Dino Saga 050724 _ Intro of car and driver, steering wheel, tires | FerrariChat

Dino Saga 050724 _ Intro of car and driver, steering wheel, tires

Discussion in 'Corbani's Corner' started by John Corbani, Jul 24, 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 24, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Dino Saga 072405

    I have owned a 1972 Dino 246 GT for 19 plus years and it has about 185,000 miles so far. The car is a driver and has been repaired every time something horrible happened. Never joined a club, raced or got involved with other Ferrari owners. Have subscribed to Cavalino for years. Found FerrariChat during a Google search and have been participating for a while. Have found that I have answers to an awful lot of questions backed up by first hand experience and a car that can be photographed. Thought it might be fun to start a weekly thread concerning the many problems I have been able to work through over the years.

    I have done my own mechanical work up to the point that the engine has to be pulled. Carbs, heads, alternator, starter, headers, etc. can come off with the engine still in the car. Body work has all been farmed out but I have helped find parts. While the Dino is my only Ferrari experience, I have owned and maintained 2 MG TDs, an Alfa 1200 Spyder, a 1600 Spyder and a Bertone bodied Alfa 1600 Giulia Veloce Sprint Speciale. All of these, and now the Dino, have been my only transportation during the time of ownership. I drove the Speciale for 19 years and went through a partial body restoration and the engine mods due to the loss of 100 octane gas. The rust was coming back, another restoration was due. In 1986 I traded it for the Dino and some cash. Good move.

    I like to drive fast but hardly ever drive hard. Never been on a track but have played on dirt roads. I found the Dino on a used car lot. It had a small Momo racing wheel, 16” Gotti 3 piece wheels, Goodyear Eagle tires; 205/55VR16 front, 225/50VR16 rear. Car was white, clean and strong at 51,000 miles. Dealer said prior owner raced it in the Bay area. When I brought it home, my kids could not understand trading in a red Alfa for a funny looking white car no one had ever heard of. They eventually came around.

    First thing to go was the 10” steering wheel. You could not see the gauges and parking was hell. A 14” Momo wheel cured both problems. Next were the tires. They tracked every pavement groove. Made lane changes an adventure. As a high speed cruiser I wanted high speed safety, reasonable mileage and reasonable cost. Santa Barbara does not have weather so that was not a factor. Got a set of Falkens and was delighted. I just kept replacing them until they got hard to find. Yokohama was next; OK but not as sure footed. Kumho is on now. Almost impossible to keep balanced. Must be balanced on car. Falken is showing up again. I will go back. Tried 250/50 rears once; no good. Handling got funny and tires hit fenders on bumps. Car is light and tight with right tires. No play anywhere. You can set up for a turnoff ¼ mile away and just watch the car groove right in. 30,000 miles on front tires, 40,000 on rear is typical.

    The Dino is like a good dog. You walk up to it in the morning and it wags its tail and says “What you want to do today boss?” I will try to tell you how I’ve kept it that way.

    Comments?

    John
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  2. jon s

    jon s Formula Junior

    Mar 9, 2005
    509
    pocasset ma
    Full Name:
    jon shoukimas MD
    #2 jon s, Jul 24, 2005
    good for you john. the car looks wonderful. i had a bunch of alfa spiders years ago and bought my first ferrari 3 years ago - a 308 gtsi. i do most of the work on the car but with age i now farm out nasty stuff without thinking twice. italian cars definitely get in your blood. jon s.
     
  3. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 30, 2003
    17,576
    Savannah
    #3 thecarreaper, Jul 24, 2005
    John, i LOVE threads like this, welcome to Fchat by the way. i know "we" would love to read all the good and not so good adventures during your ownership. :) Michael
     
  4. spang308

    spang308 Formula Junior

    Jul 17, 2004
    893
    York, PA
    #4 spang308, Jul 24, 2005
    John,
    Sun tan, Santa Barbara, and a Dino with 185K on the clock. Dude, you are living the dream. Congradulations for treating it like a car and not a piece of art.
    Write on. I'm curious. Maybe the mods will make it sticky if you make your contribution a weekly deal.

    John
     
  5. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

    Nov 20, 2002
    17,673
    Tauranga, NZ
    Full Name:
    Pete
    #5 PSk, Jul 24, 2005
    Amen!!

