Kinda gives a bit different meaning to, "throwing in the towel! Great idea though. Sounds terrific. So what were the mistakes the PO had made that prevented him from getting the car going? I know there was a lot of while your at stuff which you added on.
I would not call them mistakes. The only thing I found "wrong" was one of the cam oil line banjo bolts, which had the wrong hole size. It is possible the error was made at the factory. What many times happens is that people stretch a restoration over too many years and things have to get redone. For example the brakes on this car were done perhaps 15 or 20 years ago but the car sat unused with brake fluid many years and the caliper pistons rusted. Similarly the fuel in the gas tank decomposed and the tank had to be cleaned and coated. The Webers were all gummed up with old fuel, etc. The best thing is to not let a restoration project linger. If you know something is going to take a long time best not to put any fluids in until the parts is ready to go into service. Ivan
I have not posted anything in some time as #1341 is currently getting a complete paint job. Meanwhile Vignale spyder prototype (#504) the first one built, attended Villa D'Este this weekend. Many of you might recall the thread when this car was restored. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/vignale-spyder-504-restoration.250095/ Although I no longer own this car it was an honor to see it invited to Villa D'Este as it still wears my restoration. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Things have been a bit bumpy with the recommissioning of #1341. The painter that was working on the car unfortunately had a motorcycle accident and passed away. Finding someone that is willing to take on an unfinished project has proven to be a challenge. Finally found someone but he was only willing to take it if the car was stripped to bare metal. This has been done and I think in the long run it was the right move. The body has some prior metal patches which have held up well. The good news is that there are no signs of it ever been in an accident. Ivan
That will be fabulous when it's done. Thank you for updating us. I was wondering about progress on this one, and the Bora. Sad to hear about the painter, was he the fellow who did another one of your cars? I'm trying to remember his name but I spoke with him several months back as he was going to repaint an area on my car but never heard back from him.
He use to work full time for one of the major collectors in the Atlanta area. He did some small paint jobs for me in the past, such as repainting a hood, etc. The current painter did the white Vignale spyder prototype about 12 years ago. Not cheap but at least he is working on my car almost full time. Hope to get it painted before the end of the year, maybe sooner. The Bora has also proven to be a bit of a challenge. The car runs great and is the first Bora I've had that the temperature stays at 75C even on hot days. The problem is that some coolant is mixing with the oil so I will have to remove both heads, make sure they are not warped and replace the head gaskets. That will be my winter project. Ivan
That surprises me given that you believe you have a head gasket failure as I would expect that you might have exhaust gasses being pushed into the coolant. Is there any evidence of exhaust gases in the coolant? That's what I had but never any coolant in the oil. I guess you'll learn more once the heads come off. I've never been able to get my Bora to run as cool as I'd like and I did all the upgrades to the cooling system. It's a weird thing, my friend had a 73 and his car had zero cooling issues. He did quite a few upgrades which I copied and my car didn't respond the way his did. Mine doesn't boil over but it just runs too hot in really hot weather. We came to the conclusion that there's something different in my motor that transmits more heat to the coolant.
Sat do hear about the painter. You live near a motorcycling meca for riding. I like the '61 Ford Starliner on the rack also!
Should be getting paint later this week. Then it will be a couple of weeks of wet sanding and buffing. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
It is getting wet sanded and buffed. Looks black in the photos but it is dark blue (original color). Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Car came home yesterday. Now the fun part of putting it back together starts! Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am having trouble figuring out how to route the two fresh air ducts. One fan takes a large hose and the other takes a smaller hose. The large hose will not fit behind the vertical suspension piece. Would appreciate a photo of this area with the hoses attached. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Per your request attached is a photo of the duct hoses. I remember doing these even 40 years ago. You need to make the big hose oval to get it in there and liek most Maserati details it takes time. I still have my wheel off if you need more detail or a different angle. Sorry it took so long but I am old and slow Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Gene for the suggestion of making the hoses oval. Only way to get these hoses in that small area is by distorting them! What a pain. It took 3 hours just to get those two hoses installed but it is now done. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Car is slowly coming back together. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Had the distributors of both 1961 3500GT restored by Dave North, who specializes in Marelli distributors. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey I've known Dave for almost 25 years. Yeah he about red me the Marelli riot act when we got into a discussion about how I converted my Espada's 4 sets of points Marelli to Pertronix. LOL. Glad to see he did right by you. I used to go to track events with him here with the Ferrari club.
I've also known him for years, Very nice guy and gets things don quickly. After so many years the springs and moving parts get out of calibration and the advance curve is off. This is an area many engine restorers neglect to check. Ivan
Yesterday I finished installing the diamond shape trunk material. Next will be the interior carpet. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before tackling my Espada's distributor, the points were a horrible mess with many of those flat springs flailing about. I interviewed several well know Marelli restoration guys. At the time spares were very hard to get and we had someone in the Lamborghini community manufacturing some of them. Most of these distributors get very little maintenance which is why they're often such a mess. Fortunately mine was really in very good shape mechanically so my conversion went well. I sent it out for calibration of the advance and the the timing between the two sensors. IMHO it's advance mechanism that's weakest part of the design. Dave vehemently disagrees but then this is his hobby/business now. Not having to ever set or replace points again is a nobrainer for me. The Pertronix keeps your distributor looking completely original and operating better to boot. I wonder if any concours judge has ever dinged a car that had this installed so that all of the original stuff like capacitors and resistors appeared operational?
I agree, Pertronix is a better alternative to the points. It is what I have in the Ghibli and Daytona. On those cars you have multiple points triggering different cylinders. In the Maserati inline 6 engines you have two points both triggering the same cylinder, which adds redundancy and makes adding a Pertronix less needed. Adding a Pertronix does nothing to fix the advance curve; there is where a guy like Dave comes in. My distributors now have new bearings and the advance curve is spot on. Ivan