A 308 Do It Yourself Anniversary- Counting the Costs

A great and helpful tale, in numbers and time. I'm well into it myself, and look forward to the end result. Congratulations

A beautiful car.

 

This seems to be a trend for some who buy these cars. My plan always was to enjoy the drive as much as possible but do normal maintenance a little at a time. I don't want to take the car off of the road for long periods of time to fix non critical issues. We seem to get into this trap and then continue to spend money to get EVERYTHING done at one time and then not have time to drive the thing. My suggestion is to take on small projects that only tie the car up for a day and drive it in between. Pace yourself and it will also spread the costs.

 

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Sellers of 'cheap' Ferraris can be VERY deceptive (or just downright clueless) with regards to the amount of maintenance that has been deferred. Let's review what 'deferred' means - things the car needs, but someone is too lazy/cheap/careless to actually perform when it needs to be done. This attitude is all-too-common with 'toy' cars where time and labor equate to four or five digits of cold, hard cash. So, you bought a Ferrari - you may also have bought a hand grenade, with dozens of potential detonators inside that engine compartment. Any one would leave you stranded and ruin your day, and a few more would burn your car to the ground - seriously. A SMART person would find those things BEFORE a $300 part causes $5,000 worth of damage when it fails. How do those fuel hoses look????

 

Oh, absolutely - many sellers COMMAND 'top-dollar' for their car, without a clue as to how much work their car really needs before the next owner can go to redline with that 25-year-old drivetrain. Mine is just a general rant against the 'red-mist' phenomenon, and the number of people who get burned by it.

 

"But I have learned quite a bit, freshened up old skills, and amazed my family and friends!"

There is value to be found (not just added) in doing the work yourself. It makes for a much different ownership experience. I've really enjoyed it!

 

We all know there is no such thing as a cheap Ferrari. I got mine in 1999 and have put $9K in parts and 300hrs of my labor. Most has been required maintenance but if it weren't for the "horse" parts it has not been that expensive to own. For those that pay for their labor then it's a whole different ball game.

 

You didn't need to remind us!!!! Yuk Yuk

 

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I bought an old Italian supermodel because I wanted to skin my knuckles the fun way!

I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd feel weird owning a car I couldn't crack into when something goes awry...

 

I've touched nearly everye major component on my car at one point or the other since I've owned it. Some of the work I would not do again myself, and there are other things I've not done myself that I will do next time! I know this car better than anyone in it's history has. I'd be willing to be on that one!!

It does come at a cost but it's also part of the experience for me. Otherwise I'd just whip out the wallet and get it all done by someone else!

 

Multiply those numbers by 10 if you buy a car needing work. Don't ask me how I know

Well bought and serviced Jeff,

Geno

 

+1

 

Nice thoughts but not always the smartest way to do things. The "While you are there" should be your guide to doing many repairs.

It makes NO sense to take things apart 5 times to do things when once would have been sufficient if you just did it all the first time.

This does keep the car off the road for longer periods the first time, but is shorter in non-driveable status over the long run.

Consider working smart, before you work hard.

 

So far I have not been presented with a "while you're in there" situation . Most of my work was a planned adventure so no need to replace good parts. I guess the only situation I would consider as "while you're in there" would be if I dropped a valve and needed to open up the engine/transmission. Other then that it's just normal maintenance.

 

Chasing a hot header has lead me to: pulling the valve covers and replacing shims, which led me to plating the lower drive gears, leading me to refinish the damper and pullie, which lead me to replacing the POS OEM cam gears with one-piece aluminum. Hot header also lead me to replacing the injectors (no joy) then cleaning and rebuilding my FD (man was it dirty on the inside) and cleaning and replating all FD metal lines, rebuilding the electric looms in the engine bay, replacing coils, caps, rotors, wires, while I am there refurbishing the nasty oil seperator, refinishing all metal pipes & replacing all hoses and on and on.

There are precious few "properly working parts" on a 30 year old car. There is no way I would do half this in small fits and starts climbing the same mountain several times just to drive a grenade in between.

 

$625.00 for new Konis?? How did you manage that one?

 

5,000.00, you got off cheap. I'm way past that amount. If the car broke down I might know what the problem was before I looked at it. You gain knowledge by fixing it yourself. I enjoy doing the work.

Where did you get those Konis at that price? I need rears for my 84 308.

 

I am too afraid to start adding ... the bills ... for all the cars ... lest my wife finds out ...

 

These things are best left not talked about. Can we agree on this?