Winter Projects

[tyang]

Hello All,

Everyone knows what I'm up to for my winter projects, but what are you guys doing? I know Michael Greenspan is having some interior work done, Yale's having new wheel bearings put in, and there's a bare metal respray of a GTE going on in the Netherlands, but what about everyone else? I know the guys in warmer climates are still driving and enjoying their cars on the road, but for those of us who hole up inside for the winter, we need something else to do!

Tom

[william]

Hi Tom,

I'm still working on my brakes. I plan on taking the hvac off and sending out for rebuild. Also going to send off my licenses plate bracket ( euro type) off for recrome. probably use paul's chrome. Any other thoughts on a good reasonable chrome shop?

[tyang]

I know someone else who's going to give Paul's chrome a shot. It'll be interesting to see how they do. Please let us know!

Tom

[Art S.]

Hi Tom,

My winter project is a continuation of last summer's project! Francois still has my car... Actually, my winter project may become your winter project if you keep spending time at Francois' shop. Do you know if he has you scheduled to do stuff on my car?

Regards,

Art S.

PS. I'm getting my hands dirty improving the E-36 BMW M3 I bought my wife.

[tyang]

Hi Art,

My winter project is a continuation of last summer's project! Francois still has my car... Actually, my winter project may become your winter project if you keep spending time at Francois' shop. Do you know if he has you scheduled to do stuff on my car?

I have not worked at Francois' since completing the GTC suspension. I think he has a 500 Superfast coming in that he'll put me on, so until then, I'll be working on my Mustang.

Tom

[Rudy van Daalen Wetters]

Hi Tom,

I have pulled the shocks off the GTE and had them rebuilt by a reputable company in Canoga Park (CA) not far form my work. The look and feel great. During this process, I discovered two broken leaf springs. I brought the springs to Deaver Spring Co. in Santa Ana and they called and reported even more broken leafs when they took everything apart. The basically said to throw them away due to the rust and pitting. The thin leaf material used on these springs is presenting a big problem and not available per Deaver. I have beckoned Tom S. to try to find some spring assemblies but the hunt continues. Meanwhile, the car remains on jack stands and the thought of not having driven it in a while is becoming quite irritating.

Any advise on leaf springs or remakes would be appreciated.

Rudy van Daalen Wetters
1963 GTE 4001 (on stands)
1966 330 GT s/n 8705

[tyang]

Hi Rudy,

Michael Greenspan recently went through leaf spring replacement on his 330 America, and may be able to share his thoughts and research. These springs on a Ferrari are very tricky as they arch into the shape of a "U" when released from their retainers. Spring manufacturers don't often see springs like these and often offer to replace them with conventional leaf springs. I don't know why Ferrari used such springs, but there had to be a reason.

Good luck!

Tom

[jsa330]

I do major automotive projects in summer, then drive and do minor projects during the winter.
It's nice here from mid Sept through mid May, then 4 solid months of 95F+ temps...too hot for me and the 330, except very early morning.

This summer I got the instruments rebuilt and an electronic ignition conversion done, plus a lot of odds and ends on Saturdays during the 2-month shop stay.

In early Sept the clutch plate disintegrated on a 5000 RPM+ first-second upshift; I had to have the clutch and pressure plate assembly replaced. Set me back a few bills, but no other components were damaged...only thing else needed was to have the flywheel resurfaced. I'm counting my blessings.

[David Booth]

New rear springs are also one of the many items on my winter list, and got the same bad news as Rudy when I took the cabriolet's springs to a local shop. I had a couple of broken leaves and the others had bent around the breaks in the companion leaves. The pitting also made mine candidates for the scrap heap.

The solution appears to be to use modern replacement material, but to arch them to ride correctly given the car's weight, and to maintain the correct section thickness (the cabriolet's rear springs are like seven leaves tall) and also the width so the bushings and shackles will all work.

There's a local shop here in San Diego that Zac recommended to me a while back, and they seem willing to tackle the job (they do spring work for Jay Leno's cars as well). I'll move this to the top of the list and let you know how it goes. As a note, they estimated $1,600-1,700 for a pair of scratch-built assemblies, less the nylon interleaving and the bushings, which we'll have to source ourselves as well.

[sam231]

I delivered the car to it's winter home (IFS,Inc.) tuesday. It was snowing, and I wish had a picture of the car sitting outside my covered with the white stuiff, very pretty. Fortunately the snow was light and no salt trucks out. Anyway, John will be replacing the transmission bearings, and while it is out we will check out the synchros, and maybe put a little extra padding in the transmission tunnel to deaden noise. The deck behind the back seat has to be refitted, a new (old) radio installed, I will be taking the drivers seat down to an upholstery shop to have new foam installed. And lastly, while the car is on the lift, we will check to see if weep holes were drilled in the muffler pipes. Also, very little heat comes through when the heater is on so that area awill be checked as well. Could actually be a relatively inexpensive winter sojurn for a change!

[Jim Wickstead]

Hi Tom,

Winter projects.

I plan to pull the engine on the 330 GTC and give it a check-up and detailing. I rebuilt it in 85 so it's due for a refreshing. No problems except an oil leak through the pan. I recall cleaning the paint from the inside of the pan and not replacing it. Now casting porocity expresses itself on my garage floor. Nice chance to clean up the engine bay and otherwise check for problems.

250 Shorty is clicking its wheels together in this cooler air, but he will go into storage this weekend removing the temptation to drive in the snow.

Meanwhile, the Abarth sits waiting. The little guy always gets the short stick. Being bigger is better.

Regards,

Jim

[Bryan P]

Winter work
Queen mother. Replacing the levelers. The existing units already pulled; will take 30 minutes to put the new ones on. Drive it til it snows.

500 Mondial. Continue to help dad w/ engine and transaxle rebuild. Periodic trips out to David Carte's to see chassis/body work.

MGA. Porting and polishing an early MGB 1800 head to put on the MGA's 1600 motor. Install electronic ignition and new coil. Set up rebuilt SUs. Have radiator boiled out and repainted; add big ol' electric assist fan. Add fuses to some existing circuits since a lot of the original circuits are not fused - a mis-grounded dash light can easily cause a fire!

[whturner]

Project:
Pull Tranny and get rebuild - when the rest of the mechanics were redone and we were running out of time, it was just resealed and regasketed. But 4th Gear has a bad vibration - sounds like a bearing. MIght as well do the whole thing, even though the syncros et al are OK. Will also check drive shaft balance.
Also, work on cleaning up a lot of things which have been untouched for many years.

Cheers
Warren

[Keith Milne]

FINISH THE #*$&$)@#(&$# CAR!!!! I'm finally beginning to see the proverbial light - but not sure if its the end of the tunnel or something more ominous. Will update my site as soon as it stops raining and I get a few shots.

[tyang]

Thanks for the reports guys! The irony here in the Northeast is with all this preparing for the winter, it's actually turned out to be very mild. I could have driven my car a little more before putting it away for its engine rebuild! Now I'm wondering if I can finish it in time before the first snow!!!

Tom