Get out of the office!

Owning your own business is a 24/7/365 proposition.  There is absolutely no downtime, and the idea of a vacation is sometimes comical, at best.   For Ricambi America, in the Ferrari parts environment, there is always a car desperately in need of something -- whether its a new clutch for a track day, fresh wheel center caps for a concours, or even a major service kit, customers always want their items fast.  Although Ricambi America is spread across three time zones and have inventory strategically placed in several locations, its still difficult for me (as the business owner), to actually rest and leave the "office" behind.

Happily, Ricambi America is more than a job. Selling Ferrari parts is more than a career. It is really a 100% obsession/passion that surrounds all things related to Ferrari.   So for me, the greatest possible escape from the telephone and computer, is simply a day at the track in my Ferrari.   This week our local Ferrari Club of America chapter hosted a track day at VIR (Virginia International Raceway).  The 3.7 mile rolling road course is, as once described by Paul Newman, "heaven on earth".  

In addition to stretching the legs of my Ferrari at 7500 rpm and hearing the outrageous scream of my car, I get to hang around with my great friends in the local Club.  They're equally obsessed with Ferraris, but haven't yet managed to ditch their medical, legal, or other 'professional' careers in order to surround themselves with Italian exotic cars all day.  I did!  And I'm never looking back.

Anyway, it was a great day with cars and friends.  Next track day?   Not until March.   :(

New Tools from Hill Engineering!

The folks at Hill Engineering are always coming up with new and exciting tools for the professional Ferrari mechanic.   

Today, we are excited to finally receive the VST-01 Valve Seal Tool, and SOC-05 Gearbox Sump Plug socket.   Although it might seem esoteric that Ferrari parts like these can even find a market, they indeed have widespread appeal in the Ferrari community.   Professional Ferrari mechanics often require very specialized tools -- they make the job go faster, and more importantly, they protect the integrity of very expensive and hard to source parts.   Chiseling off a ring nut on a Ferrari just doesn't make sense when the ring-nut itself can cost upwards of $100. 

So, here are today's goodies:

VST-01: Valve Seal Tool

This tool was designed to overcome the problem of correctly installing valve stem seals. The seal is simply inserted onto the tool (see picture below) and the tool is then inserted into the valve guide. The seal is now perfectly square to the location diameter and with a small amount of pressure on the end of the tool, the seal is installed effortlessly, without damage.  Do it right the first time, with professional tools from Hill Engineering. (This tool is for Ferrari F355 and LATER valve seals)

SOC-05 Gearbox Sump Plug socket

42mm flank drive socket for gearbox sump nut (100826) 1/2" Square Drive

Suitable for:
365 GT4 2+2
365 GT4 Boxer
400
412
512
Testarossa

How to Forget About the Economy (for a moment)

With so much miserable economic news in the US these days, it is easy to get overwhelmed by all the negativity heard/seen/read in our media.   This morning, instead of turning on the news and looking at how the Asian markets performed overnight, my 3-year old son had a better idea:  take the Ferrari for a drive (top down!) to go get breakfast pastries!

What a splendid idea.  With a few quick snaps, his Recarro Sport kid seat was secure in the Ferrari.  Two quick pops on the targa latches and the roof was off.    In the brisk October morning, it was a bit chilly in the car, but once into the sunshine we were perfectly warm.   We have two great bakeries nearby -- a European style bakery "Ollies" and a Moravian style bakery "Dewey's".  We like them both -- but since Dewey's takes a few minutes longer to reach (and we can scream through some freeway underpasses), we opted for it instead.    While I like the ambiance of Ollies better, I think my son prefers the big glass cases of pastries at Deweys.  

As the owner of Ricambi America, my day starts cranking by 5:30am with calls to England and Italy to secure purchases of necessary Ferrari parts (for instance, we have some incredible tools in the pipeline with Hill Engineering.  And, another big batch of those cool wheel caps is somewhere over the Atlantic too).  But as the economy slows, there's a little more breathing time each day.  Its nice, because spending the early part of the morning with my son before he goes to pre-school and my phone starts ringing is a GREAT way to start any day!

He chose some type of choclate covered thing-a-ma-bob for his treak.   I opted for a decadant pain-au-chocolat.   We popped 'em in a box, raced home, and enjoyed them with Mommy (yes, we did get some cinnamon rolls for her!).   

