Lee Griffiths owning a Ferrari 360 Modena manual Dino 308 GT4 Ferrari Pics Pictures Photos

Importing a Ferrari 308 or 360 into the UK from the US

2012-01-04T14:28:00.001Z

Importing a classic or interesting car from the US (and other countries):

1. Find the car you want (ebay/forum/local add) and discuss with owner.
2. Have a local agent PPI it if you want and send you a report.
3. Pay the owner (better to go through a trusted 3rd party local to them).
4. Have the local agent collect the car and prepare it for shipping.
5. Wait a few months.
6. Recieve notification from UK agent of arrival.
7. Complete customs clearance forms and pay customs once assessed.
7. UK agent arranges transport to your address.
8. On arrive, prepare the car for local compliance and get an MOT
9. Register it and recieve UK reg. number from local DVLA centre.
10. Enjoy the financial benefits of the exchange rate and relative value abroad.

Costs:

Purchase cost + local agent/PPI costs/transport + shipping + UK agent/transport + UK Customs + VAT (on bill of sale, shipping + UK agent and landing fees).

Ballpark is you get the car on your doorstep for the price in £'s equivalent to what you paid in $'s, bonus is usually the body condition. e.g. you paid $10000 for the car, you pay £10000 to you door and the more you spend the better the margin is.

Keeping my eye on cars like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-308-?cmd=ViewItem&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5373305616468206139&_trksid=p5197.m7&item=200689142141

Mostly Ferraris in enthusiastic pile-up in Japan

2011-12-05T13:31:00.002Z

It looks like enthusiasts in Japan got a bit carried away with themselves on a cruise.

I think we can all get a bit carried away when out on a cruise with friends. I'm a grown man with responsibilities so I always hang back from the crowd for fear of a pile-up like this. Of course you don't need to be driving a supercar for this to happen, so it's a shame as it gives us all a bad name. At least no-one was badly injured or killed :| I guess there'll be some spares around now :)

The lifecycle of modern Ferraris so when to buy one - IMHO

2011-11-28T13:15:00.002Z

The Ferrari 360 (with a 2001 list price approaching £100,000) is clearly an expensive object to own. I certainly didn't have that kind of money in 2001 when the car was new and still don't, but of course time is cruel on such "investments" - to a point that is. Early adopters clearly have the money to spend and are happy to take a hit on the car's value, but there comes a time when the model moves into the next stage of it's life - not really a life cycle because it doesn't start again, but more a journey through it's worth and desirability. www.howmanyleft.co.uk is a great way to subjectively look at these things. Take a look at the the data for UK 360's and you will see that they have been through their early adopter phase and are now comfortably settled in their summer use only phase owned by people like me who polish them, maintain them and occasionally drive them. SORN's are increasing and road licensing in Q1 and Q4 are down. Prices as of late 2011 are all over the place from higher mileage cars (>40k miles) at £30k+ to some examples well into the £50K mark. Sorted examples with solid history but perhaps in need of some minor detail should be around £40-£45k. I'm happy I didn't take the ~£4k depreciate on the car since new, but then again that's what you loose on higher value normal daily driver too... so you may as well have the Ferrari instead.

Cleaning the inside of the wheels on a Ferrari 360

2011-11-21T16:47:00.006Z

I like the inside of my wheels to look as clean as the outside on my Ferrari 360. After-all you can see the inside clearly so there's no excuse to keep them spotless. I typical run a soapy sponge through the spokes but end up rubbing my hands on the discs which isn't clever. ow:

Here's my prototype alloy wheel sponge-on-a-stick which is exactly what it is. Most of the alloy wheel brushes have short handles and are also too wide to fit comfortably between the calliper(s) and rim.

Well it works well for me and lets you get into all the corners although I could probably just use a long handled bath sponge on a stick.

Ferrari 360 space saver spare wheel

2011-10-24T16:47:00.002+01:00

Ferrari didn't supply a spare wheel as standard on the 360 (and 430) but you could add one as an option. Instead they supplied you with a can of tyre sealant which would get you to the nearest garage for a repair.

I wasn't so happy with this option and equally at the price of a new Ferrari spare wheel available here - http://www.eurospares.co.uk and that's just the rim. There is some talk about Volvo space saver spares fitting, but then I spotted a genuine Ferrari one on ebay a few weeks ago. I won the auction and now have a spare. It's never been used - result :)

Extending the alarm fob range from 2' to 40' on your Ferrari 360

2011-10-18T20:04:00.004+01:00

Yet another common issue on the Ferrari 360 is the alarm and central locking fob range. You tend to have to be very close to the car to be able to disarm the alarm and unlock the doors - like less than a metre away. I came across this post on FerrariChat which talks about the poor position of the alarm unit antenna in the car which is in the fuse box and under a metal plate - shielding it from signals!

So you remove the fuse box behind the passenger seat (UK RHD) then fish the wire out with a hook from behind the metal cover:

Then just fix the antenna along the top of the plastic fuse box with some tape and reinstall the fuse box cover trim.

Result = key fob range > 40' Cost = £0 or $0

White powder in the engine bay of the Ferrari 360

2011-10-16T12:59:00.006+01:00

Ferrari 360's are renown for dumping white powder all over the engine bay - it's due to the heat insulating material in the exhaust disintegrating and leaking out of the outer casing on the silencer.

I have a Nouvalari muffler on my car, but I also have a stock muffler which pumps out the usual white powder form the casing. Ideally I would want a stock exhaust muffler because I want the car to be as quiet as possible around the neighbourhood so I started investigating whether I could solve the white powder issue.

I examined the stock muffler and worked out that the outer casing is only attached in a few places so relatively easy to remove - which I did. Now check out the insulation material which is about 10mm think and just all in bits. With the top and bottom of one half of the outer casing removed the insulation just fell out of the remaining cover sections form the other end of the muffler.

With it all gone now I figured I can find a new alternative heat material in sheets, cut to size and slot it into the casing and reattached the casing sections I removed, tig welding in a couple of places as per factory.

So this is why you get white powder and there is a possible solution for rebuilding the muffler - these mufflers are not cheap (£1600-£2500) so are well worth saving and without a fix you will be cleaning your engine bay for ever.

Keeping your Ferrari 360 charged over winter

2011-10-13T10:05:00.004+01:00

Rain rain go away. We are having a rainy time in the UK at the moment so the roads are damp and the sky is murky. This means I've not been out in my car for over a week!

Problem is the various electrical systems on the Ferrari 360 (and 430 etc.) drain the battery quite quickly and even after just a week of non-use the battery can be low enough to cause problems. I encountered such a problem a few months ago. The car had been left for a week and started fine but the dash clocks didn't "boot" up - nothing from any of the gauges. The Ferrari 360 has a battery cut-off switch in the boot and turning off then on again fixed my problem - kind of a reset something I guess.

So after this I researched the most appropriate charging system. Ferrari make their own, but it is a little expensive and many owners go for the CTEK charger and battery conditioner which you can find here: http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php

CTEK MXS3600

You can install a subtle plug connector that comes with the CTEK unit behind the passenger seat which attaches (electrically) directly to the main power bus. So now you can just plug the charger in and keep the battery topped up all the time so your car is always ready for when the sun comes out :)

Sticky switches on the Ferrari 360 355 and 348

2011-10-07T20:48:00.008+01:00

Modern Ferraris have suffered from stick switches and other dashboard items for nearly 20 years now. It started with the Ferrari 348 followed by the 355 where Ferrari coated various interior parts with a rubberised material. After a few years of regular use such as power winder switches and door pulls the coating starts to peel off - quick still in hot countries.