    Pete
     
  6. Verell

    Verell F1 Veteran
    Consultant Owner

    May 5, 2001
    7,017
    Groton, MA
    Full Name:
    Verell Boaen
    #6 Verell, Jul 25, 2005
    John,
    Welcome to FerrariChat. I'm sure we can learn from your years of experience with your Dino!
     
  7. Gary48

    Gary48 Guest

    Dec 30, 2003
    940
    #7 Gary48, Jul 25, 2005
    John, I am sure anyone with a Dino will surely enjoy hearing from your experiance and chime in with their own. Thank you for the thought, we Dino owners are of a kindred spirit and will appreciate the commeradery.
     
  8. tomoshea

    tomoshea Formula Junior

    Dec 29, 2003
    541
    Ireland
    Full Name:
    Tom O'Shea
    #8 tomoshea, Jul 25, 2005
    Welcome to Ferraichat, I have been on it for 2 years and found it very helpful. Great looking car, lovely to drive, would love to get my hands on one, much nicer and smoother than the 308 series (which I have).

    First question 2 you, do you know if any source for forged 1st oversize pistons and rings for the 246 Dino, I have a friend in the middle of a rebuild trying to source them.

    By the way he has replaced the entire shell and doors with carbon fibre, reduced the weight by approx 300Kg, imagine the pwer to weight ratio of it when it gets back on the road!
     
  9. Gary48

    Gary48 Guest

    Dec 30, 2003
    940
    #9 Gary48, Jul 25, 2005
    Tom, I hope i don't jump to soon on this but I just did the same thing on my Dino. We used JE pistons and increased the pop-up to 10.6 to 1 compression. the new JE piece is really nice and weights 285 grams lighter than stock per piston, thats 1710 grams total. They did it with a new forged design with much shorter pins. Talk to Marc at Craig Performance Machine as he has all the numbers.
     
  10. bernardo66

    bernardo66 The Crazy Cat Man
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Dec 14, 2003
    26,292
    Montreal Canada
    Full Name:
    Bernie
    #10 bernardo66, Jul 25, 2005
    John, Auguri!!!!!

    This is what ownership is all about. Drive it!!!!!!

    When people see me drive my car on an almost daily basis, I'm often asked: "what if something breaks on it?" "It gets fixed!!!!" is my standard reply.

    Saluti & Happy Motoring!!!!
     
  11. NYCFERRARIS

    NYCFERRARIS Formula 3

    Mar 2, 2004
    1,009
    #11 NYCFERRARIS, Jul 25, 2005
    Hang on to that Dino for dear life! I was close to buying one years ago, when they were cheap, and the F-guys really bad mouthed it (fiat, poorly made, slow etc.) and talked me out of it, bought a E type roadster instead and now recently sold the roadster after some 20 years ( already miss to roadster ...never sell anything you love!) and still miss, not getting the Dino and have been looking around and the I tell you , the cars are still beautiful but now just so far out of reach...my lesson, drive them fix them and never ever sell them! Kepp us posted and keep us NYers jealous with those pics!
     
  12. Gary48

    Gary48 Guest

    Dec 30, 2003
    940
    #12 Gary48, Jul 25, 2005
    Tom, I forgot to give you Marcs ph. no. for the pistons, it is 509 522-3811. NYCFerraris, right to the point with great wisdom, nothing like experiance to teach the lessons of life, you will always regret selling or passing on a classic, find a way to keep it alive.
     
  13. lm2504me

    lm2504me Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 26, 2004
    1,086
    Nipomo, CA
    Full Name:
    Richard
    #13 lm2504me, Jul 25, 2005
    John,
    I live about an hour north of you in Nipomo. I've helped Mike Rambour with his Fiat Dino Spider. I am in the middle of rebuilding my 72 Dino 246GT motor with the help of a local machine shop (which did the bottom end on my Fiat Dino Coupe motor), replacing all the coolant hoses, recored alternator, rebuilt expansion tank, replacing fuel lines, new brake bads and hoses, rebuilt alternator, rebuilding turn signal stalk assembly, and rebuilding CV joints. All in an effort to make a good driver. I intend to drive the Dino a lot. I will then work on the paint and body work next year. Again to driver condition. Interior will be the following year. I have played with 3 Fiat Dinos and finally pulled the trigger on a Dino 246GT this past March. What a beautiful car and the driving position is excellent. I am planning to hold on to the Dino. It won't ever be a show or concours car while I have it. I look forward to all the experience you have to share due to your high miles. Keep sharing the info.
    Regards,
    Richard #03510
     
