7/20/07
Ferrari 250 California Spyder

François’ shop has a new tenant. It’s a California Spyder going through a ground up restoration. It shares space with the GTC/4 I’ve been working on in the background. The GTC/4 has a new piston and rod ready to be fitted, but we first have to weigh it to match the old piston. For now all our efforts are going towards the Cal Spyder. It’s fresh back from paint, and it looks spectacular. It’s a very dark blue and goes almost black in color at dusk.

The suspension is ready to be installed after being nickel plated.

Unfortunately, even with François labeling the wiring, much of it was unplugged and bagged by the painter. There’s a lot of finger pointing, but whomever is to blame, we’re left with figuring it all out. I had a similar situation with my 330 America, so I’ve had some practice! The original fuse panel has been replaced, and new wires were run, but let’s hope it makes sense when I buzz out the lines.

We’re trying a new type of paint on the steering column. It’s supposed to be resistant to brake fluid, which often spoils the steering column when there is a leak from the brake reservoir. Unfortunately the U-joint is supposed to have a natural finish, so I had the remove the paint from these surfaces. It’s a little too glossy for my taste, but we’ll see how it looks in the car.

I stripped the paint, checked, repacked the bearings in the u-joints, and reassembled the finished unit. Next week, I’ll have to spend some more time on that wiring harness!

As we’re putting this car together, I’m trying to help Francois find a part. He needs another one of these things. It’s a hood bumper, and has a coil spring inside. We can fabricate one of these things from scratch, but we’d like to see if we can find one first.

Here’s another view. E-mail me if you have one of these things in your spares box.

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