Below 265 SQ/FT Just Puttering About in my Basement Workshop

[Just Puttering]

I received a special delivery from Miami in the spring of 2021 :





It was a bit crazy to purchase a project car sight unseen from a used car dealer 3,500 miles away with no independent local inspection, but the dealer seemed to have a good reputation. I had looked for Ferrari Mondial project car with the 4 valve engine for a while. At 6’5”, they are about the only 80’s Italian sports car that I fit comfortably in.

I called the dealer and he gave what turned out to be a pretty accurate description of it’s condition. He had purchased it as part of a collection, and didn’t know much about it. When asked if it ran, he said sort of, but pretty roughly and it doesn’t idle.

When asked if it drives, he paused, and said it sort of moves under it’s own power….. Perfect! I will take it.

 

[Just Puttering]

The car was listed at $29K, which was already a very low price, but because it had been sitting for several years, I made a low ball offer. We wound up settling on a price that made it by far the cheapest running Ferrari available anywhere

As all the international vehicle transport firms were fully booked for the huge Barrett-Jackson auctions, it took 3 months for the car to arrive and for me to finally see what I had gotten myself into.

The huge truck parked at the bottom of our crazy steep & narrow street. I hopped inside, fired it up, and prayed it would make it the final 1/2 mile up the 11% grade.

It sputtered, popped, wouldn’t shift, and barely made it’s way up to my house, but YEAH !!!

I had a Ferrari Project in the garage.



Not sure my wife thought this was something I should be smiling about.

 

[RalphInCA]

…and went around to my neighbours to talk about it’s looming presence over his back patio. He & I agreed…

So glad you did this.

This is the way it should be done.

Not arguing and going to court afterwards.

 

[Just Puttering]

So glad you did this.

This is the way it should be done.

Not arguing and going to court afterwards.

Thanks RalphInCA.

We are lucky to have a great group of neighbours surrounding us.

 

[Just Puttering]

First discovery… the fuel pump & dash buzzers didn’t turn off when the key was removed. The truck drivers had to disconnect the battery every time they moved the car.

I therefore proceeded to pull the notoriously bad 80’s Ferrari fuse & relay board.



Not only had it parts of it been crudely bypassed in the past, but the multi layer circuit board had begun delaminating. This is common for mid 80’s Ferraris, so wasn’t unexpected.




I sent the board down to a firm in Arizona to rebuild it with a new modern circuit board that can handle much higher currents.

 

[Just Puttering]

On day 2 of the car showing up in my garage, I made a great discovery...yeah!!

While poking around under the dash to kill an annoying buzzer, I managed to get the ridiculously complicated electrically operated glove box open.

Locked inside, and unknown to the dealer who had sold me the car, was an old invoice from a top Florida Ferrari shop for $6,400 worth of work including new timing belts, re-built CIS fuel distributor, re-built brake callipers, and a bunch of other stuff that was done 6 years and only 282 miles earlier. They listed a couple of to do items, but nothing serious.

That meant that most of the issues were due to the car sitting for 6 years. With only 25,000 miles on the car, and an engine that is known to be pretty bulletproof, I wasn’t expecting anything too serious, but I can’t tell you what a relief it was to know for sure that the engine internals were ok.

 

[flying_tomatoes]

I usually have my local Home Depot break down my plywood. I find their fancy panel saw is super accurate, and it’s easier than doing it solo on my table saw. The $1 per cut to rip 3 sheets of 3/4” ply down to strips seemed well worth it.

I quickly eased the sharp edges with a belt sander, clamped all the boards together to roll paint on the edges, glued & nailed them in place with a finish nailer, leaving a nail’s thickness between boards.




The closet wall isn’t going to have anything heavy on it, so instead of 3/4", I used 1/2” ply strips simply finish nailed to the studs.

I don't know why I didn't think of this!

I've been going back and forth between doing full sheets of plywood or some sort of 1x plank. This is brilliant and will give the extra texture I was looking for, make it easier to install and not be unnecessarily thick. Brilliant. Thank you!

 

[Just Puttering]

I've been going back and forth between doing full sheets of plywood or some sort of 1x plank.

Thanks @flying_tomatoes . 3/4” ply is amazing on walls! Great at holding screws & nails, won’t split or warp, easy to handle when cut into strips, and can look great too.

 

[Just Puttering]

While waiting for my fuse board to come back from the re-builders, I figured I might as well drain the old gas.



Wasn’t expecting it to be quite so orange and stinky…yuck!

