Over the last Month I’ve been disassembling a dark blue1967 Ferrari 330 GTC to re-finish the paint, chrome and interior. Even though Pininfarina did a spectacular job building these beautiful Ferrari Coupe’s, there are some things that I can’t live with. These photos show the fit between the “B” pillar cover trim and the “C” pillar window surround trim just behind the door. The gap was enormous on both sides and was filled in with black urethane rubber from the factory. I ground off the chrome and copper and welded some new brass on the trim (which is made of brass) to tighten up the gap.

Trim on GTC Ferrari

Ferrari Pininfarina detail

Brass welding and fitting

Another area that bothers me on the most of the Ferrari GTC’s that I have seen is the fit of the center console at the shifter opening. Like the other cars I have looked at, the shifter isn’t centered in the opening so naturally, I have to adjust this area too. This GTC used to have an odd reverse lockout tab like some of the 60′s race cars, but it didn’t fit so someone bent up the sheet metal in the opening on the left side of the opening.

GTC Interior

Now it fits properly

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!

Since the color of this car makes me weak in the knees, I have enjoyed testing my new camera in different light situations. These are some very different locations to photograph the car, the photo of the right front is in a dark shadow right next to the building. The car is in the same location in the photo of the left front but with much different lighting and lots of color from the late afternoon sun. Even the photo of the car under florescent lights in the building came out well with some random knobs twisted and adjusted.

Right Front Ferrari 308 GTSi

Left front photo of the 308

In the shop

Head gasket and oil leaks

Since the late 80′s or early 90′s we have been servicing the car that goes with this engine and it has always been one of the best running examples we know of. I remember riding in the truck with my father to get the car on a cold and foggy night, probably around this time of the year, no, it had to have been early November. It was a brutal trip through that pea soup thick fog as we went over some of the mountains in the Berkshires on route 22.

The current owner of the car drives the wheels off of it and we have overhauled a number of components like the brakes, transmission, and fuel pump but now it’s time to address the engine. It runs great, starts instantly and doesn’t smoke but there are so many oil leaks that we have to break it down to clean it off in order to remedy them. We were blown away because as well as it ran, the compression and leak down numbers were bad displaying 30% loss in some cylinders where there should be no more than 5-10%.

So, apart it goes – it’ll run through our “process” that includes getting the rear main bearing cap cut and grind the crankshaft for a conventional lip seal, new forged pistons and a needle bearing roller follower set among thousands of other things. The motor mounts are blown out and the water pipes will likely have holes in them and will need to be replaced so we will be busy this winter getting all these 250′s back together for the spring.

As much as I hate to mention it for superstitious reasons, we’ve had great success with Ferrari engine overhauls over the last half a dozen years. A few times a week other shops call me asking how to get head gaskets to seal and how to make water pumps turn without leaking or how to make mechanical fuel pumps to work as intended. Their shops are struggling to find the exact formula, and we seem to have it locked down lately. Nate has assembled so many of these engines, he seems to have a real formula on setting the clearances, knowing the tricks to seal them up and making sure every detail is nailed down too.

Clutch housing on 250 engine

It’s hard to tell how deep the crease is in the photos but the door skin actually split at the rear edge and crushed the framework at the closure area. The crease went on the panel behind the door as well so Nate took the door apart and pulled the fuel tank to access the inside of the rear panel. I had to make a few custom tools to get inside the door to shrink the sharp crease and other dents without having to remove the entire skin. It would have been a bear to remove and replace the skin because the door fits so well from the factory and to duplicate that is tons of work. A complete replacement door would have been equally intensive so my gut reaction is to fix what you’ve got

The paint match is excellent, the car is the newer tint of blue sera metallic, a slightly lighter shade than I have seen on older cars like Dino’s and 330′s. I like the older shade more because the paint contains more gray where the shade on this car has more         violet in the tint. Either way, I am happy with the results, the car is fully polished and looks killer

GTSI Door repair

Quattrovalvole 308 GTS

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

I just sold this 1973 246 GTS  and I am taking it to a warehouse in New Jersey tomorrow. We checked all systems, fixed the horn and drove it 20 miles which reminded us how it’s one of the best 246′s we’ve had at the shop. After selling a few cars recently, I am looking to buy a Porsche 911 or another 246, preferably a European Production car so let me know if you have something.

Someone offered me a super solid 1973 Porsche 911T Coupe with a sunroof yesterday that I am considering buying. Unfortunately, the car is apart for restoration but the price is fair and I may spring for it. Otherwise, one of my customers has an outstanding 911T Coupe that is a known quantity so i’ll probably make him an offer on that car.

246 GTS Ferrari Dino

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.

Here are some photos of V-12 Ferrari engines for Dominick.

330 engine with cylinder heads

250 GT "outside" plug engine

Underside of 330 engine

Inside plug 250