Here's a picture of one of the window switches on my 360 Modena. Actually the window switches are the only bits of the interior which have peel so far so maybe Ferrari have improved their coating - well a bit anyway.

I dismantled the switch so I could get to the toggle part to basically scrape off all the rubber coating. It didn't take much effort to remove it all then put the switch back together. The toggle part is now a littler shinier than the switch case, but it looks much better than having a partially peeling coating.

You remove the switches by removing the centre console which is only held in my two dome head allen bolts, so the whole job takes less than 30 minutes and costs nothing.

You can send your plastic parts away to www.stickynomore.com who will strip and re-coat your parts with a much better quality material. These guys get good reviews from www.ferrarichat.com forum.

Tatty cloth insulation tape in the engine bay on a Ferrari 360

2011-10-01T08:35:00.002+01:00

Heat and age has taken its toll on the cloth insulation tape dotted around the engine bay on my Ferrari 360. The glue has dried and the tape has become unravelled hanging down in places.

No problem though as I bought some Tesa cloth wiring loom tape on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140550857403).

There, good as new. Time will tell as to how well this tape will stay stuck. My engine bay is particularly hot as I am running a Nouvalari silencer (muffler) instead of the stock one and they have less insulation than the factory silencer.

Yellow tachometer face on your non-Challenge Ferrari 360

2011-09-26T09:42:00.004+01:00

Our friends at Hill Engineering make a nice yellow tachometer face (http://www.hillengineering.co.uk/catalog/d360y430-p-305.html) to replace the stock black one in your Ferrari 360 Modena. It's a fiddly job to swap, but our friends in the US show you how to do it:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176480

http://ferrari-servicing.com/Ferrari360.aspx

Maybe I'll work up to doing this modification. Keys Motorsport Ltd, Silverstone, UK can do the job for you though.

All the service manuals and documents you will ever need for your Ferrari 360

2011-09-24T20:04:00.004+01:00

As a DIY owners it's important to have all the correct factory documents and repair manuals to hand for you Ferrari 360. You can get the factory repair book, service diagrams, service manuals free here:

http://www.ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Downloads.htm

On the 360 page of the Technical information and updates you will find the updates, recalls and service campaigns document and it's an interesting read.

After reading this I'm seeking confirmation from Ferrari that my car has seen campaign #97 - replacement of the exhaust variator which has been known to fail causing valves and pistons to get intimate which be a shame and very expensive to fix.

As with anything you download for free from the internet, be sure of the source before and document type.

Ferrari 360 failed door lock and door trim removal

2011-09-23T20:49:00.004+01:00

Here's a great thread if and when the door lock mechanism fails on your Ferrari 360. The handle operates the lock via a cable and is prone to stretching and seizing.

Check out this DIY repair thread.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175604

Ferrari 360 wheel detailing

2011-09-21T16:50:00.004+01:00

You need to keep on top of the condition of your alloys to keep them in as-new condition. Ferrari 360 wheels are made magnesium so are a little more tricky to have professionally refinished if they corrode. Mine are a little corroded so will need work in the future to get them perfect.

In the mean time (and yes these are Porsche Cup II wheels from my 993) I remove the wheels every few months and give them a deep clean with soap and water particularly in the inside. I use a toothbrush for the tough dirt and AutoGlym wheel cleaner for stubborn brake dirt.

There you go, clean enough to eat your dinner off :)

Need Brembo brake discs for you Ferrari 360

2011-09-18T21:13:00.003+01:00

I bought genuine Brembo front brake discs for my 308 from an online shop called www.nextdaybrakes.com. They did arrive the next day and were really cheap. For the 360 they are cheap at £110 each including next day delivery. I really couldn't fault them when I used them earlier this year. They cost about £20 more each from www.eurospares.co.uk

Of course if they just need a skim your old discs can be brought back to new like this and it's about £40 a disc.

Ferrari 360 brake reservoir cover repair

2011-09-18T10:55:00.003+01:00

Ten years of checking brake fluid has left the inspection cover on my Ferrari 360 a little scarred. The aluminium had corroded underneath the flakey paintwork so I scraped off the loose paint.

Then sanded the oxidation off and feathered the old paint edge before a few coats of high build primer.

Not bad from a spray can - satin black

Finally made three plastic washers to prevent the paint cracking in the future when the thumb screws are tightened by over zealous technicians. Ahh OCD.

Cleaning the engine and red intake on a Ferrari 360

2011-09-10T19:51:00.005+01:00

The red crackle paint intake plenum on my Ferrari 360 were dirty so I tried cleaning them up after seeing other 360's where they were nice and bright red.

Petrol on a toothbrush didn't make much different and is nasty to work with, so on recommendation I used AutoGlym Engine Cleaner (purple logo bottle) from Halfords. It also gets good reviews from other owners http://reviews.halfords.com/4028/153353/reviews.htm

It worked a treat and really brought the colour out on the red as well as quickly cleaning other engine areas such as the engine cradle frame - and it smells of oranges :) I used a toothbrush to work it in once applied and a clean cloth to wipe the dirt off.

I also used some 1200 grit wet'n'dry on the Ferrari logo to polish out the light surface corrosion built up over ten years. Enjoy.

Ferrari 360 speaker grills resto

2011-09-06T21:56:00.003+01:00

The door trims take a beating on the Ferrari 360, I think because people catch their shoes on them every time they get in and out. You can see scuff marks on the aluminium door pockets and the speaker grills get scratched.

I pulled the aluminium door pockets off (M5 bolts) and removed the speaker grills. Sprayed the grills with simple black paint from a spray can and cleaned the scuff marks from the alloy on the door pockets with some solvent - they came up a treat! and just like now.

And the finished job (grill and door pockets) are sharp and clean.

Ferrari 360 luggage trunk boot space

2011-08-31T13:30:00.004+01:00

Ferrari designed the 360 with usability in mind and split the cooling radiators across the front of the car to give more boot storage space. The space it pretty huge considering it's a Ferrari (although the Dino had more space in the rear). The Ferrari 360 does have quite a lot of space behind the seats which can accommodate the smallest to the tallest with relative ease.

I think they had DIY in mind when designing the front storage ;)

Where's the spare wheel though I hear you say. Well it doesn't have one and that's the reason you get a big boot. They supply you with a can of tyre (tire) fix to get you to the nearest garage. You can buy the optional spare wheel kit at around $1000 (£650+) but I hear that Volvo space savers fit, which might be a better option.

Follow this blog on facebook

2011-08-28T09:06:00.004+01:00

Whilst I will continue using blogger to post articles, they will now feed to my facebook page on Owning Ferraris: Follow me on facebook

Rain - toothbrushes - Ferrari 360

2011-08-27T09:42:00.001+01:00

Sun and rain this weekend, so probably won't get chance to launch the 360 :| still I have cleaning work to do on it with a tooth brush :)

Ferrari Owners CLub Northwest Concours August 2011

2011-08-22T22:09:00.004+01:00

Another year and another concours. The weather was excellent for this years concours meeting at Cranage Hall, Cheshire in the North of England. Clear blue skies and at least 30 gleaming Ferrari's of all eras turned up.

