Very strange .......

Probably true.

For me, it's more than the money,
it's knowing what the problem was,
and how to avoid it happening again.

The Ferrari 456 is a delightful "hobby" for me.
Please click on the below to see how
I got started on all this.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/sho...=269209&page=2

I am trying to not over-spend on this project,
since I have several irons in the fire.,
and my resources are not unlimited.
I am also trying to enjoy this "investigation,"
and share my fun with others.

I am also using the experience to help me "bond"
with the car, and to learn to think like "Ferrari" thinks.

So, this is all enjoyable for me.

Although I do not have immediate access
to a car race shop, I am the owner of a motorcycle race shop,
and racing team, that does well in racing.

http://www.dragbike.com/dbnews/anmviewer.asp?a=5227&z=3

This allows me to have some small insight into what
I am doing here.

Here's a little background on me:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/287/5864/Motorcycle-Article/Salt-Addiction---Scott-Guthrie.aspx

You can click on the individual photo's for a better look.

I think most of us here would be entertained by, and enjoy,
that I celebrated my 60th birthday by setting the world
speed record for street bikes by going 251 MPH, back in 2004.

I am on the board of directors of the
Bonneville 200 MPH Club. (notice the red hat.....)

I am the only member who has exceeded 250 MPH
BOTH in a car (1020cc), and on a street bike.

 

I agree the system failed,
and I agree the system is antiquated.

At this point, I have seen no evidence of gauling,
so I cannot conclude that was the problem.

So, I will keep looking.

 

Went Sunday to the Amelia Island Concours.

Lots of great cars, several significant Ferrari cars.

Had a trip down memory lane.

This car may have been the first Ferrari
car I ever wanted (this acutal vehicle),
so had a friend take a picture of me with it.

Couldn't find the owner for details.
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OK

Getting up another level with this investigation !

I will get our my NIKON Stereo microscope,
and my serious camera stuff and we'll see what's up.

Here's the camera:

NIKON body and 18-200 VR NIKON lens, set up with
macro. Special NIKON macro strobe,
with all the adjustments. Special TTL metering,
etc. Flash unit can be held off-camera for
special effects, like glance-lighting.
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I looked first at the shock shaft.

To the "fingernail test," the shaft had the same diameter
on both the "worn" and "unworn" portions.
(sorry for the camera shake. Hard to get a good photo
of "chrome" with a flash)
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So: Out comes the STARRETT digital micrometer,
and it is properly "zeroed."

This is a very new mike, and you will see that both
the digital display, and the barrel readings are "zero."
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So: measure the shock shaft diameter at an
"unaffected" part of the shaft, and see:
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Measure the "polished" portion of the shaft,
and find the same measurement !

I'm not sure I can explain that,
but the mike doesn't lie.

If there is "damage," it ain't much !
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I will admit, the shaft has me a little stumpted,
so let's move on to something that might be a
little more productive, like the INSIDE of the
shock body.

These next few pictures are taken with the
special NIKON photo rig seen in a previous post.

The lens will not "stop down" enough to show the
entire shock interior IN FOCUS at one time, so one
way to view the pictures is to concentrate on the
portions of the interior that are IN FOCUS.
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A couple more alternative views:

Using the "calibrated eyeball," and the "educated finger,"
there are no big gouges or scrapes, but there seems
to be a little polishing, and some staining.
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Getting tired of the wrong stuff,
and more concerned with the right stuff.

Time to get this baby back on the road !

The right shock had already been assembled,
and ready to go in here. (No, the disc is not rusty,
that's just a reflection) You can still see all the ATF all over
from the explosion.
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Time to take out the left side shock.

You can see that my garage, although big
enough for two cars, leaves little room for
work when there are two cars actually in the garage.
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Dirty old shock on the bench.

Yes, that is a FERRARI power steering fluid
reservoir in teh background. That was small money
on eBay, and I figured it would come in handy for this job....
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Before taking the shock apart,
make some "index" marks so
everything can go back together correctly.
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Also note position of the adjusting shaft top end.
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I just love digital !

This snapshot was taken with an old-school Nikon Coolpix
($50 or less on eBay). easy to use and to post.

Close up
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Old shock has almost all the usable parts off.

Pretty dirty.

As RIFLEMAN points out, probably
a leaking seal .

Lots of goooo for only 26 K miles.

On the other hand, these seals occasionally
see 120 bar = 1700 pounds / square inch.
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Time to start putting the left rear shock together.

The shperical joing was removed from the old shock
with a little heat, 2 sockets, and the snap-ring pliers.

Here's the new shock, just waiting !
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First up for the new shock will be to install the old spherical element
from the "eye" of the old shock.

I am going to re-use the snap ring - looked OK,
and the spherical element, which is "costly."

The seal will be new, and is cheap - especially
compared to the spherical element.

Notice the "eye has two (2) grooves on each side.
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Finally get to use some tools !

At least other than hammers....

Using snap ring pliers, insert the
snap ring into the second groove

First groove will be for the seal.
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Thge spherical is a press in (rather tight)
so I took the precaution of using a little
"assembly lube." Ferrari Red, of course.

You will notice part of the snap ring
at the bottom of the "bore."

"Pair" of grooves easily seen in this pic.
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As said, the spherical is a press fit into the shock eye.

To accomodate the "low tech" installation technique,
we popped the sperical into the freezer for a while,
and heated the eye with a small MAPP torch
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I am not comfortable beating on the spherical element.

Freezing the spherical reduces it's outside diameter.
Heating the eye enlarges the bore.

"backstopping" the eye (left below) with a socket allows the element
to be pushed into the eye, and up against
the installed circlip. The largest socket is slightly larger
than the OD of the hole of the eye.

We had to move fast, since as soon as the frozen spherical
touches the hot eye, the diameters begin to quickly change dimension

We pressed in the spherical with a socket (right)
the same diameter as the outside of that sperical.

The squeezing with the vise was pretty hard.
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