Greetings, I am about to purchase my first older Ferrari (had a 355 spider for 6 months) and wanted to see the groups thoughts on this 85 QV cab. It is in Montreal and I am in the Midwest. I am under contract (PayPal deposit and home made buyers order, subject to inspection). The seller is sending me detailed photos of every bump and bruise on it today along with a list of what does/doesn't work as it should and the service records he has. I was told there has been ~20k spent in his time with it (6 years) but much of it has been done by his brother who owns a shop (sounded like non-ferrari related). The car is going to Ferrari Quèbec on Monday for a full PPI (5 hours, compression test, etc) pending that I like how the car is condition wise. I am looking for a nice driver quality vehicle that will appreciate over time. I will put 4-5,000 a year on it and am not afraid of maintenance (my 996 turbo, a week after I got it had the coolant line failure and poured $5,000 into it..) I also employ a mechanic who can do a decent amount of the work. Here she is: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=121669490003&globalID=EBAY-US All thoughts and comments are appreciated as I am a newbe to the Mondial and older F-cars!
Aftermarket ignition, so no issues hopefully with pesky electronics. Should run better assuming its set up right. Aftermarket EFI too. So looks like a lot of $$ spent there. Will never win a concours as its far from stock if that matters to you. Painted bumpers, aftermarket wheels ( at least no TRX tire issues) engine mods. As a driver goes it should be great with the mods. Best of luck!
Not sure how much you are paying for it, but looking at all those electronics in the trunk makes you wonder what type of butchery this car went through with such low miles. On the re-sale side, that will be a tough sell, even though the engine looks clean and may run "better" according to the seller, but originality is what most are looking for. Painted bumpers, wrong wheels, shift knob can easily be brought back to original, but I can't get past all those electronics. Make sure everything works, windows, lights, horn, and nothing was tempered with while all that was done. Not posting a photo of the 4 inch tear is also not a good sign, I wonder what else is there that you can't see. I would check this car in person, forget the PPI, fly up there and inspect and drive in person. Give it a thorough test drive, look for leaks, noises, smoke, check all gauges, temps, put the top down, check fitments, etc. Drive it again, check for hot start, etc. Best of luck.
I have seen this car before and googled SDS and they are still in business. Do you know if it is throttle body injection or port injection? Not that it matters all that much. It has the nice QV engine at 3.0 liters that is spunkier and more durable then the two valve but not generally as spunky as the 3.2. It seems as if the previous owner spent a lot of time and money for his own customization and did not care if it led lower resale value. And the mods 'sound' like good mods. It is a curiosity, however, that this car has had an engine overhaul with such low miles. If it passes the PPI and if it starts and drives smoothly hard to see how you could go wrong. I have had my 1986 3.2 coupe two years and going on 11,000 miles. Never been towed off the road. I am a vigorous driver and it has only gotten better and better over time. I would not push 8,000 rpms though. I scattered a clutch plate in 90F and now pretend the red line is 6,500 with periodic runs to 7,000 rpm. I live in the mountains and generally cruise at 3,000 + rpms and run it up to 5 and 6k and it simply sings. Some of us add 8 oz synthetic 2cycl oil per tank or, as I am now using Marvel Mystery oil. I am not making that up. The cooling system has something like 200 hose clamps so I switched to 60/40 clycol and basically depressurized the system. Just lightly turned coolant tank cap to avoid splash loss. Have not added a single once in two years. Any good mechanic can rebuild the clutch using birdmans DIY photos. My guy charged me $2000 labor but that was probably low - he had a gas working on his first Ferarri. And the front clutch hydraulic cylinder is a horrible thing to do. I have done it twice and would pay the next guy $500. A twelve inch right angle needle nose plyers was indispinsible and I had to re-install the turn buckle pin in upside down. And stay away from Alpha hydraulics. They work for parades only. I also broke the turn signal/brake switch located between the power brake unint and is dangerously close to the clutch master cylinder and I broke it. It LOOKS to have a locking nut on the other side of the fire wall which is inaccessible but it simply screws into the hole. The only lock nut is on the outside. That took me days to figure out. Some of these cars have week starter wiring and hot soak can cause temporary failure of the solenoid that is on the Bosch starter (the starter/solenoid is a $450 NAPA unit). Bosch sells a (low voltage) intermediate solenoid kit for about $12 (Amazon) that is simple to install. Can't think of anything else right now. Oh yeah. If you start getting smoke out of the rear engine luvors it is likely the engine main seals or cam seals. I added four different kinds of stop leak and the smoke stopped within a couple of hundred miles, and the car stopped using oil after about 500 miles. The stuff is still in there after about 1,500 miles or more. The car has lots of head room and the trunk is perfect for groceries. It is a delightful vehicle!
Rapalyea, I hope you mean replace the clutch? For a 85 this has very low miles, makes me wonder why the engine was redone? The price looks like a deal. Ask for all the old parts back if he has them, he no longer has use for them, and if he says he no longer has them that would make me wonder? I do know what Hank will say about all those electronics. Keep us up to date. Have fun.