Here I am in front of my silver 360 Modena - picture taken by my 5 year old!

365 GTB/4 (Daytonas)

and a general view of what was going on:

If you want to make some Ferrari friends or see what's going on in the Ferrari enthusiast world then register at www.ferrarichat.com or www.clubscuderia.co.uk.

Rear arch detailing on the Ferrari 360

2011-05-15T16:28:00.000+01:00

With the front arches detailed and protected it was time to look at the rears. The arch liners are more complicated to remove as some engine related equipment is attached to them.

Removal involved removing the engine bay side panels which is not difficult but some of the screws were a tight. With these panels out you can remove the items attached to the top of the inner arch liners.

The liners are held in place at various locations to the frame by M6 bolts - these proved very tight despite being stainless steel. I used Loctite's Freeze'n'Release and managed to remove all the bolts without breaking any and when I reinstalled the liners, re-tapped the threads on the fixings and used new bolts with anti-seize grease.

With the liners removed you can get to quite a lot of the engine including the manifolds, coil packs and plugs, inner drive shafts etc. and of course you can give it a good clean from a different access point of view.

All back together, detailed and shiney:

Leaves in the radiators on the Ferrari 360

2011-05-10T14:20:00.000+01:00

Not an uncommon problem these days with cars that have lots of radiator space at the front. The Ferrari 360 has two cooling radiators, one on each side of the car which allows for more boot space too. They are angled and the housing they sit in can get stuffed full of leaves. No surprise to see mine like that. With a small vacuum cleaner pipe and and airline I cleaned these away!

Both sides nice and clean now. Cost £0

Detailing time on the Ferrari 360

2011-05-02T21:30:00.002+01:00

Most people recognise car detailing as addressing the cosmetic issues on a car. That's all very well, but my new 360 is pretty clean on top. However, I feel the need to have a good look round the more important bits, so first job is to have the wheels off and take a look.

Most modern cars have an uninteresting subframe with plastic arch liners to finish off underneath and protect the chassis.

So with wheels off I started the underneath detailing at the front end. You dealer prepared car will be prepared with compromises. They will likely prepare it mechanically, but with the wheels off on my 360 it was clear I had work to do to clean up and protect from rust.

360's are easy to jack up with a regular trolley jack. They don't have spare wheels by default and don't have a jack on board. Wheels are straight forward to remove and are nice and light. I gave the wheels are detail whilst off, scrubbing off years of brake and road dirt - I used a non-stick pan sponge and soap and hot water for this!

By removing a bunch of M6 stainless bolts you can pull the plastic arch liners out to also give them a scrub.

Whilst off I used some Valvoline Tectyl 506 on components showing surface rust and had a general clean up. An old tooth brush, and hot soapy water works well on the Brembo Ferrari badged brake callipers. It also helps to have a compressor so you can blow dirt away as cleaning.

All shiney now :)

Collecting my Ferrari 360 - video

2011-04-12T18:54:00.000+01:00

So the day came that the car was ready to collect from Kent. The Sun shone in early April and I had a great drive home to Manchester and didn't see any traffic all the way. I stuck a GoPro inside and did some time lapse shots of the journey - enjoy.

Document your supercar ownership!

2011-04-10T20:55:00.000+01:00

Without a doubt maintaining a detailed history of my Dino ownership helped me to sell it. Sure record work done on the car by specialists by maintaining written documentation of the work, invoices etc. although it only goes so far in the social media world we now live in.

I believe that maintaining this blog for my recently sold Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 helped the buyer to trust that the car he was getting was well looked after apart from the bills I also produced.

Buyers love to see pictures of the details of you work and it's easy to do. I recorded my work on the car in this blog though not thinking about the affect it would have on resale, but simply to spread my experience of working on these cars.

Start your blog now!

Driving the Ferrari 360

2011-04-08T21:21:00.000+01:00

Wow. the Ferrari 360 is a special kind of car. Round town it drives like any other modern car: easy power steering, light touch brakes, easy clutch and reasonable visibility. On the open road though this is something special: It's fast and loud. Ferrari did their homework on this mass produced supercar and got it right to produce a car that would satisfy all.

So deposit paid and now just waiting for the prep and repair work to be done then I'll make that once every few years journey to collect my new toy.

New belts fitted via the access panel behind the seats - easy maintenance was on my tick list. The engine has to come out on a Ferrari 355 to change the belts - urgh.

New ball joints - a common problem with 360's

Out with the old in with the new - Ferrari 360 modena

2011-04-04T21:03:00.005+01:00

So it all happened really quickly. Within a few days of putting the Dino up for sale (and selling another vehicle) I had the funds to go for a good Ferrari 360. The Dino went to a buyer in Singapore.

I wanted: 20k or less miles/manual transmission/silver/red leather/wingshields/red callipers and a challenge rear grill.

What did I find...

That'll do I thought, but this car was for sale at the Ferrari Centre in Kent - 240 miles away. I took advantage of a London trip and popped over to see the car. It had issues, but when we discussed the detail it was about to have £4500 spent rectifying the usual 360 problems so we struck a deal.

Work done would include:

Timing belts
Oil service
Ball joint replacement
Clutch hydraulics repairs
Disc skim
Some body work
and other minor repairs

Most of this work dealt with many of the 360 common issues so the car was in some ways better then a 10K miles car now. It has also had a new clutch fitted less then 1000 miles ago - that's about as good as it gets.

1977 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 is for sale

2011-04-01T19:49:00.004+01:00

So I've decided to sell my Dino 308 GT4

If you are interested please look at the details on this website:

http://www.fiat127.co.uk/Ferrari-Dino-308-GT4-for-sale/

Belts, fluids and shifter seal in the 308 GT4

2011-03-17T20:44:00.003Z

So I treated my self to not doing the shifter seal job on the Ferrari Dino. As the cam belts needed doing I decided to ship the car off to Nick Cartwright's for a belts anf fluid service as well as doing the shifter seal job. I've done the belts myself before, and changing the oil is easy enough, the shifter seal is a lengthy job so Nick and his family team did it for me.

Noisy bearing on the Ferrari 308 - no more!

2011-03-01T21:10:00.002Z

Posted this article a few months back when I was getting a strange bearing type sound on cold start-up on cold days and when I'd not run the car for a while.

I investigated assuming it might be either the alternator or water pump bearings and ran the engine with the water pump belt removed - no noise. Yippee.

So I sourced a new Gates (7M975) polyflex belt from a local supplier, Hayley Group in the UK for about £18.

Installed, job done, no noise. Not really sure why it was making a ticking noise when cold and not used but I'm guessing the belt loosened up a little after running for a few minutes taking the pressure off the water pump or alternator bearings.

Next, annual fluid service, every 2-year timing belts change and replace the shifter shaft seals in the sump to reduce the garage leaks!

New Sat Nav technology for old Ferraris

2011-01-12T13:21:00.007Z

It's great to be alive! in a time when gadgets surpassed my wildest dreams as a kid in the 70's. Ok so we don't have hover cars or time travel, but we have so much more that wasn't expected. Satellite Navigation is one of them, but if you have an older car it won't have come with any modern technology that we see commonly these days.

