365 Sorting and 330 Seats



4/4/13
365 Sorting and 330 Seat

365

I’ve been waiting several weeks here in the Northeast to take a 365GT 2+2 out for an extended drive. The owner found his car running poorly and found two cylinders with fouled plugs and was worried this was a sign of bad news to come. Our thought was was to thoroughly inspect the engine and not jump to conclusions. Several weeks ago, I found some bad resistor plug wire ends and the distributors in desperate need of new points. We suspected an intermittent spark was causing some of the fuel fouling.
engine

After doing an ignition tune up on this car, Francois and I felt the best course of action was to put some mileage on the engine and see if the plugs would foul again. We finally got a decent weather window to put a couple hundred miles on the car and so far things were looking pretty good. The car started well, and pulled strongly.
plugs

I pulled the plugs after my drive and found them to be the perfect color.
distributor timing

There was still work to be done to make this engine run as best as it could, and one job was to get the ignition timing spot on. When checking the timing on this car, I found the 1/6 bank at the limit of its adjustment and couldn’t get the timing exactly right. Getting it perfect required pulling the distributor angle drive and re-indexing the drive, but I waited until we were ready to do the valve adjustment to save some shop time.
AF10

Getting the static timing on this car involved a couple of wires, a test light, and lining up the timing marks on the flywheel. Getting things perfectly lined up was another step towards a great running motor!
PS Pump

Pulling the valve covers off a 365GT for a valve adjustment with power steering was not a lot of fun. The ZF power steering pump bracket is bolted to the timing chain cover, and obstructs the valve cover by about 1/4 inch so it has to be unbolted and moved out of the way. The nuts and bolts are barely accessible, and the best plan of attack was to loosen all the bolts just enough to sneak the covers off. Removing the pump for clear access would have been a lot more work.
valve adjustment

The good news was there was no outward issues with this engine. There were a couple badly worn adjusters, but luckily they had not yet damaged the top of the valves.
seat

The 330 seat came back from the upholsterer.
new webbing

New foam was inserted, along with some burlap and new webbing. The support was restored, and the seat was a lot more comfortable to sit in. If you’re wondering about all the extra wiring in the seat, a previous owner had installed seat heaters inside the seat, but they were no longer connected.

Save the Date! May 4th 2013

6th Annual Radcliffe/Tomyang.net Spring Car Show
12340 Owings Mills Boulevard
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
Register to show at the Radcliffe Website or call  410-517-1681

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