1979 Ferrari 308 GTS Fly Yellow at RPM

This ’79 308 GTS is a really sweet example of the iconic “Magnum PI” Ferrari, i’m sure you’re all wishing  yourselves as Tom Sellick in the drivers seat even if isn’t the ubiquitous Rosso Corse! Of course, a 308 is undoubtedly the easiest way to enjoy a Ferrari, but the overall condition of this one ensures that it’s also one of the smartest ways to enjoy a Ferrari. Production of the 308 followed the 246 Dino and shares much of the excitement of it’s predecessor-  The exaggerated long “buttress” behind the cabin, truncated nose and air inlet ducts that cover nearly 1/3 of the length of the car, all seem to be updated and angular versions of the 246. However, these air inlet ducts feed a 240 horsepower, 3 liter V8 which coupled with suspension and gearbox changes add  a significant dose of refinement.

The interior of this car has  supple, tan leather, that looks as new as that of a 2009 model as opposed to 1979. The chrome shift gate and mechanical switch gear showcase the motoring purpose of the car as well as the full set of gauges in the instrument cluster. Like the 308 GTB, the GTS model is a Pininfarina designed – Scaglietti built “targa” featuring a removable roof panel and louvers in the rear 1/4 windows instead of glass.

Mechanically, this 308 is in outstanding condition with a few key updates. The first being a set of larger 16″ wheels and tires that really improve handling over the 14″ set up  that came from the factory in the late seventies. We overhauled and modified the factory KONI shocks with adjustable ride height equipment in combination with Eibach Performance springs. The other main update is the conversion to a single distributor from the dual-distributor set up. This simplifies the ignition system, makes the advance curve more progressive as well as making it more reliable (and cheaper) using a Ford style cap and MSD electronics.

This super cool 1954 Ford F100 just came up for sale at the shop. At first glance the truck looks very good with good paint and trim, of course the next thing to look at are the floors and the cab corners which are both solid. The panel gaps are good and the floors seem to be in great original condition. This F100 has the appropriate 4 pointed star on the grill that indicates that it is powered by a 6 cylinder engine which is rare to find because so many have been converted to late model V-8 engines and automatic transmissions.

What always strikes me about these 1950s American trucks is their incredible simplicity, everywhere in the engine bay are basic and proven ancillary items such as the Holly Carburetor, AC fuel pump and Delco Electrical components. We are going through our normal process on cars that are new to us which include re-coring the radiator, rebuilding the generator and starter and replacing all of the brake components. We always overhaul the generators and alternators on old cars because it’s cheap and typically no one services these items until they fail.  If it were an aircraft, you service components based on strict intervals so you don’t fall out of the sky, but on a car, the risk is much less as you roll to a stop on the side of the road which makes maintaining things like starters or generators less urgent. When we finish these projects, the truck will be driven and sorted so the next owner can feel confident when driving to the hardware store… and returning home.

Bill is rebuilding the motor for his 1985 Mercedes Benz 190e 2.3 16 Cosworth, and is discovering some of the first challenges in the project. The Benz single-row timing chain cars notoriously break timing chains and this Smoke Silver car was the victim. After sourcing a used short block, he now has two different sets of rods, one quite a bit wider than the other. Luckily they match the crank, but unfortunately not the new rod bearings. Mercedes seems to only list one part number for the rob bearings that are clearly not the same – or the crank and rods are from another 4 cylinder Benz – we are researching this.

Early grey-market rod with bolts on left; wider rod with studs on right.

Wider Rods at +29mm

Narrow Cosworth rods at +22mm

Left: new Glyco rod bearings; right: older wide bearings - note locating tab placement.

Here are some of the parts I have to make for the conversion on the pinion bearings, this is the outer spacer between the roller bearing cups. No matter how perfect the ring and pinion gear mesh may be on the bench, they tend to be noisy when you drive the car down the road particularly on deceleration. My design allows for quick removal of the pinion assembly so I can remove or add thin shims (.002-.005″) which ensures silent operation at the final drive! I know a few people who have sold there car because the rear axle noise is so unpleasant, making it unbearable to drive. My design makes for perfect gear engagement and pleasant operation without using hideously expensive Ferrari specific sized (and inferior) bearings! Win-Win!

