365 BB Chassis 17553 Nut and Bolt Restoration

Polyester shortly then blocking.

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Wonderful progress on the body work!

Do you have a source you use to make or buy decals like the "Benditalia" shown in post number 349 here? Motion Products for some decals required or?

 

I have all the decals made for me locally. I have rolls of decals for ferraris of that era from front to back.

 

Closer to paint!

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Someone with a keen eye (Nick) pointed out to me that this car is too late in production to have the tall cast inspection cover on the bell housing. I figured we could discuss this and things Ive discovered being in the trade and into cars since the mid 80's. Manufactures use up parts even when they're not supposed to. They don't stop, draw a line and end the use of a part and throw out what wasn't used. For example. We have a 67 mustang, a late build and when I went to replace the steering box I ran into a problem with parts compatibility. This car should have the 68 style column and steering box with a rag joint between the box and column. It doesn't, the steering box and shaft the steering wheel mounts to is all one piece (not a fun part to remove when there's an engine in the car) and yet it was a safety requirement back then to switch mid-year. So our car got a leftover part despite what the parts book would say.

Thankfully I have period photos of this boxer (one of the actual car in 1975 below) to refer to and much to Nick's dismay he had egg on his face

Also note the black air box lids. Im not sure when they switched to silver but this car had black ones. As does the very first production 365 boxer so black they will go.

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The picture above has some other important details. Note the black paint that comes from the top of the cabin down beside the back window (far left on cabin not directly beside the glass) as it follows the curve of the glass. When the black meets that vertical line in the body just past the corner of the back window it usually then goes straight up. Thats what they do on later cars so there's no body colour under the back window. Its such a small detail that they must've felt improved the look when the rear lid was closed and you were hyperfocusing on the back window whilst sipping your port. Hose clamp orientation is verified, return spring is black, top heat shield bolt over tightened squishing the shield, main hose clamp almost out of the picture has a long tail on it so they didn't care if the clamp was a little too big, top engine block nuts were incorrect when the car came to me, now has the correct FA yellow zinc nuts. Ill be juggling some o-rings around on the plug wires too. Starter snout is natural not black like the rest of the starter which I fog some clear on to prevent from rusting. You can see the washers under the nuts that hold the intake to the head are black. A detail thats often overlooked. 308's and other ferrari's from that era were all like that too. Its a conical lock washer, not a split lock.

 

Im running into a dead end on the seatbelts. I have 2 contacts Im waiting to hear from that may have what I need but it's been a long wait.

I've found other 365 belts but they lack the rigid sleeve on the receiver. These are non-retractable belts so no belt reels. They are the same left and right so if anyone can provide a lead that would be very much appreciated!
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Are they the same as early glass 308?

 

Doubt it but let’s see yours (got your pm)

 

Seat frames are done.

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Nice... including that 'ol blue car in the background

Cheers,

Sam

 

People have always wondered why a boxer sits high in the rear, but it only seems to apply to the 512's. I think this is another case of making a running change after some teething pains. My theory is they raised the rear to protect the lower exhaust manifolds and no longer use them as skid plates. I dont recall seeing a boxer with original manifolds that dont have scrapes ranging from very minor to the worst Ive seen which happen to be on my 512 because its lower than stock. Mine even have plates welded over the collectors that look like skid plates! On a boxer I restored I christened the manifolds unwillingly on a road test and they were new manifolds.

So these manifolds still have the original thermal coating on them but the collectors have seen the pavement at least once so Im cleaning them up and brazing as needed to fill in the marks.
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The distributor is typical aside from the modern ignition pickup coil. It should have (and will have) the twin orangey coloured pickups after I go through this and make it pretty again. Someone has been in here and messed with the springs for the advance weights as well, it wont return to base timing. Its like an old harley, full advance all the time!

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but when you then accelerate from 1500 rpm in 4th or 5th gear you will hear a knocking when you not use very high octane fuel

 

Seen This before!
The small nylon bushings are also a weak point. Manufactured new from brass and very smooth operation.

 

Earlier cars had brass ones across the board then the bean counters stepped in and went nylon.

 

Cleaning up the instruments.

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I haven't checked them with a magnet but all 4 manage to rust. Ive seen some pretty rotten ones, the 84 resto I did comes to mind.

 

Some differences 365 to 512 speedo and tach

All boxers (and Ferrari's in general) have optimistic speedometers, the 365 and 512 up to around 78 read 330 KPH, then in 79 they read 320 KPH until the end of 84. Ive seen some that read 300 KPH but they indicated MPH and KPH.

Below is the 365 speedo I cleaned up and mine in my 79 (that needs cleaning up).

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The other difference was the redline.

365 tach I cleaned up and then mine which is the same in all 512's.

Note on the 365 tach that the plain orange warning lens center left at the bottom is what became the choke light on the 512.

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Seeing as you are working on things for the interior; we have not heard anything more about that elusive material for covering the seats?

 

Certain things were delayed with whats going on right now but its being made. Everything slowed down but still moving along.

 

Window motors cleaned and inspected. greased etc.
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Door harnesses with overspray but they're recovered and cleaned up, forgot to take a pic.

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Velocity stacks for carbs are hand made steel which were switched to cast aluminum after 17535, so this is the 2nd last boxer to get them. These ones have been clear coated which has turned brown.
I need to investigate what would be the correct finish but my preference is clear cad plated for durability, they'll look silver and not rust plus they're hidden.

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The primer has a sheen to it so its easy to see how nice the lines are. It'll cure then get blocked followed by a yellow test coat.
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