 Concours Restoration
Concours restoration back to original factory livery of Argento 25090A (silver) with Negro Franzi (black) interior
I was very pleased to come across the very first Ferrari 330 GTC prototype on display in Las Vegas. Chassis number 6431 was originally built on a 275 GTS chassis and was apparently regularly used by Enzo Ferrari himself. The car has dozens of detail features not seen on any other 330 GTC.
We know from service records that this engine had been rebuilt back in the 1980s and has been driven very few miles since. Unfortunately, the quality of the rebuild leaves much to be desired, and we therefore have a full rebuild underway. Inappropriate valve springs were used, resulting in coil bind, the valve stem to guide clearances are huge (over .004″), and piston skirt clearances range anywhere from .004″ to .009″. One of the most telling signs that this car did not receive the engine rebuild it deserved was the presence of a knurled piston. Knurling pistons is an old school practice designed to give extended life to worn pistons. Knurling a piston skirt actually helps ‘take up the slack’ in the case of loose skirt clearance, but the high spots created by the knurling process wear very quickly, so the remedy is very short lived. Despite the use of the knurled piston, the skirt clearance in that particular cylinder was .009″, or .005″ out of spec.
