Sletti - 1993 348 Spider

[sletti]

June 2008

June 2008

Mileage; 78
Costs: 0 (but I sense a big one coming soon)
Faults: None

My car spent much of June languishing in the garage at Addspeed owing to delays over refinishing some items, and repairing an oil feed line and a fuel.

It was a no show for both the Brighton driveout and the Bromley pageant, and that left me feeling a little aggravated.

I did get it back for the 30th so some local girls could be delivered to their prom in style at Lingfield Race Course ably assisted by Graham, Daz, Chris, Neil, Jas, Ken, Phil and Matt. We caused quite a sensation turning up in a line and blocking further access to the venue. But what care had we for the needs and wishes of the riff-raff who arrived in Limousines?

Car had to go straight back to Addspeed as the handbrake was not working. Not an unusual thing for a 348 I hear you all saying, but as part of the service was to have the rear discs and all the pads (including the handbrake pads) replaced I felt that this was unacceptable.

 

[sletti]

July 2008

July 2008

Mileage; dunno
Costs: Subject to further negotiation – but very, very big
Faults: None

I guess it is the nature of all things automotive, that there comes a part in every cars life when it makes a transition from being a newish car, to an oldish car. There is usually a large bill that marks this transition and it encompasses the wear and tear that one would normally expect with a service, but also items that need replacing and repairing for the first time in it’s life. Being that the car is 15 years old I guess it is to be expected but I did nearly crap when I saw the size of the bill.

Sifting through the details of the bill, two big things that I did not expect were, over £500 for HT leads (two were badly corroded and causing a weak ignition), and nearly £600 for rear disks, pads and HB pads. Work was required on the subframe mounts so some welding was required, and fuel lines and a major oil pipe need reconditioning due to corrosion. This is in addition to the engine out service with all fluids, filters, loads of replacement hoses and breathers yielded a parts bill in excess of £2000+VAT, let alone the cost of the labour!!!

Now that I have come to terms with the size of the bill, I quite happy that I have not been ripped off, but just a note to the wise; if you ask to be kept up to date about things that need to be done, don’t just blindly say “yes” – I know that I could have obtained the HT leads a lot cheaper if I has shopped around, and brake parts may well have been cheaper if I had contacted Paul Hill first. Still, you live and you learn.

The real shocker was that when I got the car back, it was covered with overspray from when they repainted the repairs to the corroded parts of the subframe mounts, and didn’t take sufficient care of the external paintwork. I discussed the issue and they agreed to take the car back at a time that suited me and get it fully valeted. They seemed to be undaunted when I pointed out that when the car came to them it had seven coats of Zymol on it. I reckon that lot’d take Dave Z two days to put right. Still the car was returned to me for the rest of the month under the understanding that they would contact me soon to arrange collection.

Not much in the way of events for July (not that I recall); patchy weather and the embarrassment of crap paintwork demotivated me.

 

[sletti]

August 2008

August 2008

Mileage; 116
Costs: £75 (MOT)
Faults: None

Look like my mileage is down again because of more of the same wayward weather as had been experienced at the same time last year. I didn’t think it was as bad as last year, but the Met office have assured us that this years summer was the crappest for some years.

Took the car to Groombridge which is always a good day out. Top marks to the FOC for a great lunch spread and to whoever it was who arrange for the large tellys to show the millionaire’s parade that masquerades as a Grand Prix these days (it’s not like it was in the old days, drivers driving at 200 mile an hour in turbo charged cars with nothing t protect them other than asbestos pants, etc).

MOT came up at the end of the month and it sailed through but I was a bit disappointed with myself at having done less than 1400 miles over the last twelve months. Note to self; must do better next year.

The garage had gone quiet on me, so I rattled their cage to see what would happen. They apologised profusely, and arrange to collect the car to repolish. They then called me back to ask what sort of Zymol they should get. I advised them and after eplacing the phone on the cradle, it occurred to me that they might not be aware that you can’t use Zymol without using HD Cleanse first, so I called them back to suggest that I would fix the paint myself in return for a hefty amount knocked off my outstanding balance. This they agreed to after I pointed out how much work they would have to do to fix the problem properly. There are other issues concerning minor cosmetic work undertaken by them that I do not feel were done to a high enough standard, so the process of negotiation of a final bill is still ongoing.

I’d like to point out at this juncture that I am in no way critical of the mechanical work completed by them. Whilst the size of the bill suggests that they may have made certain uneconomic choices in sticking to Ferrari parts instead of viable third party alternatives, I think it inconceivable that anyone could have been more thorough.

