400i Daily Driver Survives the Winter!

Well, my daily driver 400i survived the winter. No signs of rust (unbelievably) and no failures of any kind (other than the truly astronomical oil consumption, but that is a known issue and just waiting for my 365BB engine to be done to rebuild this one - anyway, does not affect running or power at all). The was was driven in deep snow, salt, even an ice storm - with the four bridgestone blizzaks on 328 wheels, it never stumbled - a great (and hilarious) daily driver.

The only thing that stops it from perfect in the winter is the lack of heat at highway speeds in cold weather - water and oil temps go back to the cold pegs at sustained highway speeds. Never found a good way to block the radiator, but that would likely help.

With respect to the 328 wheels, they bolt on no problemo but the fronts needed an extension machined to hold the horsey cap as it did not clear the wheel bearing dust cap - you can see it in one of the below pics. Anyway, just picked it up from mounting the summer tires, and she looks good - drives better on the gummy tires too! The pics are at Bill Pollard's (Sport Auto in CT) after mounting the tires and oil change, the blue dino is mine too (leaving that one for an oil change) - Bill is as good as it gets - Could not own these cars and run them daily without someone like him! Highly recommended.

Alex

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Ken:

Nope....water thermostat is NOT stuck open. This is a known issue with these front engine V12 cars - my 365gt (#13141) did the same thing. The problem is that they hold 19.5 quarts of oil and have no thermostat on the oil cooler...like a Porsche 911, on a cold day at highway speeds they become air / oil cooled and keeping the water thermostat closed will not keep them warm.

Alex

 

Dave:

Great picture!!!!!! I am sorry I did not sent the late 400i wheel to you yet - I WILL - going to to London on business, but will try to box (the hard part) and send when I get back next week. Sorry for the delay - and LOVE your car,

Alex

 

jimpo1:

I agree having weights on the outside is ugly - BUT - you will get the best balance by using weights on the inside and outside as necessary - in this case i figure performance is better than beauty.

Alex

 

This is the old Glidden Salchi Eurolac formulation of "Blu Chiaro" - color code is 106-a-38. Original and very period dino color.

 

and I am going to do it again! and again!!!! Until it rusts away to nothing. Hoping to hit 100k miles before it does, though. No reason to feel bad - they made plenty of 400s, and anyway it spares the Dino and Boxer from the salt!