My 1990 Mondial t cabriolet 86628

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Hi everyone. I have been quite busy with other cars, since acquiring my 1990 Mondial t cabriolet, so haven’t introduced myself. I’ve spent the last 25 years fiddling mostly with ‘80’s BMWs. I still have 3 and I am building a hotrod e30 wagon, nut and bolt. I had an air cooled 911 and while it was a treat to look at, I really didn’t enjoy driving it that much. I even turned it into an SCCA race car, just to experience the joy of nailing the exit of a turn in one! This was in the days of $10k cars.

A Ferrari gated shifter car has always been on the bucket list and I started following the market on the 348 for the last few years. I knew I didn’t want a CIS car and wanted lower complexity. While looking through the Mondials, I noticed the F119 Motronic engine also came in the t, and had more room and obviously were selling for less than the 348.

I found that I really liked the looks of the t cabriolet and set sights for a black on black. I wanted a well maintained, often driven example and not a low mileage garage queen.

Last August I bought this car on BaT. It fit the criteria and had extensive, consistent maintenance by the same mechanics for 28 years.

I really did not know how well I would like the entire Ferrari experience, kind of a “meeting your hero” thing. I knew about warming up for second gear, balky shifter compared to say an S2000 and presumably less than perfect quality of body and interior. I actually still have the C&D issue reviewing the t. I had prior driven a few Ferraris around race tracks as an instructor and noticed how torn up the interior parts were with 10-20k miles.

Happily, I can say that the fit and finish of this 33 year old, 63k mile car is very good, with only minor wear. I love the shifter engagement and steering wheel, the Tubi style note with the top down and the solid chassis feel of the whole car. Honestly, it is what I have been wanting in a car and finally found it.

Now, even my modified e28 M5 seems flaccid and tame.

For those who would like to follow along on my journey, I will use this thread to chronicle my ownership. I will perform all of the maintenance and repairs and document here (maybe not the top).

By the end of 2024 I plan to tackle these items:
-Major engine out including all rubber hoses and brake lines (already have the parts)
-Ron Frohock B pillars and latches
-New top
-Exterior and interior detail.
-Anything that breaks in the mean time!

Any tips along the way are always appreciated.

Upon delivery, one of my sons sat in the car for a good 2 hours! I think he was more excited than me, when it arrived.
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Cheers!
David

 

Catching up to date on repairs.
August 2022, 62,405 miles:
The car has rubber floor mats on top of the Ferrari mats and about 1 week after delivery, I noticed a drip on the driver side mat. The original clutch master cylinder was starting to leak.

Luckily, the part crossed to an Alfa part #7102 and was only $40 shipped from Europe. Credit to those before me. Easy repair, just remove the seat and R&R a few nuts and bolts and bleed the clutch. Take care not to let brake fluid drip on anything and use a pressure bleeder instead of vacuum.

I used the original clevis and used the same 106mm length from the face of the cylinder to the middle of the clevis hole.

After replacement, the improvement in shifting was immediate. And that has been the only repair in 600 miles!
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Hi Ron. No, from IL last year. I bought the parts from you last October from SC.

 

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July 2023, 63,400 miles:
I decided to take the Mondial on a 250 mile round trip down to Hilton Head, SC for a family vacation including my Father and brother's family. I thought I would be nice and let my brother check out the car, since he has never driven a Ferrari and was coming all the way from Denver. This would also mark the longest continuous drive I have done and push the limits of heat and humidity, as the temps were 95-100 degrees in a triple black hot box!

I fueled up and headed out. During the drive, I would have a heavy fuel smell every time I stopped at a light. I looked in my mirror and noticed fumes rising from the fuel door. Finally, it hit me that I did not replace the fuel cap. Oops. I called my lovely wife, who was arriving back home from a trip to Charlotte and begged her to comb the gas station area for the fuel cap. She was bringing the rest of the family the next day, so it would be perfect if she could find the cap and deliver it.

Luck was on our side and she finally found the cap in the median of the stop light, outside of the gas station! From now on, I will put the cap inside the car, when fueling. Happy day and slightly more relaxing to know I didn't just cost myself $$$ on something stupid. Plenty of other opportunities for that!

Long story short, the car performed flawlessly and my brother got to experience the Ferrari V8 sound with the top down! We all drive new cars and know the obvious deficits in 30+ year old machinery, but that does not stop the love for the feel and sounds of these very mechanically engaging machines!

The gas cap was installed and my son even endured the drive back home in the heat, loving the experience. Teach them young!

 

May 2024, 63,558 miles:
Later than hoped, but I am getting into the major service! I built a dolly and removed the engine. I think it took less time to remove the engine than build the dolly. I unbolted the left rear shock to make removal easier. Next time, I would guess about 5 hrs to remove.

I already purchased the RA tbelt kit, new coolant tank, water pump and rubber brake lines, since they look original. I made an order of all of the hoses in the engine bay. I also verified the service bulletins for the cam seal holders and timing chain bearing have been done.

First up will be massive cleaning. Joy. The service overall appears pretty straightforward, but I will definitely ask, if I find something interesting.

 

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Finally completed! I took the engine out 2 months ago, but then did not do much until mid June. I had to order several more parts, once I assessed. I spent 5 days straight for the majority of the work, then about 2 more days, so a total of about 70 hours.

While no one item was very difficult or different than most other ‘80’s euro cars, maybe it was the high heat and humidity, but I was physically exhausted every day working on this.

I replaced all of the rubber in the engine bay, except 3 special air pipes. Most were original and 1 coolant hose under the intake was about to burst. I also replaced the original rubber brake hoses, alternator belt tensioner bearing, thermostat and swapped out the nasty K&N air filter. The rear brake pads were crumbling, so I replaced those also.

The main kit I used was the timing belt kit tune up kit from Ricambi, with the Hill Engineering bearings, spark plugs, all filters and some hoses. I added the rest of the parts and hoses from a variety of vendors.

I also broke the idler bearing bracket. Luckily, I was able to secure a really nice billet piece. The brace I used went all of the way to the engine instead of stopping on the bracket, so watch out for that.

I took it out for a test this morning, let it cool down, checked fluids and everything, then went out for a good thrashing! So far, so good! I’m really excited to have successfully gone through this experience and will now comfortably take it on some longer runs.

Cheers!

 

October 2024, 64050 miles:
It finally happened. The top latch broke, so I now had reason to install the upgraded pieces from ronfrohock. This took maybe an hour total and are real quality items.

Thanks Ron!

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April 2025, 64,629 miles:
I usually take my car for a drive out of the garage and park back in the garage. A couple of weeks ago I did a couple of stops and starts after it was run hard and heated up. I had the infamous hard start, box of legos sound. I was also getting the start of a transmission oil drip after a couple of weeks, so I was already planning to replace the triple seals. Well, I figured the flywheel grease was gone too, so 2 birds as they say.

As you can see, the grease was like melted ice cream. It took an entire day of cleaning to get spotless again. Luckily, no grease on the clutch. Two special tools, a tube of Kluber grease and orings and it’s back on the road!

 

Thanks, Ron. So far, I haven’t really seen anything that scary on these cars, but I haven’t had to mess with the rear windows! I did own a high volume shop for a few years and still have the tools. I’ll have to clean it up and take some pics for you.

 

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