330GT 2+2 Series I Parts WANTED | Page 7 | FerrariChat

330GT 2+2 Series I Parts WANTED

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by Darren C, Oct 23, 2012.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    With winter well and truly here, progress has been slow. The UK has been hit with constant rain and storms. I live on the South coast and the storms have been relentless. We have had the greatest rainfall in December & January since before records began and our village has been constantly flooded in places.
    Trying to rebuild a 330 outside in this weather has been ridiculous. I had no option as the car is immobile but to build a temporary garage around the car.
    Again I had no money to do this with, so had to be a bit creative.
    After much thought and what started as a joke comment from a friend I purchased 10 damaged 6ft x 6ft featherboard garden fence panels at £5 each.
    Searching around the local timber yard I got some floorboard seconds for another £50 and finally on a sale weekend at B&Q (UK hardware store) I got some mini profile roof sheets for £4 each.
    I spent the next two weeks in wind and rain, stripping and repairing the fence panels, and bolting them together with my 15 year old son. We dragged the shell out onto the roadway and laid the floor in 45 minutes then dragged the shell back onto it. Next we built the fence panel walls. I used some old stud wall 3 x 2 to make the trusses and some roof tile batten to attach the mini profile roof sheets. The remaining featherboard strips were attached to cut fence panel frame timber to make the doors and infill the gables.
    So all in all I built a complete garage 19ft x 11ft in front of my house for about £200!

    The finished Garage

    [​IMG]

    Dry Inside

    [​IMG]

    It’s fantastic to work out of the rain.

    Unfortunately it’s tight to my house and blocked all light into my living room, so the following weekend I got a £5 perspex sheet and cut a window in the back. Light comes through the roof sheets through the window and into the living room now, so it’s not so bad. Nice to draw the curtains and see the car!

    Ok, ok, yes the neighbours have gone mental, but I visited the local town planning enforcement officer before I built it and with a little research into what constitutes a “temporary” structure, I have made sure it met the criteria, so for now they can complain all they like without too much trouble. Obviously it’ll have to come down when the cars finished but for now it’s a real bonus to me.

    Let the progress begin.
     
  2. simon klein

    simon klein Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 25, 2009
    28,802
    North Qld
    Full Name:
    simon klein
    Tell the neighbours to 'get stuffed',you've met the council requirements............................




    it matches your front door!!!
     
  3. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

    Oct 6, 2007
    1,243
    Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
    Full Name:
    Vincent Vangool
    #153 Vincent Vangool, Feb 5, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2014
    Your persistence is admirable.

    I really respect your let nothing get in the way attitude.

    Keep the pics coming.

    Will you also be doing the fabricating in this garage or is there a separate workshop?

    I don't think anyone could say that you're not a hardcore Ferrari enthusiast.

    Thanks for all of your efforts to get one back on the road.

    I hope people see your dedication and send some of their unneeded parts your way.

    Godspeed.
     
  4. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

    Nov 20, 2002
    17,673
    Tauranga, NZ
    Full Name:
    Pete
    Your temporary garage is a work of art ... okay I've gone too far there but heck it is better than many garages I have seen in Sydney!!

    Neighbours are lucky that you are such a perfectionist
    Pete
     
  5. olinde

    olinde Karting

    Mar 23, 2004
    120
    Someone please give this man more parts to fix/restore and re-install on a classic worth saving.

    Ideally a benefactor gives him an engine. Darren seems skilled enough to fix even fully-seized mechanicals, discarded by some dotcom billionaire who went the lazy Classiche route for his/her latest Pebble Beach entry.
     
  6. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    #156 Darren C, Feb 6, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2014
    Thanks for your kind comments guy's

    As nice as a benefactor would be, can I suggest that any charity goes to those human beings that are starving, homeless or dying of an incurable disease, and not some fool who sacrifices himself in favour of motorcars.
    That said, if anyone has parts that they think are beyond use and would sell them to me I'd be grateful.

