"Major" Gripe

I was actually thinking about that but I am not sure who is willing to come to Canada to do this for me. Of course, I have nothing to bribe anybody with, but an all expense paid trip plus pay by the hour for your services might work, but I was thinking it would be for the love of the 348!!

I believe I have all the right tools for the job. Any takers?

 

You guys are the best!

 

My 348GT-S has only 7.500 miles on it. It still has the original timing belt on. Ferrari dealership quotation for the major: 15.000 USD (11.000 Euro)....

This in a country (Portugal) were the minimun monthly salary is 400 USD and the average could be around 800 USD....

And believe it or not, if we DO NOT take these old cars (328,348,355,TR) to their shop, we are doing them a favor, because they do anything for keeping us away....

 

That is odd

 

LOL, you dont need a passport to go to Canada!
Glad to know your onboard to help me out Vince, hopefully the rest of the Stooges will be up for it... and Plugzy may finally be able to clean some stuff outta his garage too!
I wonder if he still has that kevlar clutch setup... and I need that flywheel he currently has listed on ebay, but I dont have the $900 right now, Christmas wiped me out!

BTW, I think some of you guys know Joe at Concours Auto? I think he's in La Habra. Anyway, he is the one who has done every single bit of service work to my car, as well as the "gearbox modification" (whatever that means) and the "Kluberless" flywheel mod... which I wanna UNdo.

 

Has something changed? Indeed, in the old days, a drivers license would get you into the Great White North, but I thought post 9/11 you needed a passport. ?

 

That **** is NUTS!

It is US $15K for a major service at the Ferrari dealership because they obviously dont want your business!

Similar here in Aus. They dont rip you off like that, but the Ferrari dealers mainly only deal with the 'later' models. From the 360 and up they do not have an issue.

They dont work on the older cars and they refer you to independent Ferrari mechanics to work on them.

Of course there are circumstance when they DO work on the older stuff. But thats for special long term customers etc..etc.

PLEASE dont even consider paying that much mate. Do the major service yourself.

That or the stooges over for the weekend and have them do it for you. You will still have $5K left in your back pocket if you do that.

 

Not that i'm aware of Daniel... My understanding is that countries we share a border with don't require passports... Canada & Mexico anyway. But hey, I could have been misinformed. Altho, it wouldn't surprise me if you need a passport to get INTO the US from those countries... unless you have US citizenship anyway.

 

Apparently the Canadians are not as friendly as they would have us believe:

 

An idea whose time has come: mobile ferrari major servicing.

 

...Rent-a-Stooge....fly 'em in, pay for their time and expenses, get a better or equal job done and likely save enough to purchase a new Xost system!!!!

 

The last time I looked in my manual, the service interval for the belt is 52,500 miles. While I have never waited that long, I have always felt that the manufactured service intervals are in place to drum up business for Ferrari dealer service centers.

 

"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money"

....Margret Thatcher

 

I'm in especially if we can test out the major at spring mtn. and between october-may. oh...I don't know about the other guys I can pay my own way but "I work for chicken wings and beer."

 

Joe is an awesome mechanic. I have known him for years. He has a race history too and knows how to make some of these cars fast. I'm not sure what that Fw mod is but we have talked about many mods. I'm sure if you undo your FW and go stock some smart person will want to buy yours. If It is what I think it is you are one of the very very few people who have that mod. I'm not sure if Joe's mod is his own or a mod that I came up with and posted about here years ago and raced successfully for years that he did in your car. My FW mod gave more power, less maintenance, and no downside for racing. I never ran it in a stock car. I do not know why this simple mod has not caught fire. Dumping rotational mass is like adding HP. The cost of the mod when I did it was $15 to balance the unit I modified in my garage!

 

Absolutely we can take the car to Spring Mountain! And I promise you will have all the chicken wings and beer you can stand! And assuming my financial picture works out the way I hope, it will definitely be before May.

