I came across a beautiful 8800km 1992 512TR here in Canada. This car is extremely rare up here, especially for a Canadian spec model. What sort of maintenance should I expect if I bought her. My only F's have been an 8 and it wasn't too bad, but I hear horror stories from my friend with an 88 TR. He doesn't know much about the 512TR's maintenance, so I have to post on the board to kind of get some input. Let's say I put 3k on her per year for example. It has not had a major service for 2 years to date. The clutch operation on this 512TR seems amazingly easy compared to the older TR. I like the guys here at Vancouver Ferrari, but I don't want to be their best friend if you know what I mean...
think about $1 US per mile driven for maintenance including oil, filters, tires, brake pads, + the 15,000 mile engine out service which could easily cost $8k US. Make sure you get a PPI done
Just dropped mine off for a service, a few things out side of the normal maintenance, but not including a clutch- $8,600 quote
I can't believe $8k just to remove a TR motor and change the belts, granted it comes out the top like a BB but a good tech should be able to remove the motor in a few hours, they are made to come out easily. Just like I was quoted 8 hrs labor for a 4 wheel alignment for my BB at $120 hr roughly $1000 from a dealer, took it down to a Goodyear that had a tech familar with exotics and had it done for $150 or double their usual 4 wheel alignment rate for regular cars but they were happy and so was I and it came out great.
The BB seems a lot more mechanic friendly than a 512TR, I think it would be a lot easier to remove a BB engine bcus of the big clamshell hood, In comparison the 512TR has a small mail slot opening to pass an even bigger engine through, crazy italians Time is also an issue on the cam belts. Theres a lot more to it than just removing engine & replacing belts, 4 cams are removed & polished, the valves are all adjusted, the whole engine is detailed internally etc. LOTS of work
As William said it's a lot more than just pulling the engine and slapping in a new belt. I was quoted 45 hours for the work. I don't put a lot of miles on the car so I look at this as something that needs to be done once every 5 years so the annual cost is not that much, at least that's what I keep telling myself.
The belts on my 928 need to be changed every 60k miles or 10 years, whichever comes first. I still cannot understand why ferrari cars need such frequent belt changes! If a Porsche belt can last that long why not a ferrari belt!! steve
Actually, a TR is easier than a BB. The BB still has rails in the way, even when the clam shell is off, but a TR is better designed. I can't see how the big service gets quoted at 8600 US..... Perhaps we could see a breakdown of charges in the quote. I'd say a 30k on a TR would be 35-40 hours work including valve clearances, plus parts of around 1500 US MAX? (And I've done at least 20 in UK and Australia) Of course extra for other repairs though. Anyone got an itemised quote? Regarding the BB alignment.... Basically, to quote on an alignment you need to assume caster will be adjusted. This is time consuming as the shims are either side of the upper and lower ball joints. If you fluked it, you got lucky but your quote was fair, providing the shop would have adjusted the price down for less time spent as your caster was perfect. I've spent anywhere from 45 minutes to 12 hours doing basically the same alignment. It depends on dozens of things.
