Hi, I have taken the dashboard out of my Daytona to address a few items behind it and I'm not convinced that my heater controls have been installed the right way up. Could someone have a look at their car and let me know if, with one of the heater control set to hot (red), the cable has either pushed or pulled the corresponding valve in the engine compartment please. Once I know that, I'll be able to work out the rest. Incidentally, my controls are REALLY tight, to the extent that one of the airflow controls has been bent badly out of shape due to a very tight cable. ☹️ Thank you, Paul
Hi Paul, Pic of mine are here: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/149377003/ Mind you, the heater on my car has always seemed weak (and yes, the heater valve in the engine compartment is open), so I can’t be sure mine are really working right. Was I correct about the dash just pulling out once you remove the screws on both sides in the door jams? Is so, you should report that in the above thread, for the benefit of future Forum searchers… — Alex
Thank you Alex. As I suspected, mine were mouted upside down. I can confirm that removing the four bolts (two either side) that go through the door jamb allow the dashboard to come out. However, I would also recommend removing the steering wheel and the two bolts that hold the steering lock assembly to the dashboard frame and allowing said assembly to drop (you can slide one of the bolts back into the lower frame holes, but through the upper hole in the steering lock assembly to support it in a lower position) to give you more room. You will probably want to remove the instrument panel first. If you remove any cable ties, you should have plenty of free length to allow decent access. Paul
On my car, the red-dots are at the top (and I checked my photos of supposedly time-capsule cars, and they seem to agree): Image Unavailable, Please Login So if the cable-sleeve support arms are at the top, then heat would be a "pull". Like I said, however, you might not want to go just by my car. See how one of the "cold" dots is not blue? Clearly my car has had work done on it...
Another interesting topic I was baffled with 20 some years ago when working on my first Daytona (very nice, unrestored 12K mile example), continued to study with all subsequent cars since and have become quite convinced this being yet another discrepancy/inconsistency between original (intended) design/engineering and actual outcome during production on Daytonas, which all I've seen or worked on have appeared having been plagued with countless of similar & some very intriguing issues. P.S. IMO, it seems most of the comments/thinking are not approaching this issue correctly (or logically).
Answers are and were 20+ years ago readily available (but not in the interweb forums) for anyone willing to look/search for them.
I apologize for the above comment as I just realized I’ve probably commented or referred to this issue in some previous thread(s) here over the years. I would also expect most professional vintage Ferrari restorers with Daytona experience being aware of all this.
I’m not a professional restorer and I don’t have prior experience of Daytonas. As I have previously said, I’m on a very steep learning curve and I’m asking questions as I come across the issues. I realise that some, if not all my questions have been asked before, but I’m finding that I get quicker answers by just asking the questions again. I have tried searching through the forum, but by necessity, the search criteria tends to be pretty vague and it then takes ages to trawl through pages of results. I appreciate and try to acknowledge every response I get from members, so thank you everyone. Regards, Paul
Sorry Paul, I didn't mean to imply you being a professional or having previous experience, but rather suggesting you might want to consult your local/preferred restoration professional/shop with experience on this rather complex issue (= like so many other topics, too much for me to spend time here writing detailed instructions, only to have some poor soul misinterpret them in the future and perhaps even blaming me for their mistakes). Besides, you already have the same information on hand and in your car I spent a steep learning curve on a long ago.
Hi Timo, I really appreciate yours and everyone else’s time and effort to respond to all my questions and I hope that I can do likewise for someone else in the future. I like to do as much of the work on my cars as possible and I find that the old adage “if you want something doing right, do it yourself” generally holds true. In fact, the reason why I’m doing this work is because it hasn’t previously been done right by a professional. However, by assured that I certainly won’t hold any forum members to account if they give me incorrect information or I interrupt their correct information wrongly. My plan is to rack up plenty of miles doing the sort of journeys that the Daytona was designed for, so I want everything to work as it should. Thanks again, Paul
Paul, I too appreciate your (and others) time & efforts of working on your own cars. That's how I started 40+ years ago and eventually made a "career"(?) out of it, but I'm also always trying learn more. And yes, I too see a lot of work by (so-called) "professionals" that's far from ideal or worth a dime, but as I've pointed out before, I often try not to give specific answers or instructions in any public forum because I've seen countless times when someone who actually has experience & knowledge offers such, it can be drowned or get mixed and mis-interpreted with posts by many who don't have firsthand experience or real knowledge, but feel a need to express their opinion how something is or isn't without even realizing how wrong they may be. This is probably one of many reasons why you don't see many professional restorers engaging in these kinds of discussions. Why should they ? Besides, if I had or took the time to share everything I've learned during past 4+ decades researching, restoring & working on vintage cars, how would I fill the chapters in the books I'm hoping to write (after I retire ?) about all this, including authenticities, details, features and peculiarities I've learned and documented about Daytonas in past 20+ years.
