Distributor Caps on 308328Mondial 32 etc

Hello JR,

(just trying to help build more topics and maybe some momentum here)

I don't need dist. caps.

However, I remember in the late 90's I bought a distributor cap (to replace a cracked one on my 308) and it cost me $135. I thought that was crazy.

Then, I needed to replace another one in 2001 and the price was $395 ! Evidently there was a price increase while I was asleep.

at the time : I think it was GT car parts....they said they were getting some samples made in China (look like oem , feel like oem, etc.) and they would run about $65 bucks if all panned out.

Just wonder if you ever used a China one, would use a China one, remember this pirce surge etc ???

just lookin to chat>>

Joe,

Do China caps exist?

Of course I would use one if they fit correctly and work properly, they're only pieces of plastic with metal tips sticking out...
$300+ bucks for a 4 cylnder distrib cap is ridiculas imo.

Paying absurd prices for common rinky dink parts is what turns alot of people off to Ferrari.

Personally I think the hot ticket is to make an aluminium spacer that fits the Ferrari distributer and a GM cap. Then you add the gm coil onto an adapter you make for the kit to go right on the Ferrari shaft. If I had time I would do it. You can buy future sub $10 parts and or take this one step further and put all 8 plug wires on this cap and run a crane xr 700 or the like in there and trigger everything from one coil. I never really understood the reason for the oem rube goldberg. In europe I think the early 308's used one distributor.

>>>I never really understood the reason for the oem rube goldberg.<<<

hahaha...

Perhaps Ferrari thought is was best (at the time) to isolate the 2 banks in case one layed down the engine would still continue to run? but then again they used only one ign. computer on 328's...but went back to 2 on 348's...so ????

Hello JR,

,,,do China caps exist,,,

My understanding is that they were supposed to be reversed engineered from an oem cap..made in china to cut costs..and available early 2002.

call GT if you ever need one.

If I happen to call them first, I'll ask whatever happened with that idea and back feed you the info.

Some single distributor conversion kits solve this problem. I've got the Norwood single distributor conversion on my gt4 and one benefit of it is that it uses a standard small-block Chevy distributor cap.

Although I'm a big fan of the single distributor conversion idea, I'd stay far away from the Norwood conversion kit. It's not exactly the highest quality - I've since had to replace every single component except the Tach mod and the distributor cap.

Sadly, not only are there serious problems with component quality and durability, but the instructions were badly flawed, too, even listing an incorrect firing order. Normally, that might not have tripped me up, but I'd owned the car all of two weeks when I did the conversion, and didn't yet have a shop manual, so it flummoxed me for a while. It wasn't until I compared the owner's manual with the kit instructions that I realized the instructions were wrong... Grrrr.

There is another single distributor conversion done by Ben Millermon adapting a Mallory Unilite to one of the stock OEM bases. The conversion also includes a signal splitter for the tachometer. Last I heard the conversion costs about 500.00. Less than a set of OEM caps and rotors for my 308.

As soon as my stock equipment wears out I will make the switch, if for no other reason but to bring the ignition system the rest of the way into the 21st century. I already run two Crane XR700's in place of the points and that set up works flawlessly so far.

I run a Mallory Unilite on my Chev 350 and performance is also flawless! The cost of a new cap is 8 dollars.
DJ

You can get factory original Marelli caps from Ferrari UK off the Ferrari Owner's Site for $225.

That is cheaper than the currently available reproductions, which someone recently posted on Ferrarichat has having some bad ones out there.