I added fresh gas and proceeded to hot wire the fuel pump to test the fuel pressures. I was familiar with the Bosch K-jet fuel injection from the various VW, BMW, and Volvo cars I had owned in the past. This mechanical injection system is very sensitive to fuel pressures, and a notorious culprit in poor running is the Control Pressure Regulator. Sure enough, all the pressures were wrong, indicating a failed unit.

The good folks at the Delorean Club in the UK had all the rebuild parts I needed at a great price. So I took the unit apart, had a friend bead blast it clean, and just puttered about in the shop putting it all back together again. It was all good to go upon the return of my fusebox.



Just a final pressure adjustment with the car running using the proper Ferrari tools :

 

[Just Puttering]

The ohm meter showed a couple of plug wires needed replacing. I also found a couple of vacuum leaks, changed out the fuel filter, adjusted the shift linkage, and got the car running reasonably well. It took a few more months for me to fix all the minor items needed for the British Columbia safety inspection. The Provincial inspection is a requirement for registering a used car bought outside of the Province. I used a dremel to grind a new tip to the pawl of the handbrake ratchet, and repaired the headlight switch.


I used part of a trailer lens and model glue to repair the signal lens.



Nothing but the best for this Ferrari

Life got in the way, and the car sat for several months. It then took a few more months to find a specialist shop that was both willing to work on a 40 year old Ferrari, as well as certified to do the BC inspection. Finally, in the late summer of 2022, after having the car in my garage for a year, I was able to have it towed to a local Porsche shop for the injection CO adjustment and the safety inspection.

The car was finally registered, insured, and I put several hundred miles on it that fall with the plan that I would drop the engine for a major service over the winter.

It may not be as fast as most modern sports cars, but with the 2.9 liter V8 engine screaming at it’s 7,700 RPM redline on my favourite twisty mountain roads, I have a blast every time I drive it.

 

[JSGAuto]

It may not be as fast as most modern sports cars, but with the 2.9 liter V8 engine screaming at it’s 7,700 RPM redline on my favourite twisty mountain roads, I have a blast every time I drive it.

There is nothing more satisfying than listening to the engine sing in one of these.


I am enjoying the posts. Need some interior and engine bay pics! We are considering adding a vintage Ferrari to our garage, the 360 needs a companion . 308, maybe GTC/4....something!

Jim

 

[Prospecter]

Great shot of the car with the view. I like your solution to lights by your garage door.

 

[Just Puttering]

I am enjoying the posts. Need some interior and engine bay pics!

Thanks Jim, here's a couple of pics :

I used Leatherique dye & rejuvenator oil on the leather. Still a bit more to do. I never really noticed how bad the wheel looked until I took this picture today.



Can you tell from the color that this was a Miami car from the 80's?

Here is the engine which I cleaned it up in spring 2023.



Being the farthest thing from a concours car, I went with a smooth finish & brighter red. Ferrari spec crinkle paint is too hard for me to keep clean.

 

[Just Puttering]

Great shot of the car with the view. I like your solution to lights by your garage door.

Thanks @Prospecter

I had never considered mounting the lights under the garage doors until I read Jack Olsen's 12-Gauge Garage thread. I wired in 6 Home Depot $20 LED fixtures on some pretty Ghetto brackets. I had to convert the one in the back corner to a pendant to get them all at the similar height.



I like working with the doors open sometimes, and it's awesome that the lighting stays the same with doors open or closed.

 

[captain14]

I had never considered mounting the lights under the garage doors until I read Jack Olsen's 12-Gauge Garage thread. I wired in 6 Home Depot $20 LED fixtures on some pretty Ghetto brackets. I had to convert the one in the back corner to a pendant to get them all at the similar height.

It’s not ghetto brackets. It’s custom deigned high tech bracket to fit in your space

 

[Just Puttering]

Well, the seasons seem to have changed, so yesterday seemed a good day to start on the fall projects. A small section of the brick wall at the front steps had started to break apart. That repair job seemed like a good Saturday sort of task.

I had never done any brick laying before, so I had called around for masons. Not too many masons around in Vancouver, and they are all busy doing endless condo projects, despite the fact that none of the condos are selling anymore. Nobody I called had the slightest interest in small brick repairs. It was therefore time to watch some youtube videos.



The bricks pulled apart with my bare hands and chipping off the mortar was strangely satisfying. I didn't take any pictures of laying the bricks, as I was dealing with globs of mortar making a mess of me, and everything around me. Buttering bricks looked so easy on Youtube.

But in the end it turned out ok, and should prevent further frost damage this winter.



I am rather pleased with how that turned out, but I am hoping that it is "One and Done" for me as a brick mason.

