Dino Saga 050731 | FerrariChat

Dino Saga 050731

Discussion in 'Corbani's Corner' started by John Corbani, Jul 31, 2005.

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  1. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    #1 John Corbani, Jul 31, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Dino Saga 050731

    Once the steering wheel and the tires were dialed in, other things floated to the surface. Literally! One day I was admiring the engine and noticed green water around the right front head nut. I put a socket on it to see if anything was loose. Turned it with my fingers! Took a pair of pliers and pulled. Got the nut and half a stud. Damn! Oh well! Car was “no warranty” and I had driven over a thousand miles.

    I had Jack Bianchi pull the engine, take off the front head, Elox out the remains of the stud and put everything back together. The engine lasted another 12 years and 80,000 miles before anything major came up. Took less than 2 weeks for the fix and I was back in business. Again had time to look into the little things.

    The car came with a Sony music system. Receiver/tape-deck in the dash, two amps under the dash, 6” speakers in the doors, 2 way alloy cased speakers behind each seat. Lots of wires going everywhere and tape did not work. Both door speakers had been wet and buzzed pretty bad. Time to clean house.

    The car is too noisy at speed to listen to music. Traffic, news and talk can be heard and are functional, not optional. Did not seem worth the effort to spend a lot of money for a Name. Went to Radio Shack and got a nice $150 four channel radio. Installed it and found the Sony alloy case speakers were great for the rear channels. Good bass. Door speakers were a problem for the front channels. The Sonys had a cast aluminum bezel/frame that had been inlet into the door. Through leather, fiber and steel. I could not find 2-way 5” to 6” speakers and grills that would fit and look good. Got out the famous Moto Tool and cut away the back part of the Sony speakers. Was left with a nice cast bezel that fit door. Drilled and tapped holes in bezel to fit available speakers. Filled the few gaps with black silicone. Took 3 tries but I found a pair of speakers whose sound complimented the rears. Sounded good and music was fine when cruising around town. 19 years later it is time to look for a radio with a CD player. Speakers will stay.

    Now that the radio worked, I found that reception was noisy. I am an electronic engineer and ex-ham. Checked out the retractable antenna in right rear fender. Damn again. Antenna line and retract motor lines were routed right next to Dinoplex lines in same fender. Long antenna lines are dumb. These were dumber. Removed antenna and all retract wiring. Plugged hole with rubber plug (filled later during repaint). Found a Radio Shack antenna that had an adjustable base. Found another antenna with an 18” stainless whip with a nice ball on the top. Moto Tool took care of mods of first to accept whip from second. Cut a new hole in right front fender ahead of door hinge, close to bulkhead. Cleaned off paint around inside of hole for good ground. Drilled hole into passenger compartment for antenna lead and put silicone around holes after wire was in place. The short antenna and line, far away from ignition, works great and looks good. I put the antenna as far forward as possible so that passengers do not poke their eyes out while maneuvering in a tight skirt.

    Comments?

    John

    P S:
    Thanks for the encouraging feedback. Note that the date code has changed so it will sort. I will start a new thread with each of these and let the old ones die a slow death. I will take a look at last weeks thread later and reply to those comments that might have broad interest. I occasionally scan most FerrariChat forums and have posted on a few where my Dino experience seems appropriate. If you are curious, the advanced search can get to these other posts by keying on my name.
    JC
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  2. David_S

    David_S F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 1, 2003
    11,260
    Mountains of WNC...
    Full Name:
    David S.
    I think you are my hero - driving the car as it should be, enjoying it for what it is & not coveting it for what it isn't. If you ever get tired of that old POS "almost a Ferrari" - let me know & I'll come take it off your hands & flog it for another couple hundred thousand miles :)
     
  3. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    Thanks David,

    Just to add a little, note the speakers behind the seats: There is a left and a right. Tweeter is to the outside on both so you can hear high end, both sides. Either have mid-high speakers there or just above seat belt anchor where they would block view. I believe my set-up is a good compromise and there is no compromise with the Dino human factors design.

    I drive!

    John
     

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