4/27/14
Holding up the Works

I got to work this week with a long list of things that needed to be done to get this engine fired up. Getting the motor installed in the car was a big milestone, but there was still a ton to do. One little problem could hold the whole project up, and little did I know how many problems I would have solve by the end of the week!

The first realization was this car was missing the starter heat shield. This little piece of insulated aluminum protects the starter from the heat of the headers, and without it, the starter could have trouble starting the engine when things got hot. The original starters on Vintage Ferraris are marginal at best, and there’s a good reason these heat shields were installed from the factory. Luckily, we had an extra one at the shop and it only needed a slight modification to fit the 330.

I’m sure the insulating material was asbestos, so I made sure not to breathe while I handled it!

The distributor nuts and bolts came in the mail. These mount on the angle drive on the back of the engine, and although small in detail, make the engine “correct!”

The parts I sent out for clear Cadmium plating came back from the plater. I was waiting for the intake manifold acorn nuts, distributor cap bolts, and carb linkage ends. Small as these parts were, I couldn’t start the engine without these in place!

I started putting the black oxide throttle rods together with the cad plated ends when I found a problem…

The plater uses small ball bearings in the plating solution to help conduct current through the parts, but one ball bearing lodged inside one of the throttle ends! Normally, these balls fall out, but this one ball had just enough plating on the surface to get stuck inside the throttle end. I tried several different methods to get this darned ball out without success. I finally resorted to using a spare throttle rod in our parts stash so I could continue with the engine assembly. I’ll have to come back to this dilemma when I have more time!

I sent a water pipe out for nickel plating, and although it looked great, we had some problems. After installing it, I found a small leak coming from a pinhole in the steel pipe.

I enlarged the hole to see how bad it was, and upon closer inspection, I could see several other spots that could be potential pinholes in the future. We had already brazed a hole we found before sending this pipe out for plating, and it looks like this pipe is past it’s useful service life. Now the problem is finding a replacement in short notice.

Francois’ parts stash came to the rescue again, but the pipe he had was not a perfect fit. The bolt spacing was correct for the flange, but the orientation was not. In order to get this pipe to fit, I had to pull the front cover of the water pump plate off and orient it to the replacement pipe.

Luckily, I had plenty of water pump gaskets to replace the one I would inevitably ruin when pulling the front plate off.

The next problem was fitting the hose connections that was not exactly in the same place as the original one. I made a new hose and made the connection, but I will now have to use the original pipe and get a copy made.

Another struggle was with the ring gear. We had one on order for a few months now. It seems there was quite a price discrepancy between suppliers for ring gears, but the cheaper of the two suppliers no longer makes them. Our supplier tried to find a source for the cheaper unit, but came up a bust. With our time frame closing, we had no choice but to order what was available.

The old ring gear was pretty chewed up, and it would have only been a matter of time when the starter would have problems engaging with this ring gear.

It’s pretty obvious when you see what a good ring gear looks like.

Every little little part on this car could cause me to miss my deadline. Another case was the reverse light switch. The spade connector lug was loose and broke off as I tried to reconnect the wiring after the transmission was installed. I tried to reattach it by peening the connector in place, but there was no way to get the lug to stay. The only solution was to get a replacement switch. Without this switch, I couldn’t install the center console, and the rest of the interior of the car.

This little switch was holding up a major part of the completion of this car!

I was making steady slow progress, hoping my next problem was not going to completely sabotage my delivery date. Keep those fingers crossed!

The Big Show is next week! I can’t wait to see you all there!

Save the Date! The 7th Annual Radcliffe/Tomyang.net Spring Car Show Saturday May 3rd 2014 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Introduction of the 330GT!
Spectators are free, but Registration of show cars are limited for a small fee. Details can be found on the Radcliffe Website.
You can also Richard Garre at:
Radcliffe Motorcars
12340 Owings Mills Boulevard
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
Phone: 410-517-1681

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!