IMS-RMS-BS-WAI-EPE

In America they love acronymous. They use them for everything, so let’s try:

IMS: “The Porsche IMS (stands for intermediate shaft) is a geared shaft that runs through the front and rear of the engine. It indirectly drives the camshafts on either side of the engine by way of the mechanical rotation of the engine’s crankshaft.”

In the 996 and Boxster and some early 997 this little part tends to fail. It happens to about 8% of cars and more likely than not to cars not regularly maintained or driven often.

When it fails, without warnings, the whole engine block gets totaled.

LN engineering offers two solutions to the problem: one for about 900$, which is good for 50000 miles, one for about 1900$ which is good for life.

The upgrade is highly recommended as with a few thousand dollars you get years of peace of mind.

https://lnengineering.com/products/the-definitive-guide-and-faq-for-porsche-ims-bearings/single-row-pro-ims-retrofit-kit-for-my00-05-requires-tool-106-0822.html

RMS: “stands for rear main seal, the gasket that seals the connection between the engine and the transaxle”.

This also tend to get old and fail which leads to oil leaks around the crankshaft.

This is how my seal looked, pretty much gone:

RMS gone, Oil everywhere.

BS: means Bull Shit. Like the quotes I got from 2 independent Porsche garages to do the IMS/RMS job on my car. Without going into details, let’s say that both quoted me for IMS and RMS only as much as I finally spent to also replace the clutch, the brakes rotors, pads etc and a few more little works.

One on these shops even quoted me the LN engineering IMS part publicly sold for 899$ for 1400$. BS!

WAI: While At It. When replacing IMS and RMS the clutch and flywheel have to come off. So, “while at it” it makes total sense to service and replace the clutch. Which is what I had done on my 996.

The new clutch

The new IMS

EPE: is European Performance Engineering of Natick (MA). http://epe.com

They are the NO BS shop that quoted me the work at the right price, executed all in less than a week, documented the work with pictures and were informative, transparent and pleasant to work week. Looks like I found the right mechanic for my Porsche and learn an important lesson about reading, asking, shopping around before spending money on a car.

The EPE shop in Natick (MA)

My other cars, Alfetta GTV 2.0 (not a GTV6), the Ballerina.

My other car is an Alfetta but not a GTV6. When I bought it I was still looking after the 8 cylinders on the Mondial and just acquired the incredible tiny V4 of the Lancia Fulvia, so the more economical, light and easy to maintain straight 4, twin cam, carburetors 2.0 appealed to me more that the “Arese Violin”, Busso V6.

Perfect weight distribution

But my car, a 1981, second series, Alfetta GTV, has all the technical uniqueness of her V6 Syster: a perfect transaxle layout with the engine in the front and the transmission in the back, the ponte de dion rear suspension with the discs mounted on the transmission instead of the wheels to reduce the suspended weight.

It’s also the first car where I took some liberties in terms of originality. The wheels are period correct, but I got them finished in grey and aluminum as those in the Delta Integrale 16V, the rear lights are from the series one (but I have the other ones in a box), the exhaust system is an hand made Mastello Inox, with two mufflers instead of three and a kick ass sound.

Mastello Exhaust in an Italian tunnel.

I also upgraded the brakes and put new suspension bushes also from Mastello.

The car also had a full complete respray with an extra layer that was not part of the original alfa paint and also the plastic parts in the same color as the body.

The result is Devine. The car looks stunning and is so balanced that disappears from under your seat, dances between corners like a ballerina without losing grip, it rolls, yes, but it stays attached and flies from corner to corner.

The only non optimal part is the gearbox, with a lot of parts in between the gear lever and the actual gearbox, changing gear is not as direct and precise as in, for example the Mondial.

That’s a little flow for a car that, especially in its less famous 4 cylinders version, is still incredibly cheap for what you get. Buy one, before it’s too late!!

The full respray

Driving the ballerina

Alpi Apuane

The car as I bought it.

