Yah I said I'm not making a museum piece. I want something I can drive and enjoy. If someone else in the future wants to make it factory original, they can be my guest. I'm not going to return it to the original color. I'm most likely going to change the interior color. I'm adding modern stuff here and there to make it more reliable and easier to drive and use.
Got these in the mail today. Two 52mm VDO gauges. One Amps, the other voltage. Took a long time to find. Why did I need them? Well if you look at the pictures of the dash someone put in an aftermarket Amp and Volt gauge for some reason. The problem is they drilled the holes into the wood. I could replace the wood but it probably would never match and an entire set of wood would cost over $1100 + install. I never liked the black rings and the graphics. I wanted something more vintage with matching chrome bezels. At first I looked for Veglia but couldn't find any. Then I started looking for vintage gauges and after a long search, found 2 from two different sources on Ebay. Today they showed up. Bringing them over to the shop tomorrow and discuss with the mechanic but I'm really happy. This solves one big problem and in fact, is rather practical. 246 Dino's have a amp gauge. Fiat Dino's do not. They are slightly different because VDO never made a Volt gauge in the older style and never made a Amp gauge in the newer style. I don't think anyone would really notice. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I went by the shop today. Nothing done to the car as once again, the mechanic has been in Dallas getting McLaren training. Its an ongoing process as they get up to speed on the latest models. But I wanted to take a closer look at the interior and start to plan what I want to do. The interior is really shabby. The dash looks good but the upper dash looks like it needs to be recovered in black vinyl. The seats look new but the door panels and the kick panels do not match. They are a darker brown than the seats. I don't like the color of the seats either. Better, but still an ugly brown. Under closer inspection, it looks like the door panels and the kick panels were painted over. And it seems they used to be tan. This is interesting as I was planning on painting these myself, probably back to tan. The door panels show a kind of an uneven color. Something like a can paint job that didn't really cover well. And there are some scratches here and there that seem to also indicate its tan underneath. Not sure what to here but it might be possible to strip off the old paint and then repaint it in tan. Or maybe wrap them? Anyone have a suggestion? Its a pretty awful reddish brown. Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you paint the needle on your volt gauge white, then all three will have matching number and needle colors. On the interior - if you remove the door panels you should see some original color in the back where the vinyle was pulled through or wrapped round the edges. Perhaps that'll guide your choices.
Big day today! The mechanic is going to take it out on the street and put some miles on it. FINALLY has the plates on the back. This morning he's bleeding the brakes and fixing the leaking clutch line. He believes next week I can actually drive it. Still some electrical things we don't know but one thing we did find out. Last time I talked to him he said the battery would run down after a few days of sitting. We didn't know where the problem was. He found it. The glovebox wasn't all the way in and the light in the glovebox would come on and stay on as long as the glovebox wasn't all the way in. Really stupid design but easy to get around. The water temp gauge doesn't work. I'm going to get a new sending unit. Hopefully that's the issue. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
More fun and surprises today! We found out why the wipers don't work. Its missing the WIPER MOTOR and a few other bits. They are available but not cheap. I had a feeling the motor was burned out so its not a big surprise it has to be replaced. Just surprised its not there at all. No rust under this panel is a good sign! That is the original yellow the car was painted in. The 6 plastic grills have to be replaced. You won't believe it but its about $500. Some things on this car are just nuts. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, I ain't driving it for a while. O'gara bought a brand new ultrasonic cleaner and are putting in my carbs as the first try. Hopefully this will bring them back because the mechanic (who is a trained Weber Carb tech) didn't like the performance of them on the test drive. The tech is going back to Dallas for more McLaren training next week. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
They just sent me two movies of the engine running with the rebuilt carbs back in. They say its much better. So it possible I could drive it on Monday.
FINALLY --- drove it today. And its not perfect but already pretty awesome. It still has some hesitation about 3000 RPM. I'm going to get a new set of points and we are still playing around with the timing. The clutch is slow to return so you have to be a little careful quick shifting. We need to figure out why because everything has been replaced. But we believe the carbs are sorted. Even the choke cable can be hooked up. The good news. Even with a 200+ lb mechanic in the passenger's seat, this car has more power than you would guess for 2 liters. And the engine just loves to rev. The gearbox is excellent. Upshift, downshift -- no issues at all. The sound it makes is pure Dino. The exhaust is not quiet but not too loud. The engine makes all those Dino noises. The water temp gauge works -- it was the sending unit. It was 108 today and it did not overheat. The steering is good. Brakes still a bit squishy but they work. This car is set up for really small feet and heal and toe driving. The brake pedal and the gas pedal are really close together. Today I'll order a bunch of new parts including the wiper motor. I think -- maybe-- finally -- she's going to the body shop next week. Image Unavailable, Please Login
When I sent out the original for reconditioning I thought we might need a wheel to push it around the shop. So I went on Ebay and found the cheapest Fiat 124 wheel I could. There were plenty of good ones and this one really crappy one. I paid $25 bucks plus shipping. Its really in horrible shape but it fits.
Wish I knew a simple elegant way to diagnose.... What I can share is an experience with a similar F-car. I had the same symptom, and the problem turned out to be the rubber clutch slave hose was deteriorating from the inside, and littering rubber debris in the cylinder. That rubber hose was ~25 years old.
I thought we replaced everything in the clutch system but I can't remember if we did this. I'll ask the mechanic next week. Superperformance has them for like $50. Something tells me we did though. The mechanic did say he was having problems before with the fitting of this hose leaking. Thanks for the tip!
It is a long, slow, expensive, process to make these cars right. Is it worth it? Of course, hell yes, absolutely ! (i.m.h.o.) The smiles/mile has got to be the highest for any car ever built. I had the privilege to drive a 365GTB/4 with the top down. That was pretty glorious, but that little Dino on a nice day, or any day is pretty special. My detailing guy told me, "I've driven every F-car made, but my favorite is the Dino." I would love to get a set of Borrani wheels for it. I think the look would go great with the car. I fear it might not drive as well because the Mg wheels are soo light.
I used to own a 246 Dino GT back when nobody wanted them. I drove it everywhere. For 2 years it was my only car. You can't do that today but you can in a Fiat dino. Not the same of course but there's a lot of similarities. And no one is going to recognize this car other than its old. I was really looking for a mid-60's Italian car or Etype because they look great, are easy to fix, and have a unique driving experience than today. My other choice was an Alfa Duetto but when this popped up I took the leap. The fear of course with all mid 60's cars is rust, particularly hidden rust. They are actually pretty simple aside from the engine. The problem has been its been sitting for so long and things the owner did to it trying to keep it running. But I think mechanically its almost all there and most of the electrical stuff works. Now we need to strip the paint and see what is underneath. Surprisingly a lot of parts are still available. I did some research on that before I bought it. Can't restore a non-running car without parts.
Good taste in machinery. The E-type is truly beautiful! I've seen many of these recently restored to different levels of perfection. But, I've always loved and connected to Italian cars. I've found their engineering and eye for design (and, yes - quality for important parts) to be far out in front. I love the hand -craftsmanship. I tried to find that with German cars, it's just not the same. I owned a British Leyland product. No love affair there. Your car is beautiful! And the best view to appreciate it is 10 - 15 ft back, or behind the wheel.
As my mother says (learned from her grandmother), "What you can't see on a walking horse, you will never see on a trotting horse."