We seem to have an influx of 250 engines all of a sudden, the one Nate is working on just completed its first test run on the bench after overhaul and the other is coming apart because of problems with the cylinder heads. On this engine, the valve guides are loose in the heads allowing oil to pour into the exhaust system that made smoke pour out of the exhaust system once it heated up.

Bill took some video of the other engine running on the test stand so keep an eye out for that clip on youtube soon.

Ferrari 250 engines

If you get a chance, have a look at our ebay listings one of which is this spectacular 330 GT 2+2.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-1966-Ferrari-330-GT-2-2-/320786529089?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4ab05dfb41

We just sold a very tidy Tool briefcase for a 365 series Ferrari and have a guy ready to purchase a steel roof rack for a Porsche 911 (and other German cars like VW’s). This is a super nice piece with an original equipment manufacturers sticker on it!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Ski-Roof-Rack-Porsche-VW-and-other-models-Early-70s-stainless-/320789565039?hash=item4ab08c4e6f&item=320789565039&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_100&vxp=mtr

In the next few days I’m gonna get some other cars up there so I will let you know what I am posting and will see if Gene can start an ebay store to start selling the stuff we have been accumulating around her.

Ferrari Ebay 330 V-12

Over the weekend Steve and I (Bill) headed with one of our customers to the Fairfield County Concours and Bonham’s Auction. We drove from the New Paltz area early Sunday morning, the Ferraris (250 GTE and 250 PF Coupe) caravanned to the event together, with the Steve and the Freightliner in tow, figuratively of course.

Stephan was a Concours Judge, which was as I found quite an honor. He worked to rate countless beautiful cars alongside the likes of Rupert “The Hawk” Banner, Bonham’s esteemed auctioneer, McKeel Hagerty, Dave Kinney, Wayne Carini, etc. Nice work Stephan. You can now find Stephan at the shop under his Fairfield County Concours “Judge” ballcap - commemorative gift with service.

On Facebook we’ve put up a gallery of pictures that I took when I either remembered to get the camera out or when my iPhone actually had battery life. The gallery is here – and a little teaser below. Make sure to “Like” us on Facebook so that our updates show up in your feed.

Bugatti Type 57

Wayne Carini's Leyland Bus

Dial-a-boost on the RUF CTR 1. This knob actually only varies boost from 1 bar to about 1.2 - not a huge performance increase but good to adjusting to the quality of different gasoline.

BMW 2002 Turbo

Me with the diminutive Fiat 600 that we bought.

If I were making a production run of something, this isn’t how I would do it. Ferrari made thousands of “250″ series cars all with these goofy water pipes for the cooling system which vary drastically throughout the 10 year production run.  They are so complex and hard to duplicate that re-making them nearly impossible. This “J” shaped pipe has a compound curve with barbs that have to be welded on in exactly the right location even though they appear to be stitched on at random locations. If they are off one millimeter, they will hit the oil filter or run into the fan.

These pipes are for the Lusso/GTE series of 250, but I can make a number of other styles from 166 up through the 275 cars utilizing my incredible and growing stockpile of bends and flared ends. Right now I am making a short run of the water pipe that connects the thermostat housing to the engine on a 275 GTB/GTS Two-Cam engine.

Water pipe for Ferrari

Water pipe copied for Ferrari

Here’s another 250 engine being assembled, we didn’t overhaul it but had to disassemble it to correct head gasket leaks, water pump leaks and replace the roller followers with the needle bearing type. We have had great results with the needle bearing style followers and but poor results with the bushing type which wear out in 600 miles! When an engine needs this much work we pull it from the chassis so it can be test run and inspected for leaks. Here are our famous formula head gaskets in use which have proven themselves reliable and consistent.

250 GT engine 27XX

I don’t offer much helpful information on this blog but want to share some photos of the font and progression of transmission, engine, and axle number stampings on Ferrari castings. From now on, i’m going to photograph stamps on Ferrari castings as I have the ability, the transmission stamps are hard to photograph because the interior has to come out for access. These are all photographs of Transmissions from 250’s and 330’s.  As things progress, I will post photos of Engines, axles and trans-axles.

Numbers from early 330 with Overdrive

Series II PF Cab, late production

Early production GTE Ferrari

Transmission Ferrari Lusso 2505-speed 2 mount engine

Ferrari 330, Porsche 356

A local guy just purchased this 330 GT 2+2 and has asked us to take a look at the car before he drives it this summer. It is one of the best paint jobs I have ever seen on a Ferrari, super crisp lines and totally flat panels because it was block sanded to perfection and there isn’t a spot of orange peel anywhere. These bigger Ferraris look great in colors such as Argento or Azuro.

The Porsche is ready for delivery after spending time to sort out some tie rod details and brake overhaul. I had a chance to take the car for a long drive and am continually amazed at how wonderful these cars are.

Hemmings Sports and Exotic Magazine did an amazing article on a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE belonging to our customer in New York.  The owner had a spectacular Alfa Romeo 1900 for a number of years and decided it was time to sell. He did an incredible “feature” of the Alfa to sell it on ebay which had video links on youtube showing how the car performed on the road. The Alfa sold very well and guy now has a pocket full of cash to get what he really wanted, a Ferrari GTE.

He bought this car and had it shipped it to us where we picked it apart and did some major repairs to bring it up to a standard that it can be driven and enjoyed. We repaired or rebuilt every mechanical component on the car except for the rear axle so true to form, after 1000 miles, the ring and pinion started to growl.

At this time, the rear axle is overhauled and we have driven the car about 20 miles after performing a check over on the work we did last year. We have a few things to address so the car can  be driven regularly for the summer of 2011.

As you can see from a previous post, we changed the rear axle ratio from 7-32 to an 8-34 which I recommend for an early Ferrari 250!

Here is the link to the Hemmings article. Pics and words by David Traver Adolphus.

http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/2011/04/01/hmn_feature1.html

I had the great pleasure of driving this 1969 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 from Quebec City in Canada to our shop on Tuesday April 12 2011. It was fanatically restored by its owner who made sure every little detail worked in addition to making some upgrades to make it better than new.

If an electrical engineer looked at the wiring set up on the car they would run and hide. All of the electrical current that the car runs through the ammeter which is horribly under capacity. This car came from the factory with a wimpy 55 amp alternator, a paltry 40 amp ammeter and when the A/C is on, headlights blazing, don’t make the mistake of pushing the horn button or open the windows because you will have an electrical meltdown! The Previous owner happened to be an engineer  who remedied this in a very clever way.

He also kept the classic stereo VOXON in the dash but had a specialist modify the internals, now it operates as a modern high watt unit with all kinds of capabilities. The stereo sounds great and with the ice cold A/C, power steering and great power and visibility, you could drive this car every day without feeling like you will get run over by high speed traffic.

These Queen Mothers are hard to restore because they have so many intricate details.  To me they feel more like a Mercedes Benz than a Ferrari. The coachwork is impeccable, the car feels heavy and planted and it gets about 4 miles per gallon just like a 280 SE 6.9!

Radio Cheat Sheet

356 Queen