2/3/12
3553: An Old Friend in for a Stay

Gary Hiniker had his car delivered to the shop for a list of things that needed attention. I worked on this car a few years ago, and it was nice to have an old friend back for some maintenance and repair.

The biggest issue with this car was a problem with the charging system. Gary told me he was driving the car one day when she mysteriously cut out. After trying to restart the car, he saw smoke coming from the behind the fuse panel. When I took a closer look, I could see some melted wires hooked up to the after market voltage regulator.

Looking behind the fuse panel, I found the source of the short. Two wires from the voltage regulator had fused together and overheated. I’m hoping this started from some worn insulation, and not from something more, but I’ll have to do some more investigating.

Taking a peek inside the regulator, I found evidence of a lot of heat.

I don’t think there is any saving this unit!

The next item I had to look into was the driver’s side fresh air vent. The complaint was a sticking control, and the inability to shut the fresh air off completely. This problem is made worse in the Northeast during drives in cool weather. Looking at the flapper inside the fresh air vent, I found the rubber seal had rotted away.

I removed the old rubber, and cut new rubber to seal the pipe. I made the seal slightly oversize to insure a tight seal.

I checked everything for smooth operation before trimming the seal and tightening everything down.

Another item on the “to do” list was look at the mechanical fuel pump. Gary said rarely is the mechanical pump capable of supplying fuel to the engine without the help of the electric pump. A whole host of reasons came to mind for this problem, but the most common solution would be to rebuild the pump. I could see the diaphragm was made from the original red material which has not been available for about 10 years, so this pump was probably due for a rebuild.

After getting the pump out, I found more than a bad diaphragm. The rubber gaskets inside had disintegrated so they weren’t sealing the check valves very well, thus no pressure. This was no Jarvik 7!

Worse yet, the top rubber seal had almost completely dissolved! The old gaskets supplied with the red diaphragms were found to be incompatible with American fuel, and it was obvious these gaskets were the old type. The new nitrile gaskets are supposed to be better.

A client of mine has a Lusso Transmission for sale. It’s a 250 4-speed transmission. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Reminder: If you have a Ferrari related project, car, or idea you’d like to explore, I’d love to talk to you. I can also help if you’re thinking of buying or selling. This website represents what I love to do, and now it’s how I make a living, so if you’d like to do something together, let me know. It all begins with an e-mail!

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