Field notes, tech writeups, and observations from the shop floor.
Every article in this Journal is written by one of our technicians — Rick, Marco, James, or Elena — about a specific job they did on a specific car. No product reviews, no sponsored content, no opinion pieces, no news digests. Service deep-dives, restoration progress notes, and technical writeups that couldn't live anywhere else on the site. We publish when something interesting happens. That's two-to-four times a month, typically.
Valve clearance service on a 14,000-mile 992 GT3 RS: what we found.
The 992 GT3 RS rolled in with 14,847 miles on the clock and a client who asks three different times per service: "Rick, is the valve clearance really necessary at this interval?" Every time, the same answer: yes, especially on a track-used car, and here's what we found to prove it. Three exhaust valves tight. One near the wear limit. This is what factory-scheduled service is for — not fixing problems, but keeping the problems from developing. Full writeup with shim measurements, torque specs, and photos from the removal process.
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Why Ferrari F355 engine-out service still takes 20+ hours.
The F355's 3.5L V8 was the first Ferrari with five-valve heads and the first mid-engine road car that required engine removal for a timing belt service. Three decades on, the service still takes 20-24 hours — here's why, what we check while the motor's out, and how we've refined the process over 11 years and 47 of them.
Read article →Restoring original burr walnut veneer on a 2008 Bentley Arnage T.
The original veneer on this Arnage had UV damage on the sun-facing pieces and a single crack across the center console. Rather than replace the veneer entirely, we sent it to our Sussex-trained wood specialist for a sand-down-and-refinish that preserved the original 2008 match. Here's what the process looked like.
Read article →Corner-balancing a track-built 991.2 GT3 — the settings we use.
A Florida-based GT3 sees 4-6 track days per year and needs corner balance + alignment settings that work for both the street and PBIR / Sebring. Here's the setup sheet we've arrived at over three years of data, including weight jacking, camber curves, and why we run slightly more toe-out than SGT's factory recommendation.
Read article →What an MSO-coordinated service looks like from a shop's side.
When a Senna owner calls us for track prep, the first thing I do is open a ticket with McLaren Special Operations in Woking. Here's exactly what goes through that conversation, why it matters for the owner, and how MSO data on the specific chassis changes what we do once the car's on the lift.
Read article →Six Weber 44 IDFs: tuning an LP5000 QV after 40 years.
The 1985 LP5000 QV came in for its 40-year service with six original Webers that hadn't been synchronized since the Clinton administration. Here's how we rebuilt all six, set them to the period-correct 800 RPM idle spec, and dialed out the off-idle flat spot that had been there for 30 years.
Read article →The twenty weeks before Pebble: a concours prep timeline.
A concours-prepared car needs to arrive at Pebble with paint that looks wet, chrome that doesn't date its decade, and mechanical reliability that'll survive the golf course roll. Here's how we plan the 20 weeks before any Pebble entry we handle, week by week, including when we say no to adding work.
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