Hi Howie. Soon after purchase I sometimes seriously pushed the rpms and the clutch plate separated a pie shaped chunk. I was able to nurse it home and managed to convince my mechanic to take on the task. Telling him I would reimburse his time even if it did not turn out. I live two and a half hours from the Atlanta Ferrari dealer and simply did not have the energy to shepherd the project at that distance. It all worked out to everyone's satisfaction but the mechanic always tells me "I told you so" reminding me how he recommended keeping the rpms down prior to the incident. Image Unavailable, Please Login
This looks so damaged that I doubt you were able to rebuild the disc and had to replace it with another one. Rebuilding and replacing are two different things, like when a alternator is rebuilt you are putting on a rebuilt unit, but when you replace a item that is another item of the same either rebuilt or new. I worked for a auto parts store for over 37 years. So I doubt your disc was rebuilt it was replaced. Have a great weekend.
Hi Howie! Certainly my disc was not rebuilt. And I replaced all the components with rebuilt ones and regret I did the same with the clutch disk. I suspect a rebuild simply replaces the friction face components and reused an old steel mounting. But THAT is what failed. However, I suspect mine failed because of hydraulic sympathetic surges caused by using weak Alpha master and slave units. All three of them failed symultaneously at 90F and very high rpms. However, this is not without its good cautions. I believe our cars develop peak hp at 7,000 rpms or some such and the power drops precipitously after that. The only reason to hit 7,700 rpms is the upshift places the new rpm a bit higher up on the curve. Very little up on the curve. I find the car is very happy between 4,000 and 6,000 rpms in sedate driving and 4,500 to 7,000 if I want a bit more! But thats just me.
Sounds like we are both getting pretty clear on this. Some people have great luck with rebuilt items, and yes the cost is cheaper than something new. I also keep things in a happy note, 4,000 to 6,000 rpm is just fine with me, I have nothing to prove, and the car and I are both very happy!!
I drive mine hard but I try not to kill it. If I break it I have to fix it. My clutch came from AW Italian in Jersey. Less than 600 for new clutch plate, pressure plate, TO bearing and o rings. Not rebuilt but aftermarket and seems very nice. I saw this car and looks like it could be a lot of bang for the buck. Enjoy it if you get it.
. you can see some discussions here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/mondial/487012-fuel-injection-mod.html
LETS GET THIS THREAD BACK ON TRACK ARE YOU TRUELY LOOKING FOR APPRECIATION???? if so Stephane nailed it that it will be a hard future sell with all the "upgrades" although it should be a good running car FOR TRUE APPRECIATION it needs to be closer to original Im not a purist but the market for Ferrari especially Mondials is very thin and picky, if you are buying this for your pure enjoyment then this should be a great car not sure what your experience with the 335 was and if you think this is a flipper car because of the price just realize that it might not resale so quickly just trying to add some reason here otherwise drive it like you stole it
Some like carbs. Some like mechanic fuel injection. Some like all to be electronic. What ever one wants However I can tell that this engine runs better, far more reliable and economical then most of our Mondis with these upgrades. XDI coil ignition with the SDS electronic fuel ignition... you cannot have it any better if you want some modernization, which comes with unavoidable extra modules and wiring. for 23k you have definitely a good start. Since you bought it I guess you are a person that likes to have the upgrades, which is not bad at all. Fred has an XDI too and he is very happy about it. Mentioned it before... if my ECU gives up hope.. It will get an XDI replacement. Congrats so far with your purchase. Not sure how the PPI will go with these MODS btw. IMHO it should not have any influence, but I never took a PPI myself so I don't know if they comment on upgrades.
Thank you for all the insight! Other than what ever the ppi turns up it needs new front seat covers and a few top/window gaskets. This one will be a keeper, for at least 3 years and probably longer. What should I be looking for at the ppi? Is there anything else specific that I should be asking?
there are lots of things to look for but at this mileage you should not have much worry if it starts runs and has a good drive there not much else look for any signs of rust : weather stripping bonnet/trunk any corner areas, wheel wells oil seepage is typical around the pan threads look to see if clutch slave has been leaking most ppi do not do a compression check so look for smooth idle just below 1Krpm and turn on a/c to load it to see if idle drastically changes look at injectors for seepage(not a good thing but repairable) there should be no seepage/wetness in the top valley under the airbox there should be no seepage around cis distributor lines once warm place a paper towel in your hand at muffler and look for any moisture look at suspension rubber should not be cracked its a car you know what to look for.....
Looks like a fun car for $23k. My first Ferrari was a 308 for a similar price and with a handful of modifications. Loved it. Had a great time with it. Sold it after a couple years and 5000 miles for a good $5000 more than I paid. If it had been all original, it surely would have appreciated, but then I couldn't have afforded it at the time. If it passes PPI, buy her and drive the heck out of her. What's not to love?