The Queen is gone…Long Live the Queen!

Gone is the Mondial, here is the 911, 996 40 Jahre limited edition.

Let’s see how it goes…

Last ride? Porsche vs Ferrari.

I went for a quick morning drive today. After driving the very fast, solid, perfect, Porsche 996 40 Jahre that I bought last week, it was fascinating to get back into the analogically direct world of the Mondial.

Steering, brakes and gear changes are much more direct and satisfying than the Porsche’s, while the engine noise is not even comparable.

I recorded a “engine noise appreciation” video as well:

There is no doubt that the 911 is a much more usable, fast and probably reliable machine, but the feelings that the slower Ferrari transmits to me are just incredible.

Then I stopped and took some pictures secretly hoping that my reserve price on BaT will not be achieved 😂.

Two very different worlds.

Time to sell.

I had a lot of fun with this car. Drove it in the south of France, on the German mountains, in New England, with my family or alone, with friends.

I put about 7000 km on it, even if sometimes the odometer stopped working, so maybe a little more. I took great care of it and saw its value raise while enjoying it.

Cars are meant to be driven and lived, looked after, respected and then passed along to a new owner whom hopefully will do the same.

I am selling also as I want to try something new, so I bought a Porsche 996 40th anniversary, yes, another underdog and under appreciated car, at least at the moment, but hey, remember when you could buy a Ferrari from an official dealership with “Golf” money?

Euro 1984 Ferrari Mondial Quattrovalvole Coupe

Fun for the family!

The grass is always greener on the other side.

My other cars: 1974 Lancia Fulvia Coupe’.

This little car, with a 1.3 liters tiny V4, front wheel drive, about 90 CV, is incredibly fun to drive, incredible to look at and turns heads more than a supercar.

The HF version of it won multiple rally world championships and even this non racing version has some of that pedigree: you can feel it while driving.

I keep it in Italy, and drive it only every six months or so, unfortunately, but those short drives always put a big smile on my face.

1974, Lancia Fulvia, second series, model 3.

I bought it relatively cheap, but had it fully re sprayed, I upgraded the wheel with period correct alloy ones and the steering wheel changed with a classic Nardi, the subframe was badly rusted and had to be replaced.

After some clumsy work done by a mechanic in Monza, the car was shipped to the brilliant Bigazzi (http://www.scuderiabigazzi.com), whom brought her to her former glory.

If you are looking into a relatively way to own a classic you should definitely start with a Fulvia.

8 Years of Ferrari Mondial Maintenance

You should never seat down and go trough 8 years of bills related to your classic car, but I did. 8 years of bills in French, German and English that reflect that a cheap Ferrari is still a Ferrari, that finding a good specialist is key and that being able to do simple jobs in your own garage (and I am not) could save you hundreds if not thousands of euros, dollars or pounds.

So, on one hand you have the regular annual services, that with an honest mechanic should not cost more than 500$, on the other there are the one in every five years (if you don’t drive that much) distribution/timing belt services that could cost you anything between 4K$ and 8K$, in case something else comes up. The good news is that in the Mondials 8 to 3.2, that can be done by just removing the rear right tire instead of pulling down the engine, and, I was told, the job could be done at home with a certain level of skills and tolls, but this is where a lot of Mondials went down the road being ruined by cousins-friends-wonnabes trying to save owners big bills.

My advice is that If you don’t really know what you are doing, you should stay away from DYI a classic and if you are not prepared to spend some money to keep a car like this running as meant, well, you should not buy a Ferrari.

I had 3 timing belts changes in 8 years, one at purchase, one in German that I believe was unnecessary (back to the concept of finding an honest mechanic), one in Braintree with Tony (AutoHaus of Boston) in June 2020 which was a work of art and will keep the car good until 2025. I don’t regret the extra dollars spent there.