Here's the history and situation.... 1st off, this wont be an engine major, its gonna be a gearbox inspection and possible service... i'll have you back in 2012 for the major.
I actually bought my car FROM Joe in Sept '07 , it didn't belong to him, it belonged to a client of his, and he had maintained it exclusively since 1995. Joe conducted the sale, and actually drove it down here and delivered it to me personally here in Vegas, I never even met or spoke to the actual owner!

As far as the mods, Joe gave me all the documentation on the service history, one invoice says "grearbox modification", but I have no idea the details on that... but i'm sure he can tell you!
As far as the flywheel... he actually explained this to me during the sale negotiation.
More of a warning I think. He says he opened the flywheel, emptied the entire contents and heliarc welded the assembly back together. Yes, the acceleration and throttle response is awesome, but its makes this AWFUL and LOUD chattering noise at idle (only with clutch engaged) and low-RPM under load.
Joe explained that the chattering is spline play that is normally dampened by the grease and internals of the flywheel. But the noise drives me NUTS and if one more person tells me "dude, you have a rod knock!" or "your thowout bearing is wasted!", i'm gonna loose it!

Call it vanity, call me crazy, but I will happily trade this awesome modified flywheel for an original UNmodified one!

Now, my drive-train has had a very subtle whine ever since i've had it, which Joe said was normal... and I don't doubt him since 2 years and 6K miles later, i'm still rolling. But recently, I have acquired a NEW, louder and higher pitched whine that increases in pitch with RPM and only under load. I should also mention that I have been using superlight shockproof w/friction modifier in it for a year and a half.... and it shifts as beautifully as this 19th century, mickey-mouse shifter mechanism is capable.

I'm still driving it (occasionally, and not too far from home) and everything is working normally, but every time I wind it up, I think of Daniel!! I need someone with the proper knowledge to check it out, and if the gearbox needs to come apart, so be it. And if we do take it apart, i'll want to replace the clutch kit and hopefully swap the flywheel. I think Plugsy has all the parts I need, but he has yet to chime in on this thread.

You should probably speak to Joe, he can shed some more detailed light on things for you.

 

That's exactly why I'll go with Rifledriver everytime; better rates, much better quality. - Tim

 

That is a similar or the same mod I did for my racecar. I either thought of it first or we did it about the same time. Its been too many years ago. I see Joe all the time. I never had chatter issues but then again I was running a challenge exhaust for a while then straight pipes and small race exhaust so my car was pretty loud. When guys running mufflers say how cool their car sounds I just laugh. There is nothing like the scream of an uncorked ferrari. Plugzit has my original near new twin plate stock clutch. Maybe he will sell it too you. He got it from me cheap. Maybe he sold it already. The mod is more complicated than described. What we do is delete the spider thing and all the plastic crap and all the grease. Then we cut the internal input shaft snout down in a lathe and weld the pieces together. Then the assembly is carefully balanced. This drops out about 8-10 lbs I forget of rotating mass and allows quicker spinup of the flywheel and yet does not effect driveability. It is possible that you have an imbalance and that could make extra noise. Often times those clutch guys have been breathing too much clutch dust and do a crap job. I have to ride their backs all the time when I do my own stuff. Ask Reiner about that he just went through that crap and I told him it would happen and sure enough it did. Look for an engine balanceing shop in your area and ask if he will balance a flywheel assembly. Then we can take it out and have him check your balance.

 

Would this be the hated bulletin? When Ferrari used 52,500 miles for belt change interval, they thought the belts had to last 50,000 miles for the EPA. Obviously, they learned they do not have to last that long.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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While I am cheering you up, good news. The airbag replacement interval has been increased from 10 to 15 years. Know you were all dying to hear about it. Wonder what those cost?

Taz
Terry Phillips
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It sure would be.

What does EPA stand for?

 

Just googled it, so I answered my own question:

So did Ferrari think that if a belt lasted less than 7 years then this would be polluting the environment? Tires don't even last that long, and there is a hell of a lot more rubber on 4 tires than there is on a timing belt.