What do people annually budget to keep a regularly used Countach -mid 80's on the road. As an example I always allow £2k for our 328. Similar for the Countach or more? I'd be really interesed in your responses -Thanks
The C/T does not need alot of maintainance, other than the clutch. If you protect the clutch, the cars maintainance requirments are not that high. The clutch can be protected by avoiding burnouts, trying to time a stoplight (think ahead - look two hundred meters down the road), and launching from a stop at 1K - 1.5K rpms. There is no belt service for a C/T. The valves should be adjusted at the 1st 5-7K miles. It only needs one valve adjustment. I had a good experience with the car. I would actually like to find another vehicle. I turned my car over to the new third owner, with the original clutch.
I've all of 20 bucks into mine. The right airhose collapsed and a few rubber sleeves and some cheap hosing from Autozone solved the prob. The threading on my 89 Anniversary gas cap is the same as the 3x8 Fcars BTW. I also had to fool /w/ the idle, but thats easy as the adjustment screws are in plain sight. Caveat; I've only put on 700 miles in the eight weeks I've had it.
You haven't heard. Hes the guy who the LA times reported about doing 110MPh on the 110 freeway past midnight!!!!!
Never got close. Never had a chance. I kissed the bike afterwards. Actually for this little episode, all that was needed was a quick burst to the 160 range.
STUPID LYING PIECE O' YELLOW JOURNALISM! I was only doing 110 with the right air hose crushed. They dooooon't mention that do they? Loooosers! Now, when that lil' airhose got fixed, well.....heh heh GRINNNN
I would ask you for a ride, but a crushed air hose in a countach...hmm...safety issue? BTW its not yellow journalism. They are the EL TIEMPO DE LOS ANJELES....the best around LMAO
Back to maintenance cost Anyone else like to chime in? Ralph, how'd the A/C holding up there in Houston? Id bet Texas heat along with Houston humidity is going to be one heck of a test for that system!
Brakes can be expensive. The place that services my 308 did a brake job on an anniversary countach and it told me it was 7g's.
Here's a nutshell...... There's a certain list of stuff on a Countach that by age or use will crap out, and generally have well known repair costs. Knowing a strong shop who won't screw you is critical, of course. The following are all US dollars: Major Service - $5000 Ignition Box replacement (MSD) - $1250 Carbs rebuilt - $1500 Tranny rebuild - $2500 (once out of the car) Engine R&R - $3000 Air Con rebuilt & re-plumbed - $1800 Clutch - $6500 - $9000 Engine Rebuild - $20,000 If you are going to keep the car a long time, plan on the whole list going through at some point, and if you plan it right you can spend a whole lot less by combining stuff and doing it preventively. If you buy a well kept car, and only keep it a few years, you might get away with doing none of the above. Once the car has been gone through by someone good, they are pretty reliable and don't give trouble for years. Especially if they are driven regularly. I bought mine, and drove the he11 out of it for about 3 years before I had to start tearing into it. I have spent a terrifying amount of money, so much so that I'm glad I bought it before I knew what I was going to shell out. Not to worry, the experience is so good that you won't care. You'll just figure out what it takes and do it. Ever had a woman that good? You know what I mean. Having said all that, it is really pretty well trouble free now and should be for a long time. Nothing has gone wrong that you wouldn't totally expect on a 20 year old car with an aluminum engine that sees redline routinely. The other thing is that a car that has been properly serviced and set up is an entirely different animal than one that hasn't. Once you drive one like that, you'll know. Good Luck.
My shop will replace you entire system with Wilwoods and machine all the stuff to fit for that money. They are just brakes, after all. They're not even exotic brakes - they're from a BMW 7 series. He11, I can't imagine what on earth they'd do to charge 7 g's. I have replaced the master cylinder with new, and bought rebuild kits for all the calipers for like $500 TOTAL. I doubt there's $6500 of labor in that job. One more thing I guess about Countach maintenance : there are some truly nutty stories out there that are nowhere near the truth. Reality is bad enough - but stuff like brakes, electrics, and so on are just basic car stuff.
Steve gave an excellent assessment on the maintainance costs. When you pull an engine, the mechanic should advise you to replace a few extra items. Preventative maintainance. I only had the car one year. I only rebuilt the A.C., and had a few other minor issues. The big maintainance charge was for the A.C. rebuild. I did not pay attention to the A.C., when I inspected the car. I looked at the car (inside of the owners garage) while freezing in San Francisco. Needless to say that the A.C., worked quiet well in the cold evening. I should have never sold the car. I got "every" dime back on the car. - Less maintainance and freight. I hope to find another good Countach in the future. The car is quiet fun. - Real stable in the turns. The A.C. ? It is adequate. It will keep your hand cool !! It works o.k. It does not have a modern A.C., like a Toyota Corolla. Wil DeGroot installed a modern A.C. system in a C/T. I do not know if you all know, but Steve has the real man's Countach !!!! It is a genuine factory unmolested, outrageous Weber downdraft car. The car offers more, than just a difference between the carbs and Bosch F.I. setup. The downdraft car has different cams, exhaust headers, less complicated plumbing, and intake manifold etc..... (There are additional changes). The U.S. car had performance trade-offs, for the car to pass EPA requirements. Unfortunately Steve is not looking to trade up, for a nice Aston Martin with an automatic transmission.