Next month: Starting the big clean up…

 

[sletti]

September 2008

September 2008

Mileage; 320
Costs: £60 (Clay, detailer, HD Cleanse)
Faults: None

An uncharacteristically dry patch meant that I was more interested in driving the car than starting the bodywork, so I hacked about, hither and thither enjoying the fact that my recent service was making the car feel great.

Mid September we had the Littlehaven’s day at the Ford’s Dunton Test Facility in Basildon. It was an absolute hoot, and despite my initial reservation, the guy giving the briefing was quite right; if you drive around the banking at 55Mph, the car steers itself and you can let go of the steering wheel. It was a very spooky sensation and I’d be lying if I said that I put my hands in any position more than 1” away from the steering wheel; my A Levels in Physics and Applied Maths could probably convince my brain that this was 100% explainable, but when the scenery is rushing towards me at speed, the seat of my pants have a tendency to take over my brain, and run amok shouting, “Danger Will Robinson!, Danger!”.

I could only manage 121Mph by the end of the straight, but thanks to Stewart for tossing me the keys to his Scud, I think I managed around 150Mph before my respect for Newtonian mechanics forced me to lift off.

A top day organised by Bruce, and we raised a around £9000 for the Children’s hospice. And thanks to Gemm for taking the pictures you can behold at the bottom of the Page.


As September started to slip away I started give some thought to my scruffy paintwork. The application of any Zymol was going to be a long way off, so I turned my attention to removal of the overspray that has caused so much consternation. I washed the car thoroughly and attacked her with some clay that I had from the last time I clayed a car a couple of years back but it just did not seem to shift it. This was bad news because it meant that I would likely have to use some kind of solvent to remove the overspray. I tried with some ethanol and it did the job but it took tons of the stuff and a lot of wiping and I figured this would not be the best way of doing it.

I nipped over to see Richard (ric355) to borrow his Porter Cable Polisher, and I was about to assault the paintwork, but I became a little worried that the oversprayed paint would stick to the polishing head and swirl the paint even more than it is already.

I tried with the clay again, and figured that something elastic and sticky like clay probably deteriorated with age, so I purchased a new batch and some more Meguiars detailer as a lubricant. Success! I clayed the car from top to bottom and front to back, and the amount of crap that stuck to clay was astonishing. Three hours later I washed the car and decided that it was not quite clan enough, so I repeated the process a second time and removed nearly as much grubbiness as I did the first time, so I washed and clayed a third time. On the last pass there were virtually no deposits coming off onto the clay, so three clay bars and two bottles of Meguiars later I figure I could move onto the next step; Ric’s polishing machine.

It was never my intention to get a Dave Z level of correction to my less than pristine giallo paintwork, bit I figured that it was worth a go, so I set aside a whole day and to attack the car with the polishing machine (whilst trying to follow the Singapore GP). A couple of hours with Meguiars #83, #80 and finally #9 saw my swirls very much reduced, and a glossy finish the like of which I have never beheld. An hour of HD cleansing and my right arm was beginning to fall of something awful, but I had to put on a coat of Zymol before I finished. A few additional coats could come at a later date.

By now the day was drawing to an end and I wanted at least a quick drive before I tucked her in for the night, so Sue and I drove over to my mum’s for dinner and did not consider that the tree outside the house was one of those goddamn dribbly sap spewers. The car was covered from bow to stern. Drat!

When I got home I tried a quick patch with Meguiars Instant Detailer, and it comes of easily. Phew! Later this week I’ll clean it off and whack on a few more coats of the big “Z”, but by that time it’ll be October…

 

[sletti]

October – December 2008

October – December 2008

Mileage – 58
Costs – Steering wheel spacer - £40, pedals - £50
Faults – none

Very little to report for the rest of 2008 I’m afraid.

I participated in Mal’s Dream Rides events in West Wickham and I must admit to feeling particularly obvious driving up and down West Wickham high street with a bloke dressed as Tigger in the passenger seat. Many smiles were delivered on that day.

Other than that, it seemed like every time I had the chance to go out in the car it was raining, and every time the weather was dry I was nowhere near the car. Added to that December was so very cold (down to -10C in balmy Kent) that motivation was a little sapped to say the least.

