Ferrari 400 Valve Spacer / Shim compatibility

This one is likely known by the techies doing the adjustment of the valves themselves.
The used shims on a 400 do have the diameter of 33 mm. They are available on superformance for 7.27 GBP each. It's practical to have a lot of them in various thickness.

It turns out they seem to match with at least the following car models:

Lancia Beta 1600, 1800, 2000
Fiat: A lot !! For example Fiat Uno 1983-1995 or Fiat Punto
Volvo 240

So if you are in need of a bunch against reduced prices I would say try the mentioned alternatives.

I will update the "compatibility part" section as well. For the readers who hooked on later:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/02/ferrari-400-compatabilities-inter.html

Auto Italia Canberra 2014 - Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2

I catched this one via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldtimeraustralia
Maybe more pictures will follow in the galery of http://www.autoitaliacanberra.com/

A Ferrari 412 with V8 Chevy engine

How weird is that. After yesterdays blog about a 412 with an American V8 my radar catched this website with the following 412:

http://www.history.co.uk/shows/ultimate-wheels/gallery

There was not much supporting text regarding the car or it's background. The black painted headlights indicated this car was likely going to be some kind of project or such. In the same snapshot you will see a red 412 which had the headlights covered in red. As it has the same license plate F130 UOT it was clearly the same car:

This picture had the supporting text: Elo and WIll managed to craft an ingenious hybrid with the Ferrari. But nothing more.

I did some more reverse engineering and found this forum with a topic about this car:

http://autoshite.com/topic/11228-ebay-tat-volume-3/page-807#entry437406

I only knew it was the same 412 because the topic did include the Ebay advert link which is still active:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1989-FERRARI-412-WITH-V8-CHEVY-ENGINE-AND-ORIGINAL-AUTO-TRANSMISSION-/231008469111

The picture used on the History webiste is the same as in the given Ebay advert. For the records I will include some of the pictures:

 

I had already a gut feel what happened with this car. In fact I posted the results already on my blog last year: http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2013/11/redneck-ferrari-412.html

A Ferrari 412 with a Camaro SS Engine

It's another true story. Actually I don't know what's the story behind it. All I know it's another 412 wasted: http://www.anamera.com/en/detail/car/251326/index.html?no_cache=1&ret=63

 

Ferrari Owners Gallery

Another nice section on Tom Yang's website is the Ferrari Owner's Gallery:

http://www.tomyang.net/cars/othercars/gallery.htm

It does contain a few 365/400/412 owners. One of them is a Dutch guy. My first car hunt started with him, which was a red 365 GT4 2+2. Didn't knew he had a 412 before as well:

http://www.tomyang.net/cars/othercars/jedeloo.htm

According to the Dutch road register this car was lastly sold in 2007 and still in use by the current owner (5th Dutch owner since imported to the Netherlands in1998).

Interestingly this car was spotted earlier this week:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2014/03/dutch-spot-gespot-in-groningen-ferrari.html

 

 

Tom Yang's Ferrari Site and Other Things

Another person I recently have been in contact with. Check out his website: http://www.tomyang.net/cars/ferrari.html I will add him to the company section on the side bar.
There are a few blog updates on his website (ie: http://www.tomyang.net/cars/ferrari1322.htm) regarding the 400 he's mentioning below on his Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tomyang.net):

We have two very different cars at the shop, both Ferraris, but what a sorest in price. The car on the left is worth $40K and the one on the right is worth over $2 million. Our shop rate is the same to fix either car, so the owner of the 400GT had to dig deep to keep the passion alive.
 

 

DAVID MCKAY RALLY - Carburettor V12 Ferraris.

I just catched this cool picture on Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/oldtimeraustralia
The 400 is your last chance to own an affordable stylish V12 carb version. Don't miss the boat ...

