Belly Pan

One of the items that I've never put on the car is the belly pan.  This is an aluminum pan with a ventilation scoop in the center of it.  This runs from just back of the bell housing to beyond the end of the transmission.  The scoop is placed to flow air up around the transmission and then exhaust it through a vent.

In the inspection of the car on the new lift, I noticed that one of the tabs that the belly pan screws to was missing.  This is a tab with a welded on nut that is welded to the frame.  Lowell Brown was also missing one on his 330, so he had made up some tabs of varying length not knowing exactly which one he needed.  I got a couple of extras from him and after temporarily fitting on the belly pan, figured out which one to use and marked it for the right length.  After cutting it to length, I welded on a 6mm nut and then screwed it in place on the belly pan.

When we did Lowell's, we were able to tack weld the tab in place while it was bolted to the belly pan.  However, this tab only extended about 1/8" beyond the side of the pan.  Since the pan is aluminum, it was too close to tack weld for fear of melting the aluminum.  So I took off the pan and just held the tab in place while welding it.

You can see the clip holding the wiring, brake and gas lines just above the tab.  So I was quite careful to keep the torch pointed away from them.

I'm not quite ready to put the belly pan on permanently as I need to bleed the clutch.  Once the pan is installed, you can't get at the slave cylinder to bleed it, so installation will wait for another day.

Well, I finally replaced the clutch slave cylinder and bled the system.  So I put the belly pan on the car for the first time in 20+ years.  Thirteen stainless steel bolts, lock washers and washers later it was installed.

Belly pans are something that seem to get in the way of a mechanic and are forgotten or left off when the task is completed.  So several 330 GT owners have asked about dimensions, shapes, etc. for making a belly pan for their car.  Here are several pictures that should help.  I would double check the dimensions on your car as variations are quite possible with regard to Ferraris.  These dimensions are from a 2 headlight 5 speed car.  They might not be right for an earlier car.

Remember, you can click on any picture for the full-sized version.