To keep spirits up, I thought it time for a few choice upgrades; a set of Hill Engineering pedals, and I wanted to try a steering wheel spacer in an attempt to alleviate a pain in my shoulder that I think is caused by me always having my arms at full stretch in the car.

I never got as far as installing them though; I wasn’t that motivated. I guess I’ll do them in January, when it gets warm…

 

[sletti]

January 2009

January 2009

Mileage – 65
Costs – none
Faults – water leak

Really, really cold this month so again not much to report.

There was one afternoon when the roads were dry enough to not hurl up pounds of salt from the surface of the road, so I did grasp the opportunity to go out for a few hours. The battery did need charging, but once charged it leapt into life on the first turn of the key.

The sensation of wind in my hair was great, if a little cold; I love this car!!!

On checking the car after being parked up in the garage for a few hours, there was a puddle of coolant on the floor. I stuck a pan on the floor under the car to see if I could gain some kind of clue as to where it was coming from. There were only a few drops on the pan after a few hours and they appeared to dripping off the underside of the gearbox. Fortunately it was not spewing out when the car was cold, so I kinda hoped it would be hose or hose clip related.

I whipped off the air filter housing and a good look revealed that a lot of the hose clips were quite seriously rusty, and a fair few of the hoses’ outer fabric layer had become quite frayed. Also some of the vacuum hoses were quite perished in parts.

Time to compile a list. And this would be a good time to redo the plenum that was botched the last time it was refinished…

 

[sletti]

February 2009

February 2009

Mileage 0
Costs JCS Hi Grip stainless hose clips - £60 (ish)
Assorted silicone hoses - £15
Nitromoors - £10
Thinners - £10
Wrinkle paint - £20
Faults rusty clips, frayed hoses and general all round cruddiness

Many thanks to Jay for coming around and helping me get the plenum off (oh, alright, actually doing all the getting off of the plenum, with me offering tea, biscuits and encouragement).

In retrospect, I suppose it is not quite as tricky as its’ reputation might suggest, but to get to the nut holding the bottom part of the central butterfly valve, you do need to visualise yourself as a young and dashing James Herriot, who has been called in to loosen up a bowel blockage in Farmer Johnsons prize Aberdeen Angus, Daisy, in a particularly unusual, not to say metallic, episode of “All Creatures Grunt and Smell”; let’s just say that in both scenarios, it pays off to have slender hands and wrists.

Then it is simply a case of removing the 20 or so domed nuts and washers (whilst counting off every single removed part to make sure that nothing falls into wheresoever it should not), slackening off the Idle regulator clips (to facilitate removal of the short hose going into the side of the plenum), and then pull off the vacuum hoses and the tubing going to the antievaporation device (very small and very fiddly Jubilee clip).

The whole plenum with throttle bodies attached can then be pulled off revealing the beautiful casting that is the manifold. I considered the possibility of also removing the manifold and refinishing that, but it is too much when I consider that I will be away for much of April and I really want it back on the road for Autoitalia in May.

The disappointing thing it that I could not find aywhere obvious from which water could be leaking. I reasoned that if it were dripping from the bottom of the gearbox, perhaps it was leaking from the hose that runs up between the manifolds, and then escaping backwards, but there was no obvious wetness. I’ll change the hose and clips in the hope that it’ll make the difference.

Next month, stripping and painting the plenum and getting the whole thing back together...:thumbsup:

 

[sletti]

March 2009 - Part one

March 2009

Mileage 0
Costs Gaskets for Plenum - £50
Radiator cap - £12
Idle regulator clips £4
Stainless bolts and washers - £10

A quick convo with a certain site sponsor revealed that my water leak was likely to be coming from the overflow on the water tank, so a new radiator cap was ordered along with the gaskets needed for reassembly.

I have a deep and abiding hatred for Nitromoors. The smell. The burning. The cleaning up afterwards. It all hell on legs if you want my opinion, but there are times when a man has to do what a man has to do. Some of the paint came off quite easily, but some of it was set like concrete. Close scrutiny revealed that this reluctant coating was of a slightly different colour and texture to the stuff that came so easily with Nitromoors which suggests that not all the original paint had been stripped of prior to its most recent refinish. Subsequently a whole hatload of elbow grease was required to remove the last vestiges of paint with the Scotchbrite I had left over from doing the cam covers last year.