So what are the options for a 1970's Ferrari and Sat Nav. Some might say the sound of the engine is all you need to keep you entertained in a Ferrari 308, but actually no, I want Sat Nav too. Just like I fitted LED bulbs to the indicator (turn signals) so that I'd never have to change them ever again, I want more technology in my old car. Of course it has to be fitted sympathetically but until recently Sat Nav options that looked right in old cars was not around. Now we have a few options, namely the Becker Mexico 7943, the Blaupunkt E2 and recently the Porsche Classic Sat Nav/Radio combo.

All three offer 1 DIN fitment Sat Nav with varying levels of classic-ness for you to decide. I can't comment on the functionality, but these things don't come cheap as a quick search on Amazon will reveal.

Driving out with the SuperCarDriver club

2011-01-03T18:22:00.005Z

Ok so I went out in my Porsche 993 because I couldn't face a 7:30am start in a cold and dark Manchester in an old Ferrari.

I also wanted to make sure I had some brakes when I went for a drive out with the SuperCarDrivers gang. Much fire from the exhaust of the GTR was had :)

I'll save the Dino for a warmer day.

First supercarDriver magazine

2010-12-24T15:04:00.000Z

Our expanding group of super car drivers released their first magazine. With 80+ pages or real cars and real owners this is a good start to the public facing side of the club. My Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 is featured pp40-47 in an article about 30 years of Ferraris - nice.

Take a look at www.supercardriver.com for more information on how to join in with our regular activities - all super cars welcome :)

Image ©2010 Supercar Driver Ltd

New MOT another 12 months on the road.

2010-12-16T22:20:00.002Z

After the brake rebuild I checked the car over and took it for its annual inspection (MOT) which it duly passed to my delight - well I would hope so given the amount of work I do on the car. The only comment was that it took some time to pass emissions and the inspector had to run the car up warm. Of course the carbed 308 Ferraris aren't particularly happy at idle and can easily get fouled plugs. The car has not seen any long high speed runs in the last few months so it's no surprise that emissions was touch and go. The piston rings on older cars need some use to get them sealing properly and my car could also do with an oil change which often effects emissions. I'll get on with that when the weather warms up.

Ferrari 308 brake calliper rebuild part 2

2010-12-09T12:01:00.000Z

Looking at the brake pistons it was clear that I would benefit from fitting new ones. Remember that they are the same as Porsche 911 ones (47.97mm x 30 mm) and I bought four new ones and the required seal kit from a company called BiggRed - total cost around £120.

You can see the rust removed to reveal shiny casting ready to be reassembled. De-grease the whole thing and plenty of compressed air to make sure there is absolutely no dirt in the callipers.

Fit the new hudraulic seals and pistons with a little brake fluid on the piston as you push it in. I also add some brake grease (red) around the piston as I finally push it down into the calliper housing.

The cut-away on the mating face of the piston has to point towards the forward rotation of the brake disc (brake rotor).

Then fit new dust seals and spring clips - these can be a PITA to fit.

All rebuilt now and ready to re-install on the car. These callipers could do with a gold repaint really, but they still look ok from through the wheels so I will wait until summer to do this.

After rebuilding both front callipers with new stainless steel pistons and new seals I decided to also fit new discs bought from the BremboShop and of course new pads (same as Alfa Spider).

So finally all new brakes and no more pulling to the right :)

Ferrari 308 seized front brake calliper

2010-12-05T21:45:00.000Z

So I was out driving with the SuperCarDriver guys the other week in my Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 starting pulling to the right (drivers side UK) under braking. I've never really looked at the front brake callipers so I suspect it is time for a rebuild.

The original brake callipers on the 308 are made by ATE and are in fact the same as fitted to the late 1970's Porsche 911 which means that rebuild kits and in fact new callipers and pistons are easy to come by.

So I pulled the left hand calliper pads to take a look and sure enough one of the pistons was seized. So definitely time for a rebuild.

Whilst the hydraulics were still connected and with the pads removed I used the brake pedal to push the pistons out as far as they would go as getting seized ones out once the callipers is removed can be hard.

Next thing was to remove the calliper and remove the pistons. It's normal to use compressed air to pump the pistons out of a removed calliper - clamp the one you don't want to come out first.

This worked finally and the seized outer piston came out. A bit of air also removed the free inner piston to reveal the cause of the seizure - rust of course.

You can see that there is no rust inside the cylinder area but you can see the rust on the thin section after the groove where the hydraulic seal goes. I used a dremel type drill to remove this surface rust - being careful not to mark the inner cylinder area. I also cleaned out the seal groove which showed some signs of rust.

Clean up and rebuild in the next post :)

Don't forget to polish the inside of your Ferrari wheels

2010-11-10T11:31:00.000Z

There's nothing like being able to eat your dinner off the inside of your wheels ;) Give them a wash inside every six months or so and they'll stay like this forever.

Noisy bearing or not ? Ferrari 308

2010-11-02T12:05:00.002Z

After pulling the alternator/water pump belt and starting the car there was no noise, but when I reinstalled the belt still no noise. Hmm, never quite got to the bottom of that one, but it could have been recent lack of use I guess.

Noisy bearing on the Ferrari 308

2010-10-30T19:52:00.002+01:00

Been a while since I've posted.

I started my GT4 up yesterday after about 3 weeks of not running it and got a kind of tinkling, clicking, rattling noise. Difficult to describe, but sounded like a well worn and/or dry ball bearing.

I did the cam belts about 18 months ago and fitted new non-genuine tensioner bearings. One of the tensioners I pulled off was free running - had that dry/loose bearing feel when you spun it - but I didn't know this until I pulled it off so it wasn't making any grumbling sounds. The two new bearings were as they should be with no spin-on if you held the inner race and tried to spin the outer. Thus I don't think it could be the tensioners - I'll be putting some Hill Engineering ones on though at the next belt change as they are pretty cheap really.

So the question - does this sound like worn out water pump bearing(s) or generator bearing(s)?

Finally, the sound can clearly be heard at the belts end but gets less and less and a few minutes after starting is gone. When I started the car today there was very little evidence of it - but it was still there a little just after start-up.

I'll pull the generator/pump belt tomorrow and start the engine and see. That should quickly eliminate it, although it seems to be more apparent the longer I leave the car between runs.

Neither the water pump or generator have been touched since I've owned the car (4 years) so they are my prime suspects.

Watch this space.

Ferrari photo shoot

2010-09-12T20:29:00.006+01:00

Nice sunny Sunday and a few of us from www.SuperCarDriver.com were invited to bring our cars for a Ferrari photo shoot for the website. My Dino 308 GT4 in the middle. Others in the picture, 355 Spyder, 308 GTS, 328 GTS, 360 Spyder and 430 CS.

Ferrari Dino 308GT4 Driveshaft seal replacement

2010-07-14T21:24:00.006+01:00

So I got stuck in an tackled the drive shaft seal. First thing was to remove the axle from the car. Undoing the M8 hex bolts was ok for the inner C.V. joint using a long extension and a tough 8mm hex drive - turning the axle each time to get to the next bolt. The nuts are the locking type and were original so had probably never been off but they weren't rusty at least - they need a spanner on though until the bolt comes out. With the inner joint separated you need to remove the outer one to remove the axle. I needed to use the 8mm drive straight onto the bolts and jam the hub. I ended up removing the brake, disc, shock absorber, top A-arm and hum carrier to have a good clean around and better access to the axle and drive flange in the gearbox.

Everything out

The offending seal. Note the RTV sealant in the drive flange bolt hole. Oil can leak through the differantial, through the bolt in to the C.V. joints to you have to seal it when intalling the drive flange. I used ThreeBond/HondaBond.