  14. JTranfield

    JTranfield Formula Junior

    Dec 29, 2003
    665
    NYC, London
    Full Name:
    J Tranfield
    #14 JTranfield, Jul 25, 2005
    Tom are you serious about the carbon fibre? Please post some photos. Does someone make Dino bodywork in CF or is your friend making them especially?
     
  15. tomoshea

    tomoshea Formula Junior

    Dec 29, 2003
    541
    Ireland
    Full Name:
    Tom O'Shea
    #15 tomoshea, Jul 26, 2005
    Gary, Thanks for the info I will pass it on


    Jonathan,

    Yes it is Kevlar/ Carbon Fibre, made in the UK I think, I will enquire where he got it, don't know what it cost but probably not cheap, money is not an issue to this guy.

    He is on vacation for the next couple of weeks I will revert back then.
     
  16. TimF40

    TimF40 Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,035
    Seattle/Bay Area/NYC
    Full Name:
    Tim
    #16 TimF40, Jul 30, 2005
    John,

    YES, please keep up the thread of your experiences! I've always loved the Dino and would love to hear about your experiences of living with it for so long and for so many miles!

    Tim
     
  17. Fiat Dino 206

    Fiat Dino 206 Karting

    Apr 19, 2004
    144
    Mississippi
    Full Name:
    David
    #17 Fiat Dino 206, Jul 30, 2005
    John:

    What was the outcome of the "low" compression reading that you got on the engine shortly after rebuild?

    Did you find any info on your cam specs?

    Thanks, and best wishes
     
  18. jimangle

    jimangle F1 Rookie

    Nov 5, 2003
    2,501
    Haverford
    Full Name:
    James
    #18 jimangle, Jul 30, 2005
    That's awesome! Welcome to F-chat. It's nice to see a person drive the crap out of his Dino. How many times have you rebuilt the engine?
     
  19. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    #19 John Corbani, Aug 3, 2005
    Car engine was apart at least once before I bought it in 1986 at 51,000 miles. Have no idea what was done. Car was strong and only small things crept up over the years. I pulled heads and re-did valves at 100,000 miles. I had engine pulled and completely rebuilt at 181,000 miles. New pistons, valves, re-grind cams, etc. Runs great but lots of oil leaks and questions of workmanship. Am working through them slowly while driving daily. Have 4000 miles so far and have found most all major oil leaks. Will probably tear everything apart again just to make sure what I have.

    Tires and wheels have been only major recurring problem and laziness on my part is partly to blame. Old 3 piece wheels leak, sometimes! Fix requires taking wheels completely apart. If you don't, tires get soft, wear funny and wear out. But; it can be 5-6 years before the problem is serious enough to go through the agony on one wheel (of course you only have a day to do it). I drive the car daily and hate to let it sit for a day. Only 2 wheels have the full clean-up; I will get to the other two "tomorrow". In later posts I will detail fixes.

    Alternator brushes give up every 30,000 miles, Distributor advance mechanism is a problem about the same frequency. Both are easy to fix.

    I will continue this basic thread for a while and see what kind of feedback occurs. Same "Dino saga" with a new date every Sunday.

    Thanks

    John
     
  20. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    #20 John Corbani, Aug 9, 2005
    Thanks for the feedback. There are a lot of stories. I will tell them.

    John
     
  21. John Corbani

    John Corbani Formula 3
    Honorary Owner

    May 5, 2005
    1,153
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Full Name:
    John Corbani
    #21 John Corbani, Aug 9, 2005
    Richard,

    Don't read E-Mail very often. Have a Country Club to run and a Dino to keep up. This series is a wild hair undertaking but who knows? Would love to have you to stop by if in SB. My travel is very much spur of the moment. Always ready to talk though.

    John
     

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