11/28/09
Painting the Radiator, and Lusso Metalwork
With my newly cored radiator ready to go back into my 330 America, I
needed to get a few coats of paint on the tanks. They make a radiator
paint that is supposed to go on thinner than normal paint, but I just
put very light coats of paint on the core, and painted the top and
bottom tanks normally. Unfortunately, in the Northeast, the weather
this time of the year is changeable, so I only managed to get a couple
of coats on before the rain and wind set in.
With some time on my hands, I decided to give my grille a quick polish.
With it out of the car, it was much easer to polish on the work bench,
and I could even reach the places I couldn't when it was mounted to the
car.
Last week, I stopped by The Panel Shop to see
what was going on with a Ferrari Lusso they're working on for Francois'
shop. On the workbench was a pretty twisted piece of steel that Mark
had fabricated. When I asked what part it was replacing, he explained
it was for the Lusso!
With the rocker panels removed on this car, I naively assumed they were
straight and simple like most rocker panels, but it's not so with a
Ferrari!
Mark took the piece off the workbench to show me how it fit into the
left side of the car.
Once the rocker was set in place, I could now see how much of a bend
and twist there was and a lot more involved than regular rocker panels.
As always, there's more to it with these Ferraris than than is what is
apparent!
Mark also showed me the inner fender panel on the rear of the car.
Although not readily seen from the outside of the car, these inner
fenders were rusting away, trapping moisture and falling apart behind
the outer fender skins. It was decided to fabricate a new inner fender
patch with new steel to eliminate the possibility of this corrosion
from spreading. With new steel and modern sealers, this fender should
last quite a long time.
I showed this picture already, but I wanted to point something else
out. You can just make out the rear jack receiver welded to the rocker.
There's not much material holding the tube to the rocker, and it
reaffirms my warning to never use the jack holes for actually jacking
up a Ferrari! When these cars were new, these jack points were strong,
but without knowing the structural integrity of your rockers, you risk
deforming the rocker when these tubes bend. The Panel Shop reinforces
this area before they weld the new rocker skin in place just in case
someone wants to use this jack point, but there are plenty of other
places to lift a Ferrari without risk of body damage!
There are a couple more pictures of the Lusso's doors on The
Panel Shop Website from a blog I write for them, and there
are plenty of other projects and cars worth looking at, and it's always
neat stuff.
Just a reminder, I'm
looking for a
new Vintage Ferrari Project. If you have, or know of a restoration
project, please let me know. It would be great to restore another car
on this website! My E-mail.
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