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Radiator is back from the shop. Welded some spots and epoxied some spots, flushed and painted all for $45. Let's see how she does. Alternatives will be very expensive as the oil and water tanks are welded together. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Stu- For that price, you cannot go wrong except for future labor possibilities. Not sure if Ron Davis has one in that configuration. Any oil cooler leaks or was it just the radiator?
I have purchased the same suspension bush kit and the the new Engine mounts for my 456GT, but have not had time to install - very keen to see how the engine mounts are changed, keep up the great work - the tips and photo's save us all time when we come to do the same jobs.
Oil cooler seems solid as oil is an anti oxidant. Radiator guy said it’s electrolysis eating the water radiator from the inside. Recommended some off the shelf product at autozone. Going to run it and keep an eye on it. Ron Davis said they had seen a few like mine welded together. Never got a price from him but figure it’s expensive.
Stu- Last ones I heard about were around $1700. Not cheap, unless you compare it to an OEM radiator. A lot more than $45, however. Using Zerex G05 and swapping it every two years should keep you ahead of radiator problems and nitrite depletion that causes cylinder liner erosion.
I just replaced the first wishbone-left rear upper. That was a much bigger PITA than I had expected. The new bushing rubber extends out preventing the wishbone from sliding into the frame brackets. It's off by about 1/8 inch. I did some internet research about this and it's a common suspension problem (not just Ferrari). I read about wedges and pry bars, etc. The inner bushings had nothing for me to lever against to squeeze it in. I ended up buying some small pry bars from Walmart (see pic) that I used as wedges. So I tapped the forward bushing in its bracket enough to hold the wishbone up. I then pounded the rear bushing up along the wedge until it was in the bracket, but that just created a new problem. Now the other side of the bushing was outside of the bracket (I just shifted the problem from forward to rear). Fortunately it was next to the frame so I could lever a pry bar and squeeze it inside of the bracket while hitting up on it with a ball peen hammer. This got it within the bracket! First time in two days of trying. From there it was pound away with the hammer to get the bushing up in the brackets. Then I had to wiggle the pry bar out without taking the bushing with it (I came really close to that). The outer bushing had the same problem (see pics) but the good news it that I could lever between the wishbone flange and the hub to get it place, then just tap with a hammer. From there I had to tap a bunch to get the bolt holes to line up and get the bolts through. I just need to this seven more time! I'll take more pics on the next one to show how I used the wedge. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So essentially you increased the distance by spreading the A arm out 1/8 of an inch? Thereby allowing the bushings to fit up in? I would have been afraid it would break the part. But great work. N o wonder no one does this.
I don’t think I moved the brackets or wishbone at all. What I did was compress the rubber part of the bushing that sticks out of the wishbone sleeve. It’s the part that muffin tops when you press the bushing out. Makes for a real snug fit which I think is intended.
Same when I fit those on my 550, be certain also to torque to spec in cars loaded position, not certain if it make any difference, have read this on many forums, a real PITA. I noticed when the arms are installed with the new bushings, its is substantially harder to lift the arms up and down. In comparison to the 20 year old bushings that came out, the arm moved up and down quite freely. Did you notice the same? Try not to tap direct on the arm with a hammer, use a block of wood between to distribute the force and not damage the arms, work right and left side slowly a bit at a time, to install evenly, it was a lot easier to install this way, I also lightly drove bolts through, sacrificial bolts, to get them on center, while using a pry bar....fun times.... Remember she is a delicate machine
I haven’t torqued anything down yet. Still have to install the shocks. I’ve read about the load torquing too. Also not sure about if that is a Ferrari issue or not. Suppose I can just set on wheels then torque? Probably harder than it sounds. Service pit would be real handy for that. Haven’t figured out the eccentric washers yet either.
Its a PITA to torque when shocks are in place on the 550 as the wrench wont go in place Without shocks, you can get torque wrench in. As I wanted to be certain the bolt heads faced all the correct directions, front to back and back to front, per the manual. What I did post installation, and pre-shock installation, is jack up the arm at the base of the disc brake. I measured center of disc to top of each wheel arch prior to removal, then I torqued them After I reinstalled everything, I decided to let the experts handle the alignment / toe / camber, even though I marked the eccentric bolts, pre removal. I took the car in for a full corner balance / alignment, glad I did, as it was way out. Maybe you should consider this so you don't chew up tires? While he was in there I had him check the bolts to ensure I had a secondary once over inspection....in other words, I don't trust myself
I was kinda thinking of just barely torquing everythinng then driving to a specialty shop and have them torque it all down and align it at the same time. Shop is not far away. Not going very far. Famous last words right?
A solid plan, based on the effort to get the damn things in, you should not have to worry about arriving safe. It takes a lot of force to torque them down properly, I was shocked! Somethings are best left to the experts. Road safety is high on my list
Bent an A-arm and needing pry bars for bushings 1/8" too big? In 40+ years of Ferrari I have never had to prybar bushings. What is the bushing source?
Hi Carl On my 550 even to remove my existing arms it was tough, had to use pry bars and lightly tap out with a block, tried to put them back in with old bushings to test,and was a super tight fit, needed to be tapped in. My arms with the new SP bushings were tight as well, however fit in with some light love taps and pry bars. Is this not your past experience?
Nope. Operative word "lightly." Maybe Scowman was wildly off with his size estimates. 1/8" is big. In streetcars there is a trade off between NVH and performance. A rubber bush is the poorest performance but least NVH to the occupant. Stichon in rubber bushings plus the arm movement is a huge killer of suspension performance. So YMMV. For max performance delrin and monoball are used where the suspension droops in your hand and there is zero play in the parts but NVH is transmitted to the driver and seen as desired "suspension feel." From Scowman's description it sounds like once his a-arms are torqued I could hang from his arm and the a-arm will stay in position resisting my weight. I'm not there seeing it so maybe I'm wrong. That kind of thing makes for unpredictable action on the spring rate. So if using rubber bushings you want them to fit well providing articulation without adding or subtracting from the spring action. So that also means minimal prying with right sized bushings.
