Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Carbs, fire and costs

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Hi Matt,

 

 

Yes, I was referring to the plastic lines but I was unclear. But thanks for the clarification and the additional information. Rui Gigante also has the tools and supplies to make new flex lines and they look awesome, if a non-trivial exercise, as you state. He made a CPR blance pipe for my first generation Testarossa and its beautiful.

 

As an aside; Ed Helsing now owns the Mondial QV that I bought from you, sold to Dave, bought back from Dave, then sold to Ed. For the past 4 years Ed has owned the car but he was on a foreign assignment to Jakarta, only coming home for a few days a few times a year! He left the car with me and I kept it exercised for most of that time. Anyway, Ed and Judi have now moved back to Houston and they are enjoying the car. Its A/C has been upgraded to R134a and a rotary compressor, with a new condenser and drier. It blows beautifully cold. Just this week it has gotten new clutch master and slave cylinders. It also received a new fuel pump and filter. The accumulator is healthy. And of course, it has received oil and filter changes. The car just runs great!

 

As you know, the paint has always been excellent and today it is no different. It looks new. The cosmetic weak point has always been the interior. The leather is worn, despite our continued treatment with Leatherique, and as you remember, some PO dyed the tan leather black. Ed is replacing the upholstery with new tan leather and refinishing the dash and doors to match. New tan carpets will polish off the restoration. And yes, we all know that money spent on a Mondial is rarely recouped but that's not the point. Ed loves the car, as we did, and he is really excited to bring the interior up to the standard of the paint and mechanicals. Thought you would enjoy knowing. :-)

 

-rick

From: Matt Boyd <ferrari308driver [at] gmail.com>
To: Rick <rolindsay [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 8:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Carbs, fire and costs

Rick,

I thought I'd comment on only one piece of your discussion.

>> The CIS injected cars with brittle injection lines are a more
>> likely candidate for an engine fire.
>
> I don't believe this is an issue unless the lines have been abused (e.g.
> crimped). The lines are very rugged, as are the banjos. But remember, these
> cars are about 30 years old too! And a K-Jetronic system operates at more
> than an order of magnitude higher pressure than do carburetted systems.
>
> New hard lines installed with new copper crush washers at the banjos, is a
> manageable expense during any major service. Probably needed only once
> unless you keep the car for 30 more years.

On a Bosch CIS K-Jet system in the 308s, I don't think that the
original author was talking about the hard lines. I'm guessing they
meant the hard black plastic lines that allow a little slack. About
ten years or so ago, perhaps more, I decided to spruce up the engine
compartment. I removed all the injection lines to have the hard lines
replated with yellow zinc dichromate. I knew that separating the hard
lines from the black plastic lines would likely destroy the plastic
lines, so I sourced new for those, and not from the dealer network. I
can't remember the specifics, but I do remember the term "black
polyamid" when I searched for the right sized fuel lines. I also had
to order a special tool -- it was listed as a Porsche tool -- and as I
recall it was from a place called Baum tools or something like that.
This tool held that black polyamid line perfectly so that I could then
slide the hard lines in. No clamps. It was very difficult and time
consuming, and in retrospect I might should have used a heat gun/hair
dryer to soften up the ends of the black polyamid before trying to
insert the hard lines in.

In any event, I'm guessing the original author was referring to the
black polyamid -- something I've never thought of as a maintenance
requirement to replace (I did mine only because of the cosmetic work
detailed above), but I do concur that over time it is likely that this
hard plastic in a hot engine bay might become brittle. Are there
documented episodes of these failing?

-Matt
'85 308