The Craigslist 308 GT4 is ALIVE and drives!

Ever since it snowed in Houston a couple weeks ago, some things that I never thought would happen are starting to happen. And today I drove the Infamous Craigslist Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 for the very first time on a public street.

Thanks to local F-car expert Bill Borum -- he tied up all the loose ends for me:

Bill's first order of business was to fix the exhaust leak. Turns out when I had refit the rear manifold after welding the cracks, one of the gaskets had gone cockeyed. Then he tracked the source of a bad misfire, which turned out to be a bad (but brand new) plug and new coil wires that were too big to seat into the new coils correctly. Finally, he sync-ed the carburetors, which in his words were "all over the place". He also drained all the years-old fuel, which had already gummed-up my freshly rebuilt carbs.

The GT4 now fires up immediately -- without the choke. With a little feathering of the throttle (necessitated by an absent cold-start adjustment on the carbs) the engine warms quickly and settles into a rather high idle. He left the idle a little higher, because there doesn't seem to be a good middle ground between a little high and way too low.

Shifting requires some muscle, but it's not at all belligerent going into any gear, including the notorious second. It is a quicker, more precise linkage than any other Ferrari I've driven. Steering is very light and feels almost darty at over 30mph.

For running less than 200 miles in nearly 20 years, the engine feels pretty strong. It is smoking like the executive board room of RJR Reynolds circa 1976. All that oil spraying around before and pooling in various places needs to be burned out. It might take a while (and some STP additive) to mellow out the smoke, but eventually it will.

When I turned the engine off, the car let off a bang from the exhaust. Evidently the burp from the injected cars is more of a single gun salute in the carb car.

So there's some smoke and extra noises, and instead of three weeks, it took me ten months to get it running again, but who cares? The 308 GT4 is alive again and providing enjoyment. Most importantly, the complete tab is still under five figures! There's still plenty to do to clean it up, but being able to enjoy it along the way provides all the incentive needed to attack those chores.

 

You're right -- come to think of it I did rev it at shutdown. I always pull in slowly due to the lack of space and then rev to clear the plugs without thinking. I generally do it in the old cars...now I have to remember not to do it in the 308.

JDubbya -- I actually came in around what I thought it would in terms of cost. No complaints at all. As for time, well -- not so much. I think it was just about a year ago we chatted about this very car .

I'm going to change the oil again and see if that helps the smoking problem. We've added a ton of oil after it spilled most of it out, but I can't remember when we did a complete change...and since it was running rich, there's certainly a bunch of fuel in the oil.

 

Here's one from yesterday, but there are plenty more of the car at http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3229867

 

The GT4 actually shifts nicely. The statement was more for those of us who are more experienced in driving GTB/GTS cars with the longer shift lever. With the shorter shifter, the action is much more precise, but does take just a little extra effort. (The same happens when you put a "short throw" shifter kit on a modern Corvette.)

But Spasso, I do agree -- I actually run 75W90 NS in my 328.