Oh no, not another Major thread..

Sorry I know this topic has been beaten to death but I'm gradually collecting parts for my major this winter on my 98 355. Where are most of you buying your parts? I love supporing my dealer but certain parts just become unaffordable through the dealer (eg. plug wires at $400 each).

I'm assuming I should go to Hill engineering for the tensioners, some further direction would be appreciated.

 

FWIW, Ferrari dealers (most I know) will only install Ferrari OEM parts. That said, my 98 F1 GTS has OEM tensioner bearings as the last Major was done by Algar and one of the best techs in the business. No issues whatsoever with OEM bearings.

I buy my parts from a couple dealers and Eurospares. The service I receive from the dealers and Claudio at Eurospares is first class. I just ordered a windshield and trim from Eurospares as I will be painting my 95 Berlinetta and the pricing for Eurospares can't be touched by anyone and I typically get my parts next day. Shipping is not cheap but even so they come in far below others for genuine OEM parts.

 

Hill bearings for me. Ricambi is my first choice always for parts. If the price is out of line I begin to look elsewhere. FerrParts, Eurospares, etc.

Best deal I had on my last major was the water pump rebuild done by Bradan. Running strong.

 

I but my parts from Daniel (Ricambi) and turn my own wrenches.

 

Dayco belts
Hill bearings
Hoses from Oreilly's
Kluber grease from Ricambi
Seals and gaskets from GT
Plugs anywhere
Ignition wires from Kingsborne
Oils, fluids, R134 all from Oreilly's
Waterpump seals from anybody if you know how to do it.

That will be your best deal, or buy everything from Ricambi and that will be the best service.

I recommend NOT buying rebuilt clutches or pressure plate. Get the factory stuff from Ricambi or GT and be done.

 

Only Hill Bearings here...the days of quality bearings from SKF are long gone. What the dealers use has nothing to do with quality...Don't be fooled by that myth. And now that Hill is manufacturing the lower timing chest bearings, life got much easier. The folks at Ricambi are great people and certainly make the parts buying experience easy, particularly if you don't know precisely what you'll need for your major.

 

For my major, I used:

- Ricambi
- Eurospares
- Superformance

Daniel at Ricambi consistently goes above and beyond for customer service, a real asset to the community, and it feels like buying parts from a trusted friend who will go the extra mile.

 

Don't be fooled by the myth that dealers don't provide quality as they most certainly do...... And the good ones won't over service.

If anyone can share some performance data of Hill branded (NTN) bearings compared to OEM I would appreciate it as I'm interested to review as I don't see it listed on their website.

Thank you.

BTW - regarding spark plus and oil, be sure to check out Amazon

 

Hill does not manufacture bearings, they source it from somewhere and put their brand.

 

Correct. Where do the non-branded, no country of origin bearings that frequently come in fancy yellow boxes come from?

 

water pump ? yay or nay? car has 30K miles, probably original water pump.

 

Yay.

 

Well, if you don't do it, you know what will happen right after you get the engine back in. Right?

 

I did a new pump on my major in june. 17K miles.

 

Don't think of it as a water pump, think of it as another timing belt tensioner.

 

Nay, the water pump on a 355 is just a water pump. You should rebuild it with a new seal but it is not necessary to buy a new one. It does not touch the timing belts. If it goes south after the major, it can be replaced by dropping the gas tank. It is not a fun job, but doable.

 

I think I have an extra one or two 355 WP, what kit you use to rebuild them?
May want to give it a try

 

Mitchell if you got a source of the seals and bearing let us know.

Tim the 355 is a bit weird and is best rebuild needing a special tool you can buy or make to seat the seal so you don't crack the ceramic seat. It is hard to explain but you will get it when you see it.

 

I'm pretty certain David F (fastradio) used to offer a tool he had a shop produce. As him.

 

yay for the pump

 

Dudes, you can get the seal and the bearing for the 355 pump from Ricambi or GT. The 355 pump is much easier to rebuild than the 348 pump.

 

Oh your post sounded like you did the work to find a $1.50 seal solution. Once I found bearing and seal for 8 bucks to rebuild maserati qporte waterpumps while MIE sold the parts for high hundreds.

 

Didn't a user on here recently announce (maybe in the last year) a new, supposedly better water pump solution at a reasonable price?

Tried searching but couldn't find it.