“While I’m in there” addiction, trials and successes

Like most of us when I purchased my Ferrari and drove it for the first time I was elated. For years I had worked hard and saved my pennies, read every thing I could and spent hours researching and second-guessing myself. When the day came to finally buy and drive her for the first time it was love, of that I am sure. No other car ever could compare. Some were faster and most were far more reliable, but I didn’t care. Like any love affair though we had our rough patches, a few thrown codes, sometimes she would cost me a lot of money to keep going, but I kept going. I treated her like no other car I had ever had. I was afraid to touch a single bolt on the engine, even washing the car made me very uncomfortable. Then it began and most of you know the feeling well, the love had turned to a love/hate relationship and the shine was wearing off. My super model now seemed to have a coke problem, was off the road more than on and cost me as much as a second mortgage. I will now relate to you the people and the work that have made me fall for her all over again.

I’m in my garage on a very cold day back in February. Staring at the 348 and wondering just how much trouble it was going to get me into this year. I knew I would have to change the oil and after 3 years the fuel filters should probably be changed. I would have to clean the engine bay electrical connections yet again and am sure the 1211 and other codes I was pulling last November would be there waiting for me after I hooked the battery back up. She had also started to just die at lights and her idle was erratic and the engine vibrated a lot. I started reading all of the threads I thought were relevant. I was also posting on Ernie’s thread “I have had it!”, using it to comfort Ernie and to keep myself deep in denial about my own F-Car issues. I decided to plug along and go for it and change my fuel filters and clean the connections in a hope that all would be well with the world. In the back of my head I was still seeing Ernie’s words resonating from the thread and wondering if it might just be better to sell her off and by a Corvette.

The driver’s side fuel filter came off easy and was quickly replaced with little fuss so I proceeded to the passenger side. “mother of peril!” was uttered in a very load voice that rang out through the garage. I had tried to place the wrench onto the top fitting for the filter and realized that the aluminum collar was split. I had been driving it this way since I had purchased the car three years ago. I removed the line and then held my breath as I went on line to find a replacement. Knowing the average up charge of Ferrari parts I was not going to be happy. Essentially the line is nothing more that braided hose with blue anodized fittings at each end, but of course the 180-degree bend radius was special as was the size of the threads as well as the fitting itself, which has a bullet end in the female collar. I started searching daily for the fuel line looking for a decently priced unit that was not going to bring back the memory of the part cost every time I gazed into the engine bay. About this time I start to figure that while I have the time I might as well change the spark plugs too. I order a set of Iridium plugs and then go back to work trying to get the car sorted. Since the car was down and had no way for me to even start it I might as well start doing some other things too.

I had heard many good things about Dave Helm’s and his Gold Connector Kit. Knowing that my connections were a mess and I seemed to have all the time in the world I called Dave and he explained the kit and what was involved. Oh well, why not, at this point I am just going to wing it. I had made up my mind that no matter how long it took and how involved it got I was going make sure that both the fuel and electrical systems were working 100%. If she let me down after that I was going to sell her, enough is enough. I wrote down a list of all the components that I figured should be adjusted, replaced or added. Damn the cost we are only doing this one time. Here is what I came up with and subsequently changed:

Dave Helm’s Gold Connector Kit following the instructions to the letter. Cleaned every plug completely.
NGK Iridium Plugs.
Magnacore 8.5mm Plug wire set.
(2) new Bosch TPS.
(2) new KIA crank Sensors. (Thanks Ernie)
All the injectors were sent out to “Mr. Injector” for sonic cleaning and balancing (Thanks Ernie).
All the Air pump hoses and breather hoses replaced.
Mass Air Flow units cleaned completely.
Plenum air-bypass cleaned as well as the butterfly areas.

The boxes kept coming in from UPS. I kept busy at night installing the GCK freaking out about every wire. I called Dave more than once and it was a pleasure every time. His people made some of the hardest wiring tasks seem easy and not as difficult as I believed. I must also say the quality of the parts is top self and well thought out. Even with help I did still make a few errors. I took pictures as suggested which helped a lot until……I got distracted. I forgot to take a picture of the drives side 3 terminal plug wires that run into the coil before taking them out. There is one red, one yellow and one red with a black stripe. I checked the passenger side and found the same set-up, but was not sure if they ran the same order. This is a great worry because this would cause the wrong plug to fire or worse I believed. I called Ernie as I had done for many other issues. He gave me the colors and order of the wires he had on that side which of course were not the same as mine. I decided to wait and went back to finishing the rest of the kit and installing my other parts.