Given that Silver wrinkle paint is not an easy find, I had intended to do the plenums (and throttle bodies) in black wrinkle and then give them a thin coat of Silver engine enamel. Looking at them painted in the black wrinkle, I thought they looked pretty damn cool, and as I did not have time to do the manifold as well, the grimy silver of the manifold may look poor next to the bright silver of the recently refinished plenum/throttle assembly, so I elected to stick with the black for now. I can always paint again next year as the task is less daunting once you have done it once.

A curious side effect of this renovation lark is a kind of cleaning mania. For instance, I got the plenum off, painted it and thought, Hmmm, those bolts look a little tatty lets get some new ones, and the idle controllers look a bit scruffy, let’s have ‘em of and give them a clean, but the bands that hold them on don’t look right, so lets buy some new ones, and let’s polish that fuel rail, and the throttle linkage could do with a quick once over…

And so on and so on….

I’m even looking at the throttle position sensors thinking that they look a little scruffy, perhaps I could give them a squirt of lacquer to add some luster to my parts.

Will this ever end?

Sadly it must because next weekend Sue and I depart for the colonies to inspect Her Majesties Empire, and take in the eldest son’s wedding, so I will probably finish this off this month but not report back until next month.

BTW, a thousand thanks to Andy Hills for letting me strip him of bolts washers and a throttle linkage assembly that was in a much tidier condition than by own!

 

[sletti]

March 2009 – addendum

March 2009 – addendum

Mileage 0 (still not quite ready to start it)
Costs Insurance £367
A few more clips and pins £12
Faults None

Well, but for a couple of hose clips it is all back together now and I think it is looking rather splendid. I’ll leave you to make up your own mind…

I’m unlikely to be able to start it all up before the weekend, so I’ll have to leave it until I have finished my globe trotting.:cry3::cry3::cry3:

Had to renew my insurance this month, and it has gone down to £367 for 5000 miles per annum, and that is with Britcar via Classicline Insurance. Result!:thumbsup:

 

[sletti]

April 2009

April 2009

Mileage 25
Costs Tax £195
Faults Dribble

Been out of the country for all but the last few days of April, but upon my return I finished the re-assembly, charged the battery and started the car. It started but ran poorly making a lot of hissing. Tracked it down to a couple of hoses that had not been tightened up. After that it ran like a beauty. Went out for a quick spin and all was right in the world.:thumbsup:

Couple of days later, there was a small puddle of water on the garage floor; aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!:cry3::cry3::cry3:

 

[sletti]

May 2009

May 2009

Mileage 460
Costs Bung for floor pan – £10
Faults Intermittent idle fault

May has traditionally been the month that the cobwebs get well and truly blasted away. Dry roads, warm(ish) weather and more events bring about an enhanced sense of motivation.
First on the calendar is always Autoitalia at Brooklands, and many thanks for “Fingers” Tremlett for organising cheap tickets and executive access via Mercedes World.

Leak did not occur on either the run up to or the run back from Brooklands which is a bit of a mystery. I’m at a loss as to where the coolant could be coming from, and why it has now completely disappeared.

A couple of weeks later was the Dad’s Day Out event on the Top Gear track at Dunsfold Aerodrome, so this seemd a good enough occasion to install the steering wheel spacer that I purchased from Hill Engineering last year. The existing bolts that held the steering wheel on took some persuading as they had not been turned in some sixteen years, but they eventually yielded to my attentions and the spacer was a very simple item to install. Also installed some aluminium pedals to for a little more bling in my cockpit.

It seems a surprise how much difference a scant 2” can make (ooooerrr, missus). And after a day hooning around the track I was not plagued with the shoulder pains that usually vex me after a period of spirited pilotage. It also imbued me with a hitherto unexperienced confidence as the steering was more immediate; an unkind person may say that the confidence was misplaced and as such I am still a largely talentless vehicle operator, but the sense of experience is a very personal one, and despite having one experience of carrying too much speed in the second to last corner, I bore my ineluctable four-wheels-on-the-grass, or “Gambon”, moment with the twin pillars of brio and bravura.

Sadly my last lap was marred but a certain lack of smoothness from the engine department. I pulled into the passenger drop off area to realise I was suffering a rather alarming misfire. Turning the car off I rationalised that allowing it time to cool whilst exercising a degree of denial, perhaps the problem might go away, but on commencing the return journey it appeared that this was certainly not to be the case. Pulling into a layby just outside Dunsfold, Jason (candellara) suggested disconnecting the battery (isolation switch accessible from the fuse panel beneath a panel that is under the bonnet), letting the car cool, reconnecting the battery and restarting. Why not; it works for computers as a general principle, and has kept me in employment for the last 25 years.

