Ferrari 250PF Coupe Details: Nuts, Coils, and Stickers



The shape of acorn nuts can be a topic of discussion for hours, but when you see the obvious difference between the wrong one (left) and the right one (right), it’s kind of hard to un-see. This particular nut is found on 250 engine cars. It’s not the normal M6x1.0 cadmium plated two piece acorn nut found on the rest of the valve covers fasteners, but is the only M8x1.0 acorn nut on a Ferrari. It secures the water pipe to the engine block between the heads at the front of the engine. This is not only an uncommon nut, but also harder to find as an acorn nut, in white cadmium and has the proper shoulder. Luckily, Newco Products has them, and he charges accordingly due to its rarity! It’s a small detail, but is very obvious if a judge knows what he’s looking for, so I wasn’t leaving anything to chance in a Ferrari Concours!

Moving onto the next anal detail was the color of the coils. I felt the red paint used to paint the coils was too bright, and tried to find something darker. My first attempt didn’t see much difference (top), so I had to find darker paint. There was some discussion that the coils may have started out in a brighter red, and darkened through time due to the heat the ignition system generated, but whatever the case, I wanted darker.

My next attempt was better, but the camera seemed to pick up more of a scarlet color that was not there in person. Color perception is very subjective, and it’s made even more variable with automatic color correction made by our digital cameras and cell phone cameras. Whatever the case, I liked the result and am going with it!

I believe batteries are considered consumable items on a Ferrari, so they shouldn’t judge the type of battery used as long as the correct size if fitted, but I wanted to swap out the blue Bosch unit for something that looked a little more period correct.

I used to install reproduction “lead top” batteries with gel cell technology, but in recent years of supply chain issues, getting one made to specifications in a timely manner has been a challenge. I moved towards conventional lead acid batteries simply because they’re readily available and I can make them look close to period correct without to much effort.

With all the modern stickers removed, and a reproduction decal installed, the battery looks more at home in the engine compartment of a Vintage Ferrari. It may not get points added, but it lends itself to the overall presentation of this car for a show.