Beretta.net

This should be called 'What did you do to your ride yesterday! Because I did something with it instead of posting about it!
Rebuilt the front brakes on the little Toyota in the family (everything except for the calipers -those are original and functioning great). 230k miles, and the front brakes are what have been worked on the most. Also fixed the washer-fluid pump (corrosion on the wiring) and swapped the window-washer squirters onto the new carbon-fiber hood it has been wearing for the last couple of weeks. It is on its' first replacement clutch, no other major repairs aside from some crash-damage several years ago due to a deer on the highway, and a weld repair to one of the driver's seat perches. Great car, period.

Also worked on the GTU's VSS issue. I initially bought a Dakota Digital speedometer calibration unit to correct for the over-active VSS signal from the F40 six-speed, but now I'm saving that for the '90 turbo instead. I bought a used newer-style spindle, new brake rotor, caliper (which showed up looking so pretty in gold anti-corrosion coating, I decided to protect it with some red caliper paint), and Raybestos pads (I installed Raybestos pads on the '90 turbo many years ago, before I even owned the car, I have yet to replace them again and they stop the car great). I still have the entire left spindle/hub/brake assembly as a spare, and it directly fits four of my cars for sure, possibly two or three others, and in a pinch can be used on two more, so it is nice to have. I had to re-mount the ABS sensor because of the different shape of the Cobalt outer CV-joint pushing the Muncie 282's VSS reluctor-ring deeper into the car, so that was a headache. But it is done now, and working fine -the speedometer is just as accurate as it used to be, and that is remarkably good on this car. So now, it is test-driving time! I should have shot a video of the speedometer before I corrected this though -0 to 118 in five seconds flat!

I know I'll take some heat for putting one new-style brake in opposite an old-style brake, but piston-sizes are the same and rotor-diameter is identical despite them being different part numbers, and at least under light to moderate braking it does not cause the car to veer to one side or another at all, so pending a severe braking test, I'm going to go on record as saying that the newer-style brakes are newer, not more effective (although they do look a little more rigid, maybe heavier-duty, but as I've never had a brake failure on any of my old-style brake cars, I don't know if that is strictly necessary). I will eventually paint the other caliper now, but someone paying attention might still notice that one side has the caliper on the front, and the other side has it on the back.

Looks good! You need to bring this thing to a meet some time. I want to see how that 6spd drives.

woody90gtz wrote:Looks good! You need to bring this thing to a meet some time. I want to see how that 6spd drives.

Thank you Woody. I would love[i/] to get her to a meet... I wanted to make bfest so bad... The family even supported it, but I just didn't have time or money this year, and I have to be out-of-state next month for a friend's wedding anyway -yes, being Best Man in a wedding does take precedence over a bfest, sorry.

First gear is a little short, I won't deny, but around the neighborhood I am having a really hard time finding the option for sixth -it is just that tall. And I am someone who likes low-RPM putters -I used to hit fifth with my old Camaro by the time I pulled through an intersection from a dead stop: 25 or 30 MPH, a super-fast rowing through the gears barking the throttle between stabs at the clutch, or just skipping 3rd and 4th altogether, and cruising out at 600-700 RPMs... That car runs with pretty tall highway gears too... 1500 RPM at 70 or 75 MPH, IIRC -it has been more than a year since I've had the old car out on the highway... The 3800 in the GTU is a low-end torque-monster too, especially with the ultra long-run headers I built for her pushing peak torque down further in the RPM band (possibly even better with stock manifolds though, IDK, and certainly better if I had built smaller primary-tube headers, but I didn't want to sacrifice the top-end on the engine).

I am feeling a little bit of excessive back-lash at low RPMs and low or neutral throttle. Some of this is to be expected considering the lack of dual-mass flywheel, but I saved like 40 pounds off the car, and I couldn't even find one available (not that it would have fit my 3800 crank anyway).

That noise some people complain about with this tranny is actually audible despite my exhaust at idle, but it is subtle and not particularly annoying. Of course, I am in the crowd that wouldn't have b!tc#ed to GM about the NVH of the H.O. Quad, and would have asked for a little more vibration and 15% more power please...

Rettax3 wrote: ...That noise some people complain about with this tranny is actually audible despite my exhaust at idle, but it is subtle and not particularly annoying. Of course, I am in the crowd that wouldn't have b!tc#ed to GM about the NVH of the H.O. Quad, and would have asked for a little more vibration and 15% more power please...

That noise is the reason you got a brand new transmission for $400!

They sell the kits required to fix the issue inside, so it may be worth getting one for next time the trans is dropped.

Travelor wrote:

Rettax3 wrote: ...That noise some people complain about with this tranny is actually audible despite my exhaust at idle, but it is subtle and not particularly annoying. Of course, I am in the crowd that wouldn't have b!tc#ed to GM about the NVH of the H.O. Quad, and would have asked for a little more vibration and 15% more power please...