Car never skipped a bet on the way home.

Towards the end of May I thought I’d give the car a good and proper clean and this included tidying up all the crap that I have dumped under the bonnet over the years. It became apparent that some bits of paper at the bottom to the luggage well were both soggy in texture and pale blue in hue. Whatever the mysterious fluid was it had soaked into and has now permanently stained my leather toolkit, so I had to undertake the daedal task of removing the carpets to get to the bottom of it (as it were). Yukkk! The bottom the area was full of brake fluid! As there are no leaks that I can see in any of the exposed pipework, I can only assume that when they were bled at the last service, a lack of care had been exercised with the brake fluid, so I cleaned it all out and gave the carpet sections a good wash. One of the rubber bungs was missing from the bottom so I purchased a new one from Eurospares.

 

[sletti]

June 2009

June 2009

Mileage 280
Costs None
Faults Just that damn idle problem.

With little evidence of our so lauded “barbecue summer”, it is with not inconsiderable joy that our participation in the Bromley Pageant was greeted by fine weather. Sixteen sybaritic scuderites were in attendance along with a California courtesy of Shaun from the Ferrari garage in Sevenoaks.

Although quite how people thought it was okay just to walk up to the Cali and without a hint of a request, open the door, sit themselves down and **** about with all the buttons is beyond me. I know it was a demonstrator, but they did not know that. Bleedin’ public; stoning’s too good for them.

The following week was the Help a Hero at Headley Court. This rehabilitation centre is for the poor chaps injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we were there to take them out in the Ferraris to say thanks in the smallest possible way. Their personal tales were horrific, and I think we were all in awe of the commitment displayed toward their responsibilities, but a good time was had by one and all. Thanks for Jos for organising something so worthwhile.

Try as I might, I couldn't break off Pete's wing mirror whilst he was practicing his mincing.:laugh:

Car performed with no leaks, but on the way home, the misfire returned a coupe of miles from home. Again, the Jason’s engine reset did the trick, but sooner or later I guess I’ll have to start swapping parts out to see if it goes again. Thankfully Andy (HLS) offered to lend me a couple of spare coilpacks to see if it does the job. Can’t imagine that it’d be the leads as they were all replaced during the incredibly major service last year.

 

[sletti]

July 2009

July 2009

Mileage a few, but not much to write home about
Costs None
Faults None

Rain, Rain, Rain.

For full explanation of why the weather was bad, read my report from a similar time last year.

Met up with the chaps at the beginning of July when KenC took delivery of his Scud, and when for a blast for an hour and there was no sign of either the mysterious leak or the mysterious misfire... Hmmm…:hmmm:

Tried to muscle myself into a trackday at Brands but there were no cancellations, but I did get the car noise tested. The guy asked me to give him three quarter revs, and I “accidentally” only gave him less than half, but the car still failed to pass 105dB and was advised to take it easy as I was passing the pit lane end. Fat chance; even on a piss-wet Thursday, and a roster full of Caterhams, every one turned up so I couldn’t take my car out. Thanks the Stewart though for chucking me the keys to his Scud; and what a celeritous experience it was too.

I’m sure the weather will be better next month…:thumbsup:

 

[sletti]

August 2009

August 2009

Mileage 120
Costs None
Faults None

August was a funny month; it just kinda slipped by with nothing to mark it. I went on holiday, and toiled tirelessly at work to ensure that the most will be made of next years scholastic intake, but the 348 stayed resolutely in the garage. Somehow I managed to rack up over 100 miles, but I can’t work out how I did that; early onset Alzheimer’s maybe? Or perhaps it could be Alzheimer’s…

 

[sletti]

September 2009

September 2009

Mileage 160
Costs None
Faults Badly burned fingers…

September saw the Littlehavens trackday at the Ford test track up at Dunton in Essex. Despite what looked like an inauspicious start the weather turned out to be absolutely fantastic, and yet more lucre was coughed up by the general public for the honour and privilege of being escorted around Dunton’s hallowed banks, by Club Scuderia’s finest.

I did manage to get over 130 Mph on the speedometer (probably about 90 Mph in reality), but it called for some pretty hasty braking because you have to be off the throttle when the surface changes from the flat asphalt to the concrete banking, or the bottom of the front bumper will scuff whilst the front suspension is under compression.

