The SII 330 Engine needs to be disassembled so I can get going on the rebuild, but first it needed to be cleaned.

Years of grease and dirt have accumulated on the outside, and it’s easier to power wash the dirt off before I mounted it on the engine stand for disassembly.

I shot this video of the cleaning and posted it on YouTube. The videos have been helping show some of the work better than still images on this blog. I think they compliment each other really well. I’m looking forward to doing more.

The really caked on grease and dirt stayed on the engine, but I got to work taking things apart. The starter came off along with the fuel pump, motor mount, and hoses in the front.

I had a surprise when I took the thermostat housing off and found a couple of small nuts lodged in the thermostat. All the hoses were securely attached on this car, so I’m not exactly sure how a rodent managed to stash its dinner in this obscure place. This is exactly why an engine that hasn’t been started in a while shouldn’t be fired up without taking a closer look inside because you never know what’s hiding inside!

Whenever I find an old Ferrari that was parked and not run in many years I am convinced there was usually a reason for parking it. Cars usually in good tune and good mechanical shape rarely get parked. There is the rare occasion that a car is parked because of a death in the family, or an owner getting too busy to drive their cars, but more often than not, there is a series of mechanical problems or difficulty finding parts, that causes a car to sit for many years. When I removed the clutch from this engine, I found one possible reason for this car sitting for so long. The clutch disc was pretty worn out, and was just starting to touch the rivets. It may have even begun slipping. Perhaps the owner parked this car because the car needed a new clutch, and the expense or logistics of getting the work done caused the owner to park the car. I may find more clues, but here’s the first one!