioration I was able to see were some bubbles on one of the tensioner bearing roller surfaces. But that had no influence on the belt tension:
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I had the belt covers' rear backing plates removed so the belts become visible and touchable. I also noticed that the timing marks on those plates don't correspond to the engine's timing marks...
Since the belts were loose, I asked for a verification of the basic camshaft timing - and sure enough one cam was off by one tooth. As the cam covers had to come off in process, all associated seals and gaskets were replaced even though there were no leaks in the area.

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Cam timing off > compression test:
#1: 200 psi #8: 200 psi
#2: 210 psi #7: 210 psi
#3: 205 psi #6: 220 psi
#4: 210 psi #5: 210 psi

It doesn't look like anything has been bent - I think I was lucky. The engine runs perfectly clean with the new belts.
While in there... new water pump, especially since I had seen a bloated hose behind it (even though it was replaced a couple of years ago):

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It was a good call as 3 corroded studs were detected and replaced on the thermostat housing:
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Here the 3 hoses replaced around the thermostat; all from the same supplier and the "same" age:
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Two are like new inside out, one is terrible, and luckily it's the one I had previously seen and prompted me to replace all 3. No cracks at all on those two nor outside or inside:

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This one...
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There was also, unrelated to everything, an oil leak TRHOUGH the speedo sensor, so it had to be replaced even though it was working normally otherwise. It was the original VEGLIA unit I put back in when the replacement I received earlier was wrongly dimensioned and touched the toothed wheel.

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On the positive side the car passed the MOT and the Classiche got renewed. I'll be able to re-register the car. More miles to come.

 

Joe thanks. I don't have any reference but considering the mileage of the engine the compressions are probably alright and close enough among each other?

 

The front bonnet struts got lazy again

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It sounds like my NOS rack has already developped play on the passenger side bushing... I guess that original plastic bushing is probably rock hard and getting banged up on our fabulously maintained roads... time for a more "permanent" solution.
I measured the area and we drew up a 3d of a replacement bushing will fit into the existing tab holes and can be fitted with the rack in place (not requiring drilling/tapping etc) as there is no real access to the area in the Mondial from below, the chassis being in the way.

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The bushing a lot stronger than the original one as it maintains a constant thickness around its circumference. The tabs can move down but will be held in place once they snap in. There is a chamfer on the side of the rack to help fitting it into the tube, and the rack opening is filleted on both side to reduce wear. I had it milled in Nylon:
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It fits perfectly into my old rack - which otherwise was in really good condition:
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By pushing the rack to the other side completely, the busing can be inserted:
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A hose clamp helped pushing the tabs in during fitting (much like a piston ring tool)
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I plan to fit one to my car with the car installed. PM me if you need one too!

 

The good news is - the noise over bumps, not necessarily big ones, as diagnosed by multiple passengers with automotive knowledge and no financial interest, was not the new rack with its old bushing as suspected by everyone but... a slightly badly adjusted front trunk latch!
It wasn't loose but pulling down the front bonnet a touch more basically eliminated the resonance over bumps. Everyone thought the noise was from the pax footwell. The front bonnet popped open a few times over bumps and as it is around here, there is almost no place to pull over so I kept driving and voilà, the noise essentially gone. That was the clue.

The bad news - not really though, is that I got pulled over by the cops one late night after work because my front plate mounting angle is apparently not legal here. My plate is just fitted the the original front bumper surface. So I made some triangular spacers to mount the plate within 5° of the vertical (EU homologation applies here). It looks ok. I also changed the type face of the plate to something more in character with the rest of the car. The cops were super professional and friendly, let me go with my promise to get it corrected. A appreciate that and fixed the issue.

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That was the opportunity to wash the car...

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Looks like the brakes do work.

And the fine tuning of the K-Jet has paid off. The average fuel consumption is around 12.9L/100 (21.9 UK mpg, or 18.3 US). Close to what it should be. And the engine runs beautifully.

 

Strange noise from the engine bay couple of days ago - rh side, sounded like high-tension discharges. I checked all the HT leads and all looked fine, engine running normally. However, the AC belt showed wear marks on its top surface and was shedding white flakes... looks like something is touching.
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Nothing is touching that belt...
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The inside of the cover collected the belt flakes too
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Bit of a mystery here - fitted my used spare belt and all works normally, the noise is gone. No idea what interfered with that belt. But happy it didn't bust and took off the other belts in the process.

 

One of the manual pop-up motor turning knobs (which was internally broken) has finally left its job location
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This potentially exposes the motor to water ingress via the air outlet in the front bonnet.
I tried to find one but wasn't successful - it's also used on the Porsche 924/944.
I took the dimensions and made a version of it without the complex, fine clips holding it in.
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Digital data:

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3D print
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The original rear brake pressure reduction valve turned out to be functional normally. I cleaned it up to keep in stock or sell if someone requires one:
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Repainted:
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The brake failure switch got cleaned up:
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Repainted and with electrical connection repaired, it's ready for use again:

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... steel cables in there! This is one of mine when I still had the "big is better" compressor I bought the car with... Image Unavailable, Please Login
But I agree they do sometimes make that noise when cold - except when this occurred the belts were not cold. And the belt is one year old. I will change all three during the next service.