    Vincent, all I have is a 8' x 10' shed that houses the lathe I got from a school that threw it out in favour of a PC, my short 4' bench and a vice. This is where the magic takes place.
    I need to keep the temporary garage clear for just the car. It's cramped already so not really the place to fabricate, just assemble.
    I'm trying to work on a design for a rotisserie to get the shell upside down at the moment. Can't weld it properly by crawling under it, which is really frustrating me. I'll figure something out, these things have a way of resolving themselves if I think on it for a while. As for being a hardcore enthusiast, you really don't know the half of it! :)
     
  7. richjar

    richjar Formula Junior

    Oct 20, 2009
    250
    Hi Darren,
    Thanks for the link to this thread. What a task you have undertaken. But it is a stunning looking car.
    Cheers,
    Richard
     
  8. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Thanks Rich, I agree the 4HL 330 looks far better than the Series 2. I cant understand why many others prefer the single headlight car, which has a wishy-washy looks like a million other cars style?

    Progress over the last couple of weeks.....

    Following the great information and photos sent from Cory, I was able to make a template for the missing centre tunnel. I’d been working in a warehouse in the dockyard last week and some machinery came in with a thin plastic corrugated packing sheet either side of it. After seeing this go in the bin I asked if I could have it.
    This is fantastic for making templates with, as its far more rigid than cardboard and very easy to cut. (I got two 8’x 4’ sheets free. Enough to make all the floor templates I’ll need)
    Using Cory’s dimensions and his photos I made a template and trial fitted it several times to get it just right before cutting any metal.

    [​IMG]

    After saving up for a few weeks I had enough for some 16 gauge Zintec sheet for the Tunnel. After a bit of wrestling I got it into the arch shape. Tom Yang kindly sent me an old rear armrest last year and I used this to get the arch radius of the tunnel correct, so that the armrest semi circular base fitted with a 5mm clearance to allow for carpet/soundproofing at a later date. Two flanges were added (temporarily) at the floor level to aid with setting out. These will eventually be cut off when its welded into the car. Next a rummage in my shed turned out two seat belt anchor plates that I’ve had for 30 years, originally purchased for a kit car I built and left over! These were welded in place using the measurements and scale from the pictures. During a lot of searching on the internet I came across a couple of pictures from underneath a 330 which showed a re-enforcing strip at each end of the tunnel. This was copied and welded in. Cory’s photos also showed two parallel “ribs” rolled into the tunnel in front of the seatbelt hole. I have a bead roller that I got off ebay, so these were replicated too.

    [​IMG]

    The new tunnel was offered into the shell and lined up perfectly.

    [​IMG]

    What was clear when the new tunnel was in place, was the complete butchery of the seat base, bulkhead and frame when the old chassis & tunnel was ripped out. This was a bit of a mess with the problem compounded by 50 years of rust. Since this is only localised to the point the tunnel joins the shell I have decided to repair this with a purpose made infill piece. So again with a few hours straightening up the panels around the tunnel I then made a cardboard in-fill template just as I ran out of daylight.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. simon klein

    simon klein Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 25, 2009
    28,802
    North Qld
    Full Name:
    simon klein
    Shakes head in continuum at this thread.

    Way to go Darren,you've everyone here in awe,I'm sure.
     
  10. gt4me

    gt4me F1 Veteran

    Sep 10, 2005
    5,637
    UK
    Full Name:
    Lewis Mitchell
    Love this thread, keep up the good work.
     
  11. 275gt

    275gt Rookie

    Dec 26, 2005
    16
    Darren,
    Your ingenuity and attention to detail are stunning! I wish I could employ you to help with my 400 to 275GTB conversion (Home) I'm biased, of course, but the 330 four headlight was never one of the most beautiful cars to come out of the PinninFarina design house and the 365/400/412i was only marginally better, but in the spirit of that old saying "If I were going there, I wouldn't start from here." we were both started on a particular route by circumstances.
    Have you looked into the problem of registering your car in the UK? One that is rebuilt from a mixture of new and secondhand parts from different cars will receive a "Q" registration unless you can gain 8 points for the major mechanical items from a single car. (https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/individual-vehicle-approval) It is a bit of a minefield.
    George
     
