Looking for an older Ferrari, part 2

Date:	Mon, 21 Mar 1994 14:16:52 -0800

Thursday last I told the salesman (Spanky Cook) at Al Mohr Imports that
I'd like to get a mechanic to look over the 330GT2+2 we're looking at.
He sputtered a bit, and asked who I had in mind. I had talked to
Patrick Ottis that morning and the only two people he knew down there
were Al Mohr's shop and the dealership in Seaside. 

Spanky was concerned that the dealership didn't really know the old
cars and would start writing up huge estimates; he'd talk to Al and
suggest someone. Fine. As it turns out, he suggested John Bagioli of
Fiorano Motors, who was also suggested (on the basis of a business card
and conversation, not work experience) by Jeff Young of these lists. I
talked to him, and he seemed to be enthusiastic about the older cars,
had experience and factory training, and was willing to do the work. I
left it for him and Al to work something out.

Friday afternoon I got the first of several reports from John. He had
checked out the car but not yet driven it.

Compression check shows a range from 145 psi to 125 psi. Not bad
considering the age of the car; a range of 10psi is preferable.

Some of the spark plug wires have the wrong style terminal on the end;
easily remedied.

There's something wrong with the water pump. On this car, the pump is
down low on the front plate, driven by the crankshaft. The impeller
(which drives the water) is sealed away from the rest of the engine to
avoid intermingling of the oil and water. There is a "weep hole" in the
pump, where the beginnings of leaking water will appear. This hole has
been epoxied up on the car - the question is why.

John found some water in the oil. He mentioned it to Al, who ventured
that it could be condensation from the car not having been driven much.
Fine, they drained the oil and refilled with new; he wants to put 20-30
miles on the car and check the oil again. If no water, great. If some
water, the pump needs to be investigated; if it's not the pump, it
might be head gasket (big bucks).

There is some damage to the front subframe; nothing major, could be
repaired for $300-400. Might be connected with the bent-up lower front
valence I noticed.

The center donut in the driveshaft needs to be replaced. Someone apparently had
it out and didn't put all the safety cotter pins in properly; it sounds like
it's not possible to just put the pins in. Don't fully understand this.

The left rear spring shackle has something screwy with it, but it mostly needs
to be adjusted, not replaced.

The steering box leaks oil, no big surprise on a car this age.

There's some gear oil dripping from the right side of the diff.

The gas tank has been welded up; there was some water near it, but not fuel; he
thought that there might be a water leak there and the car had just been washed.
Doesn't seem to be a hazard, he'll check it again.

The car has been sprayed with undercoating (that's what I noticed when I said it
had been painted black, I guess). He saw no apparent frame damage.

Rear suspension is in OK shape; bushings are old but good, probably original
with 70kmiles of wear.

The wheels need to be repainted - they were painted improperly such that the
silver paint is not sticking to the aluminum (we noticed this).

The front suspension could use a rebuild, but there's no hurry; it won't fall
off but it's worth starting to accumulate parts for. 

The radiator is bulging, but not leaking; this might be related to the bent up
subframe and valence.

Clutch slave cylinder is leaking and needs to be rebuilt.

Right wheel bearing should be repacked and adjusted.

a/c blows freely and cold.

Left window doesn't work.

Handbrake cable isn't attached properly.

Brake pads are new, tires are new, rotors are ok.

Hoses seem in good shape.

---

His biggest concern was the water pump. He suggests that it needs that, a good
tune up, new valve cover gaskets (to avoid most of the oil leakage), the center
donut and the clutch slave cylinder. Down the road, fix the terminals on the
spark plugs, paint the wheels and rebuild the front suspension. He rates it as a
likely decent driver (not having driven it) but that it's a long way from
winning a concours... which is just what we were looking for.

That evening, I heard from him after he'd driven it. He said that they
roared around, the car pulled strongly to 5500 in all gears (!), and
there was no water in the oil. Car didn't overheat; even at idle, temp
never went above 90 celsius. A little bit of timing chain noise, a tick
from the left bank, some blowby at the oil filler cap, but no smoke out the exhaust.

Steering was very stiff, and he suspected that the steering box needs
to be rebuilt. Since that was apart, the front suspension should be
done, as well as the front subframe repair. The water pump should be
looked into. That plus a thorough servicing (valve adjustment,
carbureter and distributor rebuild, change all fluids) and he guessed
about $5K of work to handle the items that were likely to cause short trouble.

So I asked him about price. He said he didn't really know, but he'd
call around; he has a friend named Brandon Lawrence who works at Kamisa
Motors, used to be general manager at the Walnut Creek dealership, and
"for a salesman is a pretty straight guy". Turns out that Brandon had
recently bought a similar car, silver with red interior and Borranis,
for $24K. Brandon suggested that we offer 26 for this car and not pay a
penny over 30.

This matched pretty well with what I'd heard from Randy Simon, (a
sometime private dealer in Ferraris, ads in the FML) who had just sold
another similar car. He'd listed it in the Ferrari Market Letter for 8
months at $28K, and had just sold it for $25K. For the $40K Al is
asking, he said, we should be getting a completely restored car.

Next, part 3, in which there are further reports, and Al rebuts...