Very Long Yearly Report

Hi!
Back when I was using the 1986 3.2 Prugna Metalica as my daily driver I was a routine poster on this great site! However, this post will be written for people who are new to these cars and thus some background on myself and the car. I am a sporty car driver my entire life and tuned suspensions and engines on everything since an autocross prepped 1974 Vega Station wagon.

My favorite car of all time will was a 1991 Lincoln Mark VII! Top all that off with a Kenne Belle 7psi positive displacement supercharger? Well. One hundred thirty miles per hour (speed limited) at 3,000 rmp (2.73 axle) and rock steady and tomb quiet. At 190,000 miles it began to leak some oil. Should have kept that car.

Which brings me to the topic at hand. I only talk about the stuff above in order to establish some credibility when I talk about things automotive. One day I simply decided I wanted to find out something about Ferraris by driving one every day. The 3.2 Mondial was the obvious choice: 1) it is a proper Ferrari and can keep up with a Honda Accord. 2) It looks good! 3) It makes all the proper Ferrari sound and fury. 4) It handles well it will not kill you in a decreasing radius turn. 5) A competent shade tree mechanic can fix it. And 6) Head room and large parcel shelves behind the front seats.

I offer observations from four plus years and 15,000 miles of routine driving. I live in sports car heaven in the North Georgia mountains. My favorite stretch is twelve miles long and has sixty five turns. Lets put it this way. Three sets of tires in 15,000 miles. [You motorcycle people have something similar. Google "tail of the dragon". And weap.]

Lesson Number One. The car is fastest when shifted at 6,000 rpms. I know this because I tested it at the Spring 2016 Heavens Landing 1/2 mile speed only drag race. The first run I shifted at 7,500. Second at 7,000. Third at 6,500. I would not have run 6,000 but previous runs had been getting faster one after the other. Six thousand rpm gave me 115 mph in 1/2 mile. The other runs were within one or two miles per hour. I think the times are still posted on WannaGoFast.com.

The next lesson is never ever replace Ferrari hydraulic clutch cylinders with Alpha units. They will operate the clutch at rest, in parades, and cost 1/10th Ferrari units. Both of my Alpha units failed catastrophically. I do not remember the exact sequence in all this clutch drama. I should have kept a diary. Nothing to do with my mechanic.

Here is something many people do including myself. I add 8 oz of 2cycl oil to every tank of fuel. Recently I have been using Marvel Mystery oil. The general thinking is this. We have mechanical fuel injection. We have lots of metal surfaces that alcohol might not be the best for. A thin coat of oil? Been doing it four years. No smell or smoke or anything.

I do something probably no one else does. I depressurized the entire cooling system. I took one look at the cooling schematic and began thinking nuclear power plant issues. I mean, something like two or three dozen hose clamps! I have done this before but you need to have a good cooling system and fan thermostates that close the circuit at low enough temps. For example, the Z-28 fan activated at 260 degress. No good.

My Ferrari has two electric fans that activate at an indicated 230F. Further, that temperature is ONLY seen at idle. Even a 90F day will see normal temps until a long idle. And then they come on at 230F. Further, I live at 2,200 ft elevation and thus the boiling point of water is lowered. Anyway, I use a 60/40 glycol distilled water mix. You can go as high as 70/30. The loosely snugged expansion tank cap seems to pass coolant from time to time. In four years I may have added a quart.

Italian electric wiring makes Lucifer Lucas look like Arch Angel Gabriel by comparison. All my electric systems have been on death bed watch since I bought the car. The driver window works fine but slow. The passenger window is dead but knows it not. I only use it with the revs above 2,000 rpm for maximum voltage. It works just as well/bad as it did more then four years ago. The sunroof was apparently modified before I got the car. It works fine but many people say the sunroof should be welded shut. My windshield wipers work in the car wash and in the rain. Otherwise they show meager signs of life.

Then there is the starter. First the good news. These cars can be pop started by two grade school girls pushing from behind. The bad news is that hot soak will have you in near perpetual search of two grade school girls for such purposes. But there is, in addition, VERY good and VERY cheap good news. Bosch sells what is known as a WR1 intermediate solenoid. Or something like that.

Mine cost all of $12 from Amazon and my mechanic installed it in 1/2 hour. Here's the issue. Voltage to the starter solenoid drops between the battery in front, various switches, relays and connections in the middle before it arrives, much dissipated to the actual starter solenoid in the rear. That dissipated voltage is, none the less, more then adequate to activate a low voltage solenoid which then activates the starter solenoid. Just put one in. Be careful though. My connections male/female were not sized exactly to an exact fit.

What else. Hmmm. I place wide blue painters tape over the sunroof edges because they leak in the car wash, as does the left rear window. The tape works fine and nothing leaks in actual rain. My dash air vent fan has some sort of a bad electrical connection and sometimes works and sometimes not. It only matters because it is a very strong vent fan for warm weather.

