Precision engineering with a scaffold pole

Thought that as my Euro, RHD, GT4 is up on stands while I am rebuilding my wheels I would refurbish the throttle mechanism and change the cable. Looked like a nice afternoon job and a good bit of preventative maintenance but it turned into a two month nightmare.

First problem was one of the bolts holding the alloy casting to the chassis was seized solid in the casting. It must have been an original with a very shallow head which soon rounded off. Having almost set the car on fire when trying to apply some gentle heat I had to resort to cutting off the casting with an angle grinder and cold chisel.

Removing the throttle cable was even worse as it seems the outer plastic sheath had melted or fused to the wall of the narrow steel tube that runs down the back of the engine. After many failed attempts to dislodge it I had to use to a scaffold pole twisting and levering the cable sheath out from under the car, slowly unwinding the steel outer coil of the old cable. With the steel removed I was able to ream out the debris from the top of the tube with a long drill and finally pull through a bicycle chain which I could spin slowly with a drill in order to completely clean out the tube.

Final clean and paint of all the chassis areas, a bag of new pins, bearings and cables from Ferrari Parts and everything went back beautifully this afternoon.

Not quite the maintenance with soft white gloves that I had expected when I purchased a Ferrari.

Now back to those wheels.

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