Lathe Turned

Using the indexing head on the mill

After overhauling nearly every part on the yellow GTE and driving it for 1500 miles, the rear axle started making some ugly noises. Unfortunately, the bearing wear allowed the pinion shaft to walk back and forth which damaged the ring and pinion gears.  Ferrari 250′s are notorious for having a low final drive ratio so since we had to replace the R&P, we decided to change from a 7-32 to a 8-34 so when the car is up and running I will report on the how the characteristics of the car change. A friend of mine with a 400 5-speed put a rear axle center section from a 400 Automatic in his car only to find that the car felt sluggish and less than athletic. Going from a manual to automatic rear axle ratio is drastic where we are only changing the ratio in this project slightly, from 4.57:1 to a 4.25:1. I would imagine that the ratio from an automatic would be something in the range of 3.5:1 versus a 4.11:1 with a 5-speed.

Just as I do with all of the early Ferrari axles we get in, this one will be converted to use a much more robust bearing assembly to make sure the expensive gears and other parts won’t be destroyed prematurely as this one has done. I’ve commented on this  before and I will note again that we don’t see axle failure on other cars such as Jaguar or Maseratis unless they are operated for an extended period of time without oil. With the Ferraris, we see catastrophic failure due to a cruddy design regardless of lubrication!

GT 250 Ferrari Axle

The 512 BB engine is back from the machine shop, as you may remember from an earlier post, this engine came apart with great difficulty. The machine shop had to open the cylinders up .020″, cleaned the deck surface, polished the crank and had new custom forged Carello Pistons made.  Since we had to warm and cool the block while using all kinds of special pullers and tools, I was most concerned with making sure the sealing surface of the case halves were totally flat and ensure the line bore for the crankshaft was within spec. Surprisingly, these surfaces were straight as a die and the line bore was perfect however, we do have a few little nicks to weld up and file down.  Now is the time to clean and detail the castings.

Ferrari Boxer engine block

512 Ferrari

It was an unfortunate day when this beautiful BMW CSi was side swiped buy a tractor trailer backing into a loading dock. This is a spectacular car with a recent re-paint and an engine and engine management system from a late model 535 as well as many other subtle modifications. We are looking for door parts and a right front turn signal side marker but I believe we can salvage the fender and other sheet metal. The RH side of the car looked fine until I found a crack in the paint near the side marker from where the car made contact with a small trailer so we have to re-paint the whole front end.

BMW CSi

Have a look at these beautifully restored air cleaners for an early Ferrari V-12, complete with the little FISPA I.D. tags and machine turning detail. I never really understood why the “machine turned” look is so appealing, to me it  looks boring and uniform, to me these would look better in a satin nickel finish.

FISPA Air cleaner

Ferrari 166 air cleaner

Even though this Porsche 911 has been in Colorado from new, it has some major rust issues that need to be addressed. We had to replace the front suspension pan and decided to prepare the car for a full paint job after finding rust in the doors, the fenders and in the RH rocker cover. Overall, the car is super solid and clean, making it a nice project to work on and, when it’s finished, a wonderful early 911 Targa. As anyone who has been reading this blog knows, early 911′s are some of my favorite sports cars and feel that they are becoming valuable enough to justify putting some money into.

911 Targa Paint Job

Suspension Pan 911 Porshce

911 Susp pan Porshce

Things are coming along nicely on the 1950 Ferrari 166 Touring Berlinetta, here you can see the dashboard lining up nicely with the upper door panels and the windshield glass fitted with new mahogany tack strips installed. All around the body openings are hand whittled wooden strips to jamb the glass into place while providing an area to tack the headliner and upholstery. Hidden under the painted aluminum trim on the top of the door is a tack strip to which the leather door panel upholstery is attached . Near the rear vent windows, the tack strips secure the headliner on the top half and the rear package shelf leather to the bottom half. Unfortunately these tack strips are in channels around the glass openings which means they are sitting in pools of water every time the car is washed or driven in the rain so all of the strips were rotten to dust.

Six tack strips secure the front windshield, two on top, two on the bottom and two on the sides. These dog bone strips were in decent shape because they are located on the sides and didn’t spend much time bathing/rotting in water but since they are so thin, the tacks securing the headliner caused them to splinter and blow apart. They are totally different pieces left to right and had to be hand shaped for 6 hours to make fit correctly. This is a lesson in how not to build a car!! They don’t make them like they used to… thank god!

Mahogany Tack strip

Lining up Dash Ferrari