Hi, lately Old #94 has been behaving badly. It starts and runs fine -- and then sometimes bucks, the radio cuts out -- and then it's okay again. But then the next time I get in and try to drive off it is COMPLETELY DEAD -- the clock has stopped and there is no power whatsoever. Then I fool around with the doors and trunk lid (rain dance?) and then maybe it starts right up again. This is an intermittent TOTAL power loss. I'm always getting stuck lately...any ideas? The battery isn't dead although when this happens it sure seems that way. But then 5 minutes later the car will start up again as though there were nothing wrong...

Steven Salemi
Santa Fe, NM USA
#94

Steven..

Check you chassis grounds at the battery and below the engine on the subframe, don't just check them for tightness take them Apart and and reattach.

That here i would start.

John

Thanks John, I'll start there!

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I just left a voice message for you; I wanted to give you an update on the Qvale.

We spent a considerable amount of time yesterday chasing the electrical gremlin. What we found is a bit concerning, though maybe not unheard of in these cars.

We pulled the lower dash panel to gain access to the fuse box and found evidence of water intrusion into the fuse panel. In fact, the whole lower dash crossmember is coated in rust. We are not sure where the moisture is actually coming from. Among the various corroded fuses and relays, we located and repaired a badly corroded wire going from the ignition switch to the fuse panel. The wire is a large yellow wire, which we presume (due mainly to its size) is a main power supply wire. It would not surprise me if the electrical glitch is now gone; we have been able to repeatedly start the engine since repairing the wire, and the clock kept time overnight.

I’ve attached some pictures of the underdash area as well as a picture of what the relays and fuses looked like. The various fuses and relays have now been cleaned.

John & Co.,

Per my last post, sorry for multiple posting of that fuse picture; I'll try to kill the extras and add the ones I INTENDED to add.

Meantime, any comments or proposed solutions to this rust problem?

Thanks!

SS

Hi Steven, has your car spent most of its life sitting outside? Howie.

Hi Howie,

Well, since I bought the car about a year ago, it has NEVER spent a day outside -- and I live in dry dry New Mexico. But I bought the car from a somewhat dubious place in Chicago that restores Fiat 124 Spyders, and although the car looked great it's turning out to have some problems that I'm finally getting around to rectifying. As the story goes, one of the previous owners did not like the original Qvale Red, and wanted a more traditional Ferrari Red, so they disassembled the car piece by piece and repainted it. I must say the Paint itself looks pretty damn nice -- I can't find a flaw -- but whoever reassembled the car should be shot without trial. None of the door seals are quite right; somebody screwed up some aspect of the power window system (since rectified, more or less), the rear seats and rocker panels were barely bolted down (missing most of the bolts!), and we have this moisture problem (also now rectified).

So things are looking up, the car no longer resides in a high-humidity locale, I'm getting the issues resolved, and it's still a beauty and a great drive and a distinctive piece of fast cool rolling sculpture!

FWIW, after having my knees piddled-on whist driving in the rain, I found the windshield scuttle drain* on Manny plugged solid. If windshield seal area leaks aren't the culprit, back-up in the scuttle from a clogged drain could be a contributor.

* driver's side, plastic 90 degree fitting coming out of the firewall, a few inches from the top.

Thanks! Any chance of photos? P.S. Could somebody tell me how to edit a previous post? I want to kill those redundant bad fuse photos on my post...thanks!

Steven Salemi
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Old #94 Ferrari Red

Hi Steven, on your Ferrari red, was that the one I saw on ebay? It would be neat to see some photos posted here. I can not begin to tell you how great these cars are, and for the money. That is why I own two. We change our clocks next week, that means the car shows will be starting up again.