I was changing the oil on a Ferrari 330GTC when I found the oil pan plug super tight, and when I went to replace the drain plug, me fears of stress on the oil pan plug came true when the thread pulled out. After years of over tightening the oil pan plug from another shop, the thread decided to pull out on me!

Before getting the threads repaired, I first needed to clean the the oil pan. There was a bunch of sludge and thick oil oil trapped in the baffles that does not drain out at every oil change, and through the years, it builds up in these channels. Now was the the time to clean all this sludge out.

The owner told me the oil pan had always leaked a little, and when I was removing the old gasket material, I could see why. This oil pan had a machined surface on the surface for the gasket, but the grooves were probably allowing a little oil to seep by.

There were deeper gouges from a worn gasket scraper that left some deeper scratches that were also contributing to the leaks. Hopefully a light smear of RTV will help seal this oil pan to the bottom of the sump.

I shot a video of the process and it can be found here: https://youtu.be/oSHg61xUjkU?si=–44eug90Xlr80DC&t=932

I removed the fuel filter assembly on the North Carolina GTC I had at my shop to replace the filter. Normally, it can be done inside the car, but I suspected it was going to need a little more work than just changing the filter.

There was a lot of rust and sediment inside the filter bowl, and the spring at the bottom of the filter housing was rusted in place. It was no longer adding tension to the filter assembly so this may have been the source of the debris getting to the carburetors.

Oftentimes, this the bolt and washer assembly that secures the filter bowl to the upper plate will not clear the chassis during filter change, so the aluminum washer that seals the bolt can’t be replaced. This can be reused a couple of times, but will eventually leak. Pulling the whole assembly out allowed me to put new washer and chance to clean everything up.

I planned to bead blast the interior of the filter bowl after scraping all the old rubber gasket material that had fused to the assembly.

I got a new filter, spring and gasket ready for reassembly. I tried my best to preserve the original markings on the filter housing as it’s only original once.

Sometimes one picture can represent more time than it looks! I wanted to replace the rear transmission mount on the blue 330GT I’m restoring before installing the transmission for the final time. It turns out this silent block bushing is not a very common part, and had to come from Maranello Parts in the UK. I put the order in, and waited a couple of weeks for it to arrive. Knowing better than to cut out the old one until I had the replacement part in my hand, I waited to check all the dimensions to make sure it would fit the transmission before I drilled out the old rubber bushing and cut the old one out. There were several methods to get the old bushing sleeve out, but I opted to cut most of the steel sleeve out with a reciprocating saw just before I touched the aluminum of the transmission body. I made two cuts that relieved some of the holding pressure of the bushing and hammered the collar the rest of the way out. The new one fit a little looser than the original one by just a thousandth or two of an inch, so I used some loctite to hold the bushing in place.

The NC Ferrari 330GTC had some trash in the bowls of the carburetor, and some of it got into an accelerator pump squirter when the car first arrived at the shop, and I felt eventually this trash would get sucked into the rest of the carb and cause problems. The best plan of attack was to clean the carbs out, and change the fuel filters.

The carburetors looked a little dirty, and showed the usual signs of a few leaks over the years.

After a disassembly and ultrasonic cleaning, I got most of the staining off, but more importantly removed the gum and loose debris in the bowls.

On the other side of my shop, I had a fuse panel to clean. No matter how well something is wrapped when a car is painted, it’s inevitable paint over spray, dust, and debris will make it through. I also wanted to clean all the electrical contacts while I was in there to make sure everything was working properly.

I took all the fuses out, cleaned all the contacts, and and made sure the fuses were nice and tight in the holders.

As I was disconnecting each wire and cleaning the connections, I noticed one of the junction blocks was melted and distorted from overheating. This particular junction block connected the main power feed from the battery and distributed it to the rest of the fuse panel, so a deteriorating connection probably caused the top left screw in lug to overheat and melt the holder.