With the axle and other bits out of the way it's easy to remove the one bolt to remove the drive flang, but I drained the transmission oil on my Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 first as I was going to change it anyway and I followed Robert Garvin's great tutorial on Birdman's website. The old seal came out of the differential case pretty easily and was rock hard as all the other seals I've replaced have been. New seal from www.superformance.co.uk for about £5 pushed into place and the drive flange refitted. Had a clean up with degreaser and a toothbrush whilst access was easy and also stripped both C.V. joints on the axle and fitted new boots and repacked with fresh grease - I figured the old ones must be 30 years old as they also looked original. It's a dirty job replacing C.V. grease but it's done now at least on the passenger side. With it all bolted up and a few good runs there's only a hint of oil residue, so no dripping leaks as before and now surprise given the state of the old seal. I was a little concerned that the inner drive flange had noticeable play when the axle was off, but R&D in Manchester seemed to think it was not too bad as did Nick Cartwright - thanks for the advice.

On to the next leak - drive flange seal :)

2010-06-27T11:06:00.005+01:00

I've been getting oil spun up from the passenger side CV joint so investigated the cause. I ruled out leaks from the cam covers and resealed the cam end cover with some Hondabond and cleaned the CV joint and drive flange from the transmission. A short run revealed oil leaks moving outwards in lines from the drive seal on the differential cover confirming the drive flange seal to be the culprit. The main issue is that it is flicking oil up onto the rear exhaust manifold which is not clever, and it's also getting oil all over my lovely clean engine :)

It's a cheap part (£5), but will require the CV joint and drive flange to be removed. It all looks quite accessible but the CV bolts might be really tight - watch this space.

Ferrari Owners CLub Northwest Concours June 2010

2010-06-27T10:48:00.010+01:00

I was invited to the Ferrari Owners CLub Northwest Concours June 13th. The weather forecast was dodgy but it turned out perfect. Around 50 cars in attendance including: 250 GT Cal, F40, 512 TR, BB512, Dyatona, Dinos, 360, 430, SuperAmerica, 308, 328, 348, 355 - wow that was an expensive field.

Enjoy the pictures.

Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder by Scaglietti and Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona

AutoItalia Stanford Hall 2010

2010-06-08T21:34:00.012+01:00

This is a great show if you love Italian cars. Lots of rare cars show up is the weather is good and this time it was. Here's my Dino with an Enzo and F40 on the Ferrari section. The Ferrari Owners Club were welcoming despite me not being a club member and I plan on attending the Northwest Ferrari Concours meeting this Sunday 13th at Cranage Hall - a mere 20 miles down the road from me :) Enjoy the pictures from AutoItalia:

Didsbury and South Manchester car show July 11th

2010-05-16T10:23:00.004+01:00

Well it's official now. If you are in Manchester and have classic car we are holding Didsbury's first car show on the afternoon of July 11th and it's all free. Register your car at http://www.didsburycarshow.org/ We have planned for around 50 or 60 cars and places are filling up so register now.

Tatton Park Classic and Performance Car show June 5th and 6th

2010-05-15T14:17:00.003+01:00

The annual Tatton Park Classic and Performance Car show takes place 5/6th June at Tatton Park in Cheshire near J19 on the M6. This year I think we will see a large number of Italian cars and I'll have by Dino there too.

June 6th also sees the annual Auto Italia event at Stanford Hall, near Lutterworth and the start of the M6. Another great show with lots of Italian exotica (if it doesn't rain!)

Insurance for your Ferrari 308

2010-03-30T09:00:00.003+01:00

Well ok, so it's not really Ferrari but I've discovered a new insurance company for my fleet of classic cars and I have to recommend them. I've been insured with Footman James for many years but the prices were creeping up. I was told of a company called Classicline and they did slash huge amounts off my insurance bill. For example the insurance on my 1957 VW bus was quoted as over £400 with FJ but Classicline wanted just £189 for the same level of cover. For my Ferrari 308 they quoted around £100 less than Footman James and they came out about the cheapest for my 1996 Porsche 911 and accepted me not having any No-Claims-Bonus on the basis that I had been using classic car policies for a long time.

Most importantly in our modern times is the personal experience with Classicline - I get the feeling that actually remember me whenever I have to talk to them - sorry but I don't think you get that with www.confused.com

Spring is coming

2010-03-12T11:18:00.003Z

Although it is still pretty cold here the sun has been out and the roads have been dry for the last week. So I've managed to get some 308 time in, all is well with the car although I need to think about an brake fluid flush and oil change. Checked the rear brake adjustment (you have to take up the slack with adjusting screws) using Birdman's tutorial and noted some fluid came out of the passenger side adjuster screw cover. I'd rebuilt the drivers side calliper a few years ago so I expect the passenger side rear one could do with new seals now. Nice picture of the wheels.

At last, dry roads.

2010-01-19T16:56:00.000Z

Finally after a month of cold weather and lingering frost and snow the temperature has moved towards 10º and the roads are dry. I took the Dino out for a blast around the M60. All was good, no misfires, no leaks just a howling V8 and lots of smiles - roll on the warmer weather

Brrrrrrr run the Dino up

2010-01-07T20:44:00.002Z

It's getting even colder here in the UK. There has been about 6" of snow followed by freezing temperatures with -12º predicted for tonight (Jan 7th) in Manchester. As it was sunny out today and with the car being sat unused in freezing temperatures I ran it up until properly warm for about 30 minutes. Not ideal to run these engines on idle for so long as they don't warm up quick enough and the spark plugs get dirty. ad to dig my way into the garage after defrosting the padlocks with a hair-dryer. The Dino started perfectly once the fuel had filled the carbs so no problems - it would just be nice to actually drive it, but the snow and ice will probably be around for at least another week from now.

Ferrari 308 in the snow is a no go

2010-01-03T22:23:00.001Z

It's been cold and snowy here in the UK for the past few weeks, so no chance for me to get the Dino out. We've had lots of frozen snow which thawed a few days ago then it went and snowed again. Maybe tomorrow...

Ferrari has an MOT

2009-12-16T22:27:00.003Z

Finally felt well enough, and it stopped raining, and I had time to sort the MOT out on the Ferrari.

Figured I would just take it into the local MOT testing station and see what happens. It was a fifty-odd quid gamble, but actually it should have passed.

First thing then was to run it up after six weeks of being dormant and check for any problems. Italian cars laid up like this just seem to break and need a good run to free up the piston rings to that stop smoking. So I ran it up and round the block a few times and made sure it was properly warmed up. Noted that the handbrake was coming up a little high, one indicator was not working but that was about it.

Sorted the indicator down to a loose earth connector in the rear boot, and fiddled with the rear calliper adjustment screws and cable adjustment until I got the lever down to about 3 clicks - check out Birdman's guide to this job.

Changed the spark plugs for a fresh set of NGK BP5ES. Previously running BP6ES which are cooler plugs, so I just thought I'd give the 5's a try to see how they fowl. Noticed three plugs where dirty to the three mixture screws may need a tweak - summer job eh. Really they all need doing with a gas analyser as I set them by ear, so not bad really as 5 out of 8 are running well and this set of plugs has lasted the longest in terms of fowling since I've owned the car.

Anyway, the car passed it's MOT with no problems so we are back on the road again.