  12. 275gt

    275gt Rookie

    Dec 26, 2005
    16
    Darren,
    Your ingenuity and attention to detail are stunning! I wish I could employ you to help with my 400 to 275GTB conversion (Home) I'm biased, of course, but the 330 four headlight was never one of the most beautiful cars to come out of the PinninFarina design house and the 365/400/412i was only marginally better, but in the spirit of that old saying "If I were going there, I wouldn't start from here." we were both started on a particular route by circumstances.
    Have you looked into the problem of registering your car in the UK? One that is rebuilt from a mixture of new and secondhand parts from different cars will receive a "Q" registration unless you can gain 8 points for the major mechanical items from a single car. (https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/individual-vehicle-approval) It is a bit of a minefield.
    George
     
  13. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Thanks George, Interesting project you have there. I must however disagree that the 365, 400i & 412i look better than a "classic 330"
    My worry is that your time and investment in a 275GTB 400i fibre glass recreation will not be returned in its final value or quite how well it will be received by the community. But if your in it for the journey then stick with it, and I wish you well.
    As for employing me, I'd love to get a job working on any car, but the odds are all stacked against me, so I just have to do what I do, to survive.
    PM sent
     
  14. daytonaman

    daytonaman Formula Junior

    May 1, 2007
    959
    Australia
    Full Name:
    howard pigdon
    Darren, would you please tell us how you polish stainless trim.
    I am using 2000 paper them brasso but cannot get anywhere near the finish you do.
    Thanks heaps
    howard
     
  15. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Hi Howard,

    Reminds me of a story the groundsman at Charterhouse (Winston Churchill's school) told me once as we walked across the lawn.
    An American visitor once asked "How do you get the lawn so perfect and a lush green colour?"
    "We just water and mow it" was the reply.
    "Yeah, we do too, but our lawn is no where like yours?"
    "Ah, that's because we've just been watering and mowing it for over 500 years!"


    It just takes time Howard. About 3-4 hours per ft of trim.
     
  16. 275gt

    275gt Rookie

    Dec 26, 2005
    16
    Howard,
    I got a kit of two blocks of wax and two electric drill buffing wheels many years ago from a kit car show that worked like magic. You can get a three part kit from Halfords for £16.99.
     
  17. daytonaman

    daytonaman Formula Junior

    May 1, 2007
    959
    Australia
    Full Name:
    howard pigdon
    Thanks Daren and 275. Now I know it is time and elbowgrease
     
  18. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Update,

    I finished the new centre tunnel a couple of weeks ago and added a doubler plate over the seatbelt point as per the original. Next I cut a horseshoe shaped section of steel to make up the gap between the seats where the original tunnel had been ripped out of the car. I had to trim back about ½” of the seat and bulkhead to find good metal to weld to since there was a lot of rust and molten metal where the gas axe had been.
    Offering the new tunnel up caused a bit of a puzzle. For some reason the tunnel was being pushed over to the right hand side of the car. It appeared as if I needed to cut 1 ½” of seat bottom out of the car to get the tunnel to sit on the dead centreline of the shell?
    Now looking through the history of 6727 I know it had a very bad accident in the 1970’s and that the car rolled and had been repaired with a new Left rear quarter panel. There was a lot of hammer beating done to the inner arch on the rear left hand side to get it back into shape.

    LH rear inner arch.

    [​IMG]

    What I hadn’t noticed until now was that the impact had been so severe it had pushed the whole of the rear seat base 1 ½” to the Right within the shell! Whoever had put on the new quarter had added a 2” vertical strip of steel inside the wheel arch to make up the difference instead of fixing the car properly.
    In the rear seat area just inside your knees when you’re sat in the back, is a box section horizontal steel about 1” x ½”, it was this that had also been pushed over to the right.
    I trawled my pictures of the car that I had from its sale and here’s a close up of it before the tunnel was cut out. This shows the seat base over to the right crushing and deforming the original centre tunnel.
    It must have been one heck of an impact to do this.

    Centre tunnel damage.

    [​IMG]

    So this was the reason why my new tunnel wouldn’t sit central. I had also heard a rumour that the chassis that was taken from my car was too badly bent to be used in the replica it was intended for and that it was consequently scrapped. No wonder really looking at the distortion, I’d lay bets it must have almost ripped the rear axle out of the car in the accident. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.

    The only thing to do was to jack the seat base back over to the left. I did this using 4” x 2” and a scissor jack. All in all pushing it back by about 1 ¼”. The tunnel then sat nice and square in the car and was seam welded in place.
    Once in I sealed it all with panel sealant. There’s not much I can do with the hammer beat inner arch, but to be true to the cars history, I’ll leave it be, hidden under the upholstery.

