Another Ferrari Weekend

Last weekend was the annual FCA NW Region meeting.  I drove the 330 down to Portland for the meeting and some other visits.  Since it rained most of the weekend, I was anxious to test my latest windshield wiper fix.  Lasted about 10 miles.

The other thing that happened on the way down was the headlights stopped working.  I had adjusted the stalk end a few months ago and thought the problem was solved.  Now I think that the cast part for the headlight stalk gets hot from the current going through the switch contacts.  Since it's made of a thermoplastic, getting it hot lets it get soft and then the springs move it away from the contacts.  I think that the next pass will be to solve the problem electrically rather than mechanically.  If I add relays for the high and low beam circuits, the stalk contacts will only be carrying a small amount of current so they shouldn't heat up.  The other choice is to have the stalk recast in some other material.  The relay solution will be easier, faster and less expensive.  Plus the car won't be sidelined with the steering wheel off while getting a new casting done.

This year, Ron Tonkin Grand Touring hosted our annual meeting at their showroom.  They even provided a free lunch!  That's my 330 GT among the other attendee's Ferraris.

After the lunch and meeting, we were invited to see Ron's personal automobile collection.  There were a dozen or so Ferraris, ranging from a 1953 212 Vignale Coupe that was the 1953 Geneva Show Car to more modern cars like a F40 and F50.  In addition there were another dozen non-Ferrari cars.

330 GTS (below) and 275 GTS (above)

A brace of Boxers

After the tour, I stopped by Dave Beach's house to take a look at his 330 GT.  It's been a few years since I had seen Dave, so it was a good session on the finer points of 330 GTs.  Our two cars are very similar, both being red 2HL models.  His is a little earlier with a 4 mount engine.  He had never noticed the subtle differences in the engine bay before so he learned a few new things.  In addition, I took a close look at his owner's pouch and found that he had the original warranty card plus the 1965 service & assistance booklet in addition to the owner's manual.

Dave's car - 8283
The pairs (old cars and old men) together

After spending the rest of the afternoon at Dave's, I drove on down to Salem to spend the night.  The next morning I went over to Ed Long's place.  Ed has an unmolested series II PF coupe which still has its original belly pan.  Since mine is missing the belly pan, I wanted to look at a real one and confirm a bunch of dimensions.  Click here for more belly pan information.

Michael Liu, who recently purchased a 330 GTS, stopped by.  He was going to drive his car over, but it rained most of the morning.  As a first time Ferrari owner, Ed was quite interested in looking at my 330 as both cars have the same engine.  One thing he mentioned was that his car stalls if he turns off the electric fuel pump.  He also mentioned that his car doesn't have the FISPA fuel filter/regulator in the engine compartment.  After some discussion, we realized that his mechanical pump isn't hooked up at all.  The fuel log is cut off and welded shut at the front.  He doesn't know if the fuel pump exists and is blocked off or perhaps missing too.  In any case, he's got a project to set that to right.  And it's no wonder that his car stalls of the 'only' fuel pump is turned off.

I was pleasantly surprised with the traffic on the way back to Seattle.  With the rain, it only takes one stupid error to really snarl the I-5 traffic.  However everybody seemed to drive safely.  On the way back, I saw a Ferrari ahead of me in the distance.  It turned out to be club member's 575M.  He came for the meeting, spent the night and drove home on Sunday too.

A nice weekend with another 500 miles on the 330.  Next weekend, I plan on driving the 308 up to Whistler for a couple of weeks of spring skiing.