Adriasn
New Member
- Messages
- 7
Happy New Year to all on this forum; your posts have been incredibly useful in the engine rebuilt of my 2001 3200GT. I bought the car in 2013 and used it as my daily driver, after having ironed out all electronic glitches, until 2016 when it started to consume more and more engine oil. It seemed a good idea at the time to do an engine rebuild as I read on the forum that spare parts were getting more and more difficult to get. We ( the Indy that maintains it and I) thought we could do this in a couple of months. I love the car and want to keep on driving it for a long time. I have a history in owning Italian exotics so am not afraid to tackle any issues connected to them. In the past we rebuilt the engine of a Ferrari GT4 308 without a problem and that car is still running smooth today. To cut a very long story very short; we were hopelessly optimistic as parts were very difficult to maintain and, once we opened up the engine, a full rebuild, was on the books. The car clearly had suffered from crank end float in the past and had been repaired at some stage, but not very well.... the excessive oil consumption was probably due to the pistons fitting rather loosely in the cilinders.
Anyway, we got pistons from the USA, Clutch from the Czech Republic (three times, the first one was damaged, the second did not fit). Other parts were easier to source, but took a long time. The project came to a screeching halt however when we could not find the all important bearings that lock the crank in the block and should prevent end float. Not available.... In the end I had them made out of bronze and just when they were finished, an original pair arrived... we decided to fit those, so I have a spare set now!
The final set back came when we started to build up the engine again, while fastening the nuts to the studs of the engine shell, the studs came out of the engine shell. Using helicoils did not work, so in the end we needed to find a used engine block. This was sourced, within two weeks, from Germany. The old block will now be converted into a coffee table, I will post photos of that once it is ready.
But the car is now together again and waiting for some cosmetic final touches at the paint shop. After that the roof lining (leather) needs to be reattached to the roof and testing can begin. She will be back on the road again soon!
It has been a labour of love and it would not have been possible without the information on this forum, so thanks to you all,
Anyway, we got pistons from the USA, Clutch from the Czech Republic (three times, the first one was damaged, the second did not fit). Other parts were easier to source, but took a long time. The project came to a screeching halt however when we could not find the all important bearings that lock the crank in the block and should prevent end float. Not available.... In the end I had them made out of bronze and just when they were finished, an original pair arrived... we decided to fit those, so I have a spare set now!
The final set back came when we started to build up the engine again, while fastening the nuts to the studs of the engine shell, the studs came out of the engine shell. Using helicoils did not work, so in the end we needed to find a used engine block. This was sourced, within two weeks, from Germany. The old block will now be converted into a coffee table, I will post photos of that once it is ready.
But the car is now together again and waiting for some cosmetic final touches at the paint shop. After that the roof lining (leather) needs to be reattached to the roof and testing can begin. She will be back on the road again soon!
It has been a labour of love and it would not have been possible without the information on this forum, so thanks to you all,
