6/20/08
The Long Road to Starting the PF Coupe

The PF coupe that has been at François’ shop is getting real close to startup. I spent the morning getting the exhaust installed, and roughly bolted in place. We’re still waiting on the correct center pull style exhaust hangers, but I hung it with with some of the old hangers just so we could get the car on the ground and ready for the initial start up.

François and I had a list of things to complete before we could start the car, so while François went out to get some fresh gasoline, I tried my best to complete our list. When I got to filling the radiator with coolant, I came upon our first problem. Coolant was found leaking by the rubber hose coming out of the water pump housing. Thinking it was just a loose hose clamp, I cinched it up with a screwdriver. The leak persisted, so it required a closer look.

Crawling under the car to have a better look, I noticed the coolant on the hose was actually coming from the pipe and dribbling down the hose. The arrow shows a small pinhole leak from the pipe. The only choice was to drain the new coolant, disconnect the hoses, and remove the pipe from the water pump to have François repair the leak with some brazing.

As I working on reinstalling the coolant hose after François patched the leak, I heard him exclaim the next obstacle to starting the car. Of the three keys that came with this car, none of them fit the gas filler door! This car has seen two owners since the last time she was driven, so the whereabouts of the gas door key could be anywhere.

As François was on the phone with a previous owner looking for the key, I decided to try my luck with picking the lock. I made some tools from some hose clamps, but had no success. I understood the concept, but did not have the technique. It looks so easy on T.V.!

I decided to try another tact, so I opened the trunk to see if there was another way into the gas tank. I soon realized that the catch for the lock was bolted from inside the trunk, and within a few minutes, I had the filler door open. It helps to be slightly smarter than the lock!

It was 5 o’clock and we were ready to give it a shot. With the battery hooked up and François at the helm, he turned on the ignition, and started the fuel pump. My job was to look for fuel leaks in the engine compartment as the carburetors filled with fuel. Unfortunately, even with the fuel pump pumping, no fuel was reaching the carburetor bowls. Something wasn’t working right. After all the hurtles we surpassed, we ran out of time and energy to start the car today. She’ll just have to wait another day!

Just a reminder, I’m looking for a new Vintage Ferrari Project. If you have, or know of a restoration project, please let me know. It would be great to restore another car on this website! My E-mail.

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