I’ve seen similar junction blocks for sale out there somewhere and put the word out on my YouTube Channel in a new segment call “Ferrari Mechanic Struggle of the Week! I’m trying my best to post to this blog, but I hope you’re seeing the efforts I’m putting into the videos!

Kevin Moak responded immediately and offered to send me a used one that was in perfect shape. Thanks Kevin for your help and generosity. Clint, the owner of this 330 and I very much appreciate the help!

I got a new 330GTC in the shop today that came from North Carolina. The current owner bought this car back in 1984 and has owned it every since!

It looks like an original paint car, and although faded and a little dull, has the honesty of a well used original car.

The engine has the same look and the owner sent the car to me to change out the fuel and oil lines, along with any thing else I might see that this old girl might need to keep her safe and performing onto the future.

The first thing I noticed was the mechanical fuel pump was leaking so I took it out of the car to find a cracked diaphragm. The owner told me it was weeping on occasion, but by the time it arrived in NY, it was leaving a trail of fuel all the way into my shop!

The original check valves were replaced with aftermarket valves, but I was able to find a set of gaskets to fit and seal them, so I replaced what I could to make this fuel pump work again.

The next thing on my list of to-do was to figure out why the fuel gauge wasn’t working. I grounded out the wires to the gauge to make sure it was working properly, but when I removed the sender from the tank, I found the rust on the sender was not passing any voltage to the wiring harness. Rust had gotten between the rivets that secured the electrical contact not allowing any current to flow through the sender. I’ll send this unit out to be completely rebuilt, and we should be back in business!

Here’s the video and test drive of the Ferrari 330GTC. The YouTube videos are starting to get some traction as more people are hearing about them. I’m trying to split my time between creating content to my blog that has been around for more than 25 years, and YouTube/Social Media content. I feel the blog allows me to dive deeper into the repairs than the casual viewership of YouTube, but all the platforms are important to bring Vintage Ferrari Enthusiasts together. Please watch and share my content with your like minded friends so we can keep building this community and grow the next generation!

I’m trying to get the engine installed in the 330GT 2+2 I’m restoring at my shop, but there are so many little details that I have to address before start up. One of them being the starter heat shield that seems to be missing on this car. Luckily, I had one from another 330 at my shop to copy. It clamps to the exhaust headers and protects the starter from the heat of the exhaust.

I fabricated one with similar dimensions, but used a modern fiberglass and aluminum heat shield material than what was probably asbestos on the original piece.

The owner and I decided to install modern cooling fans on his car to aid in the cooling of the 4 fliter engine. I have found the capacity of the cooling system is usually adequate to keep the engine cool in traffic, but it’s the air flow that could use help. Since this car will be living in Florida, it needs as much air flow possible to keep the engine from overheating. Even if this car is driven for pleasure, there will eventually be a time when it will be caught in traffic, and we will be glad we added this measure of safety.

Since this was a non-air conditioned car, there was plenty of room to fit this dual fan set up in front of the radiator. I used some of the original brackets to secure the assembly in place.

I have a brand new reproduction Abarth exhaust ready to install on this car, but I needed to install the exhaust clamps. This car still had the original exhaust clamps attached to the old rotted exhaust, so I was able to salvage them, clean them up, and fit them to the new exhaust. These original style clamps have to be installed on the pipes before the exhaust is installed, so they’re a pain in the butt to work with, but will add that little detail that will make this car period correct!

I’ve had this Nijinski Green Ferrari 365GTC/4 at my shop for a while. It came in a poorly running state and I’ve been slowly getting it back to road readiness. There has been some issues with the oil mixing with the coolant, and before we start jumping to conclusions on what it could be, I wanted to try my best at positively identifying the problem.

The first problem was the car wasn’t idling well, so I couldn’t even get the car to operating temperatures, so had to clean out the carburetors and get the needles and floats freed up. Once I had the carburetors cleaned up, I was able to get the car moving under its own power.

