Barn find.... today

Thanks Randy, I dont even know why I feel compelled to tell this tale... I just do. What makes it so special is J and Joe, I cant tell you how proud I am to know these special folks. In this day and age it is essential a story like this be told, few are as giving with their time as J has been. It is not always easy for him as you can well imagine, Joe is surely well set in his ways. What is important to an 85 year old guy living alone on a mountain top doesnt always match up perfectly with a man with a young family as his first priority. Lets just say I find J's patience an inspiration that I can only hope to mimic one day.

The fun part for me.... aside from being able to interact with these good people.... I can tell the story as I see it unfold. I dont have to worry about screwing up someone else's thread by making a statement about something unrelated to the core subject, a concern I always have on the Net. One of my mentors in this business once pointed this out to me in a way so clear, it has stuck with me for a lifetime.

Lined up on Pre-Grid at the Watkins Glenn Ferrari National in the 80's/early 90's, Dr. Bodin was in 3223GT, a car I was honored and privileged to maintain in race condition for him at the time. I had it warmed up, everything prepped, all his gear in the car, everything was set. Needless to say the car always drew a great deal of attention so there were many folks admiring it while we waited to be cleared onto the track. At this point some young gal was backing up a Chevy Citation through the crowd and backed into the right front fender of the GTO..... caving in the thin aluminum fender quite bad. Showing no more reaction than if someone had tapped him on the shoulder, Bob just motioned for me to come over to the drivers window and quietly asked me to "clearance the fender and the wheel" (a refined way of saying jerk the hell out of it with no regard to how it looked. This was the first time I had to do this to that car, the next time involved a knock off hammer and the left rear fender just after turn 6 at RA!) and make sure everything was in working order for the track session. The entire crowd fell silent because some young lady in a POS had just damaged arguably the most valuable car in the world at the time. After sitting down on the ground, feet on the wheel and a good grip on the fender.... I jerked the fender away from the front wheel/tire and went back to check on a sure to be mortified owner in the drivers seat. "Dont worry about it, it happened at the race track thus making it nothing more than a part of an old race cars history... just remember to tell the story one day and it will have gone full circle". By this time Bob had his helmet on and his total public reaction was to raise his fist, shaking it in a funny way like a gesture from Snoopy to the Red Baron.... that was it, nothing more, he drove off onto the track like nothing ever happened. We had the bucks back at the shop and it was simply a matter of shrinking a little stretched aluminum and throwing on some paint.... "It's a race car, they are only supposed to look good from 20 feet", Bob used to say. A valuable lesson taught, learned and retained... anything that happens throughout the restoration of this car or the interaction with two fine people... Its just part of the story.... a story with so many twists and turns you couldnt dream of making it up. The Gal in the Citation... I have often wondered if she realized what she had really done. Heck, there might even be some reading this that happened to be standing there at the time... wouldnt that be fun!

I am sure there is a good deal more interesting things to tell about Joe and J... and I am positive the car will provide challenges along the way that might be of some interest to others. I suspect in a short time this tale will become old news and boring as the car is not an important one. At that time I will just write the story in an email to myself and one day pass it on to J and Jenni as a remembrance of a special time where a neighbor did the right thing and a young lady embarked on her first restoration project as a Pro. Until that point, I just write what ever I see happening regardless of how far removed from the topic. A 3 foot deep stash of MoonShine bottles waiting for the day where they are filled.... a D4 Cat...... hey, they are just part of the story and I dont know if they will ever come up again..... and I dont care, they were fun for me at the moment.

 

Not to my knowledge but there is one old cuss in GA.... Kinda like a Texas thing, bigger, faster, better. The brew wouldnt 'trickle' out the condersor cooling pipe of such a rig, it would look more like a power washer. What would you expect when you put a race car engineer on designing Still's?

 

"When Excess was Barely Adequate", the motto of the old CanAm Race Sries of the 60's and early 70's. The very series that Bruce was involved in while working on the German Weedwackers.... after 40 plus years I have forgiven him for his lack of taste at that time.

