Ed This is what i pointed out above. That is why i put all three brochure pic's in, to show it was the same pre-production car in all three brochures, I could have put just the 1973 pic in and said look this is what they where like in 1973. As i said "at least we know for sure that one car had it", i am not claiming all cars had it, Mark wanted proof and here it is for "at least one car", it would be interesting to see if any one has pic's of Daytona's taken when new to see if any of them had the leather dash? Grant
grant, i think when mark wanted evidence, he meant for production cars. preproduction anything is irrelevant. ed
Ed's right, I am seeking evidence of the actual production cars. That Ferrari did not change the brochure much is surely no great surprise to anyone here. So, yes the pre production car/s (see my own picture of what is probably the same car, taken at Pebble Beach in 1994) did not have a mouse hair dash. What's to say it is not vinyl as Keith Bluemel says? And like the 4 cam before it. My guess is they did not like it, due to the reflections in the screen, so the production cars had the non reflective surface. Just my two cents. Mark Image Unavailable, Please Login
It would be nice to find out if any cars left the factory with leather/vinyl you are right. I have to admit that originally i did think that this was how cars came but Ed put me right a way back in the thread when he told me he thought all cars came with mouse fur / Alcantarna, i am a newbie to this world so i really don't know. I was a little boy when my car was made and liked the 911 and was only just becoming aware of Ferrari as a friend of my parents had just started going out with the Coronels daughter, and he took me for a ride in a 308 i think it was called a GT8, i can remember he said it was special one anyway. Did they ever make a 308 GT8? I can't find a record of a GT8 but it was a long time a go. Back to my car. I am not saying mine was born with this coat i am saying i am keeping it as it came to me because I LIKE IT, and i guess it has been like it for most of it's life. It would cost no more to have it covered in Alcantarna in the scheme of things at this stage. My car was leather for sure when it was striped down, and may have been changed at Maranello in Nov 1978 when the car was repaint and re-trimmed and had the engine rebuilt at a cost of £4000 for the mechanical work and £2000 for the paint and re-trim [ those where the days] so it probably had it when you saw the car as a coupe in the early 80's Mark. I don't think the dash was not recovered when the roof was cut off by EG, as i have detailed bills for this and i am sure he would have added it on to the bill. By the way, It is not just Bluemel who said "some early cars came with a vinyl dash" so did Braden and Roush, page 48 of there acclaimed and expensive book on the Daytona, so i guess there must be some truth in it. Grant
I have to agree with Mark an Ed that mousehair is better both from a practical (it really does reduce reflection on the screen) and an asthetic point of view. But it's your car Grant to do what you want and if you want to paint it pink with a purple interior it's your choice even if everyone else looked on in abject horror.
Grant- I think the leather will look great. Incidentally, I believe one reason for the mouse-fur was that period vinyl and leather dashes had and have a bad habit of shrinking and pulling loose because of direct sunlight through the windscreen. I just recovered the dash on my 575M, and it is only 5 years old. The job being done on your dash will be much better than those done at the factory on the 456/550/575 series with the dash shrinkage problem, however. Should not be an issue with your car. For those worried about reflections, Ferraris for the last 15 years or so have had leather dashes and there have not been wholesale crashes from dash reflections in the windscreen. Should be fine and will look great. That is going to be one beautiful car when completed. Makes me wish I still had 14009. Taz Terry Phillips
Cheers Taz. That cheered me up no end. Re the reflections, i drove the car for 4 months with no problem, and it lived in the South of France as well for a few years, so its not an issue to me. The only problem would be the concourse judges would not like it, as Matt said it's up to me [ as long as the money holds out], if i was doing it to sell, it would be very different. Lets hope we can put this to bed or start another thread just for this question. Grant
I came to F-Chat to read about Lamborghinis in the L section and have slowly explored the other sections, so I've been lurking and reading this for a while and just wanted to say thanks to Wheels and those that have contributed to this fantastic thread. It certainly must rank Hall Of Fame level for the information, enthusiasm and enjoyment that this project has gathered and given to the community. All restoration threads should be so. I can't wait to see the next update, enjoy this gorgeous car in good health Wheels.
