This is a very nice Blaupunkt Radio that is period correct for late 50′s  to early 60′s European Cars. It has all the little details such as the knobs, facia panel and amplifier. If you are interested in purchasing it let me know.

Frankfurt Blaupunkt

KONI gas charged self leveling shocks were installed in later production 4 seat Ferrari’s starting out at the 365 GT 2+2 up to the 400′s. Later 400′s and 412′s had hydraulic controlled self leveling shocks that adjusted by a little valve attached to the rear sway bar. KONI doesn’t make any parts to overhaul these self leveling shocks and rumor is that don’t even admit to having made them! We convert the rear shocks to adjustable ride height coil over units which takes away all the mystery because rebuild parts are available for these generic series 82 KONI’s.

365 GTC/4 KONI Shocks

Self Leveling rear shocks gas charged

Casey just finished assembling this engine after all kinds of people blessed it to make sure everything is in the required specification. The reason it came apart is because the valve guides were loose in the heads and allowing oil to flow right into the exhaust and eventually fouling out the spark plug. When we disassembled the engine we found that the cylinders were polished to a very high level of shine and couldn’t imagine that the piston rings would ever seat. In conversations with Hastings Piston Ring Company it was learned that the cylinders needed to be honed to a coarse 280 grit rather than the ultra smooth mirror polish. Since the engine was apart, we decided to have a specialist cut the rear “slinger” off the back of the crankshaft so we could install a conventional lip seal to prevent oil leaks.

The engine is running great and just today we took the car out for a drive in the Arctic Cold air where it performed perfectly.

308 GT/4 Ferrari Dino

We just bought this 1979 Ferrari 308 GT/4 and are going to go through the entire car to make sure it performs perfectly for 2012. These 308′s are sleepers, even though they are less sexy than the GTB and GTS’s, the consensus is that they are a much better driving experience. Since Bertone built this series the craftsmanship is much better as well.

This car is cool because it’s in European Specification model with single distributor, small bumpers and doesn’t have the ugly USDOT mandated rectangular side markers. It’s also cool because it’s so original and has a super clean interior and undercarriage.

More on this car later!

Here are some photos for Derek who seems to get very turned on by Ferrari engine photos, mostly the “basamento” which translates to “base” and in this context it stands for Engine Block.

Testa Normal

Bassimento 250 GT Ferrari

Here is a early Porsche 911 Engine that Casey has finished and will hopefully be running later this week.

Steve Maxwell “Max” works in the “second building” next door to our main shop and makes spectacular parts out of Carbon Fiber, Kevlar and other composite materials. This is a complete front clip to a Triumph Spitfire, one of many body panels he’s made molds for. He makes tons of body panels for Datsun 510 Race Cars as well as Formula Ford’s, Hyundai and Subaru  Rally Cars and the occasional Classic Italian parts for me. I’m always blown away with the quality of work that Max churns out and amazed at his attention to detail to make the parts very rugged while staying extremely light weight.

Later this week I’m going to show you photos of brake cooling ducts that he makes for a major Catalog that sells race car parts so stay posted for these incredibly light weight and rigid examples of “black art”.

Body parts for Triumph Carbon Fiber

GTC for Sale 330

Here is a Super nice 330 GTC that a customer of ours is interested in selling. We’ve gone through all of the mechanical components within the last two years such as the engine, transmission and numerous other details. This car is outstanding and is ready to light ‘em up for 2012!

This is a subject that I write about frequently because I just don’t understand why Ferrari Transmissions are bigger than the engine in front of it. We just had a transmission out of a 1955 Ford Pickup that was the size of a shoe box and a 5 speed ZF transmission out of a Maserati is tiny compared to the 5 speed out of this 330 GT 2+2. If I seem frustrated it’s because getting this Parthenon out of the car is a job that only Zeus can handle.

This transmission works well but the synchronizers are worn to to point of having a chrome plated polished look instead of the required rough cast finish but all the bearings and gears are perfect. We used to replace the operating sleeves on these transmissions but they take so long to “wear in” that I feel they are doing more damage than good especially considering how well they shift with the original parts re-installed.

5-speed 330 Transmisison

Stainless Steel Water Pipes 250, 330

Tubing for Ferrari engine

Since I have the jigs, stainless steel tubing and motivation, I decided to stock up on some commonly used water pipes for Ferrari 250′s. The top photo is a mixture of trashed original parts and my re-made parts that attach to the water pump and have a barb for the heater return and a threaded boss for the thermostat bypass. The pipe in the next photo is a custom job for a repilca 250 that was sent to me for duplication. This part doesn’t follow any of my jigs so I made a crude jig to complete this order. I’ve done 4 pipes recently for 1962 Ferrari 250′s, an early 1962 GTE, a ’62 250 PF Cab and two 1962 Short Wheelbase Berlinetta. Even though they should all be the same, all 4 of these are significantly different with barbs going in different directions and the main bend radius unique from one to the other. I’d like to know how these were made originally because there isn’t any consistency in  the style of construction or shape.