I hauled the 365GT engine down to Francois’ shop this week to start the rebuild process. The first step was to power wash the dirty, greasy, engine and get it clean enough to bring it into the shop!

As I took the parts off, I made mental notes of things that will need to addressed. I haven’t done a lot of these 365 engines, and I saw the intake manifolds had all plain nuts holding the intakes down. Were these replaces at some point, or did 365s come with regular nuts? Can owners of 365GT 2+2s take a look at their cars for me for an informal survey?

I took this engine out of a car that I have at my personal shop, but it was nice to bring it down to Francois’ shop because he has some special tools that I have not made yet for my own place. This wrench is very helpful when it comes time to removing a starter from a Vintage Ferrari.

The top nut that secures the starter motor to the engine has very tight clearance. Earlier cars used a 16 mm nut, nut later cars used a 17mm nut. Either way, there is very little clearance for a wrench. When the engine is in the car, there is hardly any room to swing the wrench, so cutting it short is necessary.

I’ve heard a bent wrench works here too, but Francois modified this wrench already to do the task of removing the starter motor perfectly!