Sure was colder this morning when I went out to wire brush off the mortar dust. It's like a switch went off on Sept 22nd to start the cold fall weather.

I can't believe it was only two weeks ago that we had our 5 kids (wife's 3 + my 2) and their 4 partners over for a backyard BBQ dinner. It was so warm in the evening that we couldn't get them off the patio to go home.

 

[Krfjkm]

Nice looking family!

 

[steves_001]

Nice projects! Does the yorkie get to help? (they are such awesome dogs)

 

[Just Puttering]

Nice looking family!

Thanks @Krfjkm.

It's always a loud & fun time when we have all the kids over.

 

[Just Puttering]

Does the yorkie get to help? (they are such awesome dogs)

Hi @steves_001

Our Yorkie is far too spoiled to be of any help.



Don't know if ours is all that awesome. Yorkies are supposed to be good ratters. Originally bred to keep rodents under control in the old English textile mills. Our little girl can't even seem to keep the half dozen back yard squirrels in line.

 

[Just Puttering]

Our house was needing some serious love this summer. Things always seem to creep up on us in terms of home maintenance. We looked away for a bit, and next thing we knew, our deck is rotting and falling off, the front bay window is rotting and needs re-building, the front siding is so split and damaged that it needed replacing, and the whole house exterior needs repainting. I guess we kinda had blinders on these past few years.



It would have taken me forever to do this all myself, so we bit the bullet, and called in the contractors. This past June, with the scaffold up and the demo started, we finally knew exactly what we were in for…yuck!!!



And so our summer fun began

 

[Just Puttering]

It was crazy how much scaffolding the contractor installed

He insisted that it was all required by the Provincial workplace safety rules on elevated work platforms. I am not so sure. 3 levels of guard rail over a drop of only 5' above a foam hot tub cover???

Oh well, it was a reasonably priced, fixed cost scaffold job, so what do I care.



I had never had an up close look at the ring lock scaffolding systems going together...very slick system. The 3 guys got all the pipes & parts unloaded and erected in about 2 hours. Way faster than the H frame system we typically use for our Hospital projects.



I agree that safety is important, but good grief, there are more guardrails here than there are on the edge of most National Park cliffs.

 

[captain14]

I ran an injured person call from someone doing roofing work on a commercial building. No markings whatsoever to where the edge was. He fell. He know the answer. One oops makes everyone super cautious now.

Were they required to wear inflatable life vests since they operated above a body of water?

 

[MattL]

"Minor car repairs"

and then he drop a pic of a Ferrari with the engine pulled out. Btw you did a great job!
ps The Bianchi is cool as well!

 

[Just Puttering]

Ferrari with the engine pulled out. Btw you did a great job!
ps The Bianchi is cool as well!

Thanks Matt,

I have been a lifelong fan of the work of Edoardo Bianchi & Enzo Ferrari. I grew up less than 5km from the old Westwood Racing circuit near Vancouver. I started going to races there as a kid in the 60's, and as a teen, I used to ride my Bianchi 5spd up to the track in the mid 70's to see the Alfas, Ferraris and other cool Italian machinery.

My Bianchi seemed so much faster racing him to the track than my best friends Peugeot 10 spd. I got the chance to work in the pits on many cool race cars in 80's, and had always wanted my own Italian car to wrench on.

 

[Just Puttering]

About 10 years prior, I had pulled up the decking, screwed some PT joists to the mess that was there and cut some vent holes before re-installing the plywood and patching the vinyl decking. It strengthened everything up nicely, but I never expected to leave the temp repair for so many years.

The deck was built with Tyvek and plywood on both sides of the railing stem wall under cedar siding. Absolutely ZERO venting or ability to breath. The stem wall rotted away from the inside out from the humidity, and water getting in where they cut the cap flashings to install the corners of the railing 25 years ago. The rot spread to the joist ends, and was working it's way back along the joists. Lack of venting and added insulation & vapour barriers continues to be a major issue for homes & condos built in Vancouver in the late 80's - early 90's.



My plan was to shorten the 5' cantilever to 3' to take some of the load off, and sister fresh joists to what was left of the original. The contractor was sceptical when they began the demo, and were certain we would have to drop posts down to the ground which would be pretty tall and ugly.

After cutting 2' off all, and a bit more on several of the joists, then used a jig saw to cut out any remaining rot, we were all surprised about how much good wood remained.



New joists were sistered to the existing cantilever joists using structural screws and adhesive, and they followed the building code requirements for nailing patterns on spliced joists. We were all very pleased with the results. The deck structure is now considerably stronger than it ever was when new.

