12/3/08
Other Projects and Details in Minutia with 3553

Even though I’ve been focusing on Gary Hiniker’s 250 GTE. that does not mean it’s the only car making progress at the shop. François and Alvin have been busy stripping a Lusso for a bare metal respray. Everything is coming off except for the suspension so the car can be sent to the painters.

I have not written about the PF coupe that I was working on the last couple of months, but that too has been making steady progress. With the parts back from the platers, they’re slowly going back on the car. Fuel fittings, carb linkages, and freshly plated acorn nuts are going back on their original places. Presently, the transmission is out of the car and we will be installing a new clutch and pressure plate. With these new pieces, we’re going to send them out along with the flywheel for balancing to insure a vibration free union.

A 4 inch fresh air hose came in the mail this week. I got it from a Corvette supplier and it is the fresh air hose for first generation Corvettes. It is identical to the wire reinforced cloth wrapped hose Pininfarina used for GTEs. The four inch inner diameter fits fine on the hose inlets. It’s even cut to the right length!

Here’s the hose, splash shield, “copiglia” clamp, and weather stripping installed just as it came from the factory.

Trying to make the little details look nice I took the hood pad stays off and polished them on the buffing wheel. I put some fingerprints on the aluminum pieces when I reinstalled them, but they’ll polish off with a soft cloth.

Jumping to the back of the car, I installed a new rubber seal for the gas filler access door. I cut it a little large to insure a good seal from the outside of the car. The owner complained that there was a smell of gas when he last drove the car, and I think I found the problem. The vinyl vent hose had shrunk over the years and had disconnected itself from the tank. Some of these fumes may have been getting into the car from a bad seal. Fixing these two issues hopefully will keep the fumes to a minimum. The funny thing is many Vintage Ferrari owners speak lovingly of the smell of leather, oil, and gasoline that old Ferraris have, but too much of good thing can be bad!

I’ve been struggling with the color of the coils. Parker Hall supplied me with some paint he mixed, trying to match the original color of the Marelli coils, so I stripped the paint off the coils to give it a shot.

After painting, we looked at the coils and felt they looked a little too orange. François has some original coils in his stash, and we found them more red than orange. The more I look at the coils, and the variation in the paint, I begin to feel perhaps we’re spending more time trying to nail down the correct color than Marelli did in the 60s! I’m beginning to suspect the guys down at the Marelli factory mixed red paint however they wanted whenever they needed more.

More little details needed addressing in the engine compartment. The studs for the fuse panel had thicker studs welded onto the old studs with incorrect knobs securing the fuse panel. These studs will have to turned down to the correct diameter and rethreaded so the correct knobs can be installed.

François has one spare knob left in his stash. We’ll have to find two more.

Another little project was to strip the paint off the hook for the hood latch. The previous shop painted this latch semi flat black. The correct finish is zinc or white cadmium plating. Luckily, after the paint was stripped, the plating underneath was still intact, so it went back on the car ready for show.

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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