I noticed the ignition system didn’t seem to be advancing correctly as it seemed to be down in power and responsiveness. I decided to check timing and look closer at the distributors. The 7/12 bank was not in time with the engine, and needed adjustment, but when I took the distributor out to check the operation on the bench, it stopped working. It was firing the spark plugs while it was in the car, but when I looked closer, I found the points spring had snapped in half! It must have happened within seconds of my turning on my distributor machine. I’ve had these springs break before, but I’m glad it happened in the shop than on the road! You can see the normally blue steel spring was pretty rusty and can happen when a car is stored in humid or climates near the sea. I sent the distributors out to Dave North in NJ for a complete overhaul, and waited for them to come back so I could continue sorting the car out.

A couple days later, I got a call from the owner telling me he got invited to The Bridge Event, an invitation only car show in Bridgehampton Long Island. “But that’s two weeks from today!” was my response. The owner asked if I thought his car could make it in time for this show, and I explained, not only did I have the distributors out of the car for rebuilding, I hadn’t had a chance to even drive the car yet. There was also a logistical challenge because every local transporter that moves high end exotic cars in the NYC area was probably booked to move a car out to this prestigious show, so getting a spot on a truck might be near impossible. I would also have to book a last minute detailer to clean and polish the car a day before the pickup. I told the owner I would call him back and started making calls. I arranged to meet Dave North at Lime Rock over Labor Day Weekend at the show we would both be attending to get the distributors back. I called Chris my transporter, and arranged one of his guys to come up to my shop the day after his return from vacation to jump into his truck and grab this Ferrari to deliver the car to the owner for the show the Friday before the show. I also called my local detailer to receive this car on Thursday to do his job cleaning and polishing. My last call was to tell my customer it was possible if everything went as planned, and crossed my fingers I could deliver.

The story ends with the car making it to the Hamptons for the The Bridge. The owner got great placement right across from the main lounge and bar area. He invited me to attend so I made the four hour drive out to Bridgehampton and stayed in Sag Harbor at a friend’s house. Thanks Rich and Caitlin!

Here’s the video of the first drives and diagnosis of the problem.

My Saturday at Monterey came with a little disappointment, but with the potential for great things. I found myself at my favorite coffee shop in Monterey, The Paris Bakery, for an almond croissant. It was a consolation to missing Concorso Italiano that morning. I had bought a ticket to the show, and was looking forward to seeing some friends and their cars at this big Italian Car show, but the schedule at Casa Ferrari was conflicting. Concorso’s doors weren’t allowing spectators on grounds until 10am, and I had to be at Pebble beach in the morning to move some cars for the Casa Ferrari event. With traffic in Monterey, even if I could get into Concorso early, I would have never made it across town to make it over to the Transporter lot in Pebble Beach to do what I came out to Monterey to do!

After breakfast, I headed over to unload the cars and get them ready for the morning drive to stage them for the parade of Ferraris onto Pebble Beach later in the day.

Joe came out to meet us at the parking lot to look at the cars. He had not seen this car since it came from Italy after a restoration, so he was excited to see the car back in its original configuration with the 196SP V-6 engine fitted.

Steve was going to give the 1959 Testa Rossa to me drive for the Casa Ferrari Event, and when Joe heard I was driving his $8 figure car, he asked if I had ever driven it before!? Considering there are three 1959 TRs in the world, and they’re all priceless pieces of Ferrari history, my answer was no.

But considering, I have driven a V-12 Ferrari many times, and a 6 carburetor set up with a race camshaft on another car, and a non synchronized gear box in another, technically I have driven Joe’s 59TR in the sum of its parts. I guess I gave him enough confidence as the owner to allow me to drive his car, so off we went!

I arrived at the parking lot across from Spanish Bay where Ferrari was staging the cars for the drive onto Pebble Beach. It was not without drama, as both the Dino SP and the 59TR were not happy idling along in traffic in the Pebble Beach residential areas as we drove over to the meeting place. Both Steve and I had to play the fancy foot work of keeping the revs up on the engines, lowering it just enough to engage the clutch, and creep forward at four way stop signs. The non synchro gear box added a little more challenge matching revs to keep the car moving forward at such a slow pace. Luckily, electric fans were added to the TR, but it didn’t help with carbs when things got a little warm.