 

I must tell everyone that the kind words and best wishes do help Jenni, Kris and myself a great deal. When things get a bit difficult or we are slapped down tired at the end of the work day, they are the inspiration we fall back on to keep slugging away... Thank You all for that. My conversation with Dad this weekend.... there wasn't one moment of hesitation or thought on the subject when the question of my direction was asked. There are odd moments in life when doing 'something' just feels right and if one takes the time to try to understand it... you only end up confused. Being so close to the project I fall back on advise from those that Can see the shine through the dust... and am grateful to all for those words of inspiration. All of the kind offers to help..... yes, I think there will be a time, after this lump runs and shows this dream can Really happen... we might have to set a weekend aside to gang up on it for a final push. One last aside note, I have been prodding Jenni to become involved in helping tell this story. I think that viewing her perspective on this project might provide even more insight and detail. Being the old guy, working on an old car and having a firm grasp of what lies ahead...... reading the wide eyed enthusiastic side of the story might add an interesting view. She is the one that said "Yes" and sent us on this path, her views of everything and the people involved... its part of the story, no different than if I can get my father to jump in on this as well. Wish me luck on that front.... and Thank You all again for the best wishes on this Quest!

Back to the Dirt......

Still trying to make sense out of why an early engine, I still believe is original and untouched for the most part, has signs of later model bits on it. It is not important in the big picture but it is seldom that we come across a car that is unmolested and still shows many original assembly details. It is at this time that documenting these small and seemingly unimportant details is a must or they will be lost for ever. Regardless of my intension's, my own efforts of restoring these parts can be considered molesting it unless we can document and duplicate these fine points exactly... the trick is to identify what IS important. To that end, last evening Jenni and I studied the 1-6 head closely and compared it to a GTC head, gathering dust for years awaiting repairs, and in time a new home.

Being as I have been unable to see any significant engine damage at this point, where replacement of the heads would have been justified, I am still working on the theory this was a 64 engine (early internal number) that was set aside for further work. These stem seal guides, by popularly accepted timelines, shouldn't have showed themselves in production cars until early to mid 66 on the GTC models. By my estimate that would have the development folks at the factory working on testing of this concept a year earlier than that based on past examples I have found on the 250 cars. Yes its a stretch but my method is to set in place a theory and then try to prove myself wrong. In this way it keeps me on my toes searching for clues to prove or disprove a theory. With the damaged GTC head as a comparison point, another I am fairly certain is quite virgin as I knew that car and its history back into the early 70's, we started measuring and looking for differences.

Both heads had the cast iron GTC guides, but the guides from our early engine were a good .050" taller in the seal area from those on the GTC head. Another notable difference observed was the spring seats were lower in our head, leaving an aluminum centering boss for the hardened spring seat washers under the springs. Our head was shod with the original (at least by type) Perfect Circle rubber/teflon BAF "J" type seals that were used on the GTC cars of that era. The machining of the spring seats and the resulting centering boss, in the head looks to be original and not a product of an upgrade at a later time. Measuring the combustion chamber depths on both heads showed a rough difference of about 1 MM (shallower on our head than the GTC) and the lower side of exhaust port bosses on our head was stamped with a "M" on both 1 and 6 cylinders. Important in any way? Surely not on this project, at this time, but maybe at a later time it will answer some questions. More accurate measurements will have to be done and noted in my manuals and build sheets once everything is Assembly Cleaned, for further study when this engine comes apart to be freshened up (hey, I am trying to be optimistic that it wont need a complete rebuild but.... to Art's earlier point... I think it wishful thinking) after the reunion drives.
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... and to answer the questions Before they come,

The GTC head had a valve head go on a "Walk About"..... Yes, it was happening MANY years ago, this isnt something "new or recent" as many believe is the case.
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That is an experience you are sure to enjoy!

I spent a week there for 360 training, the real fun started when we had free time on our hands.... a few of us started checking for locked doors. We justified it was OK for us to be 'there' if the door wasnt locked. So long was we were not speaking English, often it took quite a while before anyone figured out we shouldnt be 'there'. Oppps!

...and what did they figure would happen if they told a bunch of North American Techs they couldnt bring cameras in? That is like telling a teenage daughter she cant date that 'bad boy'... assuring the opposite result.... spoken from First Hand Experience x 2!

 

Jenni is hesitant because she doesnt consider herself a writer. HAH... look at her old man, he cant stay on topic for more than a sentence. I told her once she starts she will have fun telling her view of it, she has a very unique perspective of the whole project and her want to do more restoration work. I think I made headway by publicly prodding her (got a proper tongue lashing for that)... we will see.

Dont know about Joe, I have yet to find him but was glad to see he had abandoned ship before the storms.

