A driver Dino

With all of the threads going on about vintage 'Ferrari valuations' I think it quite a shame that a number of these cars are going to be stored away to protect them and may not see the light of day so to speak for some time to come.

I on the other hand bought mine to drive it and I am going to try to do just that.

My business partner purchased 03666 about 4 years ago and performed its restoration over an approximate 19 months. I documented it under the thread title “and so begin a long Canadian winter”. That winter turned into 2 and after the car was finished the result was nothing short of spectacular. What started out as a tidy up and fix a couple of minor oil leaks turned into and Omgjon effort but it was worth it. During the restoration I fell in love with the Dino and started a half hearted search for one of my own. I missed the one that I should have bought and somewhat abandoned the search. However, after a ride and drive in a fellow F-Chatters car this past summer the spark was re-ignited and it strengthened my resolve to get one of my own. In the search I drove to Green Bay, WI over a weekend from Mississauga (24 hrs driving), I travelled to Houston, TX and finally to Boston, MA where I ended up buying 06640 about 6 months ago.

Since then I have changed the carpets to tone down the yellow theme a bit but other than that I haven’t changed anything and don’t intend on it (for now anyway).

I have essentially the perfect car for me, which is a decent driver. Please don’t get me wrong, I totally understand and admire those who have undertaken the task to restore their Dino(s) to their original glory. All I am saying is that I am not ready to head there at this time.

Some of you may know that have been a tech for almost 35 years (minimal Ferrari experience, but some) and my intentions are to get the car to a baseline of relative liquid tightness and reliability. Originality will be sacrificed from time to time but the car isn’t totally original now and I am ok with that.

I hope to post from time to time on my exploits and adventures both in the bay and on the road. All technical repair opinions and methods will be entirely those of the author so use them at your own risk. I will treat the car as I would one treat one of my clients cars and the same as the rest of my vehicles, in other words “this shoemakers children do NOT go barefoot”. I hate cars that don’t work properly/reliably and despise shoddy repairs.

I am not trying to hold a candle to the late John Corbanni and you won’t see me at Home Depot loading lumber into my car and we have winter here so it will be storage between November and most likely March but other than that its open season.

Hopefully, it will be a fun ride so to speak

 

My Dino will never see the runway and I drive it regularly. Driving and enjoying a great car is much more fun than staring at it! Good for you; enjoy your car!!!

Well fella's let see what we can do !!

Here are a couple of pics
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Alberto,

Not a real snow shot but snow nontheless
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I had an AMC Hornet that did the same but with the gas gauge. Everytime you turned on the headlights you got almost a quarter of a tank more gas

 

+246

 

Ok, so liquid tight is where I decided to start.

It had an oil/gear oil leak and left a puddle wherever it was parked. One of the oil cooler hoses was also repaired with some Disney production stainless steel braided hose.

Minor oil leak from the sump cover. Gear oil leak from the shift shaft seal, so the gearbox cover gasket is also getting replaced.

I am also going to pull the clutch cover and replace the 3 o-rings. It will also give an opportunity to check the clutch and rear main seal while I am at it. (remember that I am trying to get a baseline on the car for future repair planning)

I drained the sump and gearbox, let them drain for a couple of days and pulled the covers
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Pulled the centre console and shifter box. I then undid the shifter linkage at the back and pulled the rod forward into the tube to allow the shifter shaft to slide out of the gearbox and into the tube. Inspection of the shaft showed little wear and the o-ring was definately worn out. The shaft cover sleeve was also torn and will be replaced. The oil temp sensor had a chunk missing out of it so it too will be replaced.

Here is the end of the shift shaft installed without the o-ring. I gently filed the end all the way around to ensure that it was smooth and didn't have any burrs that might tear the new o-ring.

Cleaned out the shaft tube with carb cleaner and shop towels, installed the o-ring and used lots of silicon lube while installing the shaft.

Scraped and buffed the lower parting surfaces in anticipation of the new gaskets
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Hardware got soaked in the parts washer for a couple of days.

Sump and gearbox cover got the same treatment. Old gasket material was removed with gentle use of a 3m scotchbrite disc.( need to be very careful with these on aluminum as the can be quite aggressive)

Washed again with a bit of carb cleaner and they are ready for some Permatex "rightstuff" and a new gasket.

1/8" bead is all you need
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All buttoned up and time to go home.

For those that noticed, in the hardware picture there where 4 rusty bolts and washers in the top left corner of the shop towel. Those hold the lower shift shaft protection cover on and will get sandblasted along with the cover before they are re-installed.
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If you run snow tires up here you have to run them on all 4 corners. I wonder if they make steel wheels that would fit ??

 

Thanks, hey I could come on down and give you a hand with that !!