Month: August 2025

Well, did I make it to Concorso?

~ bassken ~ Leave a comment

Yes!

Still dealing with some small leaks, but the car got me there and back home again. The biggest problem was losing reverse gear while in the Monterey area – the transaxle just would not engage. I verified that the problem is internal to the transaxle, unfortunately. So that’s coming out soon for inspection/repair. Apparenly others have had the same problem with that transaxle.

I ordered a new radiator to replace the JB Welded one that dumped coolant the day I was planning to leave for Concorso. I have some diagnostic work still to do on the cooling system. The temperature stayed stable during all my driving including sitting in traffic, but testing here at home on a hot day the engine would get excessively hot when idling despite my high CFM cooling fans.

Aside from installing the trim (missing door seals make for a noisy ride) and fixing a few leaks, I need to make some mods to the intake system. At full throttle the intake noise is a bit overwhelming.

Concorso or Bust!

~ bassken ~ Leave a comment

Well, here we are, 10 years after my last update! Apologies to those who reached out and got no response. If you have a question AND want a response, best to try me at khaven (at) comcast.net.

Like many projects, this one got stalled due to competing life events. But now I’m back at it, working on it over the past couple of months with a goal of showing at Concorso Italiano in Monterey August 16th, which is tomorrow! 4 days ago the car made its maiden voyage to our campsite near Monterey, mostly without incident, although now that I’m here, reverse gear is not engaging. Will make for an interesting day tomorrow at the show.

I plan to reorganize this site to make the posts more accessible, but meanwhile here’s a quick summary of the recent work to get the car back on the road:

  1. Since it’s been sitting for 10 years, I did some cleaning and touch up paint, along with engine maintenance including injectors, plugs, timing belt, gaskets, etc.
  2. I made a new dashboard that eliminated the EGT, A/F ratio and boost gauges since the car is now naturally aspirated. This also freed up room for an LCD display for Apple Car Play (because why not?).
  3. I remade the SS coolant pipes that used to go up and over the fuel tank, since the height proved problematic for coolant bleeding. Now they run in front of the rear crossmember and up to the engine, which also should reduce flow restriction and improve coolant flow.
  4. I changed all the lighting to LEDs.

My aluminum radiator developed a leak just as I was about to head to Monterey, but a good coating of JB Weld seems to be working for now. Some used 5 spoke 16″ wheels I bought have the correct 4×98 lug pattern but are not hub centric, which made for a rough ride since I mounted them without noticing that little detail.

Tomorrow I head off to Concorso, hope to see some of you there!