Gallardo pre-lp new owner, modding and other queries

[madmedman]

70proof said:

mate, respect for doing all this work yourself, must be so rewarding

Cheers mate. Definitely very rewarding. No major mishaps. In fact was very good to know the bumper skeleton is in decent condition.
Although my arms and legs still hurt a bit, I can't wait to get the bumper off again to fit the exhaust tips.

[madmedman]

Regarding this exhaust, as you all can see, it extends a bit too far out and touches the grille. I am planning to trim them so i can put the oem metallic tips into the respective grilles. Do you guys think this will cut through the stainless steel exhaust?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-ers1100-1100w-e...

[m4tti]

madmedman said:

Regarding this exhaust, as you all can see, it extends a bit too far out and touches the grille. I am planning to trim them so i can put the oem metallic tips into the respective grilles. Do you guys think this will cut through the stainless steel exhaust?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-ers1100-1100w-e...

I wouldn’t use a reciprocating saw, it’ll just bounce around.
I hate to say it but I think the bumper is going to have to come off. Why don’t you sort it when the cats arrive.

I’d be tempted to take that to an exhaust specialist. They’ll have something like a chop saw to cut it off square.

What does the side profile look like

Edited by m4tti on Saturday 23 September 19:15

[madmedman]

m4tti said:

madmedman said:

Regarding this exhaust, as you all can see, it extends a bit too far out and touches the grille. I am planning to trim them so i can put the oem metallic tips into the respective grilles. Do you guys think this will cut through the stainless steel exhaust?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-ers1100-1100w-e...

I wouldn’t use a reciprocating saw, it’ll just bounce around.
I hate to say it but I think the bumper is going to have to come off. Why don’t you sort it when the cats arrive.

I’d be tempted to take that to an exhaust specialist. They’ll have something like a chop saw to cut it off square.

What does the side profile look like

Edited by m4tti on Saturday 23 September 19:15

Yea mate, there is no other way to do it. I will need to remove the bumper again. The exhaust has to come off the car before cutting. I guess I could also try the bicycle chain like exhaust cutters that wrap around the pipe and you move it back and forth. I tried it when I cut my M4's exhaust which I believe was also stainless steel. It does take 5-10mins to completely cut though. I know I may burn the grilles if I drive like this a couple more times. Can't remove the grilles altogether as it would be very unsightly. But I agree i should do the whole process when the cats arrive. The more sensible thing to do. But th3 more times the bumper comes off the more chance something breaks.

[Hoofy]

madmedman said:

Hoofy said:

Wowsers. Nice effort. Think I'll just get Autofficina to do the work when I finally get hold of one.

Speaking of which - every now and then they appear to have more cars on the forecourt than usual. Do they host regular events in the middle of the afternoon or something on a weekday?

Thank you. I was questioning my decision when I had to remove hundreds of screws just to get to the bumper. Still not something I would want to do again. But still worth it to save a few quid in my view.

I have never been to autofficina. Never been to an event as I am quite an introvert from the start

A shy, retiring person with a bright yellow, loud Lambo?

As for modifying the exhaust tip, I had work done by Mr Exhaust in Reigate and can recommend them if you need metal pipework being charmed.

[m4tti]

madmedman said:

Yea mate, there is no other way to do it. I will need to remove the bumper again. The exhaust has to come off the car before cutting. I guess I could also try the bicycle chain like exhaust cutters that wrap around the pipe and you move it back and forth. I tried it when I cut my M4's exhaust which I believe was also stainless steel. It does take 5-10mins to completely cut though. I know I may burn the grilles if I drive like this a couple more times. Can't remove the grilles altogether as it would be very unsightly. But I agree i should do the whole process when the cats arrive. The more sensible thing to do. But th3 more times the bumper comes off the more chance something breaks.

Doesn’t the back box sit on a damping element? Can you back off the nut slightly to to centralise the pipe in the grille aperture, so there’s enough air around the exhaust to dissipate the heat. You could drive then till the cats arrive

Edited by m4tti on Sunday 24th September 14:27

[madmedman]

Hoofy said:

A shy, retiring person with a bright yellow, loud Lambo?

As for modifying the exhaust tip, I had work done by Mr Exhaust in Reigate and can recommend them if you need metal pipework being charmed.

Haha, yea, kind of an oxymoron Love a yellow lambo but would try and hide behind a tinted glass. Thanks for the suggestion. I will check them out. I will try and get one of those manual exhaust cutter first and see if I get any luck. They will help make a guide for the dremel to finish the job i guess. If not then an exhaust shop it is.

m4tti said:

Doesn’t the back box sit on a damping element? Can you back off the nut slightly to to centralise the pipe in the grille aperture, so there’s enough air around the exhaust to dissipate the heat. You could drive then till the cats arrive

Edited by m4tti on Sunday 24th September 14:27

Oh yea, there was something like that where I bolted the exhaust. I will have a look and see if I can raise it a bit. Once it gets a few millimeter above the grille I will rest easy. The flared ends of the tips doesnt help matters at all.

