11/7/08
PF Coupe Cooling, Fuel, and Suspension

With the PF Coupe radiator boiled, cleaned and painted, it was time for me to mount an electric fan. Since this car will be seeing some road rallying and some warm weather in it’s new home, I felt it was best to install a modern electric fan. There is plenty of room in front of the radiator for a fan, and it hides very well from plain sight.

I picked up these neat brackets at a hot rod car show over the summer, and I finally got a chance to try them out on this car. They’re a lot easier to fit to the car than the ones I custom made for my radiator years ago, and I like them better than using the plastic mounts that are often supplied with electric fans. Once I mounted everything the way I wanted, I trimmed the brackets to size.

The parts for the fuel system were slowly coming in from the UPS deliveries, so things are going together quite nicely. The electric fuel pump looked familiar to François, so he looked up the serial number. It turns out he rebuilt this fuel pump back in 1999. Whoever the previous owner sent his fuel pump for rebuilding sent it to François for the work. Small world.

The gas tank was also boiled out, coated internally, and painted on the outside. I tired my best not to scratch the fresh paint, but I have yet to install a gas tank in an old Ferrari without scratching it! We’ll touch up the paint on the tank before the car is sent out.

With the gas tank and fuel pump installed, I turned my attention to the rear springs. Since the rear differential is out of the car, we decided to replace some worn bushings on the leaf springs. It would make sense to do this job when all the other parts are already out. Taking out the spring, however, is still no easy task. François has a tool he uses to tension the leaf spring so it can be removed from the car. Ferrari leaf springs will take the shape of a “U” when removed from its perch, so having a tool to hold the spring is not only necessary, but also safer when releasing the bolts that hold the spring in place.

Looking at the spring perches, you can see how there is some deflection to the bushings. There were large washer shaped bushings on the sides of the springs, but they have all deteriorated. This deflection causes the rear end to feel sloppy, especially around turns, Once we machine new bushings, all this slop will go away.

This shot shows the residue left by the deteriorated bushing. This reddish pink material Ferrari used did not last very long, and is usually gone in most cars this age. We’ll be replacing these with teflon bushings that will last a lot longer.

With the spring safely on the floor, I carefully released all the stored energy and started on the other side of the car.

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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