It can be so demoralizing to work on old cars, even worse working on Ferraris! After overhauling the engine on the blue 330 2+2 and addressing a bunch of other issues, we drove the car and experienced a major vibration that is present under high speed. Whether the car is coasting in neutral or in gear, anytime you go above 50 mph the feeling is there. We suspected that the original Ferrari driveshaft with the rubber flex joint was the problem even though everything looked good so I sent it to be balanced and checked for run-out. The vibration was still there so I checked the transmission and rear axle flanges for run-out, both of which were perfect so after experiencing problems with numerous Ferrari driveshafts, I opted to make adapters to convert the shaft to a Spicer-Hardy U-Joint style. Nate installed the new shaft and guess what, still a vibration (although much less). Could it be a bent pinion shaft or bent main shaft in the transmission?

I assembled a Ferrari 250 engine and got to the cam timing today only to realize that the valve height was not set correctly, so all apart again!

A car deal blew up in my face as well, only because of a minor miss-communication no less.. I could really have used that deal to keep my quota up to maintain my dealer license. It is so hard to broker car deals and so rewarding to sell something that either we own or have at the shop. When the car is gone, there is so little control.

What else…. We have a low mileage 512BBI all apart for a major service which is becoming a major engine bay clean up, not such a big deal but how does a legitimate low miles car look so ratty? It won’t take much, a little paint here and there will tidy up things immensely.

Here is a photo of the BBI engine out and apart to replace the lower timing belt drive pulleys as well as a major service which includes valve lash and new cam belts.

Oh yeah, the brake shoes that we sent to be re-lined for the Monza are way to thick and the newly re-sleeved drums don’t fit over them! Ahhh!

BBI belt service

Here are some photos of the 212 Fontana Carretto Siciliano! We did some sorting and tuning after the 2010 Mille Miglia and the car is delicious. It is probably the most fun I have ever had driving a car be it on the public roads or race track. The car is so balanced and dialed in, brakes are great and it has incredible power.

Nose shape

Delicate

Interior deluxe

We overhauled this 1958 Ferrari 250 engine 12 years ago and it has run a bunch of tours with Rich and Jean Taylor at Vintage Rallies as well as the Ferrari Challenge Rally a few years ago. When we overhauled the engine we converted it to coil valve springs from the hair pin style – making a strong engine even stronger. It must have higher lift cams and a bump in compression because it made some killer power on the dyno years ago. I promise to put it on the chassis dynomometer when we fix it.

What failed is what typically fails on 308′s and Berlinetta Boxers – the small caged ball bearings in the timing chest. The inner generator drive bearing came undone, and the cage got into the main bearing scouring the cap and the bearing. We are having the journal built up to standard and are going to check the line bore to make sure the cap is still square to the crank pins.

While the block is set up on the line hone machine, the rear cap will be cut to accept a 100mm oil seal. Normally these engines rely on the “slinger” arrangement. With the rest of the engine in such good condition, we will clean and inspect everything but probably not have to replace too many expensive parts such pistons or perform a valve job.

Bearing failure

Damaged main bearing

Bearings messed up

I have seen this style final drive differential on later Ferraris like Lusso’s but didn’t realize that early cars like the 212 had this odd arrangement. Instead of spider gears and side gears, the car has these “chicklet” metal tabs that are forced between the axle drive hub and the outer case of the differential carrier. The inside “hub” has a different number of relief cuts in comparison to the outside case of the carrier so there is always pressure to make the car go forward while acting as a limited slip mechanism. You will have to study the photos carefully, we didn’t take great pictures of it all together so let your imagination do the work to understand the process

Ferrari attempt differential

Limited slip Differential

Ferrari 212 differential

A few new videos snuck into the shop this week from Pebble Beach.

Concours d’Elegance from AutoWeek on Vimeo.

Pebble Beach Concept Cars from AutoWeek on Vimeo.

Or just the opposite, a refined solid brick of a bull in a messy workshop. I think the workshop could do more damage to the Bull than visa-verse.

Our friends at Horseless Carriage asked us to deliver this Lamborghini Gallardo to a remote Vermont location, we are always happy to help Frank and his crew since they are so helpful and generous with us.

Gallardo

Hacker Craft

An advertising company called us last week asking if we had a car that would be appropriate for a photo shoot in the Adirondacks for a major fashion company. We sent them photos of cars that we felt would be appropriate and they chose one of my favorites, the black and gray 1959 Austin Healey 3000 that is in excellent original condition and sits on pressed steel wheels rather than the typical wire wheels.

I was hired to bring the car to the Lake Placid Lodge in the Adirondacks and spend the morning helping to maneuver the car into position for photographs. There was no way anyone could have prepared me for scene I was about to experience. Not only was watching the intricate details of the photo shoot mind boggling, the Lake Placid Lodge was one of the most intricately detailed pieces of property I have ever seen. There were thick wooden layers after rich leather layers followed by curly birch bark layers of intricacies and rustic luxury.

It has been such a hot and humid summer here in the northeast but on this particular morning it was 48 degrees and overcast only to heighten magical experience of the experience.      http://www.lakeplacidlodge.com/

Porsche No. 1, a midengine prototype, which predated the production 35.

This wonderful article was sent to me by a friend and is one of the best that I have read on classic cars. I like his comments at the end of the article highlighting proper restoration to original specification or outright originality being the most desirable to buyers right now. Well done! Check the article here.