The GTR is dead! Long live the cryptolambo!

Hi all!

So today is a bit of a milestone. Hit 1000 miles since taking delivery of the car when we popped down to Ferrari with @Gibbo to look at a yellow 458. A really lovely looking car, but I'll leave Gibbo to leave his thoughts on it in his thread.

When we turned up, we got a bit of a color theme going in the corner of the carpark :D

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Later on, couldn't resist lining up for a yellow photoshoot haha.

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Afterwards we enjoyed a drive through the cotswolds, the weather was amazing roof down weather, and headed to caffeine and machine for a quick snack and drink where we had some other colors added into the mix.

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At this point I'm really starting to gel with how it feels, the tracking and tyres are really sorted now and inspire confidence when pushing on, the qwirks of driving the e-gear add to the enjoyment when out and about.

Certainly a license grabber, the noises the v10 makes are absolutely intoxicating and you find yourself just wanting to get to the redline to hear it scream, given how planted the car feels, you end up in ban-zones after 3rd... eek. While traveling around at ludicrous speeds in a grey unassuming GTR was relatively easy, a bright yellow lambo attracts a bit more attention.

So far, nothing negative either, a yellow quite boxy lambo seems to be equally as much a fan favorite as the GTR was. Often find coming back in the carpark people taking pictures or having a good look.

Fuel is a bit harsh! Todays journey was around 167 miles... which was 5/6ths of a tank. Average MPG is ~36 if you find a sweet spot on the RPMs on a motorway, if youre building speed after having to slow down or similar drops down 20ish, when you give it some real boot then low teens and sometimes single figures appear. This is not an economical car! Not helped by the aforementioned addition to redlining it.

Comfort wise, absolutely amazing, got out after todays driving and my back felt amazing, the support is in all the right places.

Servicing is basically "minor" - an oil and filter one year, and then a "major" the next which for all intents just means doing the sparkplugs as well and a few other minor bits. Price wise this comes to ~£350 for a minor and ~£800 for a major, will likely have Litchfields do these. I went to see REPerformance today , and while Ricky inspired a huge amount of confidence and I would have zero qualms taking the car to him, the logistics of getting the car to him for what for all intents and purposes is a "simple job" on the servicing is off putting.

Every person who ive spoken to on the Pre-LP cars has warned of the notorious cat issues. Which can result in anything from scored engine / ruined pistons, to a full on engine nuking. As such the cat-deletes have turned up to remove the primary cats, big shoutout to fabspeed for the insane deal they did on these.

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So next job is to get the wheel arch liners off and get some penetrating oil on the clamps... which are £100 EACH if you snap them. The exhaust system has 8 of these...

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And then in to have the decats fitted! Ricky at RE gave me a broken one so I can pass it onto someone I know to see if they can make a better version in stainless... so will see how that goes!
 
How much ball ache is it to swap the cats back in come MOT time given it'll fail without them?

Are the straight pipes the same length as the CATs so you can just un-clamp them and re-clamp the CATs back into the system come MOT time?
 
Not a good morning. The new tyres put on a few weeks back... one was losing pressure quite quickly.

Went to the local tyre place and soon as it came off I knew it was done.

Have stuck a repair on it until the replacement turns up tomorrow. Grrr.

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So new tyre on today... obligatory tyre pic :)

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Got home to find... lambo box!

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Inside is a major service kit which I had gotten for a steal of a price (75% off). Included 2 air filters, oil filter, spark plugs, orings, fuel filters, pollen filters.

Well... turns out maybe not such a good deal as the spark plugs came with 4 for the 5L Gallardo and 6 for an Aventador. Rang up lambo and theyre going to send a replacement out...

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Not in any hurry anyway, its only done 2000 miles since the last minor service. And the fuel filters were done at the last major service so I can hold onto those (may not even get far along enough in the service schedule for me to ever use them!)

A major service at most independents can range from £900-£1500. Now given this kit inc VAT usually goes for ~£650, 10 Litres of Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40 can be had at £80 retail thats £730 in parts at full RRP. That means you are paying between £170 and £770 on labor! (and if you take it to lambo expect a £3k bill). When you break it down, it would be 2-3 hours max.

To me those levels of markup are just absurd, and why a good independent is a must have once out of warranty.

If you really wanted to penny squeeze:

Spark plugs x10 - https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-64114-...-plug-sparkplug-dual-platinum-electrodes.aspx - £10 each = £100 (Could also go to DENSO IK24s and would shave £40 off)
Air filters x2 - https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/48070/lamborghini/7l133843d/air-filter.html - £35 each = £70
Oil Filter x1 - https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/46385/lamborghini/7l115561c/oil-filter.html - £30 each = £30
Oil 10 Litres - https://www.opieoils.co.uk/pv-12188...tsgroupid=2354&genericpartname=Car engine oil - £60
Fuel Filters x2 (Not OE) - https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/40847/lamborghini/400201511a/fuel-filter-oes.html - £20 each = £40
Pollen Filters x2 (Not OE) - https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/248470/lamborghini/4f0898438c/kit-filter-oes.html - £15 each = £30

Total including fuel filters = £330 if you go for the full hog. If you dont need fuel filters and switch to the DENSO sparkplugs you go down to £250 for everything to do a MAJOR service. Add in 3 hours labor at your favorite independent (in my case Litchfields) and youve gone from a £3k main dealer service to a ~£500 including parts and labor independent.

I think thats a result in anyones books really given the work that needs doing isnt hard and isnt special. Its just another car with a fancy badge.
 
NathWraith said:
Sad news on the tyre mate.

Yeah consumables seem to just get crazier and crazier despite being fundamentally the same thing as you go up in exoctica!
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Am likewise going to be doing a gearbox and diff fluids and filters change in my service, just sourcing the parts for it now. As they were only done less than 24 months ago I could get away with it, but doing it early means at least then I know exactly where I stand on everything for the next couple of years. Including all of that would be a 6k lambo main dealer bill or £1500-2k inde, but looking at ~1k parts and labor included by self sourcing the parts and going to litchos. The only thing I wont be doing is the fuel filters as they are every second major service, so earliest they need doing would be 2021.
 
RedvGreen said:
What dilution did you use for that ? Looks exceptionally thick. My Bilt Hamber today applied thick like that, then within around 20secs had pretty much ran off at a 1:4 ratio. Did you pre-rinse?
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No pre-rinse.

1.5-2 inches in bottom of the bottle topped up to the top with warm water and the minimum dilution through the lance.

Bilt hamber is a lot thinner, I usually fill the bottle up 50/50 and run the lance on minimum dilution to get the same sort of results cleaning wise, though it certainly doesnt dwell as long.
 
kindai said:
No pre-rinse.

1.5-2 inches in bottom of the bottle topped up to the top with warm water and the minimum dilution through the lance.

Bilt hamber is a lot thinner, I usually fill the bottle up 50/50 and run the lance on minimum dilution to get the same sort of results cleaning wise, though it certainly doesnt dwell as long.
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Aha, I had pre-rinsed so the surface was always lubricated, regardless of the ceramic coating making it hydrophobic. Next time i'll pre-rinse, then let it dry. Then apply 1:1 and give that a whirl! I'm considering picking up a DI Vessel too, because i'm lazy!
 
Autobrite magifoam is the best snow foam I've used you can get it on really thick, leave it to dwell for 10-20 minutes if not sunny and then rinse off, its so good that sometimes that is all you need and the car is spotless and clean, perfect for preventing swirls.
 
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