Swine flu and Ferraris

2009-11-16T22:22:00.000Z

Not sure really, but think I had swine flu in later October/November. It was rough and as a result the 308 didn't turn a wheel for over 6 weeks :(

The MOT ran out and I missed my legal opportunity to drive it down to Nick Cartwright's to get it tested and serviced. So it's sat in the garage, cold and unused, with not MOT.

Oh and it seems to have rained for weeks.

Nothing to report

2009-09-17T20:48:00.002+01:00

Since the major oil leaks were fixed I've had a trouble free summer in the Dino driving it as often as I can. Autumn is on it's way so it's time to think about the car's annual service (oils, brake fluid, MOT etc.) and how to store it over winter. Thinking of using a carcoon this year as the car had condensation on it in my garage last winter.

Cam drive pulley seals replaced on my Ferrari 308 GT4

2009-07-21T12:20:00.006+01:00

I pulled the forward cam belt (doing them one at a time), and went to fit my three-arm pulley to pull the cam drive pulley, but it just slid off without much effort which was nice. Then I spotted the reason for a big oil leak - the seal came out with the pulley! After 30+ years in there it was hard like plastic so must have hardly been sealing the drive shaft at all. At least then I didn't have to work out how to extract it. The key came out pretty easy too with a brass drift. With the retaining circlip removed you can pull the outer bearing with a small bearing puller tool.

Nice new seal then onto the rear drive pulley

After a test run it seems that the drive pulley leaks are no more. That's two down, several more to go...

Leak not fixed on my Ferrari 308

2009-07-07T12:56:00.007+01:00

When I took the car out for a test run it was still leaking oil from the belts end. Not the crankshaft seal that I just replaced (see below) but the seals behind the cambelt drive pulleys. Urgh. this means the belts have to come off, and I have to do the full job of removing cam drive pulleys (with silly pin nut locknut), replace old seals and whilst I'm in there replace the cam drive pulley outer bearings. Put it all back together with new timing belts (damn - only just had these replaced in November) and I may as well put in new belt tensioner bearings - I had these lying round from an ebay purchase a few months ago - good thinking ahead me thinks.

Made a makeshift cam lock tool from two pieces of wood cut to fit the camshaft pulleys (95mm diameter) and bolted together ensures the cams won't move by accident. also the position of everything is marked up with correction fluid as a reference and the crankshaft is set at PM1-4 timing mark.

Is the leak fixed ?

2009-07-04T10:15:00.003+01:00

Well hopefully at least one of the leaks is fixed. I replaced the belts end crankshaft seal (£8) a few days ago but I've not had chance to fire it up yet to check it. I used the screw in the seal and slide hammer method, whereby you drill a small hole through the metal part of the seal cover, screw a self-tapper into the hole, grip it and pull the seal out. I made a nylon tube tool which fitted snugly over the crankshaft to insert the new seal in squarely.

A little leak...

2009-06-27T11:08:00.003+01:00

The car has been running well since the last post and has seen quite a bit of use. None of the winter misfires, but warm (inside the car) with all the heat we've been having.

I've been noticing the usual engine oil leaks have been increasing, particularly on the belts end of the engine. Of course this is where it all happens, so I pulled the wheel arch liner and rear cambelt cover to have a better look. It could be the crankshaft seal which looks reasonably do-able and cheap from Superformance (image Copyright Superperformance) so watch this space for that job. I also climbed down into my pit to check the sump nuts and seal - all looked ok, although I hear that oil can run down the studs which hold the sump on, but simple nyloc or acorn nuts seem to solve that.

I noticed that the gear shift rod was rubbing on one of the coolant pipes, so I wrapped the pipe with a hose clip to protect it as it for now.

Krispy Kreme donuts and V8 engines

2009-04-05T15:55:00.003+01:00

Went to the Krispy Kreme meeting of the American Auto club (next to the Trafford Centre, Manchester). They meet here every first Sunday of the month and the weather this time was nice. Great turn-out and a real American feel to the meet being next to Krispy Kreme - and I had a donut, mmm.

Ferrari to the Sahara

2009-04-04T07:13:00.002+01:00

A friend knowing I had a Ferrari gave me a great article from a 1995 Car magazine where the editors borrowed a F512M from Ferrari and drove it from Modena to the edge of the Sahara via Morroca. Take a look at the original article here.

Rust, what rust...

2009-03-06T19:42:00.004Z

If like me you're a classic Italian car fan then rust is not your friend. I've never seen rust on any other make like I've seen on a 70's Fiat or Alfa and even a Ferrari. But worry not, if you really don't want to deal with rust and want a classic Italian car with metal work like it came from the factory take a look on the Italian ebay and search for "Oldtimer" + "the car of your choice". So for example to see some nice rust free Fiat 128's click here. Ok, they are more expensive than a basket case over here, the steering wheel is on the wrong side and of course they are a long way away. But really, it's not so difficult to take a flight to southern Italy and drive your new rust free car home.

Oooo it's cold and my Dino doesn't like it

2009-01-29T21:18:00.004Z

I went to work (6 miles) today (5-7°) in my Dino and it didn't really get warm or very driveable for much of the way. It's like driving a steam engine when it's cold - the engine is fine, but the gearbox is stiff and only get's nice to drive once the engine water and oil temps are up - they didn't move much today so my left arm did a work out. But hey I still took the car out and it was sunny :)

£2 well spent on my Ferrari Dino

2009-01-26T21:14:00.003Z

On a cold and frosty winters night I returned to the car after work to find a flat battery because I had left the side lights on. All I wanted to do was go home, but it was not to be. 45 minute wait then - 3 minutes with the AA man and the car was running - very annoying.

A quick search on ebay revealed a "lights on reminder" for £1.99 Basically it's just a simple 12v buzzer which you attach the positive to a lighting circuit (e.g. dash or side light feed) and negetive to a switched live (e.g. indicator power). Without looking at the wiring diagram in too much detail it seems that the switched live goes to earth once the ignition is switched off allowing current to flow to the buzzer if you have left the lights on. Well worth £2.

$30 dollar tool kills a Ferrari engine

2009-01-10T20:38:00.003Z

Interesting and unfortunate thread on Ferrari Chat thread about a piece being sucked off a cheap EMPI synchronometer (carburettor balancing flow meter) and destroying a valve and piston on a 308 engine.

Make sure no bits can fall off your flow meter when you are balancing your carbs - could be expensive!

I used this very brand of flow meter to sync my carbs last year - could have been a horror story. Now I'm not going to panic, I'll just fit some kind of gauze to the meter next time I use it.

So how much does a Ferrari 308 cost to run

2008-12-11T14:36:00.003Z

Well apart from the petrol costs (remember is a 3l V8 with big carbs) the annual service charge is probably around £500-1000. What do you get for your money ? Well assuming your car is just being maintained then it's things like fluid change (engine oil, brake fluid, coolant), belt checks, brake checks and adjustments. All these things sound pretty normal and in fact the price of parts is reasonable for the type of car e.g. brake pads £20, alternator belt £15. So really, you could do all these regular jobs yourself as they are no more difficult then on any other car - in fact probably easier than a modern car.

Ferrari (apparently) recommend a cam belt change every two years - hmm, if the car's only done a few thousand miles it seems overkill but since aftermarket belts are much cheaper than broken valves and pistons then it's probably a good idea to stick to this maintainance schedule. You can always have a look at other things whilst you're in there with the covers off - e.g. the cam belt drive pulleys and bearings, and leaks around these and the crankshaft.

