Gentlemen, I am looking at a 97 355 TB with a brand new $9K engine out major service just performed on the car (0 miles ago) by a Ferrari Dealership. The car is in concourse condition. My question is regarding a PPI. The issue is that I will have to pay to ship the car about 60 miles each way to get to do a PPI. - Is it still important to do a PPI on the car or am I good to go without one? - What concerns, if any, should I have regarding the car if I did not do the PPI? (condition of valve guides, manifolds, clutch etc...) - Does a leakdown test show any potential valve guide issues, or only a compression test will? Thanks Dean
Seller is a private party that is a Ferrari fanatic, has owned about 15 F Cars and enters in concourse competitions. Major service done at a Ferrari Dealership a week ago.
Why don't you call the Ferrari dealership that did the last major? If they had discovered any issues with the car when the major was done, then they may tell you.
What dealer was this? If it's mine at FOA I can go and find out some details. I'm sure there is someone on here that has a friend at every Ferrari dealer.
F Dealers do not usually release info on cars unless they are authorized by the owner of the car. I will be checking the major service records from the seller himself anyway. The seller stated that if there was any problems with the manifolds, headers, clutch and cats, they would have told him during the major service. The valve guides on the other hand are not checked in a major service (and that's my biggest concern). Of course, the owner states the usual "the problem was mostly on 95 models and not the later models". His F mechanic, who is a well known F shop, refused to do a PPI because of "conflict of interest" as he put it. So now, I will have to ship the car 60 miles each way to a "neutral" mechanic to do the PPI. F of Central Florida did the major service 0 miles ago, and the owner, who is a Ferrari fanatic and professionaly ships his F cars to concourse shows (older guy), sounded annoyed that I wanted to do a PPI, and kept repeating that all the concerns I have would have shown in the major service except for the valve issue. But since it is a 97, there should be no concern regarding the valves he said.
Screw that, don't let him bully you around. If you want to ship the car 60 miles then you should be able to do that. Heck if he is so worried about it, have him pick the shipper. He ships his cars al over, and you can't ship it 60 miles to get a proper PPI done which includes a compression check and cylinder leak down???
Without question, get a leak down done no matter how pissed the seller gets, and a compression test while your at it.
Buying and selling these cars are not done on verbal promises and a hand shake. A PPI protects the seller and anyone confident in therir car would allow you to do it. I saw a beautiful black/tan 1997 Spider 6 years ago. The front body panels were slightly misaligned and the closer I got to inspect them the more he tried to distract me away. Again, do not buy a 355 without a PPI.
I hear you. I basically would not buy the car without a PPI. I got him to agree that I do a PPI at Ferrari of Central Florida next week. Depending on the results is how I decide to proceed. Good PPI results>> he gets paid and I ship the car to Indiana. Bad PPI results>> goodbye!
Great news, Thanks Dean. Sounds like you had to have a "Come to Jesus Meeting" Let us know how it works out.
