Bushing Caution

Ferrari Message Board Archive 10/00-8/02
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Bushing Caution

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Posted by Dave

I bought both sets of bushings for my cars a few years back when Cornes Motors was still in business as San Diego's authorized Ferrari dealership. For some unknown reason, they had quite a wide variety of
suspension bushings for the 250 cars. Although they're gone, I'll bet that Bill Rudd or Re-Originals (can never recall that guy's name) will be able to help you.

Be aware, though, that the little steel tube spacer for the link eye is NOT a part of any replacement set, so preserve them like they're made of Unobtainium. They appear to be a metric size and I haven't been able
to source an exact replacement although I'm sure it could be done with enough persistence. They're important to control the compression of the two conical rubber bushings, but to still allow the link to freely pivot on the mounting point on the lower spring bucket.

I learned a lot of the basics of car restoration as a glassy-eyed 18-year-old, hanging around a retired airline pilot in my hometown who had a great collection that included a '47 MG TC, a '36 Alvis and six prewar Roll Royce. I helped out on his 1921 Silver Ghost that had come off a farm in Australia where it reportedly had been pressed into service pulling a plow (!). The transmission case was about as wide as my desk, so I guess the plow horse story might really have been true.
My first job was to clean all the rodent droppings out of the interior.Two buckets-full.

Anyhow, he taught me to never throw any part away until you're holding its proper replacement in your hand -- and maybe not even then. It's a maxim that's saved me a couple of times. So I pass it on to you, knowing it's application on the suspension bits.
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Re: Bushing Caution

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Posted by Tom

I'm saving the bushings, and sleeves, but one of them is pretty rusty. I'll see if I can clean it up, but the surface will never be smooth. I'd imagine Francois and I could machine a SAE sleeve to the metric size if we have to.

Speaking of saving parts. For years, Francois had this jack bar(for lack of a better name) that is used to raise a Ferrari 250LM. It looks similar to the ones they use on the F1 cars in the pits. These large tube frame pieces that are specifically designed to raise a particular car, fitting in the receiver points on the car's chassis. This jack has been sitting in front of Francois' shop rusting away since he aquired it after he was a chief mechanic for NART. He and his wife have threatened to throw it away after tripping over it, but Francois always pulled it out of the trash after having a change of heart.

This week, I stopped by his shop, and Francois was cleaning the rust off the old jack bar. He told me an LM owner contacted him and offered to buy the jack to use at the track for his LM! After all, it was an authentic piece of Ferrari equipment. So once again, what was once garbage, is now a Ferrari relic!

Tom

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Re: Bushing Caution

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Posted by Dave


That's a great story about the racing jack -- and so true about trash turning
to treasure. It absolutely kills me to think of the great cars -- Ferrari and
otherwise -- that wound up on the scrap heap because the current owner had no
use/interest/room for it. Probably the best known example is the odd character
in rural Ohio who resolutely left a Ferrari GTO to disintegrate in a corner of
a field for 20-odd years. And although that car was evetnually saved, think of
how many more went to the crusher or just crumbled into a heap of rust
needlessly.
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Re: Bushing Caution

Post by wwwboard »

Posted by Dave


That's a great story about the racing jack -- and so true about trash turning
to treasure. It absolutely kills me to think of the great cars -- Ferrari and
otherwise -- that wound up on the scrap heap because the current owner had no
use/interest/room for it. Probably the best known example is the odd character
in rural Ohio who resolutely left a Ferrari GTO to disintegrate in a corner of
a field for 20-odd years. And although that car was evetnually saved, think of
how many more went to the crusher or just crumbled into a heap of rust
needlessly.
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Re: Bushing Caution

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Posted by Tom

Francois often tells me of boxes of Ferrari parts being thrown out when various shops closed. I can't imagine what was thrown out when the famous Chinetti shop shut down!

We we chatting about belly pans the other day, and the fact that my car didn't have one. Francois led me to the back of his shop to show me a stack of belly pans he had stored. He told me how in the seventies when customers brought heir cars in for service, the belly pans would always get in the way of clutch adjustments, and greasings. Many times these pans were removed and never replaced. When the shop closed years later, Francois took half of them, often using them for srcap aluminum! WHo knew?

Tom
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Re: Bushing Caution

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Posted by Tom

Francois often tells me of boxes of Ferrari parts being thrown out when various shops closed. I can't imagine what was thrown out when the famous Chinetti shop shut down!

We we chatting about belly pans the other day, and the fact that my car didn't have one. Francois led me to the back of his shop to show me a stack of belly pans he had stored. He told me how in the seventies when customers brought heir cars in for service, the belly pans would always get in the way of clutch adjustments, and greasings. Many times these pans were removed and never replaced. When the shop closed years later, Francois took half of them, often using them for srcap aluminum! WHo knew?

Tom
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Re: Bushing Caution

Post by wwwboard »

Posted by Tom

Francois often tells me of boxes of Ferrari parts being thrown out when various shops closed. I can't imagine what was thrown out when the famous Chinetti shop shut down!

We we chatting about belly pans the other day, and the fact that my car didn't have one. Francois led me to the back of his shop to show me a stack of belly pans he had stored. He told me how in the seventies when customers brought heir cars in for service, the belly pans would always get in the way of clutch adjustments, and greasings. Many times these pans were removed and never replaced. When the shop closed years later, Francois took half of them, often using them for srcap aluminum! WHo knew?

Tom
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