Steve, great posts! as a DIY guy, can you plase explain why a clutch job is so expensive? is that labor included? i would be doing it myself, so i would love ballpark parts prices. i am guessing the flywheels are $$$4 if they are damaged. thanks to you and Ralph for the great info here.
A clutch is so expensive because the parts are spendy (and not interchangeable with anything, so no manufacturing economies of scale to bring the prices down), and because when they manufactured the car they suspended a clutch in mid-air and built the entire car around it. So to get to it, the entire drivetrain comes out for he engine and tranny to be split just to get to the thing. Labor is about half the cost. See note below on DIY. The flywheel isn't actualy as stupidly expensive as I thought, around $1,000. The factory clutches are a bit soft, and even with the best driving don't have a real long life, but the stories about changing them every 5000 miles are due entirely to abuse and lack of proper technique. Once you have a Kevlar or Carbon Fiber unit in there, they'll last a long time if driven properly. Note on the AC - George Evans' shop did a mod on my car (about $750 on its own) to increase the size of the blower, and it is a total transformation of the system. Just like other stuff, when properly set up with good plumbing, the Countach AC does better then most people think. With George's mod I can be perfectly comfy on a blistering hot day. DIY issues: The Countach is actually a pretty straighforward car, built using simple technology and hand assembly. Working on one is not as bad as I would have thought (actually easy in many cases compared to my other favorite, the Lotus Esprit). Difficulties: - No Tech manuals exist of any kind whatsoever. There is a pretty good parts book, and the owners manual contains lots of important specs and settings. There was a pamphlet printed for the Anniversary cars (most of which transfers to the rest) on very basic stuff, like changing brake pads, removing your chest hairs from your necklace medallion, etc. - Referencing above paragraph, all real work is trial and error. The error part can be very expensive. The bodywork is hand-beaten aluminum and non-structural. You must cantilever yourself over a lot of it to work on the engine. Much care required to not scuff, scrape, dent, or dimple the bodywork. - R&R of engine is generally a 2 person, 2 day job, if you have the right hoists and right way to suspend the car to the right position. Same amount of coaxing required as getting your wife to let you spend her jewelry budget on your stupid car repairs. - If you generally are well experienced at car maintenance, and careful and cautious, the only bad part is proceeding slowly enough to learn the car before you do something dumb. With a few exceptions, it really is a pretty straightforward car to work on. BIG EXCEPTION: The Fuel Injection is an early Bosch setup, fairly complicated and not exactly an optimal design for power delivery and performance. The carbs (believe it or not) are much simpler, and more reliable once properly set up. In 5 years of hard driving, I've yet to have a single carb related issue. The US injected cars do require some good working knowledge of FI, or a relationship with a shop that does. A lot of stuff going on in there and lots of little things that can go wrong (and will go wrong on a 20 year old FI rack). Hope all this helps!
I'm glad to hear that the Countach is a fairly reliable car. I've always loved them. I was skeptical about the 7g brake job. I figured they probably hosed the guy. How often does the car require a valve job?
Ssteve, thanks for the reply, that was very informative. i am a carb guy, i dislike injection in newer cars much less the ancient ones. i will have a c/t, the question is "when".
Just curious. What happens if you tear into your Lambo CT engine and find that it needs a piston or ring or bearing or valve or whatever. Are these various parts available from where? Lambo themselves? Here in the US or Europe? What percentage of CT parts are still available anymore?
Most excellent post!! Yanking the enigne out of a C/T for the first time is a nerve racking experiance. Having almost 5000 pounds of engine and transmission dangaling above the THIN alummiun body work tilted amost straight up and down is something I will NEVER get used too. But if you take your time and do everything in a methodical and thoughly planed way, you will have no problems DIYing a CT. As stated above, they are simple machines, just a little tight, and involve some head scratching as to why they put they stupid @#$% thing there, instead of 2 inches that way!!
Great info by all. Am totering toward the dark side (was considering a BBi ; more pleasing to the eye but belt changes a downer ). Let me beat a dead horse once again, Will a 6'1'' guy fit, or can the car be made to fit me ?