    Centre tunnel view from underside to seat base.

    [​IMG]

    Next using Cory’s very kind photo’s and measurements from his car, I started to make the panels that lead from seat base to floor. Using my bead roller and scaling off Cory’s pictures I put the vertical pressings into the sheet steel. I had to wait for a dry day as my shed isn’t big enough at 8’ x 8’ to have the bead roller inside!

    [​IMG]

    One done then moving onto the next.

    [​IMG]

    After several hours using old cornflakes boxes I made templates for the ends of each panel to fit the contour of the car. Again a few hours with hacksaw and file and I trial fitted them into the car. There was evidence of the old weld angle on the short panel above the inner sill (rocker) so I replicated this angle when bending the sheet to get a great fit.

    [​IMG]

    LH end fitted

    [​IMG]

    RH end fitted

    [​IMG]

    They are within 1/8” the same length so I’m happy I’ve finally after 40 years corrected the rear seat distortion in the car.
    A little more fettling is required to clear my new chassis tubes that run through the centre of the rear foot wells and the lip on the bottom needs trimming back to hold the lower of the double skinned floor panels.


    Those of you following the thread may want to know how I’m getting on with the CAD drawings for the grille. Well, all the vertical parts are drawn and the horizontals are in progress. It’s been a real learning curve with the monotony of imputing X & Y co-ordinates only to find some tiny error that crashes the whole thing. Anyhow, here’s a taste of my 3D model that I hope to use to make the most factory accurate laser cut replica 330 grille in the world!

    3D CAD vane

    [​IMG]

    Vane Tab detail

    [​IMG]
     
  19. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

    May 12, 2005
    1,540
    Vancouver
    Full Name:
    Rick Bradner
    Whenever I get a bit frustrated with progress on mine I come over here for inspiration!

    cheers Darren
     
  20. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

    Oct 6, 2007
    1,243
    Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
    Full Name:
    Vincent Vangool
    Any updates on this?

    Godspeed.
     
  21. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Hi Vincent,

    I've been real ill recently, was rushed into A & E (ER) and had emergency surgery for suspected bowel cancer which knocked me for six. They cut out a section containing the polyps, stapled me back together and I've had a few months living hell but recovering fine now. This has given me plenty of time to think, but no time unfortunately working on the car.

    Any how, the CAD drawing is now complete and I reckon I can get 6 grille's out of an 8' x 4' sheet, so they'll work out around £14 GBP (about $20 USD) each.

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

    Oct 6, 2007
    1,243
    Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
    Full Name:
    Vincent Vangool
    #172 Vincent Vangool, Jun 5, 2014
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2014
    Wow man.

    I am really sorry to hear this.

    It seems that you have taken many blows in the health department.

    By no means feel pressured by my curiosity. I just respect and admire what you are doing and don't want to fall out of touch with your project.

    Take all the time you need.

    It may be my favorite thread on Ferrarichat. As well as Matoumorales's 308 revived from death rebuild.

    What is the actual meaning of "knocked me for six?"

    If the grill comes out nice you may want to look into selling those to raise money for the project. I feel there are many that could use decent replacement parts/grills.

    I will wait patiently to see your heartfelt work.

    Get well soon and prosper.
     
  23. Darren C

    Darren C Formula Junior

    Feb 3, 2011
    308
    Chichester, UK
    Thanks Vincent,

    Knocked for six is an old English phrase which I think originated from the game of Cricket. A score of six points is the maximum score when the ball is hit its hardest and furthest.
    The phrase refers to the hardest knock or hit a person can take, both physical and mental.
     
  24. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

    Oct 6, 2007
    1,243
    Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
    Full Name:
    Vincent Vangool
    Thanks for the clarification.

    You know the old adage I'm sure: It's not how many times they knock you down but how many times you get back up.

    I look forward to seeing your progress when that time comes.
     
  25. gt4me

    gt4me F1 Veteran

    Sep 10, 2005
    5,637
    UK
    Full Name:
    Lewis Mitchell
    Sorry to hear about your health problems, keep your chin up mate.
     

Share This Page