 

Sports Car Market - August 2007 issue - Room for four - Michael Sheehan

Another quality article. Yes, I will add it to the online section:

http://ferraris-online.com/pages/article.php?reqart=SCM_200708_SS

More parts : Front Upper & Lower balljoints and bushings

On Ebay I noticed a couple of kits put on offer by http://www.ebay.com/usr/maseratisource. I managed to get ahold of a set for an interesting price (US 165,-). Despite the shipping costs (US 69,-)and customs tax (€ 45,-) it was a very good deal in my opinion. Looking at Superformance.co.uk a similar set would cost about 3 times more. Although I'm not in need for these items  I thought it would be handy to have them in my own stock for this price. I guess they are quite universal as they will fit at least on a 246 308 365 400 328 512 246 models.

Update: Typical, I now see on Ebay a Original Ferrari upper balljoint for sale at T. Rutlands, just for the records the part nr and price:

Autoklassiker: Wolf im Geschäftskleid - Ferrari 412i

Für meiner Deutscher schauer und multlingual international viewers:

http://www.spiegel.de/video/autoklassiker-wolf-im-geschaeftskleid-ferrari-412i-video-1188164.html

Thanks for sharing Paul.

 

And now also available on YouTube

 

 

Dutch spot : Gespot in Groningen: Ferrari 412. Een 4-persoons sportwagen met 12-cilinder uit de jaren '80!

I spotted this tweet today:

Ferrari 412 met gebruikerssporen. Ach ja, een beetje patina mág! #Ferrari #Youngtimer pic.twitter.com/59LJ3O8Zvb
— Da´s Das (@DasDas77) 24 maart 2014

Gespot in Groningen: Ferrari 412. Een 4-persoons sportwagen met 12-cilinder uit de jaren '80! #Ferrari pic.twitter.com/RGiOG4AOlG
— Da´s Das (@DasDas77) 24 maart 2014

Martini Bianco Ferrari 400 Portofino

Let's throw in another commercial break. Instead of the usual AGIP I will now come up with a known one from Martini Bianco - somewhere from the nineties. It's very Italian and classy. Back then I alway liked this particular one. This is however the extended version. My first association when I hear or see Martini is Lancia. However this commercial does contain a Ferrari 400 so it fits perfectly on this blog. The 400 gets a good kicking ín the end. But for that you need to watch it entirely.

Classic car review : Ferrari 400 Series

I just added this article to the online section:

http://www.classiccars4sale.net/classic-car-review/c2c-ferrari-400-series

Ferrari 400 banger racing Project

I guess this might be a known one. If you click the following link you will see quite a lot YouTube clips with updates on this project - brace yourself. But about 2 years ago they came to a stand still. I wonder what happened with this project. Likely it's all wasted:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ferrari%20banger%20racing%20adrian%20hart&sm=3

This is where it all started:




And yes Peter, he even filmed your YouTube clip and posted it on his YouTube channel.

Ferrari Marketletter - asking price index

I was actually quite curious regarding the Ferrari Marketletter but could not be bothered to subscribe.
By incident I came across this link: http://ferrarimarketletter.com/file/v3804forwebcavallino
which reveals an edition online. I have put this edition also in the download folder. Apart from all the adds and publications it does have the known "asking price index". Not really shocking but nice to see. Interesting to see the 365GT4 2+2 and the 400 GT/A are slowly climbing and the 400i GT/A and 412 are declining over the past 3 years. This is however for the US market and prices overhere in Mainland Europe are quite higher (not to mention the Euro/Dollar exchange rates). Perhaps this is why quite a few are imported back to Europe from the US.

Dream Machines Group 2 Number 37 Ferrari 400

Just another specification card with some nice pictures. I guess it's best to download them locally so you can view it properly.

