512 BBi, #51257 ended up in my garage | FerrariChat

512 BBi, #51257 ended up in my garage

Discussion in 'Boxers/TR/M' started by pshoejberg, Oct 21, 2017.

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  1. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Dec 22, 2007
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    Peter H
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    Hello, all Boxer petrol heads. I finally completed my little selection of Ferrari cars with a 12-cylindered car. I have a 246 GT and a 308 GTS QV and have for a long time wanted a "real" Ferrari with 12 spark plugs. The car I bought might be well known to some of you. It is a car that came out of a collection of some type in Canada and was advertised on flea bay and other places in a quite rough condition. The car is a 1984 model in Prugna color. The car was finally sold to an importer in Europe where I traced it up a few days after its arrival from Canada. The car has been discussed on this site before and I am happy that I now can contribute with more information and facts about the car for those who are interested. I have barely no history about this car other than the US car fax so any information from follow fchat members will be received with appreciation. The car has only driven 21.000 KM and I believe this is true based on my preliminary inspection. The car is mostly original and appears completely untouched except from the front end that have taken some impact damage long time ago. All nuts and bolts, hoses, exhaust etc. are untouched. The front repair is done very poorly, but there is thankfully no structural damage to be observe on the frame. The cabin is literally close to "as new" and the engine and gearbox runs great and pulls strong. The car has been repainted once (Most likely when the front was damaged) and it is thankfully a hack paint job performed with the glass and doors in place, so no damage done to those components. The car appears to have been stored indoor for most of its life resulting in nearly no surface rust and all rubber looks good except from suspension rubbers as usual after 33 years. My plan is to take the front apart and fix it. Take the rear apart and detail the engine room with care. The engine will be tested and if everything looks good, then perform a big service and detail everything gently. The rest of the car will be carefully dismantled and re-assembled fixing all small details as slow windows, non-original steering wheel and radio and the tons of other stuff that needs attention including new suspension rubbers etc. Here is a few pictures of the car as arrived home. Sorry for the poor light.


    Best regards Peter
     
    LightGuy, HansCH, dmn23 and 3 others like this.
  2. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    And yes I know that someone swabbed the rear light with the direction light......;)
     
  3. dwhite

    dwhite F1 Rookie

    Glad someone will treat it right. Enjoy, they are a pleasure to drive.
     
  4. 4right

    4right F1 Rookie
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    Congratulations on your Boxer! Do you know if Prugna is the original color? It appears that we are working in opposite directions, I am looking to add a 246 GT to complete a similar collection.
     
  5. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Thanks. The last picture of the door opening is showing the original prugna color. The new paint is not wrapped around the edge......:eek:. Apparently this color was a special order and I read somewhere that it is a one off? Anyway, I believe it is a love it or hate it color...I love it, and plan to keep it. Good luck with your Dino chase. There are many good 246 out there and I know for sure that you can get all the help you need in the 246 community on this site. I spent 3 years completely overhauling my Dino and that wouldn't have been possible without the help i received from this community.

    Best Peter
     
    of2worlds likes this.
  6. George Vosburgh

    George Vosburgh F1 Rookie
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    Congratulations Peter best of luck with it.
     
  7. samsaprunoff

    samsaprunoff F1 Rookie
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    Jun 8, 2004
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    Good day Peter,

    Indeed, congratulations to you and welcome to the Boxer Family!

    Cheers,

    Sam
     
  8. TerryG!

    TerryG! Karting

    Feb 12, 2017
    155
    Central UK
    Congratulations Peter, from a fairly recent Boxer owner. It's been about a year but I still get that 'can it really be true?' feeling every time I go into the garage. I hope you enjoy your car, I'm sure you will.
     
    Supernaut likes this.
  9. dgt

    dgt Formula 3
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    Peter,
    Congrats, we need to get our cars together for a drive sometime
     
  10. simchanova

    simchanova Formula Junior
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    ...congratulations Peter!....welcome to the club...I have a 1984 one off white/crema-rossa ...I suggest purchasing Nathan Behuel’s book on boxers to confirm your one off color combo as i did...I also own a flying mirror testarossa (1985) that is Prugna in color!...I love this color!...unfortunately the paint was ratty...just getting it back now from full paint...I am thinking of having it judged at Watkins Glen FCA National next fall,ciao,Stuart
     
  11. msdesignltd

    msdesignltd F1 World Champ
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    Great Serial #...one of the last 50?
     
  12. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Thanks all for the welcome. I have a long listing of all 365 /512 ever produced and their original color. I can see that there is produced 68 cars after mine # 51257. There is only one recorded as prugna (#51257), but also 344 cars with no color information, so still no proof of #51257 being the only prugna. By the way I found the complete original jack set below the spare wheel despite information’s saying no tools with the car....Feeling like x-mass eve....-:). Even the ridiculous expensive spark plug wrench was there and a misused lead hammer. Some son of a b..... took off the front wheels beating the hammer and the wing nuts to near death. Possibly the same guy who did the damage repair job after impact. The rear wheel nuts looks like new.