Someone asked me if my brakes were really hot, so I went to put the backs of my fingers near the front disk to feel the radiation, slipped, and touched the searing hot surface. There was a pronounced sizzling sound (a bit like Kane when he lifted the hot cauldron during his final exit from the monastery in Kung Fu) and pain that was out of all proportion for the size of the injury. My fingers blistered up quite badly and they were quite painful for a week. As Matt quite rightly pointed out, when you have to slow your car to a standstill from over 100mph the brakes will get quite hot, and I must admit that in retrospect, I can perceive no other way that such a large quantity of kinetic energy can be dissipated.

Je suis une tête en os

I still had my crash helmet in the car from my failed attempt to get on the track at Brands a few months back, so I lent it to Paul Tarantino so his passengers did not get to ingest too much wildlife. In return he took me around for a few laps in his X-Bow. Jesus that thing is quick off the mark, and it is amazing how much more of a rollercoaster ride it feels when you don’t have a windscreen, or indeed much in the way of bodywork to cloud your field of view. God alone knows how good it would feel around Dunsfold next May. Note to self, must see if I can blag a ride.

Then work went all pear shaped, and I even had to cancel going to the FOC bash at Brands.

Ah well, Autumn is my favourite time of year, so roll on October.

 

[sletti]

September 2009 - Part2

September 2009

A video of said laps of Dunton...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPcYSmF6JjQ&autoplay=0

 

[sletti]

October/November 2009

October/November 2009

Mileage 188
Costs None
Faults None (apart from the weather)

Do you ever have those days when you decide to take the car out for a quick spin, and every time you come to the point where you wanted to turn and go home, you think to yourself, "Blimey, it is nice day, I think I'll just go in that direction for a few more miles before turning back"?

Well I certianly did in early october. I initally meant to take the briefest of drives to warm the car up, you know, just keep it from getting rheumatic through misuse, and I ended up sticking 140 miles on one afternoon. Man and machine in perfect harmony.:thumbsup:

Whenever I have these mini epiphanies I always reprimand myself for not enjoying such a fantastic car more often, but inevitably, the pressures of modern day life seem dull the memory of these great drives. Thus she goes back into the garage, only to be revisited when a sly poke to the guilt sensors of the brain remind me that owning a Ferrari was a childhood dream and I that am seriously slacking when I let the trivial issues of life distract me from taking her out for a good spanking.

So it is kinda typical then that November was an utter washout. I wanted to drive, I really, really did, but there were times when the fitting of an outboard marine engine would have been the only reasonable way to enjoy the coutryside.:thumbsdow

Perhaps it was a sense of frustration that made me book a trackday at Brands on December 20th, but booked in I am, and I am determined to have this last fling before Xmas. I have also booked my two stepsons to drive, so fingers crossed that it does not end up in the Arnco.:laugh:

I shall report back...

 

[sletti]

December 2009

December 2009

Mileage 131
Costs £149 (trackday)
Faults None (apart from the weather, again)

I ran the car several times in early December to keep her heart ticking and keep her in a ready state for the trackday that was to be on the 20th. Given the time of year, there was little enthusiasm from the usual suspects to join me for the last trackday of the season, and their fears were clearly justified as we had that major dump of snow on the Thursday before.

I dropped an email to the people at MSV to pre-empt the obvious cancellation of the event as I would like to press Sunday into better use than turning up at Brands and being sent away.

Rather oddly they emailed me back saying that the weather report was indicating good weather and that the day would go ahead. We still had six inches of snow on the drive that needed digging out and a biting wind assured me that the temperature would remain in the negative for quite some hours to come. Oh well, I thought, they are professionals who know what they were doing and that the track would be clear enough for a trackday. Little did I know…

The drive to Brands was a little lively with still a fair amount of ice about on the roads. Arriving unscathed despite a few opposite lock moments, I was directed to park just inside the gate as they had not cleared the access road to the circuit. On walking up to the crest of the rise by the MSV building I was greeted by that which appears in the picture you can see below. As beautiful and serene as Brands Hatch appeared while covered with six inches of snow, I’d be lying if I said that it was more agreeable on either the eye or the soul than a wide strip of clear black tarmac bordered by red and white kerbs, and a gravel trap or two.



I spoke to the officials who were waiting for the duty manager to make an appearance and was advised that she alone could make the decision on whether the day would be cancelled. On arrival she was mobbed by irate drivers clearly appalled that the day had not been cancelled 24 hours ago.

