I’ve been making small improvements to a newly acquired 365GT 2+2 at my shop and the owner asked me to see what I could do about a couple of dents in the door panel trim.

The 365GT 2+2 has an aluminum door panel trim with a particular herringbone pattern that I have not been able to source. If you recall, the 330s and 275GTBs have a similar panel, but the pattern can be found from a 1957 Chevrolet Belaire tail fin, but the 365 is different.

This unfortunate dent came from having a seat belt caught between the driver’s side seat and the door when it was closed.

After taking the door panel apart and removing the aluminum trim, I carefully tapped out the dent with some cold chisels I ground dull and smooth. The marks were still there, but a lot less noticeable.

A larger annoyance was a steering box oil leak. Power steering fluid was leaking out of the steering box, dripping down the pitman arm, and dripping down all over the driver’s side of the car.

Before I unbolted the pitman arm, I confirmed there was a mark on the shaft and the arm to line up the parts when I put everything back together.

Originally, I was planning on removing the seal with the steering box in place. I borrowed Francois’ special low profile pitman arm tool that worked perfectly on manual steering boxes, but found the clearance was different with the power steering unit. Since I was replacing all the tie rod ends on the front suspension, it was easy to remove the steering box and replace the seal on the bench.