AGIP 10W60 Racing Oil

On Ebay I scored a 20 Liter can of AGIP 10W60 for only € 110,- (and € 17,- shipping). So a very good price. When I had the oil replaced I had used 10W40 which I regretted afterwards.  But it's not a complete bad thing, I now simply consider it a engine flush.

Ferrari.com | My Ferrari

It’s official now. I’m registered as a Ferrari owner. The previous owner told me I could sign up on the Ferrari website being an owner and receive notification on events and get reductions on tickets, goodies and such. At first I was not interested in all this marketing hype and I more or less ignored it.  Last week I was visiting their website and reconsidered it. Reason being is my curiosity regarding the Ferrari experience and perhaps soon or later something interesting could come out of it.
Furthermore I thought it could not do any harm to get the car registered as it will build up a bit of history track record. Thinking about it, I will make an enquiry on what information they might have on this car already.

In order to get registered I had to send them a copy of the service logbook, a copy of the registration license papers and included a copy of my driver license.

Dear Mr. Erwin,

thank you for the information you have sent. We are glad to inform you that we have updated our records, and it was our pleasure to process your request to register as Ferrari owner. You will shortly be able to log in to Ferrari official website, using your email address and the password you chose as you registered.

 

 

Please be assured of our full attention at all times.

We remain at your complete disposal for any further assistance you may need.

Our best regards,

 

Ferrari Customer Care

 

 

The Hunt part VI

The next 400 on my list was located in Germany but not to far across the border. I think it was brought to my attention by Peter as he happened to have sold his Fiat 130 to this person. I had spotted it before as it was for sale for quite some time for an interesting price of € 19.000,- I made an appointment and drove on Sunday morning to inspect the car. This 400 had been all over Europe, at least in Italy, France, UK and Germany with various owners in each location. This scared me off a bit already. There was no clear maintenance history or papers, only some MOT papers when it was UK based. From a distance the car looked nice as it was on the photographs. But on closer inspection it had various areas of attention. The car was poorly resprayed and had various spots, rust, dents and small damages. The interior definately good use a proper clean up.  Technically I was not convinced and the engine bay did not look clean and tidy either. It did had a stainless steel exhaust though and the tyres were good too. Despite my reservations I made a testdrive which felt remarkably good. The engine sounded good, handling was ok, brakes were fine, the automatic gearbox went smooth. But all in all I still was not convinced and to get it in my desired state it simply would become to much work and to expensive. Next please.

 

AUTODROME Cannes 1973 FERRARI 365 GT4 2+2

Just added this link to the section: http://www.autodrome-cannes.com/ferrari-365-gt4-2+2.htm

Some stunning pictures of this bella, it doesn't get any better than this:

Ferrari 412 pulling off at gasstation (Dutch)

A fresh catch of only 2 days old:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csw1ECQqEeQ

Unfortunately I can't embedd it as the automatic search lookup can't find it ... grrr.
Just click the link instead.

I managed to retrieve the number plate: 81-TX-HF
The car was first registered at 24-8-1988
It was imported to the Netherlands at 19-2-2007 and had one owner since.

400 maintenance: fluids and filters

Part of the maintenance was of course refreshing all the fluids and replacing all filters, spark plugs and belts. Both sumps (engine & transmission) were thoroughly cleaned. In case you are wondering, just like I did, what those metal flaps are about in the sump. I was told these are there to Ensure enough oil stays within when you are cornering. Simply but clever. As can been seen on the photos, the cleaning and replacing of all filters was quite necessary. The air filters were Original and as such quite expensive, next time I will order immitation via superperformance. The filterkit for the TH400 was of course easily available and affordable. Hurray for GM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should I buy a Ferrari 400

Just added this article to the online section

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=63&h=&t=227145

Restored Ferrari 400i

Another catch of a restored 400i, some nice piccies of the stripped body. I'm not sure if I like the new interior ...

As per German advert:

Hiermit wird vielleicht der am besten restaurierte Ferrari 400i angeboten. Wenn man zu viel Geld hat, also wenn Kosten keinerlei Rolle spielen, kann man solch ein excellentes Fahrzeug bauen lassen. Natürlich hat diese Restaurierung 3 x so viel gekostet, wie er jetzt angeboten wird. Aber egal. Hier war "Der Weg das Ziel". Jetzt, wo der Ferrari fertig ist, ist er für den Eigentümer uninteressant geworden und sehr interessant für den glücklichen Interessenten, der diesen Ferrari 400i kaufen wird. Vor der Restaurierung belief sich die Laufleistung auf 62000 km. Jetzt, nach der Restaurierung steht 63388 km auf dem Tacho. Also hat dieser traumhaft schöne Ferrari erst ca. 1380 km "auf dem Buckel". Das ist sehr überschaubar und ist praktisch eine Neuwagensituation. Eigentlich viel zu schade, um ihn weiter zu fahren. Aber das muß der neue Eigentümer selbst entscheiden, denn dieser Ferrari macht irrsinnigen Spaß beim Fahren.