My injectors had been send out from Connecticut to Idaho to be cleaned and balanced a couple days before so when an email hit my phone I was kind of dumb struck. ‘Your injectors are ready, shipping in the morning” WHAT? I called to make sure it wasn’t a joke. Nope, they are on there way back. 4 days total and they looked beautiful. I had sent my air box and fuel rails out to get powder coated figuring at least a week to get the injectors back. I was told a week and a half to get my parts back from powder coat so even though the injectors would arrive soon I would still have to wait.

Realizing I had even more time I started checking everything else, radiator fluid, gear lube level etc. I still didn’t have a fuel line for the passenger side and even though Dave Helms and others had spent a lot of time trying to come up with a solid replacement solution, I was stuck. I called Daniel at Ricambi, as the phone rang my stomach started to ache. I can feel my wallet getting lighter I thought. Daniel answered and I explained my problem. He remembered reading about it on F-Chat and he had even mentioned he had one last line left for that side. “How much” I asked, he was quick with a friendly response. “That’s fantastic!” I replied. It was a much better price than I had seen anywhere else and he knew I was in a spot. I must say it again Ricambi America is a fantastic company. Its not just the parts and the lighting speed of delivery, it’s the people. He had the part to me in two days.

At this time most everything was done except I was still without my parts from the powder coater. That is a whole other story in itself. Needless to say, I went else where after picking up my parts and they turned out a really nice finish in only 3 days. I put everything back together, but still had the 3-terminal issue on the driver’s side. I made sure there were no fuel leaks and that all the other connections were plugged in. I pulled a Ferrari wiring diagram from one of the links here at F-Chat and found the connection I was looking for…hmmm, no color codes but the wiring appears to be in the same (1=red, 2=yellow, 3=red/black) as the passenger side. So I slipped the terminals into the connector and then I plugged the connector in.

I turned the key forward and waited knowing that the fuel system had drained during all the work and it would take time to repressurize. I had my trusty fire extinguisher poised over the engine bay and paper towels wrapped around each fuel fitting looking for a leak. After a few minutes I checked the towels and they were all dry. I turned the key to start and after a few revolutions she fired. It was rough and horrible, shaking and rich. I touched the throttle thinking the fuel was the issue. She let out a huge backfire and I immediately killed the ignition, something was very wrong. (1=red, 2=yellow, 3=red/black) kept going though my head. Um…maybe on the passenger side but on the drivers the order is flipped! I pulled the terminals and switched the red and red/black. I disconnected the battery so I could start fresh on my second start up.

Now this is the part when it all comes together, when it all made sense. “Click” “Broooooooommmm!!!!” “Blub, Blub, Blub, Blub, Blub, Blub, Blub, Blub’

Dead perfect.

The idle is pinned on 1000 and looks like someone glued it there. I if you could not feel or hear the exhaust you would assume the engine is off its so steady. The exhaust note sounds like a modern Corvette, deep and tuned. Throttle response is very, very smooth and the sound…Oh my, the sound.

I took it out for a test run and was pulling a couple codes even though the car was running perfectly. Again I called Ernie and we ran though I bunch on possible scenarios. This scared me a bit thinking I had made additional errors when putting the car back together, but shortly after my last call from Ernie I discovered the issue. A simple very loose gas cap and an air pump hose I did not tighten. I put over 100 flawless miles on her yesterday, she didn’t miss a beat. Some of my F-Car friends even commented on just how smooth the idle is and how the sound is fantastic. A little TLC and a little more that a grand is all it took.

The love is back.

 

Trust me on this. At a minimum add the GCK. You will not believe the difference and will not be chasing codes every other day. I believe of everything I did that mattered most.

--Mike

 

Bradan knows about the Helm's gold kit. Just tell them to call Dave at Scuderia Rampante. I know Bradan follows the threads here and I follow theirs as well.

--Mike

 

I think the wiring issues are two fold for the 348. One is the climate it spends its time in. I am not sure but if we looked to see which cars pulled the most codes they would be in wet/dry north eastern states or any place that the humidity varies greatly. The second is pure age and mileage. I have 56,000 miles on mine. However, I also believe the gold connector kit is a leap over the best OEM of the remaining 348/355 wiring systems still out there. It really transforms the car not just bring it back to stock condition. I really think its a must and I will be putting a kit on any future Ferrari's I buy, probably during a major to make the work easier.

--Mike

 

Hi Lane,
The part number is 85237. The wires come complete and ready to install and include all the OEM style plug rubber. They are only available in red, but they do fit the stock 348 wire looms. I'll add a picture to this thread later.

--Mike