The plan was to leave for the lawn at Pebble Beach with all the gathered Ferraris in a parade of cars. As we were getting ready to leave, Lucia, from Ferrari North America asked me if I had an open seat in the Testa Rossa. We were still figuring out who would ride with whom, but I asked who needed a ride?

Lucia responded, “Giacomo, from Classiche. He’s here from Italy…”

“Giacomo?! Giacomo Tropea?!” I said. “Get him over here, we have to talk!”

I happily gave Giacomo a ride in the TR, finally putting a face to a name I’ve seen for years in my Classiche Certifications I’ve done through the years.

As we drove onto Pebble Beach, Brian Kimball caught this shot of me driving the TR leading the way of a parade of Ferraris. Talk about an epic picture. Thanks Brian!

You can watch the video I shot of that fabulous car, and hear that wonderful engine!

One of the things I’ve been doing it helping my friend Steve with cars that he manages for his friends Joe and Larry. Larry owns the silver Long Wheelbase California Spyder that you may have seen from a couple years ago when I drove it on the Casa Ferrari event and the exhaust fell off during the event! The 196SP Dino and 1959 250 Testa Rossa belonged to Joe, and our job for the weekend was to shuttle these three cars between events and put them where the people at Ferrari wanted to display the cars.

I’ve been fortunately invited to attend the Casa Ferrari event for several years now, but it’s not an easy ticket to get. People say the hottest and hardest ticket to get during the Monterey weekend is The Quail Motorsports Gathering at about $1500 dollars, but I would argue the Ferrari ticket is even harder! My ticket is included with Steve when he requests tickets, but if you’re a regular Ferrari owner and want to get a ticket to the Casa Ferrari event in Monterery, the process entails having to submit your request to your local dealership. Each dealership is allotted a limited amount to tickets so agreeing to bring a show car they would like to see at the owner’s expense certainly helps than simply asking for a ticket. They take their submissions and send them to the Factory in Italy for review. The Factory reviews each application and decides it the entrant is in good standing and which cars are significant enough to display. Once selections are made, tickets are sold for thousands of dollars each and a select group of truly dedicated (and big spending) Ferrari owners are invited to join in the party!

The good news is the display of Ferraris on the upper lawn at Pebble Beach is free for all to see, and doesn’t even need a ticket to Pebble Beach Concours to see! The Casa Ferrari Lanyard and wristband gives you access to three days of hospitality, with food and drinks included. I heard the lanyards are color coded so Ferrari employees can spot the different levels of entrants just from the color of the badge. I spotted red ones, yellow ones, grey ones, and white and grey ones. I don’t know what my red one signified, but so long as I had a place to sit beyond the velvet ropes, I was happy! I have to agree the amenities are much appreciated, as it’s nice to have a quiet exclusive place to get a cold drink, or a meal without fighting the crowds for a seat down on the lawn at Pebble Beach.

On Friday of Car Week, Steve and I were tasked with giving a ride in a McLaren F1! The owner had his McLaren F1 up for sale on a closed bid auction at RM for the Monterey weekend, and there was a lot of interest on the car. One potential buyer had asked if he could be taken for a ride before submitting his bid. RM had called the owner and asked if they could fulfill that request. Taking his car off the display in the lobby of the Portola Hotel and Spa in Downtown Monterey would be quite a feat on a Friday afternoon of Monterey Car week let alone driving it out of the Hotel, but RM offered to move the car to another location for the test drive. The owner asked Steve if he could give the potential buyer a ride since he had driven the car several times before. We went to meet the truck with the car somewhere south of Monterey on highway one.

Even before the car arrived on the truck we were warned by people in their cars driving down Hwy 1 that a McLaren F1 was coming down the road! Little did they know the car was for us!