While our drive was only a few miles, there were plenty of smiles from both of us.  And our tummy aches were largely gone by lunchtime.

Stock market?  What stock market?

Rain, Rain, Go Away... Come Again Another Day!

From the title of this blog post, you probably thought this would be some gloomy depressing post, right? Actually no.

Today we at Ricambi America received (not for sale!) one of the very last Ferrari 328 GTS rubber roof gaskets available. In fact, this might be the last "new" one on earth -- we've been looking for these silly things for a looong time. There are some Ferrari parts which, as simple as they appear, have gone extinct. When they wear out, Ferrari owners are faced with some unpleasant alternatives, such as finding a used/salvage item (yuck!), making their own version (ewwww!), or just running their car in a "less than original" state (yikes!).

In the case of this particular gasket, it is a critical rubber seal that forms an air and water seal at the front of the windscreen where the removable targa roof is fitted. (It is shown as Ferrari part #24 in this diagram) As the gasket wears out over time, water begins to leak into the cockpit. Sure, nobody really plans to drive their Ferrari in the rain, but it does happen. Getting wet in the process is pretty miserable. More common however, is that washing the car becomes a big hassle, because with a failed gasket, a reasonable amount of water suddenly finds itself on the leather seats, carpets, etc.

OK, so now that I'm holding the last brand new rubber gasket on earth, should I sell it for a nice price? Nope. I'm frantically contacting custom rubber manufacturers to investigate re-manufacturing. At first, I thought "oh this should be simple stuff" -- it doesn't need to be disclosed as a rare Ferrari part (thus avoiding the "Ferrari tax") we often to suppliers who think we just rolling in money.

Sixteen telephone calls later (yes, sixteen), I have finally reached a manufacturer who can likely handle this job. Why so complex? It looks simple right? Well, the original, Genuine Ferrari part is a rubber extrusion with odd foam molded end caps. The combination of rubber and foam is simply not a 'common' occurrence in the custom weatherstripping world, and it took several different avenues to find a capable manufacturer.

When will this be complete? There is absolutely no ETA... maybe 90 days, maybe 120 days.... or maybe never if the costs of re-manufacture come back to us too high. We're aiming for the sub $500 retail price point, but simply have no idea what the manufacturer will quote back.

More goodies and great Ferrari parts to come!

Video Killed the Radio Star!

Customers often ask us about installation tips or advice when installing their Ferrari parts from Ricambi America.   Although we can't exactly describe the process of cam timing in a Modena or PIS setting in a Scuderia, we do our best to pass along whatever information we have.   The newest member of the Ricambi family, our Lamborghini parts specialist, Mike, has decided to try his hand at YouTube video installation guides.   So, here's the first installment!

If you drive anything from an early 308 to a brand new Scuderia with stock wheels, you likely have the wheel center cap 108947 on your car. The caps, while nice when they're new, are really pretty crappy plastic and often crack, craze, and fade. Sometimes, the damn things fall right out. Other times, they get stolen by tifosi-crazy kids. The quality control on the old caps has been absolutely horrible. I used to hand-polish each and every cap, prior to shipping. Sometimes the yellowing was a bit odd; sometimes they had deep scratches in them, etc. etc. The only good thing about 108947 is that they are pretty darn cheap (compared to a dealer) at only $99/box. 

Well, a few weeks ago we were running low on the 108947 and I fired off a Purchase Order for replacements. The reply from Ferrari? "NLA. Superseded to 226245". I thought, "Oh great, Ferrari found an even CHEAPER manufacturer for these....". Nonetheless, we needed to replenish our shelves so I bought a very small quantity of them for evaluation. This morning, my friendly DHL dude brought the new caps. I opened the box with extremely low expectations.

I was wrong. Ferrari has absolutely made a significant leap forward in the quality of these caps. The yellow is much 'tamer' and has a deeper tint; the plastic edges are much smoother and more consistent. And most importantly, the crappy press-fit plastic tabs are gone -- replaced with a very stout integrated steel circlip (like the early F355 caps). In a word, I'm VERY impressed.

Mike and I shot some YouTube video of the installation process.  Easy as pie!