One odd thing is how my car is perfectly derivable up here in the mountains at 90F. We don't get that hot very often and when it does its perhaps 30% humidity. But even when the vent fan does not work I just open the windows and crack the sunroof a bit and never even get a sweat. Seems odd given the cooling system up front and below.

Tires! My first set were Pirelli P Zero all season. They were perfect sports car tires but a bit harsh. My next two sets were Continental ExtremeContact DW Summer. These are quiet, have excellent straight line stability, and are smoother. Only people who have places like I do to drive at the limit will ever see any difference in the cornering, and then only a little bit. The DWs are good GT tires. I put them on my other cars as well. On the other hand, the Pirelli harshness adds to the Ferrari "feel".

To close out this discussion I will discuss briefly my most recent car. A year ago I managed to acquire a 420 hp 2014 Cadillac CST V-Sport 3.6 twin turbo. All Caddi V cars are rare. And people dont much think about Caddi V cars. Car guys probably think AMG or BMW M etc. I don't know how many of those cars are sold. Perhaps they are just as rare. Certainly they are in general better known.

I took my 3.6 to Heavens Landing this year and did 135 mph in the 1/2 half mile speed only runs. Lambos were doing 220 mph but what the hell. Anyway, it has taken me a year to warm up to the Caddi. First, it has 250 way adjustable seats. I think I have them dialed in now. Worse, I would pay $5,000 right here and right now to exchange the touch screen control system (ANY touch screen control system) for the radio/AC system in my 2007 Malibu MAXX. I do not understand why lawyers have not gotten rich from class action suits. I am quite confident these touch screen things (all of them) have killed countless people.

The Caddi, however, has peerless chassis, steering, and electronic things helping out. I drive it daily in race track mode with traction control off and only use the paddle shifters. Damn! It is the only car I have ever driven I could not out drive. And even then it will not bite me. And it rides easier then the old Z-28 because it has elctro magnetic shocks! It also has an active rear differential which is like something out of star wars. As is the stability control system. And like the Ferrari, it is just a little bit smoke and mirrors.

For instance, I would never have done the following with my 5.0 supercharged Lincoln as I did with the Caddi today. Make a right turn out of the gas station out onto the four lane local road up a hill under full throttle. Why? The ass end would have swapped with the front end. Or at least the car would have looked like a frightened rainbow trout fish tailing all over the road.

Not this Caddi!. Track chassis setting, traction control off, full application of 420 hp and it just slithered itself out exactly where I set the steering wheel to go. Enough slithering anyone would have taken note. No one would have mistaken it for serious fish tailing. Which I have, well, been guilty of with other cars from time to time.

My West Coast car buddy tells me its time to buy a Chevy Volt.

 

Yeah, the same old Prugna Metallica I bought more then four years ago only a lot better! All new clutch system and [very nice] four new CV joints and front rotors. About 16,000 miles driven and never towed in. One reason not to sell it is it is coming up on 58,000 miles total and 60,000 calls for a major. I do not plan to do that of course. But it still reduces the resale value.

I am still thinking of things to pass along and have two new ones. Never EVER drive these cars on snow or ice. Treacherous in the extreme! I forgot to mention potential air leaks in the injector grommets. Acts like any normal vacuum leak and mine had a bit of that. You can test for it by sprayaing WD40 on each one and listen for an engine note change. I dribbled a few drops of power steering stop leak on them and they all got perfect.

I'm trying to think of other things people should know. The most important is maximum acceleration is achieved shifting at 6,000 rpms. Would have saved my clutch! My information is backed up by about 5 separate 1/2 mile speed only drag races early last year (115 mph). Also, I believe the car should be run at 3,000 rpm and shifted at 4,000 to keep the carbon down. The car was seriously clogged up when I first got it and it took awhile of brisk driving and carbon cleaner to liven it up!

OH YEAH! Twice the car developed an oil leak that dribbled down on the front right header and it would smoke badly after a serious hot run. The first time I added one can of each and every re-polimizer I could find. I recommend everyone use at least on bottle of AT-205 every oil change.

You mentioned eclectic cars! What are they? I have a 1965 red Corvair Monza convertible and a 1988 very nice Lincoln MKVII with trick flow heads and Kenne Belle 7 psi positive displacement blower. It my second one and is my favorite car of all time. Right now the blower is off but the heads alone transform the car.

Im thinking of buying a Trifecta tune for the CTS V Sport. They take it from 12 psi up to 18 psi and you need to run 93 octane. Its not all that tempting because the engine is just about perfect from my point of view. Tranny could be a tad faster just cruising around [I use 2-4-6] out of the eight around the mountains, but in performance driving its just fine. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login