Somerset Hills 'Drive for the Kids' autism awareness/benefit

Went to a truly splendid event today, a benefit for autism in Bedminster, NJ. It was pretty impressive that this outstanding fundraiser was put together by a high school senior. Can't think of any way this could have been a better day. Except for the getting lost bit, but that's not the organizer's fault!

Fundraiser, awareness meeting, get together, broad range of sports car marques, drive through beautiful countryside + phenomenal spring weather made this a success on all fronts.

Top photo is a 2008 Alfa Romeo C8, my favorite and the "People's Choice" winner.

I'll see if I can embed a couple of my famously crude Facebook 'mobile upload' videos, first one of us zooming around in our supercharged 1978 Ferrari 308 (not a typical exhaust note!), then a partial panorama of the gathering of 40 - 50 exotics:



Posted by Sandy

Watkins Glenn FCA track day May 5

Celebration of Speed and Design, Pocono Speedway May 25

Honking down the front straight at this year's 'Celebration of Speed and Design' (CSD) at Pocono International Raceway. Many thanks to Joe Moore for once again coordinating a 4-day extravaganza.

Here is a very short cellphone video:

Lamborghini Countaches - Spring fever

Just looking at this lineup, taken on a recent mild sunny day, makes me think of Spring. These Lamborghini Countaches have been in the shop for various tweaks and service, we're now waiting for the winter salt to be washed off the roads so we can road test and get them back to their owners.

What better was to celebrate the end of winter and forget about the trials of the world for an few hours than to peel down the road in a classic Countach.

...OK to be rigorously honest, I'm actually a gardener at heart, but I can see the attraction of these cars for all Italian car nuts out there!

posted by Sandy

blog for the Mazzer

We created a separate blog to show the history and completion of Wil's scratch built 'Mazzer' project car. View the blog here Hopefully this car will be on the road in 2009 after many stops and starts.

Lamborghini LM002

One of our customers just purchased a Lamborghini LM002. It's in pretty good shape and we're just doing a little maintenance and fix-up on it. This LM is a 1991 so it has what is basically a Diablo V12 engine with electronic fuel injection.

While performing a compression test, I noticed oil had leaked into the spark plug wells so it was decided we should replace the cam cover gaskets and while the covers are off we might as well check valve clearances and cam timing. None of the valve clearances were really way, way out of spec but 20 out of 24 needed to be adjusted by replacing the shim wafers that sit on top of the tappets. The cam timing marks were off too. If the engine was out of the vehicle we would have set the cam timing with a degree wheel and dial indicators but since the engine stayed put we just lined up the marks on the cams and bearing caps. Who ever had the cam covers off the last time used way too much sealant so we had quite a bit of cleaning up to do. The expression 'If a little is good a lot must be better' does not always apply.


Three out of eight of the threaded M6 holes in the fronts of the cam cam covers were stripped so we drilled and rethreaded them oversize for M6 Heli-coil inserts. The bolts and studs will have nice healthy thread to grab onto now.

The mechanic at the factory who assembled this engine apparently wasn't paying attention when he bolted the chain guides into the cam covers. The chain guide holes in the left cam cover were not correctly spot faced so that the seal washers had nothing but a rough cast surface to mate against causing an oil leak. We spot faced the holes correctly and the leak shouldn't reappear.


The tubular aluminum "bolts" that secure the cam covers to the cylinder heads and double as spark plug well liners should always be installed with a Teflon type thread sealant or the threads can gall, making disassembly difficult to say the least. Here we're chasing the twelve 36mm threaded spark plug wells in the cylinder heads with a tap and all 12 "bolts" with a 36mm Die. The last person to install the cam covers on this engine didn't take the proper precautions (correct thread sealant) and getting it apart this time was an adventure, to say the least (we also had to file the other guy's pipe wrench marks off of the bolt heads). Chasing the threads was an absolute necessity. We had this tap and die set specially made for us just for these engines since we run into this problem quite often.

Simeone Foundation visit

'All work and no play...' We enjoyed a holiday dinner with members of the Penn-Jersey chapter of the Ferrari Club of America at the brand (as of this summer) new Simeone Foundation museum in Philadelphia. Here is Wil next to an array of le Mans cars (1970 PORSCHE 917LH, 1958 FERRARI TESTA ROSSA, 1956 MASERATI 300S and 1954 FERRARI 375MM). Don't just go to the website to see more photos of this amazing collection. Go visit the museum.

(posted by Sandy)

the finest Maserati 425 on Earth

There probably isn't a better example of a 1985 Maserati 425. We're delighted to be sending this Mazzer on its way home after a 3-year restoration to bring the abandoned vehicle back to life.

The Maserati 425 is an iconic sports coupe of the '80s. Fast and fun to drive, the ideal retro city driver (or so I've been told - I just take photos).

The 'before' pictures follow:


- posted by Sandy

Ferrari 355 meltdown!

We saved a customer a bundle by installing aftermarket headers and catalytic converters following a catastrophic exhaust meltdown. The stock Ferrari pipes are too thin, similar to the Achilles heel of Lamborghini Diablos. We replaced the headers with better grade stainless steel aftermarket parts and upgraded the catalytic converters. We had to test afterwards with our SD2 setup to ensure the engine was running correctly with the new hardware and add more insulation to help prevent a similar future occurrence as a
safeguard. The sports racing catalytic converters and header upgrades are also available for 328, 348, 360 and 430.


Here we're taking a peek deep inside of a catalytic converter on a Lamborghini Diablo using a "Visual Inspection Device" which displays live color video from an imaging sensor and lighting source connected to a flexible cable. It doesn't look like it was damaged by a short episode of running hot due to an engine management malfunction. It could have been much worse. Never drive with the Check-Engine-Light activated. It could be warning you of something benign but the light could also be trying to tell you a catastrophe is about to happen and please stop and shut off the engine!

- Post by Sandy

1958 TESTA ROSSA REPLICA

We would have loved receiving the assignment to build this aluminum bodied car but we didn't. It's too bad because we would have done a better job. Instead we received the car for service because the engine was making a metallic noise and it ran on no more than 6 of its 12 cylinders. We fixed all that but found problems with the suspension, the steering, the cooling system, the ignition system, the throttle linkages, the electrical system, body to chassis alignment, the paint, the wheels and tires, etc, etc. This car needed major sorting and re-engineering but it now runs and drives beautifully.

When first built she apparently had a vintage Ferrari V12 engine but that was replaced with a Jaguar V12 equipped with Electromotive computer controlled fuel injection and distributorless ignition and TWM throttle bodies, before we received the car, in an attempt to make the car more user friendly. Unfortunately none of this equipment had been set up properly, which is why it wasn't running right (I imagine the carburetors and distributors on the original Ferrari engine weren't set up correctly either). The metallic noise had made us wonder if the engine had a loose valve seat, or something like that, but after removing a cylinder head the cause turned out to be a piece of copper wire lying on top of a piston and making contact with the head. Not having air filters, the engine apparently just sucked the copper wire in. Luckily it didn't do any serious damage.