348 Heater core

I've had a heater core failure (it is dumping coolant down the drain pipe to exit under the middle of the car) together with also the adjacent water pump feeding it. Does anyone have any experience replacing this? I notice the part #61787900 seems to have been replaced by 70000900, and Ricambi lists it as "call" which looks ominous.

 

Sadly, extracting and stripping the unit down has revealed that the airconditioner and heater cores are beyond salvage having rusted away, and as the original parts are NLA, I have to try to find a Right Hand Drive (GD) unit to use as a replacement, Does anyone in the brotherhood or beyond have or know of where I could source one, or even better just the cores? Any suggestion would be a lifesaver as I can't find anything in Australia

 

I can get the heater core made up but the airconditioner one seems to be a big problem. As with so many things these days it seems that for Australia they are all made in China for specific fitment and of course the 348/355 Ferrari (especially the right hand drive version) is a rare thing indeed, and not worth anyone making one as a replacement part.

 

Thanks Angelo. I've picked up the unit and it looks great. Took it home as checked in luggage (with heaps of bubble wrap) and we are fitting it to my car now. BTW I love your very nice (read immaculate) 348 with its white speedline wheels which really set it off. The brotherhood scores again, as I thought this was going to be a show stopper for me.

 

The only photo I have to hand has two of my cars in it. Sadly I had to part with the BMW E30 M3, which I have had for twenty years (I actually bought it from a stylish lady in Beverly Hills and imported it to Australia and even changed it to right hand drive). Needless to say as these have become collectors items rivaling Ferraris, I was well compensated for the loss. The good thing is that it went to a good home with someone who is a true car guy and repairs exotics for a living. I still have the 348 though, and I think will for a very long time. All my cars seem to have histories, and although the 348 was built to Australian specifications, it spent the first fifteen years of its life in Hong Kong, being driven very little, but well looked after, having now only 33,000 kilometers on it.
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To bookend this, I received the car a couple of days ago, and all is now sweet. I must put in a plug for Angelo who supplied the magic part, but also to Andrew at Superior Automotive Services in Mona Vale Sydney. The name doesn't really indicate what a serious shop they are. My car had to find space between ex Formula one cars (Thierry Boutsen,) and a Lola F5000 (Ex-Alan Jones Theodore racing) and several F2 and F3 cars being prepped for serious Historic racing. The quality oif the work was amazing and the car came back cleaner than it went to them, with a host of small problems fixed, including an annoying clock reset problem, and new hidden wiring for the battery tender. Thanks guys

 

and to finish this off I just found some photos of my BMW E30 M3 taken on that day I sold it. As my daughter said, thanks goodness you replaced it with the Ferrari!!
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