An expensive mistake

[330GT]

I recently sent the carbs from my PF coupe off to Mike Pierce at Pierce Manifolds (http://www.piercemanifolds.com) to have them rebuilt.

The previous owner had them powder coated, but never rebuilt.

Mike and I had a long conversation the other day after he had gone over the carbs. In addition to missing parts (which I knew about), it turns out that the heat used for the powder coating melted the lead plugs that Weber used to block off the drilled holes used in the passages for the various circuits in the body.

So it will take many hours of testing and cleaning of each drilled hole to make the carbs whole again. The holes get checked with special correctly sized rods. Each hole has a known depth, so if the rod doesn't go in as far as needed, it gets cleaned with a 4 sided reamer with a flat bottom like an end mill. Mike says that some of the tolerances are so close that the angled tip of a drill bit would go through into another cavity or hole, hence the flat bottom. Then each circuit gets blocked off and vacuum tested.

Since this is such an unknown, the rebuild will be done on a time and materials basis, but Mike says he could see up to $2K per carb, plus the cost of stripping and replating incorrectly done parts and getting the bodies powder coated correctly. Mike uses a place that uses low temperature powder so the lead plugs don't melt. He also says that it takes hours and hours using an ultra sonic cleaner with different solutions to remove the 60 years of fuel and oil that have been embedded in the pores of the bodies (these are sand cast carbs) so the powder coating sticks properly.

A warning to the wise, use an expert for carb rebuilds. See http://www.parrotbyte.com/kbc/ferrari/PFCoupe/Carbs.htm for the whole saga.

[250GT]

Hello Kerry,
Maybe I can brighten up your day a little bit.
In 1997 I also dicide to overhaul my 3X40DCL-6 carbs at an" expertcompany "in Holland.
the made in every classic car magazine BIG announcements.
I drove my car #1913GT to that company by own power.
I was not able to synchrone properly anymore.
estimate costs before" repair" 6000DM now 3000€.
After finisching 7500Dm or 4500€.
after picking up the car I mention the whole right left wing was smashed the bumper compleetly trasch including lamps and back up light.
They made a testdrive with the car after backwards parking they met with a big companyvan.
there explanation :brakefalure
So with otherwords my fault.
I was furieus the car could drive home to Germany on own force after paying of course.
I had to go to court the were not willing to pay the total cost for that "old" car.
The way back to Germany about 300K Km was over after 150Km highway.
The carbs were overflowing by fuel, car could have burned down .
Thanks heaven it was winter and cold.

here the "experts"
http://www.bccp.nl/uk/indexgb.htm

OH.OH the carbs were done a SECOND time by Giovanni P. in Turino( Italy)
and other 3500€ gone. and perfect work
So if I count right 8000€(1997) is 11000 USD now. not in 2010

Cornelis

[330GT]

Of course, there are 'experts' and the real ones who know what they are doing.

What I am hoping is that none of them are ruined. Mike is going to do the cleaning and testing first to make sure that each body is OK. Of course, there will be oversize throttle shafts and I am still missing one gear. Mike only has two, so I might have to get one cast for the third carb. At least the two that Mike has are NOS, so if I do have to cast one, I have a good source for the mold. As he has 40 on backorder from 1999, he said that he'll take a bunch so at least the mold cost will be amoritized over all of them.

[tyang]

Hi Kerry,

I've got my fingers crossed for you. Thanks for sharing. It's little pieces of knowledge like how hot to powdercoat the pieces that could save someone from making the same mistake again. Think of the head banging one could have trying to tune these carbs without the knowledge that the lead plugs were screwed up.

Tom

Of course, there are 'experts' and the real ones who know what they are doing.

What I am hoping is that none of them are ruined. Mike is going to do the cleaning and testing first to make sure that each body is OK. Of course, there will be oversize throttle shafts and I am still missing one gear. Mike only has two, so I might have to get one cast for the third carb. At least the two that Mike has are NOS, so if I do have to cast one, I have a good source for the mold. As he has 40 on backorder from 1999, he said that he'll take a bunch so at least the mold cost will be amoritized over all of them.

[Al Pezzella]

Hi Kerry,
I'm really sorry to hear about the mishap, I hope that you're getting some support from the comp. that did the powdercoating because that's allot of money to fix the problem.

Regards, Al Pezzella

[330GT]

Hi Kerry,
I'm really sorry to hear about the mishap, I hope that you're getting some support from the comp. that did the powdercoating because that's allot of money to fix the problem.

Regards, Al Pezzella

Since the power coating was done by the previous owner, I don't know the company, nor would have much recourse even if I knew.

[330GT]

Some good news. I located the missing gears NOS in the UK at a place called eurocarb ltd (http://www.dellorto.com) and they are on the way to me now.

The internet is wonderful for locating parts, never would have found these in the old days.

[klv]

The official Weber parts place over here is called Webcon (www.webcon.co.uk) but a fair number of parts for the earlier model carbs are no longer available. Worth checking their site and enquiring with them in need though I guess. I did note on my last visit there that Ferrari Classic Parts over here had a lot of old Weber stuff on the shelf as well - right up to complete carbs. Good luck with your search.

[330GT]

The NOS gears, last few in the world:

[Jimmyr]

Last time I was at GT Parts in Phoenix, Bill Young had lots of old Weber parts from used carbs in his stocks, and a call could yield some of your needs. Jim

[330GT]

Last time I was at GT Parts in Phoenix, Bill Young had lots of old Weber parts from used carbs in his stocks, and a call could yield some of your needs. Jim

Jimmy, thanks for the tip. As far as I know, I've either made or located everything, but I'll keep Bill in mind if some other part is needed.

[330GT]

Got an email from Pierce today. The carbs are done and the bill is only $3784.02, so with the parts I bought plus shipping, etc., just a little less that 4K. About 1/2 of what it could have been.

Also had a long talk with Mike Pierce. He has a Weber catalog from 1964. These carbs are listed with a retail price of $39 each!

[tyang]

It's funny. Only here can you throw numbers like this and justify how it was actually cheap!

Tom