Apparently she had instructed the employees of the circuit to lay down a layer of salt and then spend two hours driving the utility vehicles that should be enough to melt the snow (bear in mind the thermometer was as yet reluctant to rise above zero). Hands up those of you who believe that this would work…

I count…

as I suspected; not a single ******* hand. I can see this, you can see this, every other driver could see this, the marshals at the track could see this, the MSV administrator doing the signing on could see it. Even the delightful canteen staff serving complimentary coffee could see this. But not the pink-wellied duty manger,

Questions about ensuring that the gravel traps were going to be cleared, were met with “No. Why?”. Not wishing to commit myself to Paddock Hill Bend without a functioning gravel trap to impede my sideways motion should I misjudge the corner sits quite high in my list of desirable attributes to ensure a long and successful life, and substituting ice and snow for gravel could hardly be considered effective.

Or maybe it’s me.

Around 10am they announced that in the interests of safety, the event had been cancelled, and we could book another event of our choice. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pissed off that their decision not to cancel the event was clearly based on their fear of losing money rather than their desire to assure us that we had a safe event.

I went and had brekkie at the Thistle with Andy, Joe, Tony, Matt and Stewart. By the time I got back to the circuit, the track remained snowbound as did the access roads, paddock, pitlane, and in fact every part of the facility apart from the small postage stamp of clear tarmac where my car sat looking lonely, dirty and unloved.

So I went home.:thumbsdow

Roof down, or course.:thumbsup:

 

[sletti]

January – February 2010

January – February 2010

Mileage: 0
Faults: Damn car locked solid
Costs: £140 (new rear brake pads)
£25 (assorted locknuts and washers)
£50 (various paints, abrasives and unguents)
£100 (new low height trolley jack)


I’m convinced that for me, Ferrari ownership during January is a cursed thing.

By the time that the snow and Ice had receded sufficiently for me to get the car out from the garage, and restore a beat to its slumbering heart, I was just itching to get out for a spin.

Not unpredictably, the battery needed a charge, but true to form, it fired on the first turn of the key, but when I released the handbrake, I was not rewarded with the usual gradual but inexorable trundle backwards out of the garage due the minute slope. No matter, I thought, the mite has probably got sore feet from all that standing still since before Christmas. So I stuck her in reverse, and gently released the clutch, but nothing happened. I gave it a little beans but she still wouldn’t budge.:huh:

I turned off the engine and had a peek at the brakes. They had a surface dusting of rust, but TBH that usually appears within a couple of hours of washing the car, so I did not give it much thought.

Oh well, better jack it up and pop the wheels off. Trouble is, my trolley jack is not low enough to go under the car so I have to drive it onto some wooden boards just to get the jack under. Clearly with a non moveable vehicle, this was not going to happen, so I retired to the living room with the laptop, a mug of tea and a bacon sarnie to see what I could find at short notice in the trolley jack department. Machine Mart came up trumps with a rather fancy looking blue aluminium number for a little under a hundred quid.

Once in the air and with the wheels removed, it became quite apparent precisely where the problem lay. The surface rust that had built up on the disc was enough to allow the pad to stick to the disc. A delicate levering separated three of them with no problem, but while trying to force the last one away from the disc, it split down the middle, leaving a large chunk of the pad material stuck on the disc. I took a fair amount of WD40 and Stanley knife action to free the offending pad, and the calliper had to come off so I could remove the disk. Once off, it took a fair amount of work to get the pad material off the disk, but I got there in the end.

Obviously, new pads were needed and it was then that I regretted that I have been using Ferodo DS2500 as the aren’t exactly cheap at £140 a set (Ebay), but what really stuck in my craw was the fact that three of them were perfect, Seemed a bit pikey to go on the forum and see if anyone had a single pad! LOL!:laugh:

I took the opportunity to have a good look around the suspension for corrosion, and while the wishbones were looking fairly tatty, it all looked pretty sound, the wishbones were cleaned up and a hefty coat of black Hammerite applied. I changed all the locknuts and washers at the chassis and hub ends (thanks to Eurospares); I figured that they have been “locking” it all together for some time and swapping them out seemed a sensible precaution. Big thanks go out to SteveW for counselling me through an operation that I thought was beyond my humble abilities.:thumbsup:

A second cold snap has paused things a bit. I feel disinclined to grasp ice cold hunks of steel so I thought I’d give it a few days before I venture back into the garage.

