512BBi Questions for the more knowledgable

try as i might, charliek, i can't for the life of me find all the glorious pictures of this stupendous beast that you've posted here on fchat. could you point me to them perhaps? .

i'm no chemical engineer, but i know i wouldn't drive a performance vehicle on 20 year old rubber.

doody.

 

I applaud your desire to try to get your car back to its original spec. The grill strip in particular would be worthwhile, I'd say, although I couldn't tell you how to do it. The steering wheel change is a must! With regard to tyres, I would invest in a new set of Michelin TRX's - original spec I think, but the rubber would be much safer than the old tyres that you have as an alternative. New-design tyres look totally different and would change the car's handling considerably. Have a look at David Feinberg's 365 for an idea. He's lowered his car to remove the large gap that would have been filled by the original high-profile rubber.
I rather like the feel one gets from a higher profile. It's very communicative, but ultimately you'll be going around corners a little slower than would otherwise be the case.
Try the owner's site for any original parts you have trouble getting.
Hope this helps.

 

You can get most of your needed parts from www.owners.ferrari.com . As to the Pioneer radio/eqaulizer, look on e-Bay or run an ad in the Ferrari Market Letter "parts wanted" section. I have obtained a lot of hard to find parts that way. Has the major cam belt service been done within the last 3-5 years ? If not, I would have it done NOW before I drove it any more . A broke cam belt could cost you $30k or more ! Does it still have the rubber bumpers and side marker lamps put on as part of the U.S. conversion ? If so, you can have them removed and the panels repainted for less than 1k or so. As to the wheel spinners, some BB512i's came with the earred spinners and some did not depending on what market the car was produced for. My Belgium spec BB512i came with the non-earred spinners where as a U.K. or Italian spec car came with the earred spinners. You can decifer your VIN on several sites on the web to see what country's spec your car was originally made . I have put over 5k miles on my car in less than a year and it was in the shop for almost 2 mos. for the cam belt service. Have fun, the Boxer is a great car.

 

My Lotus had what must have been 20 year old tires but zero wear. I drove it a few hundred miles, until just after a "spirited" drive my left front went flat. The air valve broke off from dry rot! Had that happend 10 miles earlier, I'd be dead.

New tires made a HUGE difference in handling! The car stuck to the road like it had slicks on. You're cheating both yourself and death to be driving your car with old, outdated and probably dangerous tires.

 

Goodyear #1 in Racing!

 

Jeff Howe at Ferrrai Uk had new equalisers in stock a couple of months ago. I would suggest you contact him at [email protected].

The front grill is unpainted aluminium, as is the bonnet grill. I would strip these units and put them back to original.

Jeff can probably help with the front prancing horse emblem but these are availble on ebay also. Check with Jeff first though as he is often cheaper than ebay and offers next day delivery to the States.

 

Charlie

In teh UK we have a chemical paint stripper called Nitromoors. I would use this on a small area on the back of the grill and check it works OK and doesn't stain the alunium, or try it on a scrap peice of alumunium first. I think it should be OK. My paintshop stripped my 400 back to the metal using this and the bonnet is aluminium.

You might try using some cellulose thinners and see if this removes the paint first. If someone has sprayed the grill using a cellulose spray-can you may be able to wash the paint off.

Simon