Verkauf im Kundenauftrag! Irrtümer vorbehalten. Weitere Fahrzeuge finden Sie unter http://www.fantastische-fahrzeuge.de ! Telefonischer Kontakt wird sofort bearbeitet. E-mails dauern etwas länger. (Bitte eigene Telefonnummer angeben).

The Hunt Part V

The next 400 on my radar was a nice brown one with carbs and automatic from 1977. It was located at a BMW dealer in Assen.  As it’s a bit of a drive for me I thought it would be better to call for an appointment. The car was still for sale but parked in a storage in Groningen, which is even further away. They were willing to transport it to their location in Assen but due to poor winter weather conditions and my short notice I decided to leave it for now and make a new appointment after my holiday leave. After my leave I planned some other visits first. When I was ready to make a new visit I called them. Unfortunately it happened the car was sold that week and they were in the middle of the paperwork and preparing shipment. It was sold to a buyer in Istanbul. Bummer! The car looked clean and interesting on the pictures. And the price seemed ok as well, If I remember correctly it was offered for € 23.500,- . It was owned by the director of the local  BWM dealer. I checked the RDW register and could see it had 5 previous owners since it was imported to the Netherlands in 2005. In my opinion not always a good sign it had so many owners in this little time. But it does not really matter anymore ... on to the next.

 

I found a website that archived the car in question, so hereby some pictures so you can Judge yourselve: http://ipocars.com/vinfo/ferrari/400_automatic-1977.html

 

 

 

 

1979 Ferrari 400A

Just added this to the online article section:

http://www.classicitaliancarsforsale.com/1979-ferrari-400a/

For Sale on Ebay: Red Ferrari 400i with Rebuilt Engine

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ebaymotors/1980-FERRARI-400i-Rebuilt-Engine-/261335039389?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cd8c83d9d&forcev4exp=true

I doubt if he has used the correct struts ... on 2nd thought, it might be a picture without the engine installed.

Price: US $52.000,00 (EUR 38.621,51) or best offer

Staat:	Tweedehands	Chassisnummer:	F101CL30233
Year:	1980	Number of Cylinders:	12
Make:	Ferrari	Transmission:	Automatic
Model:	400i	Body Type:	2 Door
Trim:	2 Door	Vehicle Title:	Salvage
Engine:	V12	Options:	Sunroof, Leather Seats
Drive Type:	RWD	Power Options:	Air Conditioning, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats
Mileage:	23.465	Fuel Type:	Gasoline
Exterior Color:	Red	For Sale By:	Private Seller
Interior Color:	Tan	Warranty:	Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty

Game on!

A while ago I had bought a  Fiat Dino Coupe coin published by Shell. It was a gift for a friend of mine who owns such car. I wasn't aware it was part of a collection used for a game. My radar catched it again and when clicking on the advert it was offering the game complete with all coins. It's likely some promotional action from early seventies by Shell in Germany. It's called "Das grosse Shell Rennspiel". I thought it would be a very nice extension on my Automobilia and Petroliana collection.
Unfortunately it does not contain a coin of a Ferrari 400 but it does have one with a 275 GTB. And a Miura and the lovely Dino Coupe is one of the 16 coins. It took me a bit of haggling but as you can see, it's now in good hands. It's not in mint condition but good enough for me.

Ferrari Dino 246 GT og Ferrari 412 (Danish)

Todays catch: http://youtu.be/ADL4T8GefRc

400 maintenance: camshafts

Another interesting piece of maintenance that came to light was the adjustment of the camshafts. Apparently one bank was quite off-set. How this could have happened is not known to me but it looks like someone did not do a very good job in the past. With a bit more off-set it could have resulted in nasty damage. Despite the off-set this was not noticeable when driving, even though you would expect a bit of power loss. Then again, with such powerful engine I don’t think anyone would notice it.

 

In fact for the purchase I did had the car examined by Italauto and it was not mentioned either. Apart from some minor things, which I already knew about, there was one thing that stood out; the compression test. One bank showed good values with roughly 13 bar for each of the cylinders. The other bank was more fluctuating per cylinder with lower values. I was told that a long drive beforehand would have made a positive difference in the results since the car had not moved for quite a while. This was mostly a theory and not factual backed up or looked into. There was no  sign of a leaking head gasket or such. So potentially it could also have been a valve issue, or worn piston and rings.

Looking back I have taken a bit of a risk here to go ahead with the purchase of this car without knowing the exact cause for this detected issue. But luck was on my side as this now  appeared to be a result of incorrect adjustment of the camshaft.

 

Crafty Stefan build his own tool setup to make the adjustment as correct as possible – matching factory standard or even better when it left the factory. See the supporting pictures for this undertaking and the results. Of course the new camshaft position meant also new adjustment for the
ignition part, which was consequently done. This also included a new pair of capacitors – preventative replaced.  And a new pair of contacts since these were slightly burned in. Last but not least the valve adjustment was looked into but these were all within margins.

 

After finishing the job another compression was done and both banks now showed 13 bar for all the cylinders. An excellent result for a 34 year old engine with almost 100.000 km run. What a difference a good mechanic makes. Thanks again Stefan for doing such a great job!

 

new cam cover gaskets