10/6/00 More Engine Preparation

François is still making progress on my engine, but it’s subtle. All the major assembly has been completed, so all we’re waiting for is a couple of nuts, seals and miscellaneous fasteners. The ignition wires on the left bank of cylinders are done, and routed nice and neat the way Enzo would have liked. If you’re a Ferrari enthusiast, then you probably already knew “the old man” liked a tidy engine compartment.

Each time I stop by François’ shop he gives me list of things to look for that need to be found for the engine. The nuts that hold the exhaust headers was last week’s assignment. I managed to find all but one bronze nut, in my box of nuts and bolts. It’s a good thing I didn’t inadvertently use these nuts for something else a few months ago. In fact, if you don’t look carefully, they’re easily mistaken for plain steel nuts!

A box of parts came back from the nickel platers. All my fuel fittings were included in this batch. The timing is perfect because we need to fit the soft fuel lines to these fittings in the engine compartment. The air cleaner assembly came with the other parts plated as well. Only the finned section shows  the nickel, so I masked it off to paint the rest in semi gloss black.

I sealed up the transmission with the new gaskets I made last week, and turned it over on its side to paint the bottom. After the paint gets a week to dry, I’ll flip it back over and start uncovering all the masked bolts and labels. After that, it’ll be ready to be filled with oil, and installed.

Since we’re preparing the engine compartment for the engine, I decided to install the radiator to see the clearance I will have for an electric fan. François tested the electromagnet clutch for the mechanical fan on the engine, and it’s working properly, but I understand that this will not be enough cooling power if I get stuck in traffic. What I would like to do is wire an electric fan in line with the mechanical fan, so when the sending unit turns on the mechanical fan, my electric fan will run as well. It looks like I will have 2-1/2 inches overall for an electric fan, but I’m hoping I can squeeze a little bit more because I don’t think they come that thin!

I took some time away from the front of the car to install the rear shocks. The assembled shocks were a little longer than the axle limit straps were allowing, so I was going to try compressing the shocks a half inch to fit in its respective perch, but that proved harder than I originally thought. I didn’t want to unbolt the axle straps (arrow) for fear that they were seized, but I got my wrenches out, and hoped for good luck. With only a minor skinned knuckle, I thought I got away easy!

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