Ferrari 400 waterpump rebuild seal kit

Last week I bought a waterpump rebuild /seal  kit. Not that I was in need for it. But it could come in handy at some stage. Since the price was very interesting I thought it could not do any harm to have it on my personal stock.  A similar kit is available on Superformance for 36 GBP (excl. VAT and shipping costs). I obtained it for 5 Euro. It was listed on Ebay in The Netherlands and got charged 7 Euro shipping costs. Of course I asked if they could ship via normal post against a better rate (since it will fit in an envelope and doesn’t need to be an expensive parcel). They refused as the costs were clearly stated in the description and I was told not to moan about it afterwards. Slightly annoyed I paid anyway. To my surprise I was called by my wife today to inform me someone had delivered an item for the Ferrari and asking for me. It turned out the seller delivered the item by himself. As he was in the area he was interested to meet up and see if he could offer any support. How nice! It turns out he has a garage specialized in classic cars: http://www.vdmcars.nl/ Something I figured out already as I spotted a 400 for sale by him a while ago (even before I decided to go for a 400). I don’t remember the exact price anymore but it was fairly on the low end. Back then I didn’t knew he had a garage with specialized services, thought it was a private seller. Much later I stumbled upon his website and the restoration of a 400 engine. When I saw the Ebay advert I noticed the object location and figured out it had to be this company/person. As he left his business card behind I gave him a call to have a chat with him. It appeared to be a very friendly and knowledgeable techie with good contacts in the scene. I will create a new section on the sidebar for (Dutch) companies as reference.

 As for the 400, it was sold already a while back - it went to Germany. Details of this car and the engine is still available here. Consider this a pre-hunt review:

1.       http://www.vdmcars.nl/index.php/for-sale/ferrari-400-gt-automatic/

2.       http://www.vdmcars.nl/index.php/projects/ferrari-400-motor-revisie/

As you might know by now, I don’t fancy the red color on a 400. But also the interior looked a bit scruffy. Furthermore it did even had the window trim painted black and some other details I didn't like, ie USA reflectors. Despite the overhauled engine, which is a huge plus, I thought it was better to leave it and go for a more original exemplar. Typical how this all comes back together by buying a silly waterpump seal kit on Ebay.

 

 

1984 Ferrari GTi 400 : Dean Martin’s Ferrari is Owned by a Pittsburgh Native Son

Todays news:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/auto/2014/03/20/Dean-Martin-s-Ferrari-is-Owned-by-a-Pittsburgh-Native-Son/stories/201403200014

I never heard of this guy before, apparently it's a US celeb. The car itself has come up a few times before. You can find quite a bit about it. This link contains a good overview with pictures:

http://www.ferraris-online.com/pages/carintro.php?reqcardir=FE-400I-50807#P008

 

Update: As I have now a little more time I checked out Dean Martin. Judging on his 400 ownership it clearly was someone with good taste. Turns out it was a Italian American. Just see his Wiki for all details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Martin

 

I also looked up and listned some of his songs on YouTube. Perhaps I should consider to convert some onto MP3 and play it in the 400. A while back I bought this MP3 Cassette adapter. I think this goes nicely with some Fausto Papetti songs.

 

 

 

And hereby also a small tribute to Dean Martin:

 

Update: to my surprise the Original article is removed by the post Gazette. I did some further checking and found this older article which contained nearly the same content. I almost would say the Gazette copied and pasted it ...

http://www.cleveland.com/automotive/plaindealer/index.ssf/2014/01/dean_martins_ferrari_comes_home_to_ohio.html

1972 Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 Restoration

I discovered a page whereby someone is kicking of a project. Not sure how it's progressing as there are not many updates since. I will add it to the project section

http://italian-americans.com/category/ferrari/

Blast from the past adverts : Thoroughbred & Classic cars may 1984

I noticed on www.fiat130.nl some magazine articles were added. And two pages did had 400's on it as well. Click on the pictures to enlarge (and download them locally) and see the prices back then early eighties

 

 

A Ferrari for £30,000

I just added this article to the online section:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/ferrari/9548948/A-Ferrari-for-30000.html

Ouch! - more parts

It's a pitty so many 400 has stranded. In any case they still serve a purpose for providing spare parts.
The following company has a few of them, so I will add them to the part section:

http://www.specializeditalianrecycling.com/ferrari-parts/400.html