I also rebooked my trackday for Tuesday 30th March, so now I have a target date for getting it all fixed…:dude:

 

[sletti]

March 2010

March 2010

Mileage 130
Faults Bake pipes
Costs £50 (Goodrich Brake Hoses)
£20 + £35 (Brake Fluid (DOT4 then DOT5.1 (explanation later)))
£40 (oil filter)
£50 (Oil)
£5 (Sump washers)

Some ideas seem quite good when you are sitting in front of the telly with your feet up, indulgently enjoying Gladiator for the umpteenth time whilst scoffing a lamb jalfrezi. But when you get down to the cold hard fact of putting spanner to metal you get to a point where you think, “Why the **** did I start this?”

And so it was when I decided that after my efforts last month, instead of merely bleeding my brakes after my pad change, I’d replace the flexible brake hoses with the braided stainless ones made by Goodrich. This is a little beyond my comfort zone so I engaged the services of Mr Hills and his lift to get this done, and a dry (yes, there was a day earlier this month when water was not falling from the sky) afternoon saw my car in the air dripping its blue lifeblood over the floor from the three of the four flexible hoses that deigned to break free of the seventeen year old crust that intimately mated them to the hydraulic system. Apart from being an SOB to get to, the OS/Rear just would not come off.

Just to backtrack to my mention of the brake fluids in the header of this particular episode, I bought a litre of DOT4 ATE Fluid for my brakes as that is what had been previously installed in the car. I decided that I’d probably be better off putting DOT5.1 as it has a higher boiling point and may well be more suited to use on the track.

But because the last hose could not be freed, there seemed little point in replacing the fluid with the DOT5.1, so the system was bled using the DOT4 with the original OS/R hose still in place so I could get home.

My next mission would be to remove the whole rear brake pipe from its nearest union which is located under the ignition coil on the NS of the engine cradle. A bit awkward, but nil desperandum as I’m sure Maximus would have said in my sandals. Hoses off, Airbox out, coil assembly off and at last I could get to the union, but the little perisher just wouldn’t budge, and my 11mm spanner looked in danger of rounding the captive nut off. A little unsure of how to proceed, I called fellow Giallo 348 Spider owner, Jay, who not only knows quite a bit about cars, but has the added advantage of being 5 mins drive from me if I need a specific tool to lick this particular dilemma. So how much of a numpty did I feel when he said, “You are using a flare nut spanner, and not an ordinary 11mm spanner, aren’t you”. Doh! A quick trip to see him and his new building project (very impressive), and I was armed with an 11mm flare nut spanner that was as battle worn as the armour of any who fought at Vin de Bona.

A little over an hour later I was stood in the garage with the pipe removed and blue fluid all over the floor. Given that my car once upon a time would have been considered a pinnacle of automotive engineering (cue sneering noises from those critics of the mighty 348), I was surprised at how crappy the removed pipe was; all kinked and badly painted (see picture last month). An earlier conversation with SteveW said that any motor factors could sort me out with a replacement length of copper pipe flared and ended for a small sum. In the end I visited the motor vehicles department in the college where I worked and the two lecturers, Tim and Paul, made it into a lesson on brake pipes and use of flaring tubes and the such. A fluid change with the DOT 5.1 fluid, and my car now stops on a sixpence and the nations youth (or at least a few dozen of them) are a little more educated.

So, with my car sorted in the nick of time, I headed off to my rendezvous with the rather damp asphalt of Brands. And wet it was; positively torrential at times but there were periodic dry spells when the grip just kept improving.

There was however one significant frustration on the day as Brands had sold a large number of track spaces to a Mazda MX5 race formula who were in final preparation for the racing calendar that was to start at Brands in little more than a week. Needless to say their driving style was a little enthusiastic, and whilst their driving was of a good standard (and they were bloody quick), I spent the whole day with my mirrors filled by as many as two dozen mentalists who were treating this as a raceday. They were stopping just short of the black flag crimes of overtaking on the inside, or overtaking on corners, but with the number of blue flags that were being pushed frantically in my face, I felt rather like a mobile chicane. It got to a point that when I felt them bunching up behind me, I’d come into the pit, and spend ages waiting for Mr Beardy to try and squeeze me out in the gaps in the traffic. I managed some good laps, but my cadence was always being broken up by someone else and this was very, very frustrating and I though it quite inappropriate that Motorsport Vision should sell spaces to a race formula thus allow this to occur.

I have subsequently written a letter of gentle complaint; you never know, they may give me a discount on another day.

Oh and big thanks to Russ and Raw Action Photography for the photographs.