6/2/12
Wheels and Window Cranks

A 330 we have at the shop needed to have the wheels refinished, but first the trim rings needed to be removed. 

There are two tricks I have in removing these wheels, and I tired the easier one first. I used a thin stiff bent blade of a putty knife to force it’s way carefully around the lip of the chrome trim ring, trying my best not to bend the steel ring. It’s a friction fit around the hub, but these can really get stuck. I was lucky enough to get a purchase on the ring and slowly walk the ring up the hub. When these rings are sent out for rechroming, just the extra layers of plating can cause these not to fit around the hub. I plan to check these rings for fit after the copper layer is plated before the final chrome plate is applied to the rings. This extra step will save me a lot of heartache later on!

The magnesium Campagnolo wheels are sometimes tricky to paint if the proper proceedure isn’t followed. Magnesium is a little more porous than aluminum, and can absorb moisture. If this moisture is not removed from the wheel before the paint is applied, it can force its way out later on, ruining the finish. These wheels show this classic problem with pimples all over the surface of the wheel. It looks like these wheels were poorly powder coated before, and my wheel painters suspect the pimpling happened from the start! I can’t believe this kind of work was delivered by the previous painter, but my painters assured me there wouldn’t be problems like these after they stripped, heated, and applied their finish. I’m looking forward to the results!

The survivor GTE 2259 is ready for a final valve adjustment and head torque after about 1000 miles of test driving. Francois has been using the car in all the ranges of temperatures running it to other shops and picking up parts. He told me of several occasions where people want to buy the GTE on the spot, even one time when someone in an SUV pulled up next to him, showed him a fistfull of large bills to buy the car!

During his drives, Francois would come back to the shop and tell me about little things he found that need correcting on the car. One problem was the driver’s side window crank was occasionally binding. As I tried to move the window up and down, I pictured the problem in my head, and had a pretty good idea what was going on. Unfortunately the only way to fix it was to remove the door panel. There is a cable that winds its way through a system of pullies and crank to move the window. If this cable develops a kink, it can catch on some of the gears, and that was exactly the problem. Luckily, I was able to move things around to avoid replacing the cable. Not only would it have been more time to do that job, but it also would have been a job I hated doing!

Next week, I’ll adjust the valves and retorque the heads.

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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