Then there is the normal wear and tear. I covered the tires in another post from 2017 when I changed them: in short you can go with replica rims and modern tires, or stick with the Michelin TRXs which are not cheap but as cool as it comes.

The fuse box/panel is a common failing part in Ferraris from the 80s. All of them, from the Mondial to the 288 GTO, soon or later need to replace it and ideally upgrade it. My regret here is that I waited until 2019 to do it, so while trying to save 800$ I have spent much more on mechanics putting relays and extra cables. With the reproduction distributed by “Red Bay Cars” in Belgium (https://redbaycars.com/reproductions.html) installed all of misfires etc. finally stopped.

Staying on the electrics topic, another common failing part is the ignition block that can jam when really hot. Also for this, I opted to change the full part in 2021 and buy a refurbished unit also from Red Bay. It came with new keys, one “virgin” is an original Ferrari, one that works is not, I should get the Ferrari one done at some stage.

Brakes, believe me or not the warning light for the worn out front disks came up in 2018 and was not a false alarm, so two new discs were fitted. Talking about braking, the un assisted brakes are so far the best I have ever used for response, balancing, feeling on the pedal, better, in my opinion, those in any other car I have driven.

Steering Box Rack and Pinion, my steering got a bit lose and lost a bit of that telepathic feeling with the road it had, so Tony sent it to a specialist in California that refurbished as good as new in June 2022, you can literally feel the road on your fingertips from the beautifully understated Momo steering wheel.

Of this list, I regret only the money spent for small works that I could have learned how to do, and for mechanics (that I won’t mention) trying to take shortcuts and doing workarounds instead of the right thing, either in good faith or due to ignorance or inexperience.

Cars and Coffee

This is an habit that I picked up here in the US which I find really enjoyable. You get to drive to a nice place, park the car, see many other fantastic vehicles, speak with likeminded people about this and that, but mostly, obviously, cars. We all love to describe our toys, compare ideas, share happy and painful stories. It is also fun to go back home and find your classic posted on Instagram, like a minor celebrity.

Larz Anderson Museum, Brookline, MA

As seen on Instagram!

Coming to America 2

So, America we were saying.

Some lessons learned quickly:

 Find a great Ferrari specialist. Mine is Tony “Ferrari” Fernandez in Braintree (https://autohausofboston.com/). He is fully qualified and resolved some little issues that nobody was able to fix before (more to come on that).

Don’t drive on the highway on a busy day. Apart from the danger of being killed by someone texting, talking on the phone, having breakfast or simply being unaware of the basic rules of the road, the amount of crap that seats on these roads is incredible. In a few days I collected 3 small stone chips on the front of the car and a small dent on the spoiler due to a piece of rubber. No more highways for me.

Don’t try to fix all of the above by yourself, you will make it worse…:(

New England beauties.

Tony Ferrari, Autohaus of Boston in Braintree

Coming to America

Almost 4 years after my last post and it is time to catch up, isn’t it?

In 2019 I have been relocated to Boston, and the Mondial had to come with me. I considered selling her and found an eager buyer, but I changed my mind last minute as I felt that I still wanted to enjoy her a bit more. Being more than 25 years old, my “euro spec” was allowed to cross the ocean without being federalized, which means modified to match the US regulation, which makes it even more exotic here. Once landed the car was registered relatively fast, serviced again, including a compression test that confirmed how strong the engine still is and I was off on the road again.

The classic car experience in Massachusetts is very different from the one in France or Germany:

First, the Mondial is tiny compared to the cars around here.

Then, gone are the open country French roads, the German Autobhans and Alpes, but here are the amazing Cars and Coffee, scenic mountain and sea roads, the kindness and enthusiasm of people with their thumbs up, asking about the car at the gas stations, traffic lights, parking lots.

This car is hard not to love as it is an understated Ferrari that once had a bad reputation, but has aged incredibly well. 

From the German ad to sell the car…

Of course I found a buyer in 2 weeks, but I changed my mind.

Aged very well, if you ask me.