Dino Improvements mods upgrades tasteful and semi original

Congratulation with your purchase! Other than an upgraded ignition that eliminates the mechanical advance system you should be good to go with the original configuration. Both suspension system, steering system and brakes are perfectly balanced and suit the car and engine power perfectly. I have added some electronic features to my 246 like relays for the head light to eliminate voltage drop and alarm system with remote opening of the doors to make the car easier usable (I use my car a lot for smaller trips as well as longer). Invest your money in a thorough and good quality restore and try to use original spares as much as possible is my advice, but everyone to each own taste.

Merry Christmas

Peter

 

If you rebuild the gearbox you should note that one of the synchronizer hubs only wears on one side so you can flip it around and have an unworn side unless someone has already done this. They synchro hubs aren't cheap!

 

Correct the 1st gear synchro hub is shared with reverse that is non sychronized so flipping it will yield a brand new operating surface. In addition the synchro hub for 4th and 5th normally gets a lot less wear than the 2nd and 3rd hub so you may get away with only replacing one hub. Do however replace all the synchro rings as they are cheap.

 

Sounds like a great project. Many consider this to be a worthwhile upgrade:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/stratos-induction-system-on-246gt.72629/

Best of luck!

 

Congratulations on your new Dino. If you don't replace the wiring harness, the window lifts can benefit similar to the headlights - using relays. Run a new wire from the fuse to each door. Wire in two relays at each door and use the original wiring to trigger the relay for up or down. I think there is a thread here on the installation.

 

Just remember, any "improvement" or "upgrade" may not necessarily mean better, most will detract from overall authentic (period correct) experience and majority will devalue the car.

 

If you change it, you will wreck the value. If you don't care about the value, have at it. For the sake of the car, you do it no favors changing it.

 

First of all congratulations on your purchase. The Dino 246 is a wonderful car that, when it is properly sorted, has great balance and a fantastic sporting feel to it. Regrettably most cars have fallen foul of deferred maintenance and general age so it is rare to experience a car that is well maintained and performs as it did new. If you take the time to really sort out the mechanical aspects of the car you will find that there is little point in modifying it. That said with the passage of time there have been improvements that the modern Dino owner can take advantage of, that improve the car while not interfering with its originality or value. Off the top of my head here are some of these items:

1. Electronic ignition that does away with points.
As already discussed this is a big upgrade and there are a number of threads here discussing the various options. The points that are currently available are of poor quality and make a marginal ignition system quite unreliable. Electronic ignition is much more reliable and can easy be installed and later removed without any trace. If you are really ambitious you can hide the new ignition in your old one yielding modern electronics with the original look.

2. Gear reduction starter
Again an easy to swap part but the original starter on the Dino is huge but a little on the weak side. Assuming everything is perfect it does a fine job of starting the car but if you need a little extra (lets say you foul the plugs a little) it can leave you stranded. A gear reduction starter really cranks the engine over fast and is a great item for the owner who plans on driving their car

3. Modern fluids
The owners manual was written almost 50 years ago so the recommended fluids are well out of time for what is currently available. Lots of threads on engine oils and gearbox fluids here. Me personally I have had excellent results with RedLine MTL in the transmission and I use Lucas Hot Rod oil with high zinc content in the engine. While there are a lot of excellent engine oil options, I think the MTL stands alone in the gearbox department as the best option out there.

4. New tires
Pay the money and buy Michelin XWX tires. They work great on the Dino and look totally correct too. On my 308 I actually changed back from 16" wheels to 14" and prefer the drive. Lots of people have opinions based on no experimentation of any kind and their opinions are normally the product of changing rock hard old tires with new larger wheels and they act like they discovered America. The original tires are very well suited to the overall balance of the car and are best not messed with.

5. Modern brake pads
The factory brakes are excellent and suit the car well. That said there are many modern pad offerings that offer more efficient stopping with almost no dust. The pads are a common size so you will have lots of choice here.

To answer some of your original questions:

1. Original shocks and springs work very well. When replacing the suspension bushings go with rubber ones as the urethane ones can squeal and are a little harsh.

2. Original cam grinds and compression work very well. If you are replacing pistons go with forged (which will be cheaper than original) and the original rods and bottom end is way overbuilt. Nothing exotic is needed in the engine and resist the urge to start hot rodding by lightening and porting. These engines are quite well optimized from the factory. These engines benefit greatly from optimized carburation jetting which differs from what is in the manual. Lots of information here. Lastly have your harmonic balancer re-built. It is cheap to do so and at this stage it is doing nothing with the original rubber being rock hard. www.hbrepair.com is an excellent source to have this done.

3. Most seats on these cars have the foam totally perished. A seat with new foam is actually quite comfortable. Again lots of bad information out there based on tired old cars.

Do post some photos of your new car and welcome to the community.

 

The Dino works pretty well as delivered by the factory, even by modern standards. If you want more horsepower you can do the usual hot rod mods of bigger valves, higher compression, etc. If it were me, I would find a spare Dino or Fiat Dino 2.4 spare engine and have fun making more power and keep your original engine unmolested. You can up-rate suspension, steering, ignition and other "bolt-on" mods and still be able to return your car to it's original state.

 

3. Which grade of the Lucas oil or does it depend on your season and location (north of the border or SoCal)? 10W-30, 10W-40 or their 20W-50?

5. Do you have particular brands you'd recommend?

 

I use 10W40 Lucas Hot Rod oil. Another good option is PennGrade1 oil (formerly Brad Penn, formerly Kendall) also in 10w40 grade. It is good to buy oil from some of the smaller and more specialist formulators because they are exempt from the regulations limiting the amount of zinc in the oil. A high zinc content is essential on our flat tappet engines to avoid premature cam wear. I am partial to the Lucas product because I got to know their head of formulation and development. He is a classic car guy and really knows his oil and was able to formulate a product that was specific to the needs that older flat tappet engines require.

Hawk HPS brake pads offer a great balance of low dust and good bite. On my 308 (same braking system as the Dino) I've experimented with a lot of different pads. Some would make a ton of dust and would have great feel and bite while others made no dust but had next to no feel. I found the Hawk to strike a great balance with an emphasis on excellent braking performance. Not a track pad, the Hawk is for street use and works excellent cold without any noise.

 

Follow this link and scroll down for a few more details regarding my electrical adventure on #00504:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/santa-came-early-this-year-with-00504.388966/page-8

All the electrical parts are pretty standard stuff including the door servos and alarm system. I see that you have received a lot of good advice already. Your next step could be to start searching for, and reading through, all the well documented restorations on this site. That will be a valuable exercise and time well spent and you will slowly be able to define your own project.

Best Peter

 

... and if you want "modernized" driving experience/feel, might be a good idea to just consider newer/more modern car to begin with.
Might also be a good idea to actually drive (extensively) a properly sorted Dino before imposing any "modernization"/"upgrades" ?

 

How about going with solid stem valves instead of the original sodium stem valves?

 

Not a bad idea, although I'd be surprised if OEM valves manufactured 45+ years ago were still available.
Newer, more recently manufactured sodium filled valves are likely much better quality than those used for original assembly.

 

So, I admit HUGE SKEPTICISM about some recent posts by this person.

I don’t remember this thread AT ALL.

I have not commented on recent posts, because I thought they were fake, but let me take a step back and say…..

Welcome

please share more about you and your journey

Shawn