The killer is the cost of labour. Working on 308's is easy. They are old fashioned simple technology, but there aren't many workshops around who dare to take them on. Hence you have to pay specialist labour rates of around £70 / hour and an annual service could easily clock up 20 hours - you do the Maths.

I do most of the work on the car myself, but to maintain a Ferrari specialist service history for the car Nick Cartwright does the annual and MOT. If times get hard, then I'll have to do it all myself.

VW Type 3 fastback the latest edition

2008-10-01T19:40:00.000+01:00

So not quite of Italian origin but whilst browsing ebay's classic car section for anything within 5 miles I found an interesting project. 99% nut and bolt, body-off, ground-up (and all the rest) restored Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback and an early one at that.

Basically the guy who rebuilt it had just to fit the windscreen and tighten a few nuts - but never did. So we bought it and I did and it was MOT'd within a couple of weeks.

Abandoned supercars

2008-09-06T12:33:00.004+01:00

How does it happen? who would spend all that money and leave the car to rot. I guess there's always an interesting story behind the demise of a car and I just love wondering. Here's a great thread on FerrariChat with lots of pictures of adandoned Ferraris. Also another which includes other abandoned makes. I think if I had a barn I would fill it full of old cars too.

Image of the famouse, abandoned "GTO in a field" chassic #3589GT Ferrari 250 GTO (copyrighted to the original image owner). Another great picture and story of the car is here.

Lamborghini Urraco or Ferrari Dino 308 GT4

2008-08-30T08:55:00.001+01:00

Launched earlier than the GT4, the Lamborghini Urraco is the next closest car in the class - in fact it's a bit too close.
Designed by Lamborghinis favourite, Bertone, the Urraco had an all new mid-ish transverse mounted V8 and was a 2+2 based around a monocoque - and as any Italian car fan knows rust is an issue, especially with uni-construction cars. I prefer Ferrari's approach of a substantial space frame with body panels attached.

I discovered the Urraco before the GT4 and thought that rear quarter was the best thing I'd ever seen. I also think overall they are a better looking car, so why then do I have a GT4 instead? Well the Urraco is on my 'list' but the Ferrari is an easier hobby car to maintain with parts readily available and relatively cheap (relative to what though you may ask - well I'll talk about that next time).

Perhaps they will never be quite as desirable as a Ferrari for this reason, but if you see a cheap one that doesn't have rust and engine issues and you have the skills to run old Italian cars then buy and store it - it's a pretty Lamborghini.

Lamborghini Urraco or Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 - I'll have one of each please!

Summer fun

2008-08-13T19:57:00.000+01:00

ahh for the long summer evenings in a Dino...

It's time to buy a V12 Ferrari

2008-07-15T20:43:00.009+01:00

Surely it is enevitable that all Ferrari's increase in value after some point. You only have to look at what happened to Dino 246 prices a few years ago and more recently the increase in value for the larger, less popular V12 GT cars like the 250, 330 and 365.

I would suggest that the time is right to be looking at the final classic V12 model, the 365 GT4 2+2 and 400/412.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Ferrari_400.jpg

It's a bit ugly - or is it? The more I look at this model the more I like it and even better it's cheap as chips. £5K gets you a project, £10K will get you something which is legal, £20K gets you something perfect. Not bad when you look under the bonnet and there's a Ferrari V12 engine.

All things being equal then these cars must go up in price once they hit the age at which we get all nostalgic about them (like the Dino). Maybe not yet, but the prices are rock bottom so buy one, stick it in your garage and discover it again in a few years.

Better still, buy one and drive it. The neighbours won't know what's going on!

How easy is it to own a 70's Italian car such as a Fiat or Ferrari ?

2008-07-08T12:15:00.006+01:00

It is true that to own a 70's Fiat you have to be an enthusiast and prepared to get your hands dirty although one can often benefit from someone else's hard work. For example I rebuilt my '76 from the ground up and fitted many new parts (including the master cylinders!), but it only sold for £1250. I wish I still had it, but I had to make space for my GT4.

Most common classic cars tend to be cheap to buy and parts are very cheap (apart from body panels on the X1/9) relative to a modern car and the associated running costs.
Classic cars are much easier to maintain that modern cars due to their inherent simplicity - even Ferrari's.The main problem is finding a garage or shop who you would trust to do the work and will charge you a reasonable rate. I guess it's down to geography. For example owning, running and maintaining a 70's Triumph in the UK is easy because it's home territory for the marque. Equally air cooled VW's made it to all parts of the world so are well understood everywhere. But take your X1/9 to a garage to have them fix the headlamps because they don't pop up and you'll probably get a hefty bill. But let's face it, if you can fix the headlamps on an X1/9 then you can say that you can fix Ferrari's and Lamborghini's too which sounds kind of exotic.

I grew up on a diet of Fiat's and so moving to a 77 Ferrari 308 GT4 was no effort or shock. I could see how it could be for most people though and I would advise owning a cheap well maintained 70's Italian car before moving to the expensive stuff so you get the thrill and experience the levels of maintenance required.

Fiat 128 3p running and driving and for sale now! £450

2008-07-06T16:22:00.000+01:00

Did some work on the 128 3p and managed to get it started. Needed to replace the plugs (they were well past it) and clean and resit the points. Also cleaned the idle jets and fires up and runs nicely now.
Tried to drive it but the clutch was seized so I used all the old tricks summarised here and it eventually it freed off. Took it for a spin round the block and it's great. Nippy and the gears are smooth.

It's for sale now as I've a bit too much on my plate at the moment so if you fancy it then £450 secures it for you just email me.

Fiat 128 3p

2008-06-15T16:16:00.000+01:00

Bought myself a Fiat 128 3p, something I always fancied and in particularly in this colour scheme and trim level. It's pretty rusty and quite sorry for itseft and doesn't yet run although did last year.
I'm going to assess it over the next few weeks and use it to generally learn about this model although I have twenty years of experience with Fiats of this era.

Carburettor setup on Ferrari 308 GT4

2008-05-06T15:02:00.000+01:00

Used Birdman’s excellent carburettor sync tutorials to set the four Webers up. A little scary as you have to reset all the control screws and adjustments before you start. However, it all worked out and ran very well afterwards. Used an STE flow meter from CB Performance

Have been assessing the spark plug colours since and adjusting the mixture control screws where necessary to bring the plug colour up to a nice biscuit.

Also found a great article and discussion of Weber carburettors here

Spark plug change Ferrari 308 GT4

2008-04-29T14:57:00.000+01:00

Spark plugs changed. NGK BP6ES, stock 0.7mm gap

1 Biscuit
2 Biscuit
3 Dirty
4 Biscuit
5 Dirty
6 Dirty
7 Biscuit – difficult to get out, the seal lock ring had run down the plug thread
8 Biscuit

Great plug discussion on www.ferrarichat.com and the NGK website

Watery grease on plug ceramic for plugs 6 and 7. Plug extender seals 6,7,8 hard and perished. Replaced extenders and seals with new from Superformance costing £80 total.

Replacing main fuel hose on Ferrari 308 GT4

2008-01-18T14:43:00.000Z

Replaced main fuel pipes with Demon Tweeks Sytec 8mm and 6mm cotton over braid OEM style and Norma 12-13mm clips from ebay here

Renewed perished OEM style (but 19mm ID - oem is 20mm ID) crank case breather hose from http://www.thinkauto.com/moqoilhose.htm

Difficult to get on but used the hot water to soften. Used Fiat Punto Mk1 (->1999) - Breather Tube airbox plain oil breather hose on cam cover to balance pipe sections.

