Ferrari 330GT Returns from Paint



The long awaited return of the Blu Sera Ferrari 330GT finally came. I had to move a lot of things in my shop out of the way to pull the trailer containing the car inside to help with load out. It was a little bit harrowing as the car was mounted on a dolly with wheels that would hang up inside the trailer. I created a tug of war with the trailer’s winch and my forklift to guide the car straight off the trailer without hitting the sides and scratching the paint.

After a couple of hours of careful planning and maneuvering, I got the car off the dolly and on jack stands where she’ll sit until I get the suspension back on the car.

The amount of work would seem insurmountable, but since I’ve done this several times, it only happens one step at a time, and forward steady work will get it done! I started with details that I’ve learned to check early on to avoid issues later on in the restoration. One of these details was to check the seat mounting points and whether the capture nuts are working properly.

SII 330s have fiberglass floors but the seat rails are welded to structure connected to the steel frame. Checking the mounting points for the seat now insures that any needed repairs requiring cutting or welding can be done before anything else gets installed.

I already discovered my first issue and that was relocating the seat belt mounts. The previous owner anchored the seat belts to the floor pan with large flat washers as I see in a lot of vintage cars, but when the floors are made out of fiberglass, there wasn’t any strength to these anchors in the event of an accident. I’ll have to figure out a good mounting point that will tie into a steel structure and not interfere with any interior components like the transmission tunnel or seat sliders.

The wiring harness was taped up to keep from painting it all, but I had to carefully remove all of it so I could start assessing the wiring.

I think the wiring will clean up well, but the frame sections in the engine compartment will need some clean up and painting. The brake lines will be removed and replaced.

This photo represents a list of work I have to do against the firewall. The oil pressure hose will have to be removed to replace it with a new one after the fittings are cleaned and plated. The main fuel line will have to removed and replaced with new steel lines that will get the fittings silver soldered in place. The small return fuel line will also replaced and routed back to the fuel tank. The throttle cable and linkage will need to be removed, cleaned and re-greased. The hood release mechanism will have to be disassembled cleaned, painted, and put back in service. Finally, the defroster drain tubes will have to be removed and replaced with new hoses and clamps.

There was plenty of work under the dash as well. Despite any effort to label a wiring harness, I have always had labels fall off, or get painted over, but luckily, this wasn’t too bad. There was also signs that someone had done the usual shade tree repairs on the harness in its past, so all of this will have to deciphered and repaired.

Here’s a YouTube Video of the day that the 330 came back to my shop.