The McLaren F1 has become the halo car of Gen Z and Gen Xers. With its center seating position, and Formula One technology, it was a super car for the ages when it was first shown to the public in the 90s. At a million dollars when it was new, people were in awe that a new street car could cost so much, but through the decades this car has appreciated many times that amount. Rumor had it this car was expected to sell for something north of 20 million. It was no wonder the sight of this car on a beach side parking lot was stopping traffic going in both directions!

Steve always packs a pair of nomex racing shoes for the occasion that requires driving a car like a McLaren, but the sight of him changing into his racing shoes only caused more of the stir among the gathering crowd as they tried to guess who this special person was preparing to take this car out for a test drive!

I helped direct traffic and get Steve and his passenger out onto highway 1 for their drive, only to be followed by a string of kids making movies for instagram. It was quite the circus, but just another crazy moment during Car Week in Monterey!

Every year I try to do something different on my way to Monterey. This year I had dinner with an old friend and stayed in San Francisco. Since I try to stay on east coast time, I was up before dawn so I headed down the coast on Hwy 1.

The plan was to meet a friend of mine to review some cars up for auction and the first stop was RM Auctions in downtown Monterey.

After that, it was over to the Monterey Airport to pick up credentials for the Broad Arrow Auctions.

Broad Arrow has made the space at the airport really work for them as an auction space and a party venue for what used to be called the McCall’s Jet Center party which happens Wednesday Evening.

Thursday Morning was up early again to see the start of the Pebble Beach Tour D’elegance. A 7 am arrival still wasn’t early enough to catch the cars lining up for the front of the pack of cars on the tour.

Viewing the show cars on the tour is free, so the public gets to not only see the Pebble Beach Show cars, but also to hear them run and drive.

All the usual suspects were milling around the cars, and I met up with some old friends. I’ve been doing this stuff for over 25 years, and I met these four guys when we were all starting out our journey with cars over 2 decades ago. From left to right, Tom K began his collecting with vintage Ferraris and shocked us all when he started collecting (unkown it us) Japanese cars. Andy R, is in the Collector Car Insurance Business, but writes, talks, and is considered an expert (just ask him!). Matt O, is also in Auto Insurance too, but it several levels above Andy working for the juggernaut Hagerty! Next to Matt is Tim M, a detailer to the stars. I’m lucky he had time to stop for a photo with us plebes, as he’s usually advising some billionaire collector how to keep his car clean.

It’s funny how we all started out as young punks in this business and it seems like over night, we’ve become the Elder Statesmen! Time flies, but I am honored to know all of these guys!

With old friends, I am always excited to meet new ones. Richard Owen has a great YouTube Channel that followed his career working on a family business restoring Jaguars, but his passion also lies with Vintage Ferraris. I’ve been watching his content and made it a point to meet Richard and shake his hand in person. Going to Monterey for Car week can be expensive, crowded, and too busy, but where else in the world can you meet all these people affiliated with the cars I love?

Once the tour got underway, I headed over the the Gooding Christie’s Auction tent to look at more cars.

I always want to take a closer look at the 250GTEs for sale so I can get a handle on my 330 America’s value in the market. This looked like a nice car, and had most of the details correct. It’s hard to know how well the engine was done, or if the mechanicals were working properly, but It looked nice.

Parker Hall was looking too, and he agreed with my assessment. The auction result was $357,000 which in hindsight I thought was a pretty good price. Restoring a Vintage Ferrari is not for the faint of heart, or the light of wallet, so finding a car and having it restored usually doesn’t make sense. The price paid for this car would have easily exceeded the cost of restoration, so even if it needed a few things to correct, I think the buyer did OK. Where does that put. the market? I’m not sure. I worry that these early 60s Ferraris are starting to lose their desirability. Just like very few people my age found much interest in pre-war cars, I wonder if guys in their 30s and 40s today find interest in 60s Ferraris. The saving grace is Ferraris are rare, and it only takes a small percentage of 30 and 40 year olds to show interest, and all the available inventory of Vintage Ferraris is gone. The same might not be said for a 1965 Ford Fairlane, or Cutlass four door.