Here's today's haul from Maranello. Two side window catches,1 oil seal, 12 bearings and 24 nuts almost £1000 I Checked out some of the suspension bolts with Maranello last week [ i have a hot line to them at the moment as i am buying so much from them], just one bolt was £25.99 plus vat, for 52 bolts it was around £700 plus vat, so Rob is getting top grade bolts from elsewhere, machined to the correct length of thread and less than half price. Grant PS One of Mike's sons works for an F1 team as a metallurgist specializing in gearbox's i think, when Mike was building a Dino for himself a few years back, he asked his son to check these bolts out and the answer was they are just ordinary bolts with regard to strength properties etc. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I took some goodies to Rob today. I arrived a few minutes before my car did [ that does not make a lot of sense]. I should have added from the trimmers. The wiring loom has to go in now, then the trimmer will come to the car on Friday to do a little more. The Engine is coming along well with the full rebuild, now i have got all the bearings from Maranello. First pic is of the new shiny hard to clean round things and a few other parts, the rest are of the car. Grant PS. The seats in the car are not mine they are for the Jag. Please Don't tell the wife about the round things. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bad and surprising news. The 12 small end bush's i bought from Ferrari for £40 each last week, where a load of junk so i was told. Apparently the original phosphor bronze bushes where made in one piece and the new ones where split in to two pieces, also the sides of the bushes had not been cut straight so it was impossible to press them into place and get them to join up nicely, the engineer said he has never seen such a cheap part and he would not fit them to a tractor. So i am having to return them and the engineer is going to make new ones to a much higher standard. I have spoken to Maranello about returning them which they said was no problem and have E-mailed them with regard to the problems. It will be interesting to see if they give an answer to the poor quality. Lets hope it's a one off. Grant
Why order items like these from SpA in the first place? At best you receive an equivalent of a part that was top of the line 40 years ago, and materials have come a long way since then. It's an item that's made to fit by your builder anyway, no matter who supplies it. Your engine builder will make up perfect new ones and you'll get a good chunk of change from the 480 Sterling price tag you paid for the 'originals'.
I'd go back with a synthetic over rubber, certainly..longer life, and less lean in the corners! LOL! Sorry to hear about this though, an outside vendor cutting corners
BigTex - I think Grant is referring to the small end bushings in the connecting rods, not the suspension bushings. Gary
Grant, Love the colour of your Daytona! Could you please repost what the final colour is and the paint formula? Much appreciated! Freeman
Bummer! In the end though, sounds like you'll be better off for it. A little bit of time on a lathe & a mill, and you can produce quite nice results; I made these myself (a bit of a "get to know my machines" project) to fit the upper trunion of my Healey (shown below, I forgot how F-chat limits your picture posting options). I concur, a little (more) time spent going over metalurgy data should yield a material good for the remaining life of the car. Don't rule out applying a polymer dry-film lubricant in an effort to extend the component's life even further. I can provide details (and a ton of pictures of engine/driveline parts I've coated and cured) if desired. I'm not so sure I agree (now switching from engine to suspension talk); urethane does wear out when subjected to rotating/sliding movement, and they can squeak like a Ditch (usually spelled with a "B" ). Rubber, while more compliant, twists with the movement and shouldn't actually be rotating. I doubt Grant will be pushing his car to 10/10ths after such an expenditure, so I'd recommend sticking with OE, or an upgraded (if available) rubber bush. FOR THE SUSPENSION, NOT THE GUDGEON PINS Okay, I know Grant needs little-end bushes, and not suspension bushes, but I am just showing an example of what His Engineer can produce on his own. If he had a small benchtop CNC mill and lathe (as I do now, but not when the pieces below were produced) he could produce them in limited runs and guarantee repeatability. You have to love technology, and that it never stands still Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Freeman The Info is on page 16, this is the modern sikkens code for Blue Ribot met. Randy. You are right, he can make any thing required, but something's would be more expensive for him to make than buying from Ferrari, but not in this case i would think maybe. Grant PS I think BigTex was talking tyres.
The gear box has just been checked by a good friend of Mikes, [ so you know it will be right] and good news, only a small amount of parts needed [ that makes a change]. The same thing with the distributors, checked out ok, but missing on one cylinder. It just needed the normal parts replacing and adjusting. Grant Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Grant Where is the guy with the distrubutor machine based, anywhere near you (and me)? Do you know what he charged yet? You're really getting closer now, fantastic job! Will
Hi Will. I will find out tomorrow for you. I did not know there were people out there who still had the equipment and knowledge to be able to do this off the car. I guess its like the old saying, it's not what you know it's who you know. Me i know nothing, but I do know Mike and Rob. Grant
Though quite labor intensive, have you given any consideration to using an assortment of polymer coatings on the gearbox (or engine) internals? The available thermal barrier, thermal dispersant and dry-film lubricant coatings make a lot of sense on components that you want to see a long service life from. These are some Laycock de Normanville overdrive parts I did last night. I have LOTS of engine internal/external pictures as examples too... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Will Have a chat to Rob as it's one of his contacts. Tel 01162 478707 Randy not sure about the coatings, i have been offered some ceramic coated exhaust and inlet valves but have not idea if they are of benefit or not. Rob is going to ask a few question this morning. Grant
