4/17/12
A New 330 at the Shop
A car arrived over the weekend from Pennsylvania. The current owner has
owned this car for over a dozen years, and wanted us to do a thorough
service. Francois drove the car over the weekend, but I got my chance
first thing Monday morning. On initial drives, I make a mental
checklist as I start the car, put her in gear, and drive the car in our
normal test loop. As the car warmed up, I noticed the
engine didn't seem to be pulling as strongly as it should. The
carburetors needed an adjustment, but I felt there was something more
that was a miss.
As customary with a new cars to our shop, we did a compression test to
get an idea of the general health of the engine. The numbers came back
pretty good and even at about 140-150 lbs on all 12 cylinders. The good
compression numbers ruled that out as a reason why this car seemed to
be down in power, so I turned my attention towards the ignition. The
plugs were gapped a little wide for the stock ignition system, but the
main problem I found was in the distributors. The point gap was wide,
and the points were out out of phase by several degrees. With a Ferrari
engine, power is made at higher rev ranges, so small differences in
tolerances or specs can make a big difference when looking for more
power in these engines. Owners often don't know the full potential of
their V-12 engines because they've never driven another one for
comparison. When the ignition and carburetion is working in unison on a healthy engine, look out!
The carbs were pretty crusty, and needed a good cleaning. I
disassembled them one at a time, soaked them in carb cleaner, cleaned
them out thoroughly, reset their float levels, and reassembled. You can
see the difference with the right carb being finished and ready to be
put back into service.
A couple of studs were stripped in the carb tops, so they needed to to
drilled and tapped.
We like to use "Timesert" inserts for the carbs because they make a
nice solid connection to the soft alloy of the carburetor. After I took
this picture, I installed the stud with a little "Loctite" thread
locking compound.
Speaking of 330s, I took my 330 America out for nice long drive over the weekend. I attended the "Caffeine and Carburetors" event in New Cannan, CT. It was over a 200 mile round trip, and it was nice to get my Ferrari out to stretch her legs!
Set the Date!
Saturday May 5th 2012
The
Radcliffe/Tomyang.net Spring Car Show
The 5th Annual show brought to
you by car guys, for car guys
12340 Owings Mills Boulevard
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
Phone: 410-517-1681
Register Early for Show Cars,
spectators are free!
Reminder: If you have a Ferrari
related project, car, or idea
you'd like to explore, I'd love to talk to you. I can also help if
you're thinking of buying or selling. This website represents what I
love to do, and now it's how I make a living, so if you'd like to do
something together, let me know. It all begins with an e-mail!
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