OILGATE:- (the original issue)

Phil Hughes (known as ferrarifixer on some internet sites) is lying to cover up and to try and protect himself.

Phil Hughes attempted to fix an oil leak I had from the cam covers on my Ferrari F355. I paid him to do this work. A month later, they leaked again in exactly the same way. He refused to repair his poor workmanship for over a year, and even then, not until I threatened him with legal action.

He suggested leaving it until the car needed a $35,000.00 engine rebuild!! (who knows when that might be...4 years later is still doesn't need one.)

13 months later, when he finally rectified the leak, he blamed the gasket goo he used the first time. It hasn't leaked since.

My experience with him leads me to the conclusion that he gives no after sales service. Once the cheque's cleared, you're on your own, buddy!

FYI inspections by Blackstallion Motors saw the cam cover leak and so did Lance Dixon Ferrari. Piero (now at Zagames) even commented that it was so bad that it would fail a roadworthy. You could see the drips at the front of the cam covers on BOTH sides.

By the time Phil finally decided to rectify his poor workmanship over a year later there was another leak from the sump which he found while repairing the cam cover leaks. This was totally separate from the cam cover leaks and was repaired elsewhere.

Phil has been going around saying that there was little or no leaking from the cam covers and that, all along, the leak was from the sump. This is a lie.

I'm sure Piero or Blackstallion would confirm my comments if you could be bothered asking.

Ferrarifixer (as he calls himself) took my money but left my car with an oil leak and took 15 months before attempting to  fix it.

If you want good customer service, in my opinion, don't go to FerrariFixator!

And where are the pictures, you ask? You don't need to be an Einstein to see clearly where the leak was.

http://www.fcavic.com.au/philsleakingcamcovers.htm and at the bottom of this page

UPDATE!!

Looks like someone else got mislead!

http://aussieexotics.com/forum/ferrari/chassis-cracks-rust-and-ppis-oh-my-t533.0.html

How's this!

"Michelotto tried the remote rect/reg thing for their 24hr enduro alts on 360GT...(and peepee hasn't thanked me yet for getting Steve Varasso geared up to do them ) in the end they ditched the idea, as despite the relatively cool habitat of driver cockpit.. they still failed... they now use aftermarket regs/rect too in otherwise std alt.."

So Phil purposely gave information to my auto elec on an alternator modification knowing that it wouldn't work.

But wait...there's more!

Phil has now told us that there's a good chance that if you take your car to him that he's going to "drive it hard" for no apparent reason, apart from trying to find things wrong with it...he considers that doing this job right.

He's told a story on FChat confirming that he's driven an F40 and F50 recklessly and fast enough on the road that he was able to determine which one has better traction (requiring wheel spin)! Can you believe that? He also admitted to driving my car hard on the road, which was unnecessary and for which he had NO permission. It's going to be great news for the owner one day when Phil says about the customer's car he's crashed "don't worry...I'm insured"

If a license was needed to be a mechanic, I'd get this guy's taken away! He's a chronic big noter and know all.

Phil Hughes recently commented on how single pot calipers are perfectly adequate for high performance cars.

He swore black and blue that a 308 windscreen is the same as that of an F40. of course, it's not.

He told us all that, on the road, CCBs would give a much shorter braking distance than similar specced steel brakes.

He carried out a PPI on a customer's car for a prospective purchaser (conflict of interest) and completely under played some serious chassis rust (enough to fail a roadworthy) and the fact that the suspension bushes hadn't been tack welded causing them to be worn withing 1000km.

He routinely misses deadlines on getting customer cars finished. (once...ok...twice...ok...but routinely!)

Whatever you do, you don't want to be buying something that he's selling from someone else! he'll sh!tcan it and lie about the values of them to get his sold first....as well as spreading rumour and innuendo.