I just took delivery of this car after a long courtship I have a million questions horseless carriage delivered the car to LA today and the trailer was full of insane ferraris Image Unavailable, Please Login
I plan to enjoy it for many years if possible this is my first Ferrari or Dino if you prefer I have a Porsche but I am a custom american hotrod guy but i have always LOVED the shape of these cars
I have to thank Skip on here for being my emotional support animal on this journey I shopped these cars for a few years I paid for 2 PPI's and I did not with this car as I was gonna be in NY and I went myself and drove it I don't know what to talk about first the kill or the chase I guess I need to talk about getting it off the truck today
my wife has better pictures of the other Ferraris on the truck there was a car bound for racing in Laguna - private party car my car was in Long Island NY with Tom Popadapoulis at AUTOSPORTS DESIGN I had a great time with Tom and his people
So the driver told me how he stopped at a few Ferrari dealerships whilst going NY to Cali apparently everyone was inquiring about my gal "is it for sale?" etc. but he had me help him get the car off the truck so he had to back it on to the lowering deck which feels sketchy especially for us he and i are - 2 dipshits - with a 44 year old italina car that's been sitting on a truck for 2 weeks choke or no choke - that was the question because the car would turn over but quickly dribble off so i stayed at the nose of the car he got it going enough with a very lopey idle and he backed it on to the lowering tray so i stepped on and he lowered us all to the ground he then backed it off slowly - lopey lopey idle he shut the car off
so now i have to drive this car from west la to benedict canyon maybe 12 miles but these are LA city miles nothing is easy especially in a rolling work of art my wife has her red tesla and is gonna follow me so i start driving and the car is running rough when i'm accelerating it smooths out but at idle it really popping i look down and see a red light on on the left corner of the dash generator - red light is kinda going on and off as if a stall warning i look to see the car has NO GAS so i pull an illegal u turn and pull into a gas station i realize now that i am afraid to turn it off with fear that i won't get it started i look ... wrong side i pull the car to the other side of the island and line up the gas cap side and pump
so - next problem i have no idea how to open the gas cap it took me just a moment before i see the three stainless pulls on the drive side i pull one and hear the truck open i pull another and the engine door pops third time the gas cap pops open so cool - that metal cap is awesome i fill the car - it takes like 10 gallons what size is the gas tank?
this i don't know it could be it made the auction run 2 times there is a great ad that i will post of the car at one auction where it sold then it was a no sale at another so Tom and his shop kept it he had gotten it in a 4 car trade with another big 4 wall car shop
so... there is a homeless man with a stick in the alley by the gas station and he is smiling at the car "ferrari" he yells i smile and hope he doesn't take his stick to the car he does not but concentrating on him made me almost hit a ford explorer who was cruising down the alley all good i head up sepulveda thinking get me out of the street light fiasco i wanna drive sunset - no lights - let the car breathe a bit it is still running weird - rich and popping - low idle now i know you vets have already diagnosed my problem but i;m gonna give myself credit for figuring it out
i look for the infamous "choke" i;ve heard so much chatter about there it is - above the center console and it IS PUSHED ON - up towards blue! I pull it down towards RED and the car immediately mellows and now I can hear the growl much cleaner question - why won't the choke switch come all the way down to red it kinda gets tough to pull at midway i also because the car still backfires and "diesels" a bit when i turn the car off after driving it POPS at least once
so i went from panic sweat dripping on my tee shirt as i was sure i was gonna stall the car in the middle of insane LA traffic and not get it started again to... it's a pleasure - sounds great i want to diagnose the backfire issue my dumb guy guess is that the mixture to those carbs is still too rich when i am accelerating - it smooths out when i let off the gas at speed - it will pop a little but i'm hearing it in the exhaust pipes i least i think i am i have to remember that the carbs are on my shoulder and not in front of me an exhaust leak wouldn't cause that popping would it?
i also went out after 30 minutes of driving and the car was still warm after almost an hour of sitting i went ti start it and it wouldn't kick over - it had plenty of spark and spin but wouldn't fire then i sumo it a bunch and now it just goes click and dies click i call tom - he has me go out and sit in the car walks me through it i mat the gas - so open the throttle completely and turn the car over - when the car starts i let off the gas worked like a charm he told me when cold starting do half way on the gas and do the same process
https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/AM17/Amelia-Island/lots/r106-1974-ferrari-dino-246-gts-by-scaglietti/407165
Congratulations on the Dino! It looks superb. Rare and beautiful color too. On the choke control: The lever does not go all the way towards red because the slot is a bit longer than what is needed for the choke movement. Can be adjusted with the choke wire position, but then the lever will stop short of the blue position instead. Your choice. A bit of lubrication and cable adjustment will probably make it feel better, though. Popping on light throttle is usually a sign of lean rather than rich mixture - and then only from the intake. But I wonder, does this car by any chance still have the air pump connected? If so, that may be the cause of the popping. And then you would be right about hearing it pop from the exhaust! Particularly the pop after turning the engine off sounds like typical behavior with the air pump engaged. In any case, tweaking the idle mixture a bit should minimize the problem if you run it with the air pump, and eliminate it completely if you run it without. I wish you much enjoyment with your Dino! Lars
Lars - that is very sound advice - I am going to investigate the air pump can you and or others chime in on the use / non-use of the air pump? would you say that most Dino owners disable the pump? when i am accelerating the car is smooth as silk - perfect growl if i am coasting down a hill and i engage the clutch and take it out of gear - it is then that the popping seems to happen there is so much about this car that i don't know but i just spent some time in the garage going through it there is a binder that RM put together it has much much documentation - from ownership to service records - photos etc. do you guys put trickle charges on your Dinos to keep them primed where is the battery? in truth i have not really looked but um where is the battery ?
John I love the colour it really enhances the curves of the 246. Give yourself time to understand the car, it will come in good time. No choke, disconnect it. I live in the UK and it was 0 deg C (32F) on Saturday and my car started first time without any choke. Popping through the exhausts can be a variety of things from vacuum leaks to poorly adjusted idle circuits and as Lars pointed out, its a sign of lean running. I would seek out someone who knows how to set them up correctly in the first instance and if you are mechanically minded, then learn how to do it yourself later once you get confident with the car. There are lots of people on here who are able to help you solve most problems, I found it invaluable in my early years of dino ownership. Tony
That is a great first day story. Amazing how many dealers send you to a petrol station within 5 minutes of picking up the car. Just a survival test!!! You will have many questions, if I can pass on any advice, it would be - look for the answers here. They have probably already been discussed. The most important piece of advice I found was - if you don’t use the Dino it will go wrong, they were designed to be driven, they do not melt when it rains, you’ll just spend more time smiling. Good Luck Regards Steve Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lovely Dino, John - congratulations. On almost any other car I would not like that colour, but on a Dino it looks absolutely gorgeous!
Almost all the US Dinos that I have come in contact with have had their air pumps disabled. It is easy enough to do by just removing the 12 V feed wire to the air pump control module inside the rear trunk. But before you do that, you may want to have the carburetors tweaked by an experienced mechanic (the first time, later you can do it yourself). The rule I try to follow, for myself at least, is to always get everything to work optimally in complete stock condition before I do any alteration. A properly adjusted US Dino is a sweetheart to drive, with or without air pump. There should be only slight occasional puffing from the exhaust - usually at idle - with the air pump engaged. To access the battery you have to remove the spare wheel and unscrew the battery cover lid. A bit of a pain if you want to use a trickle charger. If you do it often, you may want to install a fused separate connector for a maintenance charger in a convenient hidden location.
