Kerry's 330 GT Restoration

Dennison International

I hadn't used the 330 in a couple of years.  The last time I used it, I detected a brake problem that turned out to be caused by a bad wheel bearing.  I removed both front hubs and took them to my machinist to get the bearings replaced and the rotors turned.  It took a while to get that done, all the time the 330 was on the lift.  In the meantime, I was driving the 308 whenever I needed a Ferrari.

Finally, my neighbor needed to use the lift to work on the brakes on a Jeep and Dodge truck he owns.  So we quickly put the hubs and wheels back on the 330 do we could get it off the lift.  I've also had problems with it starting and needed starter fluid the last couple of times I drove it. So, we just put in on Go-Jacks and rolled it out of the way.  In the process of putting on the hubs, I got them on the wrong sides, which was found out when the knock-offs had to swap sides to tighten the wheels.

I've also had some other projects on the 330 that I have procrastinated on:

Since the work on the PF coupe is winding down, I decided to have them do all of this work.  I talked to Butch about it and usually this time of year, they are busy with race preparation work, but not this year because of no historic races planned with COVID-19.  So, they came by a couple of days ago and loaded the 330 into a trailer and took it down to Puyallup.

It turns out that I just got my second COVID-19 vaccine shot today, only a couple of miles from Dennison, so I stopped by to check on the coupe.  My 330 was inside, but no work has started yet.

Interestingly enough, there is another 2HL silver/black 330 GT owned by a NW owner in the shop.  I told Butch that I wouldn't mind if they worked on my car, but got mixed up and accidently billed the other owner.  These two cars are only 40 serial numbers apart or 20 road cars.  So, they were probably being built in the factory at the same time.

I dropped by Dennison to look at the progress on the PF Coupe, but was interested in seeing what work has been done on the 330 too.  So far, hubs have been swapped to the correct sides.  The brake calipers are off and they found that the rear ones are rusted and need to be re-sleeved.

   

In addition, they noticed some leakage at the clutch master and slave cylinders, so I told them to go ahead and rebuild those too.

When I was there I remembered that the driver's door pull vinyl had a crack in it.  There are only two screws holding this on, so I told them to take it off and have the interior shop replace it.

After looking at the PF Coupe progress, I talked to the person working on the 330.  They have the steering box out and taken apart.  I had an old box that I also brought down, but it turns out that the worm on that was cracked.  The worm on the box that was in the car is a little worn, but not badly.  The pin was also a little worn, but serviceable.  The main issue for me was to replace the seals and stop the leaking.  So they will do just that.  Butch says he usually uses a slurry of grease and oil to make a thicker mixture to allay any leakage issues.

They have replaced the rotten water pipe, but have yet to tackle the leaking front seal.  I told that them it would be hard as the A/C compressor is adjusted using shims and even with all of the shims out, the belts have to be stretched off and on.

The steering box and leaking coolant pipe and hose have been replaced.  All of the brake system is back together.

At least things are getting crossed off the list.  The next thing is to get it on a lift to replace the front seal and replace parts of the exhaust.

Work is progressing.  The clutch cylinders are done and bled.  The brakes are rebuilt and bled.  The front seal has been replaced.

It's now on a lift for the exhaust work.

They already replaced the collector pipe up front and are working on replacing the exhaust tips.  The new ones are a little bit larger than the old ones, so they'll have to peen the new ones in a little.  In addition, they need polishing along with wrinkle paint and red stripe.

They ran the car on the rolling dyno and it will need to have the carbs rebuilt and the distributors checked as they weren't happy with the way it ran.  I'm glad I got the 308 running well after the electrical issues.  I might be driving it for a while longer.

I went down to Dennison to check on the work being done on the cars.

When I got there, they were working on the carbs.  When they were running in on the rolling dyno, there was an inconsistency in the idle speeds.  Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the throttle shafts moved sideways as they were opened from idle.  The shafts had worn the casting from a round hole to an oval one.  I'm not surprised as the carb bodies are cast zinc with much harder throttle shafts.  Plus, the car has over 100K miles on it.  The fix entails new oversized throttle shafts and machining to the holes to fit.

Lots of little fiddly parts in the carbs.

The also had to flatten the base plates where they mount to the intake manifolds.  Frequently, ham-handed mechanics tighten the nuts to hard and that squishes the corners of the gaskets, thus bending the base.

They have finished up the rest of the tasks, including replacing of rear suspension bushings, the exhaust tips and the split in the driver's arm rest.  I'll put the red tape and ANSA decals on the tips later.  Butch said that he used the English wheel to straighten out some of the dings in the radiator shield before putting it back on the car.

   

So at this point, finish the carb rebuild, install them and a final tune on the rolling dyno.

Butch said that it would be done by the end of next week, just in time for the Festa Italiana weekend at the Seattle Center.

Since the 308 is now a 154 (only one bank running), I'm going to have them deliver the 330 and pickup the 308 that needs several maintenance items worked on in addition to getting the rear bank firing.