Removed the forward carburettor bank choke lever as it could be moved by the oil breather hose. Choke isn’t used anyway as these carbs don't really need it.

Ferrari 308 annual service and MOT

2007-11-10T14:37:00.000Z

Annual service and MOT by Nick Cartwright. Engine oil change, fluids check. Brake fluid change. Also replaced the top hose on oil cooler as it was showing signs of failure. Included transport to and from NC’s

Replacing Ferrari 308 GT4 header tank

2007-08-10T14:29:00.000+01:00

Noticed leak from the top of the header tank – rusted through from the inside:

Secret bolt behind the tank which is not visible but easy enough to reach once you know it's there

Ordered new aluminium tank from Superformance http://www.superformance.co.uk/a-308/cooling.htm £150

Emptied coolant to below tank level and replaced the tank. Easy job:

Ferrari 308 rear brake caliper problem and rebuild

2007-07-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

Today whilst out driving I noticed a strange clunk when pulling the handbrake up then noticed brake fluid leaking from the handbrake lever on the top of the drivers side rear calliper:

Removed the caliper, top lever pulled out, (shouldn't have) popped the blanking plate out and the circlip had come off and the top seal had failed. Split the calliper (M7 torx drive, hardened bolts), pistons in perfect condition. Same callipers as the Porsche 914-6. Ordered new seals from Superformance including all calliper seals, and outer adjusting screw which was worn - cost £60. Everything cleaned and reassembled. Re-installed and bled, problem solved.

Ferrari 308 GT4 radiator repair

2007-04-15T12:47:00.000+01:00

Warm spring weather 22° and after a long run spotted the main radiator leaking in two places at the top along the soldered joint - boo.

Removed the radiator by firstly removing the front bumper and fog lights then drilling out the pop rivets that hold the skid plate onto the front wings. This gives access to the bottom radiator hose. Had to disconnect the air-con hoses, noticed a lack of coolant in the A/C system.

Sent radiator to Dixon Radiator Repair in Denton, Manchester (0161 336 2705) - £40 for the resolder repair. Top and bottom front hoses in poor condition. Replaced with new 40mm ID silicone ones - £20

Cooling fans seem slow and wires are in poor condition. Stripped both fans down and rewired them. Fitted auxiliary fan cut in switched wired to fire the fan relays in the fuse box – simply earths the relay coil in the same way as the temp sensor switch.

Stripped down front bumper and paint and waxoyled behind to protect. Added stainless fasteners where removed.

Refitted the radiator, filled and bled the system – no leaks. On the test drive the car ran lumpy but fine after a stop and warmed up. Running hot at 95° on test run and it turned out that both fans were running but the wrong way! Re-connected them the correct way and problem solved.

Removed the rear bumper and painted and waxoyled as per the front.

Ferrari 308 fusebox problems

2007-04-14T12:17:00.000+01:00

Main auxiliary fuse (indicators, etc.) #1 melted after a run out! Not the conductor but the plastic part of the fuse due to excessive heat across it caused by resistance at the terminals.

Example melted fuseblock - picture from www.birdmanferrari.com

Researched this on http://www.ferrarichat.com/ and it is a very common problem with the fuse box. Especially on the high current / always on applications such as aux systems, fuel pump! radiator fans. The fuse holders are riveted onto the spade terminals and the physical connection through the rivit deteriates. This encourages corrosion which in term increases resistance to cause a downward spiral of your 308 electrical system

Ordered myself a pair of famous Birdman fuse blocks with the glass type fuses and non riveted connections which took a few days to arrive and about 30 minutes to fit. Never seen an electrical gremlin since!

Also repaired O/S heater duct flap which stopped working, inner cable stiff. Dash removal easy, but access to cable and clamps difficult.

Replacing the oil pressure sender on my 308

2007-02-07T12:03:00.000Z

Replaced engine oil pressure sender unit (similar if not the same as Fiat 124) with new non genuine from Superformance.

Did not need to remove the oil filter or housing as expected. Removed the oil cooler hose and brake vacuum hose and ground down a spanner to undo the oil pressure sender unit and retighten the new one. No oil came out of the system at all, so it was a pretty easy job in the end. New reading on the dashboard gauge is now smooth and by the book 85psi at temp and revs :)

Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 slow electric windows

2006-12-28T20:41:00.000Z

Fitted relay circuit to N/S door to solve slow window problem. Routed new power feed from heater rear window fuse – same as for O/S. Used the two relay method instead for a neater solution:

Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 slow electric windows

2006-12-24T20:19:00.000Z

Solution to slow electric windows found on FerrariChat.com. Need a relay driven circuit to reduce the wire loop length in the power window circuit. Eliminates long wires and poor earth connections.

Fitted four Maplin relays to driver’s door motor circuit which solved the problem – see diagram:

New power feed to relays from the rear heated window fuse. Wired routed along dash board and through to the door. Found a new two-relay solution afterwards using SPDT – will try that on passenger side.

Ferrari 308 GT4 Fuel filler and heater blower repair

2006-12-17T20:12:00.000Z

Fitted a new fuel filler neck by removing n/s rear wheel and inner arch liner – quite easy job. Easy access to n/s engine bay through rear arch.

Removed front bonnet plastic liner to investigate the poor heater output from o/s heater port. Heater matrix and duct pipes appear fine, water valve opening fully, but heater control flap lever for o/s is stiff and doesn’t open properly. Fixed that but no extra output. Removed front o/s wheel and blower access panel. Removed blower motor – very tight fit in valance. Stripped and cleaned it nothing wrong with it, but realised it was wired in reverse! Wired it correctly and now get full flow on both heater blowers.

First run out in the GT4

2006-12-10T20:06:00.000Z

Spent some time to assess car went on a run, cold day took a while to warm up. Filled with Shell V-power.

• Right-hand heater blower poor performance
• Both electric windows very slow
• Replaced all visible steel fasteners with stainless-steel ones
• Notice fuel filler hose was perished. Available from Superformance £25
• Erratic oil pressure readings – probably sender, available from Superformance

Took delivery of my Ferrari 308 GT4

2006-11-26T01:24:00.000Z

After twenty years of fiddling with old Italian cars I decided to move upwards and into the world of classic Ferraris. It had to be a Bertone designed car to compliment my love of the Fiat X1/9, Lancia Stratos and Lamborghini Countach and the only one Ferrari made was the Dino 308 GT4. What a stunning car!

After looking for a while I decided on a relatively local one and finally took delivery of my 1977 Rosso/Rosso restored GT4 from Nick Cartwright. It was so cool to see the covered trailer pull up on that cold and clear winters evening in November 2006.

After reviewing the cars history in more detail over a bottle of wine the night it arrived I found bills totalling £38,000 for restoration and repairs/improvements over a ten year period. Wow, I didn't spend anything like that buying the car, although it wasn't a cheap one.

I chose this particular car for the red leather interior amongst other things. Originally a silver car from the factory, the colour was changed during the restoration in the 90's - I think for the better. The car was also fitted with 17" Ferrari style wheels from Superformance.

Blog started

2006-09-06T14:37:00.000+01:00

I guess it's about time I started a blog about all the interests I have.