[markiii]

Portable band saw might be your best bet

[madmedman]

markiii said:

Portable band saw might be your best bet

That should cut through the exhaust painlessly. i will see if i could borrow from someone.

I thing more I realised. During last service a few weeks ago, 5W-30 oil was used rather than recommended spec. i am guessing i need to drain and replace? DO you think i should do the oil filter as well?

[markiii]

I use 10w50 now based on mileage. But no I wouldn't do the filter if it's only been done that recently

[m4tti]

madmedman said:

That should cut through the exhaust painlessly. i will see if i could borrow from someone.

I thing more I realised. During last service a few weeks ago, 5W-30 oil was used rather than recommended spec. i am guessing i need to drain and replace? DO you think i should do the oil filter as well?

The standard oil is 5w-40. So youve got the same low temp/start up protection, and slightly less at peak temp.

I’d drive it for now, as you probably won’t do a huge mileage before the bad weather sets in. Change it in the spring.

[madmedman]

Thanks markiii and m4tti,
Great advice as always. Cheers.

[madmedman]

Hey again guys,

So I did a few troubleshooting measures as suggested by you, markiii very helpfully.

Drained only the power steering high pressure line as I had only had a crimper clamp on the low pressure line and had no replacement. 1l fluid changed. Do you guys think doing this a couple of more times will have most of the new fluid left?

When I turned the steering wheel left and right, immediately there was an improvement but it disappeared then

Bled all calipers and replaced with motul 660. So when I press on the pedal when car running, I hear a swoosh or hissing sound. I hear it coming from the front. I am guessing that's my leak? Should I check the reservoir in the frunk where I believe the booster should be as well?

That's some progress I believe.

[markiii]

5l of power steering fluid isnt expensive. I drained the tank (siphoned with a syringe) refilled with new. Did 10 lock to lock turns, then siphoned again. Repeated this until I ran out of new fluid.

By that time the colour of extracted fluid had gone from brown sludge to bright red as new fluid.

Made a big difference

[markiii]

Brakes I still think it's likely to be the cannister in the engine bay. But it's certainly possible you have a master cylinder seal gone.

The L shaped hose joiner on the cannister is imho more likely though

[madmedman]

markiii said:

5l of power steering fluid isnt expensive. I drained the tank (siphoned with a syringe) refilled with new. Did 10 lock to lock turns, then siphoned again. Repeated this until I ran out of new fluid.

By that time the colour of extracted fluid had gone from brown sludge to bright red as new fluid.

Made a big difference

Thats exactly what I am going to do. Ordered 3l of redline d4 atf and have 2l lying about. I will do the siphon method as I couldn't get the low pressure line to open. But the siphon method sounds great 👍 I also had brownish stuff coming out. Slight improvement with the short test drive I did. No improvement in the brakes though.

[madmedman]

markiii said:

Brakes I still think it's likely to be the cannister in the engine bay. But it's certainly possible you have a master cylinder seal gone.

The L shaped hose joiner on the cannister is imho more likely though

Cheers mate. I am going to try and locate it in the engine bay. Would you have a link or a pic by any chance? I will check the master cylinder but I really hope its something straightforward to fix. Still got an appointment with RE end of October.

[madmedman]

Do you all think this is compatible with 2008 pre-lp?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274026079412?mkcid=16&a...

I asked the seller but they're not sure and asked me for the size of temp thermal couple which I have no idea how to check.

The larini cats are taking ages and I want to get the old cats out ASAP.

[Hoofy]

madmedman said:

Do you all think this is compatible with 2008 pre-lp?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274026079412?mkcid=16&a...

I asked the seller but they're not sure and asked me for the size of temp thermal couple which I have no idea how to check.

The larini cats are taking ages and I want to get the old cats out ASAP.

At this point, I'd be speaking to Mr Exhaust in Reigate. I'm sure they can fabricate some decat pipes (or pipes as the rest of the world might call them).

[markiii]

madmedman said:

markiii said:

Brakes I still think it's likely to be the cannister in the engine bay. But it's certainly possible you have a master cylinder seal gone.

The L shaped hose joiner on the cannister is imho more likely though

Cheers mate. I am going to try and locate it in the engine bay. Would you have a link or a pic by any chance? I will check the master cylinder but I really hope its something straightforward to fix. Still got an appointment with RE end of October.

It looks like 3 bright blue tennis balls stuck together on a row. On the spyder its on the rear left corner hiding under the plastic trim