If you saw the video I posted this week (click on the picture), then you know I had shoulder surgery! I sometimes feel the warranty on body has expired, but I guess that’s the sign of old age. Whatever the case, I now have to face several weeks of life with my arm immobile in sling as the repair to my rotator cuff heals, followed by rehabilitation of my right arm. I injured my shoulder this past summer, but waited until February so I could get some of the pressing Ferrari work done before surgery.

Before I went in for surgery, I managed to get the timing chain case off the 400GT. It was pretty greasy, and will get cleaned up and inspected.

The water pump and oil pumps on these engines are integrated, and tricky to get out, but I managed to get it out without breaking anything. I was fortunate enough to get copies of shop manuals for this car in English, but even with instructions, it was not very clear. I took great care taking things apart knowing any broken piece on this engine would be nearly impossible to replace!

With the engine out of the car, I was able to pull the rear main cap to inspect the condition of the crank, have better access to the rear main seal, and reach two little o-rings that are hidden on the studs on the rear main cap.

After surgery, one of first jobs to keep things moving forward was to send the water pump housing from the 275GTS out for some machine work. There was a water pump leak on this car that was recently purchased, and I decided to upgrade the seal. The original seal had its faults, and Ferrari upgraded this seal with the four cam 365 engines. They replaced a steel plate that sealed the carbon seal against the impeller with a ceramic part. These parts proved to be more durable and less susceptible to corrosion and failure.

To install the newer seals, the original water pump body needed to be machined to accept the larger seal.

The larger seal with the ceramic insert is 41mm, and the original seal was about 38 mm. There was plenty of material of the older water pumps to accept this new seal, but I needed to send this out to a machinist to do the work. I have a Bridgeport at my shop, and although I’m learning how to use it, I’m still not confident enough to machine irreplaceable parts like this water pump housing if I make a mistake!

The new design of the seal kind of reverses the way the water pump seal works, but allows less wear between the rotating parts.

Once I get the parts machined, I’ll to have custom fit a sleeve on the water pump shaft, but at least my lathe skills can do that operation. I’ll do a full post about this water pump upgrade when I have all the pieces together!