330 GTC ISSUES-NEED ADVICE

Carb wise the engine may be running too lean (too much air mix)? Check the exhaust at the back. If the deposits are white then that could be the problem? The experts here will help I'm sure.

 

Your engine is probably running too lean. Without knowing if you are (or use) an experienced old-Ferrari mechanic, I have to make some assumptions which may be wrong, so apologies in advance. Step 1 is you need to find out what "carbs adjusted" actually involved.

A common mistake when encountering weber carbs where the mixture screw isn't responsive is to fit smaller idle jets. This can instantly cure flat spots or fouling plugs. The problem is that the rich running can often be caused by dirt or gum inside the carby. Modern fuel has lots of additives which leave gum behind. Have you ever had the carbs stripped & rebuilt?

With an engine and carbs in good condition, you should be running the factory idle jets, full stop. This setup has the car slightly rich and blowing some black smoke under hard acceleration. If you decide to get the carbs serviced, make sure you send them to a Weber expert.

Old Ferrari electrics are reliable if correctly maintained and unmodified. Most problems in my experience are introduced. I have seen horrible things done in the course of fitting big stereos, driving lights, etc. Your alternator problem may be as simple as a blown diode (the usual cause of non-charging) and may be a coincidence. Rad fans draw a lot of current. If standard fans are not serviced (they have a bronze bush which gets dry and increases the power needed to turn the fan) they won't spin fast enough and will blow fuses. You say you've had work done, so check condition of the wiring, especially connections and earthing points.

Final thing is have your thermostat checked. Better still, fit a new one.

At the end of the day, it may be a simple alternator repair and the engine/carbs perfectly OK. You should expect it to get warm when stationary in traffic and the fans to cut in. As long as the temp drops again after you get moving, there's nothing to worry about.

 

re: quick warm up, indicates the thermostat is operating properly, 90C is a good temp, if you are in a hot climate you could drop a lower temp thermostat in, what really matters is that the operating temp stabilizes from good cooling, in a hot climate the 330 engine will run hot from city driving, it likes more airflow than one gets in stop and go traffic to keep kool

 

I live in Houston Texas where the temperature is very high most of the time. I have found that my GTC runs at least 90°C and sometimes up to 100° seemingly without difficulty. One other thing that you might do is to shoot an IR gun at the thermostat to see if your temperature reading on the gauge is really accurate.

It's been my experience with my GTC over the past 8 years that the electrical systems on these cars are actually better than I would've predicted based on my ownership of Alfas. However, as pointed out, the addition of extra lights, bigger fans and radios if not done properly, can really mess up what was a fairly good basic system. I would check to see if they upgraded your fans (they do cool better if wired correctly). I'm not sure if the fan run with a relay but that would help to decrease the overall electrical load. One other cause of overheating is bad/ incorrect ignition timing; this is easy to check on a GTC, and I think that would be worth checking to be sure that your timing on both banks is advancing correctly and that the base timing is accurate as well.

steve

 

I agree. If your temp is at 90 C or less there is little to worry about. Here in FL on a hot day [ mid 90s F] in traffic my GTC will approach 100 C. The radiator is clean, water pump [and engine] rebuilt and higher output Spal fans installed. If it is stop and go for too long I have to turn off the a/c to reduce the load. But once we get underway the temp comes right back down. I think that the cooling capacity is right on the edge when in hotter climates. The only thing my shop and I could propose to improve cooling with was to install even bigger cooling fans. But since my car is going to relocate to the mountains this won't be necessary.

 

Doesnt hurt to rebleed the system . These cars like water ...........


Water is more than 2x effective as a heat transfer medium than ethylene glycol. Also, ethylene glycol coolants will heat up faster. Not sure what coolant your using?

 

When I first got my GTC one of the fans was not working. The car ran hot then, always over 100C. But now the car sits below 90C almost always even on hot days, as soon as she goes over the fans kick in and keep her at 90.

One thing that you might want to check for is how the car drops in revs. My GTC ran great but I started to notice she was dropping in revs slower and slower. Eventually it turned out my carbs had been burnt out to much and needed refurbishing. I had them remade for about $4k and since then the car is running like an absolute dream. I thought she was good before, but now she is magic. Revs drop like a ton of bricks now, she is the racy engine that she should be.


Onno

 

do the conversion to degrees F, where 90 C equals 194 F... a bit warmer than the typical 180 F for cars in the US, it is a good operating temp to get the best burn from pump fuel for performance... it's the fuel that is sensitive to higher operating temps...combustion becomes a control issue...