To prove my above point of being unable to stay on track... and to tell more about the man behind the car, Joe... Sometimes pictures say far more than words could even think of accomplishing. Joe was not there to answer question but..... study this photo for a little bit...... I have stared at this since Sat. and am not sure if I understand it yet. I well remember a statement my father made about the mechanics in the S. Pacific working on the B-24's..... "They could make ANYTHING work when they had to". Those guys came home and took to fixing D4 Cats in the yard!!!!!!!!! I am starting to feel fortunate the Ferrari proved trouble free for him and he did little work on it! I no longer question how the fuel pump access port found it way on the car.... that mystery is solved!
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There is no question left in my mind... I NEED this. I am frightened to ask Joe how one goes about starting it. My bet is the solenoid button is on the opposite side of the belt tensioner handle. So many questions....... I would love to hear his rational
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Oh heck no that didnt help, Kris has been saying that for better than 30 years. One day I will photo the projects I have awaiting my attention... if I was 25 I couldnt finish them all and each and everyone of them is sure to be the end of me.

I zoomed in on the photo... the solenoid switch is at the end of the "padded" tensioner handle. You have to be kidding me.... throw your weight into the hand lever and then hit the switch! Rube Goldberg... he was just an apprentice in training.

I must dig deeper into Joes mind and what makes him tick, this speaks volumns. There must be a few hundred easy ways to accomplish the same, instead........

 

Is that not precious? The starter gear removed and a pulley installed in its place! I tried to predict in my minds eye how a pivoting piece like that would act when the button is pushed. A Big Heavy Diesel cranking by a belt, driven by a starter mounted on a door hinge with a lever arm that some human is supposed to hang from.... and then push the door bell button at the end of the arm...... for REAL. If Kris reads this she will do an automatic up on the life insurance policy and let natural selection take its course if it ever comes home with me.

I have had the wind kicked out of me in other areas here this AM but I will try to recap as best I can, last evenings findings. I did some sample stampings on scrap aluminum to see if I could identify the origin of these head stamps. I have a pretty large collection of stamps from all over the world (no, I dont want to talk about this, I have NEVER restamped a block, ever) all marked as to where they originated from.... these are looking European so far based on the shape, size and configuration.

The gasket surface was cleaned up to allow accurate checking of the head. It is obvious the head has been milled but I have to figure out how much and if the chain tensioner will accommodate this. These heads DO NOT get milled, these get a one or two thousandths cut ONLY if it is absolutely required. Hours are spent setting them up accurately in the mill so a .0015" cut has meaning all across the gasket surface. The chain tensioner has precious little travel and any cutting of the head or block decks, lowers the cam bore closer to the main bores, shortening the chain span, resulting in chain slop that needs to be taken up by the tensioner. Ferrari made these tensioners to accommodate for chain stretch only, if the heads need truing, you replace them so to keep the original cam bore centerline to Main bore centerline measurement. You just pick up the phone and call you local Ferrari parts supplier and order up a pair of new heads... might just as well get an oil filter at the same time to save shipping charges.... that's it, "No big deal".

Generally these heads get milled to correct for warpage of the head gasket surface... usually with zero regard to the cam bore adjacent to the gasket surface. You think the gasket surface can warp but the cam bores stay straight some 2 inches away on the same lump of aluminum? It seems most think that way because I often find a deck surface within .001" of flat but the cam bores WAY out of whack. There was one 275 2 cam where the outer cylinder's compression ratio was near 2 points higher than those of the center ones! Running the cams in constant flex... and have them last years.... talk about a tribute to Ferrari cam metallurgy! NO, they dont get Milled, they get straightened to the point where a .0015" cut on the surface is all that's required to give a fresh gasket surface. The straightening process... that will surely make any machinist go completely water tight! How could one even think of quoting a job such as this, doing it on a budget where requirements are guessed at? Far better than I!

Luck... or at least a little of it.... the cam bores are straight to .002" as is the gasket surface, both warped in the same direction, leaving yet another question. I can still see the hand scrape marks on the cam bore journals, the final step of cam fitment at the factory, these have not been reamed after they were done at the factory. Cam bores semi straight, head gasket surface the same.... why were they milled? Oh I hope this wasn't a HotRod attempt to raise the CR but I have yet to identify another explanation. With one head milled in excess of .0012".... one must assume both got the same high tech treatment.... time to start looking for cam chain rubbing on the front chest! With 60K miles the chain is already as stretched as it will get... add to that the milling done...... This day didn't start off well and it sure isnt looking to get any better quickly. I have not gone back to the block since the head was removed, I will bet I can find some serious chain wear marks in the aluminum front cover from contact on decel. Hey, I was lucky last evening with straight cam bores.... Im OK with Luck.... time to cross the fingers on the way in this AM! Remember the talk about the bead blast welding cabinet..... talk about a pucker up moment waiting to know!!!!!
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Oh dang, this day didnt start out well and its rapidly heading downhill from there!

"Oh, and while you are there, we should....."
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