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Nothing to report regarding my Jaguar V12. It just soldiers on, day after day, month after month, as my daily driver. Everything just keeps working as it should. A bit boring.
So......just for weekend conversation and a change of pace I thought I share a couple pics of another project of mine. An old Ferrari that suffered a .....um....."thermal event" in the engine bay. I've been working on it a few hours each week for a few months now.
The engine bay rehab is nearly done so pretty soon I'l start on wiring repairs. Fortunately the damage was limited to just about a dozen wires. And, fortunately, the wiring on these oldies is dirt simple. I've pulled the wires thru the firewall and into the cabin. This makes repair much more convenient. The wires will be re-sheathed and then routed back into the engine bay.
"While I'm at it" repairs include replace control cables for the heat/defrost systems and choke, wiring repairs related to old age, poor connections, and PO hack jobs (radio, alarm), repairing dead instruments, and the like.
The Ferrari guys and the Jag guys must've been cousins. Some stuff designed and built to last a lifetime....which means others things were obviously done "on the cheap".
Note the all-in-one component panel for relays and key junctions. Clever. This normally resides in the footwell on the cabin side of the firewall. I've shifted it out of position at the moment.
Anyone used to working on old Jags would feel right at home. Lots of tiny screws holding things together. Lots of un-sealed electrical connectors. Lots of Lucas and Smiths parts. So, actually, it really isn't a "change of pace" at all
Very cool, I like those models. Undervalued imho. You’ll have to do compare working on the Ferrari V12 versus the Jaguar.
Undervalued and under appreciated, yes. Presumably because they don't have all the flash and razz-matazz of other Ferraris. But they drive like a dream. The later fuel injected models with an automatic feel an awful lot like an XJS.
I've not delved into any actual engine work...yet. However, it generally seems vastly less complicated than the Jag V12. Two distributors and six carburetors, though, might be a challenge for me.
Are you becoming a regular in the Ferrari boards now too?
No, not yet at least. Haven't needed much help.....yet. .
But so far I've found some helpful people on the boards
For example, the old Ferrari schematics are terrible. One guy took a slew of them, colorized and translated them, and reproduced them in a very high resolution format so you take take them to a printer and have them greatly enlarged. I have a 30"x36" version on the windshield for easy viewing
I remember coming home and researching the car after seeing this scene in Rain Man. Such a good looking gt. Looks like an automatic in this scene from the quick glance at the console. Undervalued and unappreciated and somehow still out of my reach, lol. Ignore the dialog, just focus on the Ferrari and Valeria Golino.
Pretty cool Ferrari Doug, at least you don't have as many burned up wires, as my XJS had. It looks to be a simple fix, I sure wish mine would've been that easy. But C'est la vie.
I worked on several 365 GTB/4 and 365 GTC/4 vehicles during my time with the Ferrari factory. The cars were mostly hand built, but were easy to work on. I remember we would modify the gearbox housing depending on if the vehicle was RHD or LHD by shearing off the casting for the clutch cable on the side that wasn't used. We could replace the clutch on a 365 GTB/4 or 275 GTB/4 in under thirty minutes.
The wiring is very and straightforward and should be easy to replace.
Why was there a fire in the engine compartment? I've seen wrong oil filters be the cause, or a broken oil cooler line.
SUs I can handle, but they look terrifying Doug! How did you find out what to do and how to do it? How will you remember where all the bits go when re-assembling? I need a list these days to remember what i went to the larder to fetch!
Its just like overhauling any other carb: disassemble, clean-clean-clean, reassemble. You don't have to actually understand how everything works or what it does ! Interesting carbs, though. The jets, emulsion tubes, even the venturis and throats can be removed and serviced with the carbs still on the car, if the need arose. Everything is accessible by taking the top cover off.
Change of pace: Ferrari fun project