That noise is the reason you got a brand new transmission for $400!
They sell the kits required to fix the issue inside, so it may be worth getting one for next time the trans is dropped.

Do you know much about the F40 then? I don't really care about the noise itself, it doesn't make it often and it isn't bad, almost like a flat lifter rattling sometimes. But if it is symptomatic of the other issues reported about the synchronizers that can fail, then yes, it would be worth-while to apply a fix. From what I've found, it is usually abuse to the transmissions (quick-shifts, possibly even clutchless power-shifting) or problems related to light-weight flywheels and un-sprung clutch-discs that lead to most (or many) of the failures. Using marginally less fluid than recommended also helps increase longevity, supposedly. My car is of the daily-driver variety, despite the mods to it, and I don't track-race it. I went for the six-speed mostly because I had to do something for the car anyway (five-speed getting cranky and needing a rebuild) and for the taller highway gearing.

Who sells the kits, and for how much, do you know off-hand?

I never noticed any noise from my F40. But it's a 2011. You should be using roughly 2 quarts of trans fluid. There was a bulletin about this a few years back (original was 3.3 quarts)

Installed a double din yesterday ! Woohoo

Got my poor old car out today to meet with Echoes71(Jeff). Boy did his car put mine to shame, but mine does have 100k more miles. Also I didn't have time to wash and wax or fix many things that are wrong. I don't think we ever stopped talking. I can't say it lit a fire in me, but I do feel a need to get back to work.

Money pit Beretta wrote:Got my poor old car out today to meet with Echoes71(Jeff). Boy did his car put mine to shame, but mine does have 100k more miles. Also I didn't have time to wash and wax or fix many things that are wrong. I don't think we ever stopped talking. I can't say it lit a fire in me, but I do feel a need to get back to work.

Yes, it was a blast! Always nice to meet another Beretta owner, but you're a very cool, laid back guy and it was a lot of fun even in the sweltering heat! And thanks for the deal on the wheel... a couple weeks from now we'll hook up again and I'll be able to get you taken care of on that. Thanks so much!!!

Hey you took that avatar photo today, you can't fool me(lol). It was almost like work friends or school friends right of the bat, I think you know what I mean. I'm always happy to help out another member and very happy to help out a good person.

stared on primer, replaced another fender, finished interior paint, installed 10" kicker with 400watt amp.

Blacking out my lights, doing tune-up, and finishing primer next pay check.

Noticed that 3000km driven new Clutch Slave Cylinder failed and leaks the fluid out.

Happy happy joy joy.. So easy to replace on internal slave transmissions....

weba wrote:Noticed that 3000km driven new Clutch Slave Cylinder failed and leaks the fluid out.
Happy happy joy joy.. So easy to replace on internal slave transmissions....

I actually dropped in an older, higher-mileage 5-speed into my '97 Z-24 turbo to get away from the internal concentric slave... Sort of a step back but still in the right direction for me. I hate concentric slaves, although they do save weight and in some aspects complexity, plus less parts to fail... I still don't like 'em.

My three vehicles all have clutch forks. The wife's is internal slave, but I haven't had that one apart yet. haha

Recently replaced accessory belt on my 92 3.1L, and the slave cylinder,
I've come into conclusion that every change made to Beretta after 1988 made it worse. Majority of these changes were badly executed and rest just aimed to make things cheaper instead of improving something.

I do like the new dashboard more than the old tho, I guess they had to do that improve sales or something.


Just Few examples of my findings in past 10 years of Beretta ownership:

Door handles
Changed from metal to plastic..

Window trim
Newer models have cheaper look

Strut mounts
From beefy metal\rubber piece to multiple parts of plastic and bearings that love to fail

Slave Cylinder
Replacing old design: 2 nuts, and a line, 15 minutes?
Replacing new design: unbolting everything front of windshield, at least a full day for 2 people unless you have like lift and special gear.

ABS & brake design change
Makes it impossible to stop at winter, smaller and cheaper rotors, worse pedal feel.

Airbag
It will display error light, but has no flash-code.. So for someone like me, have no way to see what's wrong in it.

Sway bar:
1988 Z51 was the best rear bar, why wasn't that offered on GTZ? Too expensive?

Gas pedal:
From hinged bolt-installed hardware to pressed sheet metal crap that's part of the brake pedal assembly

Rear speaker pods:
Left out because too expensive?

Sound killer:
Older cars actually had much more

Control arms, rear suspension change
This was all to make the car ride smoother.. It's not a Cadillac to begin with, so what's the point, take away rest of the sportiness?

Shift cables
They added bushings...To make these even less precise! Actually I think this was done because they needed more play for the next thing:

92< rotating drive train mount design!
Don't even get me started of this disgrace of humankind. Every engineer that took apart designing this setup should be hunted down, dragged behind a car, crucified and then feed to pigs witch would be then feed to crows.

I'd love to have little chat with the people responsible back then in GM.