Does anyone have a picture of a 246gts engine compartment which would show the heat shield on the engine side of the bulkhead behind the seats? This is shown as item 12 on TAV 103 of the parts book and is called up as "Paratia isolante per vano motore". I think that this item is an alloy sheet which has an insulated backing but on many cars these are missing. Thanks for your help Dave
Driving home this afternoon i got thinking about this very same part on my car! and was going to post the very same question this evening! It is 'missing' on my car but the more i've studied it, i question the fact as to whether it was there from new or not?
I am finishing a very thorough (and long-term) restoration of my 1972 Dino. The rear bulkhead heat shield on my car has a thin metal base, with a very high-density black sponge-like insulation layer facing the engine. The insulation layer is approximately 1/4 inch thick. This was done a few years ago, and I can't remember where he got the shield from, but I can contact my restorer and ask him if he recalls the source, if you wish. I do remember that took some digging to find the right material. Hope this helps.
Any help gratefully received, especially if you have measurements / layout for the thin metal base. Are there any differences between the gt and gts models? Thanks Dave
My 5000 series 246 didn't have a bulkhead heat shield like my 7000 series GTS. I also saw a coupe in Italy with out the bulkhead heat shield. Remember some had the small heat shield attached to the front exhaust manifold.
Most GT's I have seen have a rubberized matt like mine [March '73 English delivered] held on by washers and rivets. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is my '71 GT with ruberized mat as well. Where can we get some oif this stuf???? Pietro Glendale AZ
I don't Know Pietro. When I did my restoration, I could not find anything the same. Some were similar, but people in the know would pick the difference. I had to use the original stuff. I would hate to try to replace it with the engine in. cheers peter
I was once told that the gts did not have this heat shield at all because of the problems of fitting the shield around the diagonal tubular bracing that is only on the gts model. Do other people back up this theory? Dave
This could be the case as although this mat as i said is missing on my GTs, there is what appears to be a heavy intumescent sprayed on barrier which both covers the firewall and encapsulates the cross bracing. If you poke it your finger goes through it to a soft material behind it! Graham.
I am going to resurrect this question as it seems to have died and we like a definitive answer if possible guys Regards Graham
I talked to my restorer yesterday. He told me he got the bulkhead heatshield material from Maranello Concessionaires in England. It is a 3/4 inch thick rubberized mat (black) that was installed while the drivetrain was out of the car. This was several years ago, so we are not sure they still carry the item. Other possible sources are T.Rutlands, who has been selling Ferrari parts for many years, and Geoff Ohland at Partsource, who also has been around for some time. He also advised that all the heat shields must be in place, or this mat will deteriorate rapidly. That's all I can tell you at this time. Hope it helps. Good luck!
Thanks for that Dinoguy, although we are none the wiser on the GTS regarding as to whether or not it too originally had this mat or not. Graham.
I forgot to mention in my previous reply that my restorer has also worked on GTS models. He said that he DID see this heatshield on the bulkhead, with cutouts for the tubular bracing. He feels the factory attached it on both models. The cutouts appeared a little roughly done, but sometimes the factory did things like that on Dinos back then! Cheers.
As I said in a previous post, I could not obtain the mat in Australia when I did my restoation in the early to mid 90's. We tried Maranello Concessionaires in Sydney at the time to no avail, and other sources had nothing quite the same. I re-used the original which was in good condition - a new one would have been nice. I have never seen it fitted on an "Australian" 246 GTS, just the bulkhead crossbraces coated with sound deadener material and painted (most silver, some black). cheers peter
Working on it. I think we can get it at McMaster-Carr. www.mcmaster.com. I have samples coming, I'll let you guys know. DM
If you can source the correct material it will be easy for you to do it with the engine out (its still out isn't it), just transpose the holes and rivit it back in. I'm sure it will be quite difficuilt to do it with the engine in situ. cheers peter
Working on a source now. It appears to have a felt liner impregnated with tar. I've found a nice source for the mat, now just have to figure out how to attach some kind of black felt/tar paper. Dave
My GTS has a heat shield that looks exactly the same as the one in the photo, and is similarly attached (as best as I can tell from the photo). I have seen some GTS's where the mat starts up higher from below with bare sheet metal below. Mark Nerheim
I think I have found the right stuff!!! Gonna get some final pricing next week. Can anyone give me dimensions for this? I don't have my car right now and need that to finalize price. If I take this foam rubber, and put a coat of driveway sealer on one side, I think it will replicate nicely what's in the car now. If anyone would like to see a small sample of the rubber I've found, send me a pm, I'll 1st class mail a piece. Dave
I remember doing this part of my restoration in '99 - it's quite the job. Getting the old stuff all removed and cleaned off the bulkhead was half the battle. Then I made a paper template so that I could cut out the foam where wiring brackets, junction boxes and miscellaneous stuff popped through. Once I had the template and holes just right, I laid it over the foam and which I cut out using a very sharp exacto knife (that stuff is thick and can take a couple of passes to cut). I used upholsterer's contact cement to mount it. Once the glue was applied and "set up" on both surfaces, a friend and I slowly fit it into place, starting on one side and smoothing it out so that there were no bubbles or bumps as the foam stuck. I know it doesn't seem like a two person job but having my friend there with me to stand in the engine bay (the car was up on a lift) to install it in the way I described really seemed like the right way when all was said and done. When you get your car running, the heat of the engine might cause the foam to separate from the bulkhead in places unless you've done a great glue job. However, applying glue to those areas through the small cutouts will complete the job once and for all. Good luck.