Well, I don't have as much experience as many (including Ed, who has had his car much longer than I have had mine), but I am happy to check my car for details and report back. Generally, whatever I find is "news to me as well", so everybody wins... I also am a bit of an "anorak" and am willing to do a lot of web-searching, at least from time to time, to try and get questions answered if they happen to pique my curiosity. I agree with Paul, that while many answers are "out there" they are not generally easy to find, and even when you do find them, they are accompanied by alternative possibilities that are hard to judge between. I think that it is nice that the opinions of the "hobbyists" on the forum are generally not given a hard time, even when they are a little wrong; been there, done that. Given that this is the environment, I think the forum is a good resource for new owners, and hope that the "slightly older owners" will continue to pass what they have learned along.
Thank you, that’s exactly what I’ve been saying for years as it is very common in public forum (including FChat) discussions, etc. where individuals (unlike you Alex) with no real experiences or necessarily even basic comprehension of the topics often share their opinions/views which I and presumably countless others, including professionals with hands-on experience, don’t want to get theirs mixed with and therefore choose to abstain from participating. Besides, I can imagine many professionals thinking “Why should I educate my potential customers to put me out of business ?” How many dentist, for example, do yo think offer their hard earned professional advise (for free) to general public on something like ToothChat, so that latter can cure/mend toothaches, decays and other dental problems they or their loved ones may encounter ? Or plumbers on PlumbingChat, etc…? Or M. Massini sharing everything from his archives free of any charge ?
Thanks Howard, but it’ll be awhile. I’ve only collected material for it for less than 30 years and learning new stuff almost every day… Besides, I still have to work for living.
There are actually quite a few plumbers who post videos etc, but I get your point. I suspect that as the car values increase, fewer owners are inclined to do work on them themselves. Paul
I hear you and speaking of plumbing or most other electrical/mechanical repairs, not only for cars, but home/shop/etc and wanting something done right, I tend to do most myself. Just last Sunday, my early am road test with a clients 365 GTC/4 got abruptly interrupted by a call from my wife informing me of an unexpected and considerable plumbing leak at our home which I then spent couple of hours to repair and included 2 trips to (fortunately nearby) home-improvement center, but I got it sorted.
so you wanna write a memoir do ya? i’ll give you the title for free, “my dirty little tales under my dirty little fingernails”.
While the book Howard & I referred to is not intended as a “Memoir”, I’ve been collecting/saving material for one my entire life and it will include a chapter (or few ?) detailing my experiences with numerous FKIA’s, Hacks, Imposters, Posers, Wannabes, etc I’ve encountered in my hobby & profession surrounding vintage cars. None are really “secrets”, per se, since most have exposed themselves publicly and many continue to do so all the time. Unfortunately, that book too may have to wait a while longer, but at least the list of aforementioned characters keeps growing and many continue to provide great, worthwhile source material almost daily. And once published, I’ll be happy to donate a signed copy to anyone mentioned in it by name.
I am now refitting the dashboard but it isn’t obvious where the passenger-side ventilation cables are supposed to run. Would someone be able to check their car and tell me if the cables route above or below the glovebox please? I suspect that they should route over it, which would mean that I need to source some new longer cables as mine were previously routes below the glovebox and are now too short. Also, for those more experienced with these cars, is there a trick/knack to installing the heater controls? My car has A/C and there is very little room behind the dashboard to get my hands in to fasten the controls in place and connect the cables. I have attached the cable outers to the metal frames prior to installing them. Thanks, Paul
