Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Heard back on the self-levelling suspension...

[E M (pokiebaron]

I'd say if you really like the car, and you can get another year or so out
of it for under a $1000 investment, it's probably pretty cheap motoring, and
a nice car to boot.

Ed
911SC

2008/12/16 Dennis Liu <bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com>

> Howdy.  First off, thanks to the great advice from lots of folks - very
> much
> appreciated!
>
> Spoke with the shop where the car ('95 740iL) is at right now.  Asked him
> about the suggestion to just cut off the corroded part of the line, and
> flare in a bit.  "Every bit of that line is as rotted as what you saw;
> there
> is nothing at the leaking end that I could flare onto.  And the other end
> of
> the line is just as bad, so if we tried to replace the line, we'd almost
> certainly have to replace the blocks on each end.  That's why I wanted to
> warn you that it could get really expensive."  (I'm paraphrasing, but I
> think that's mostly right.)
>
> I then asked him about plan B - going with a conventional rear suspension
> setup.  He said that he's done them on earlier Bimmer, no problem, but
> hadn't done it on an E38.  The concern is how/where to plug the hydraulic
> system, so it doesn't affect the power steering.  He added that he knew
> that
> Bavarian used to sell a kit, for the older cars, but did not know what
> would
> work on the E38.
>
> So then, at Bob Alexander's suggestion, I called up Steve Haygood, who was
> *very* friendly and helpful.  Said that NEW parts (shocks, springs, mounts,
> a couple of bitsas) would probably total somewhere between $400-$525, which
> isn't too bad.  He thought that labor would be anywhere between 3-4 hours,
> given that I was up in Boston (ahem :-).  As for how to deal with the
> hydraulics, Steve suggested that a simple brass plug with some teflon tape
> right at the power steering pump should do the trick.
>
> So...  My options:
>
> (a) spend the $700-$900 for the conventional suspension, and run the car
> for
> as long as it keeps running (or I hit the next stumbling block).
>
> (b) Do the same as (a), but try a couple of boneyards to save a couple of
> hundred on the parts (it's got 200k miles, so any used parts are almost
> certainly newer, right?), but is it worth it?
>
> (c)  Sell it to the next guy with $2k in cash (or best offer!) and the
> skill
> to do the work himself, then go buy something from that long, endlessly
> debated but entertaining list....
>
> Again, all thoughts are welcome!
>
> Grazie,
>
> --Dennis
> (the wife weighed in prefering an E61 or E39 Wagon... I got the hint...)
> Bostonish
>
>
>
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