I wish I had known as I just finished recovering my front aluminum panel. Locally sourced the zipper and vinyl it came out nice enough..the front plate is indeed hand hacked alumnum, the brake edges at each femder are simple enough, 90 degree breaks. But the radius edge around the tire, has a small "return" on it, downward and despite the Italian reputation for hand hammering on sandbags could only have been done on an English wheel, or perhaps stamping?? For that reason, I hope can find a salvage one....
wow haven’t updated this in 6 weeks! My son left to pursue his dream of playing on the PGA tour so I’m on my own in the shop Both rear hubs are rebuilt, did the rear sway bar bushings. I tore into the Koni’s and will be getting a rebuild lesson at the end of the month while I’m in Phoenix from a seasoned veteran and I’m really looking forward to that! We have had record snow falls up here so it looks like a late spring Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Correct me if I'm wrong but 22707 is a GTS ? US ? GTB and GTS didn't received the fiberglass at the same time and there is also a gap between US vs Euro. So it is quite difficult to give just one chassis number for the change
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wow thank you ! That is great to be precise. Sorry jgmblair for the off topic but does 22707 come with the moving nut for the spare wheel attachment and having the black plastic bolt and can you confirm it has the front spoiler with the three oblong holes in the front for cooling ? The car is in a middle of small changes we were talking about with other FChatter... And I would like to apologize in my previous post talking about the fiber for the spare wheel housing, none of the GTS received the soft cover, US or Euro models.
We all make mistakes in the shop but I’m always amazed when I come across things like this! What baffles me is thinking about the person who drove this after the wrong length wheel bolts were installed on the rear tire! Surely they had to know something wasn’t right? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finished all the control arms with new bushings, rear hubs done with new bearings, front spindles repainted and new ball joints. Heading back to Phoenix to visit my son at the end of the month, will go pester Bill at GT car parts for a few more odds and ends. Still 3’ of snow where I live so I’m guessing end of April before I venture out for a drive! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Had a great time in Phoenix! Met with Jeff Leblond of FJB Shocks who offered to give me a lesson on Koni shocks. I will be bold in saying you CANNOT rebuild your own shocks, you can certainly open them and put in new seals and orings (if you can find them) but to do this properly there are way to many parts that need attention and a proper dyno is the ONLY way to know what the compression and rebound are doing. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Jeff is an amazing wealth of knowledge and his experience is priceless. The biggest problem with these old Koni’s is clogging of all the internal valving due to old fluid and degradation of the seals. I got to do all the cleaning prior to the machining of a few components that Jeff does routinely to ensure proper functioning. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
After everything was cleaned a bit of machining took place. Jeff explained that he took a few thou off the mating surface of the top flange which allows for a bit more compression of the oring, and he only uses viton orings. Then he machines the top and bottom of the internal cylinder to ensure they are flat which can be an issue with the foot valve mating, if this leaks it can greatly throw off the compression. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Next he checks the washers for flatness by a wet sand on 800 grit and replaces anything needed. Checks the proper spring compression and then starts the rebuild. The foot valve is comprised of flat and wave washers that are influenced by the spring which is the “adjustable” component of these shocks. I laughed when he tightened the foot valve screw and bolt at exactly 1 1/2 turns of an m6 bolt Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
He has a special formula for replacement fluid which is simply shock fluid with a synthetic lubricant added. Once all together we headed over to the dyno. Once again Jeff has compression and rebound values for EVER Koni shock manufactured. This was amazing to see and he set up my shocks a bit on the softer side in consideration of my driving conditions. We did have one shock that required opening it up 4x to change a few components in order to get the proper compression and rebound. Once done he printed me off the dyno results for each shock. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Jeff was very kind to invite me to his shop and share his knowledge with me. Was a great experience and I’m back home now just prepping the shocks for paint ( yes he gave me the Koni paint formula but you will need to PM me if you want to see that. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Suspension is almost done, just finishing up the front wheel bearings. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks like it’s coming together nicely! Interesting how much work is required to rebuild those shocks. At you reusing the springs or replacing? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Having re-built many shocks myself I would caution anyone from doing it themselves unless they have access to a shock dyno to verify their work. It is not a difficult process but it is INCREDIBLY easy to install a part in reverse or in a different order than how it came out (regardless of how many pictures you take or diagrams you draw). Dampers will screw together perfectly well in an infinite number of combinations and occasionally a damper you are sure you put together right will show a damping curve on the dyno that is miles off of what it should be. Inevitably you open it up, look inside and sure enough something is out of place. In addition when assembling there are a number of 'grey hair' procedures that permit a seasoned expert to avoid things like cavitation in the oil and these tricks are learned from experience. Shock re-building is something that is generally best left to a specialist and it is not really expensive enough to justify doing it yourself for any real savings.
Waiting on seals was hoping to have her back on the road at this point but looking like a few more weeks. Was reading Paul Newman’s 308!restoration sticky and realized the arm on the front knuckle should be plated not painted so fixed that! Will start reassembly this week and hope I get the correct seals. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
LOVE this thread! Car is looking fantastic! I was lucky enough to see it in person, and hope to see it running around with the rest of us this summer!