    Best Peter

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  13. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Some more facts are now unearthed after further inspection. Let’s start with the good news first. The engine is showing good consistent compression of max / min / average = 154 / 145 / 149 psi (Cold engine). Max distribution = 6 %. All plugs are looking good and all spark plug threads are undamaged. The engine and engine compartment appears very untouched and with no apparent damages (Other than rotten hoses and rusty original exhaust). Then the bad news..As I to some extent expected, the front of the car is toast. The repairs done some years ago are of a very bad quality and the secondary front chassis structure that carries the hood, spoiler and radiator etc. needs complete rebuild. I am planning to move the car to a crash frame to get the entire chassis checked for straightness and aligned if needed. Initial measurements of lower wishbone support points are looking according the specification, but I will not have the full overview before the car is mounted firmly in the crash bench. Any input with regards to the front chassis details is received with great appreciation. Drawings and detailed photos, dimension on the square and rectangular tubing and any other measurement is much needed. I am also on the lookout for spare parts (or good pictures) related to the front end such as the clam shell bonnet (potentially…have not yet uncovered what is below the paint, but I fear the worse), fan covers (tav 103 #12), front wheel arch inspection covers (tav 102 #16), spare wheel cover (tav 104 #11) and possible much more when I have taken the front apart.

    Thanks

    Peter
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    TAV 102

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    TAV 103

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    TAV 104
     
    of2worlds likes this.
  14. omd78

    omd78 F1 World Champ

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    Thanks for sharing Peter, looking forward to more updates.

    Gr. Martin
     
  15. Newman

    Newman F1 World Champ
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    Dec 26, 2001
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    Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the fold. Looking forward to seeing more pics!
     
  16. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Congrats!

    I like the color!
     
  17. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Thanks all. I have a couple of questions for all you experts. Firstly, are there any differences between the 512 BB and 512 BBi front bonnet? I am considering buying a new (used) bonnet and need to know more about any potentials pit falls. Secondly, if you look at the boxer straight from the side can you then draw a straight line along the classical door side / chassis black colored indentation from the rear spoiler to front spoiler? (see yellow line on picture below).

    Best Peter

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  18. Newman

    Newman F1 World Champ
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    Never tried to draw a straight line along the side but it makes sense it should be close but dont expect perfection. The rear top brace in the engine bay tilts down the the right on every boxer I've worked on. You can see it with the rear grill out and the clam closed. Also the rear clams sometimes have a left twist to them when looking from the rear. The center row louvers can slope off to one side too when looking out the rear view mirror.

    Sometime in 81 the front latches were upgraded from the pin style strikers to a finger type latch like the rears all got in 79. The rear was more critical to upgrade because of the potential for it to flip open and land upside down behind the car if you forgot to latch the center safety. And the safety they used is the same type of latch used on airplane jet engine covers!

    The front clam in 77-78 got additional bracing along the nose to stiffen it. When you buy a new clamshell the latch mounts could be different or not even present so you'll need to transfer yours to the new one, weld them in and then duplicate the texture. It may also be missing the safety catch mount too. So if you buy a new 79 clam vs a new injected clam the latch mounts are what would be different. Otherwise they are all the same.
     
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  19. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Thanks Newman, your input is much appreciated. The front clamshell on the car looks very homemade from were the grill opening starts and to the front edge as can be seen on below pictures. It looks clearly like the clam was smashed up and rebuild with a simplified rectangular tubing construction covered with sheets of aluminum plates and plastic. It is also apparent that the direction lights are glued in and the unoriginal grill is installed the best they could which is not very good. Also note that there is no indentation for the pranching horse emblem. All in all very bad craftmanship and a need for complete rebuild. The plan is to clean the clam from the massive amount of goo, lacker and plastic and access what is left. I will need some close up picture shots of all the details if I choose to repair the existing clam, I hope you guys can help me on that one.

    Best Peter

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  20. Newman

    Newman F1 World Champ
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    You're right its not factory along the front and not worth correcting. It'll make nice wall art in your garage. Get another clam new or used and if you need injected front signal housings (you do and they are different than carb'd cars), I have a pair here looking for a new home.

    The hood pad should be treated like gold. Be careful removing it and transfer it to the new clam.
     
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  21. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    Oh dear, oh dear I need your help...This car is completely home build from battery forward....Not a pretty sight. I am in need of high resolution pictures or drawings / sketches of the "light" chassis construction ahead of the battery. Best of all would be to visit someone with a BBi front taken apart so I could make my own drawings, preferably in Europe. Thanksfully it is a very low tech construction so it is very easy to construct. Any input is welcome.

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  22. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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  23. G. Pepper

    G. Pepper Three Time F1 World Champ
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    I love restoration threads! Always nice to see an unloved Ferrari brought back to life.
     
  24. pshoejberg

    pshoejberg Formula 3
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    And finally a little warning to all that are still running their old Ferrari's with old original hoses. The car started smelling of gasoline and small drips gathered on the floor. This is what I found on the tank connector pipe....completely rotten fule hose with two holes.

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  25. turbo-joe

    turbo-joe F1 Veteran

    Apr 6, 2008
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    be carefully with this bracket when tighten. I once tighten it a ilttle too much and I wonder why the clutch was working very hard after rebuilding the slave cylinder and not came back again. then I have seen that I tighten this bracket so much that the piston in the cylinder could not move right anymore. so I loosend this bracket a little and all was and is still fine
    but I see you have 2 washers between the 2 halfs. good idea :)
    or you put those only in for testing?
     

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