 

[Just Puttering]

Once they carpenters had started framing the railing stem walls, I had the final measurements available to start cutting down the railing.

With no 230v power available in the back yard (or so I thought), I got to work cutting roughly 2’ out of each side of the railing and used my old oxy Acetylene set to weld it back together.



The backyard was a lovely peaceful place to do some gas welding.

 

[Just Puttering]

One steel post on the nearby patio railing had filled with water which froze and popped off the top rail off a few years ago. I hadn’t gotten around to welding it up, so now seemed like the perfect time.



I ran out of acetylene before starting the final weld on the balcony railing. Didn’t have time to head to the welding store before they closed, so I thought I would drill a weep hole and grind the patio rail before packing up for the day.

As I sat on the edge of the long dead hot tub enjoying a beer and admiring my welds, I had a Eureka moment…the dead tub had a fully functional 40amp 230v power feed



A bit of sketchy temporary wiring later, and I had my mig welder hooked up and quickly finished all the welding.

 

[Just Puttering]

My wife and I painted the railing, and the carpenters & painters finished the house. The deck & railing turned out awesome!



What we hadn’t expected, and were really pleased with, was how much better the deck proportions were with the deck being 2’ shorter, and the former dropped soffit eliminated.



The proportions of the old deck were somewhat clunky looking. The shorter deck and raised soffit also made the dining room below considerably brighter.

Overall, a BIG win

 

[Krfjkm]

Looks great!

 

[Just Puttering]

With the deck done, the carpenters proceeded to remove the damaged cedar siding from the front gables and replace with Hardie fibre cement siding. They also replaced a dozen or so tiny sections of damaged cedar in various other areas of the house with fresh cedar boards.



I hate working off ladders, so I was so happy to pay the pros for this work.

They also removed and replaced the trim boards around the front bay window that was split and a bit rotted from the constant rain exposure.



They wrapped up the project in early august, and we are really pleased with how it all turned out. It was great to be able to enjoy the rest of the summer without worrying what they would bring to our attention next.

 

[MattL]

Thanks Matt,

I have been a lifelong fan of the work of Edoardo Bianchi & Enzo Ferrari. I grew up less than 5km from the old Westwood Racing circuit near Vancouver. I started going to races there as a kid in the 60's, and as a teen, I used to ride my Bianchi 5spd up to the track in the mid 70's to see the Alfas, Ferraris and other cool Italian machinery.

My Bianchi seemed so much faster racing him to the track than my best friends Peugeot 10 spd. I got the chance to work in the pits on many cool race cars in 80's, and had always wanted my own Italian car to wrench on.

I grew up, and still live, near the Ferrari factory, so I know exactly what you mean

 

[Just Puttering]

I grew up, and still live, near the Ferrari factory

Hi Matt,

So cool that you live near the factory. I passed through that area 31 years ago while travelling from Bologna to Nice via Milan. Need to get back there someday and see the Museo Enzo Ferrari. It was an awesome trip.

We watched the 1994 Monaco GP on TV from a bar in Nice, than quickly hopped on the train over to Monaco to walk the full circuit before they opened it up to traffic. Surprisingly few people went onto the circuit.



Here is a picture of me (white shirt) at the Hairpin corner.

Then the coolest thing happened :

We were standing at the back gate to the paddock area, peeking through the fencing at the goings on. All of a sudden, there was a bunch of shouting, and a couple of guys came running out of the paddock carrying some stuff. The security guards were yelling and all of them gave chase. We were left standing by ourselves near the gate, so of course, we stepped through.

Once inside, we wandered around freely, staying out of everybody’s way, and watching the teams pack up the cars and their work areas. We saw up close some drivers talking to mechanics, and wandered right up to the cars. Must have been in there for at least an hour.

I took this picture of my wife with Alesi’s Ferrari :



I then handed her my camera and crouched down next to the car. I had one hand on the steering wheel for the picture when she tried to wind on the film…OH NO, out of film. Of course, there was nowhere to acquire film inside the paddock area. Sigh!

 

[MattL]

What an incredible story! that must have been such a memorable experience! Getting to walk the Monaco circuit and even sneaking into the paddock… that’s every F1 fan’s dream (i've only been to Monza and Imola).

Unfortunately, I don’t have any stories quite as exciting about your country, I only visited Ontario and Quebec last year, but BC and Alberta are definitely on my bucket list. The landscapes look absolutely stunning!

And yes, you definitely have to come back one day, the Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena is well worth a visit.

 

[Jayman17]

The size reduction and soffit modification on your deck does look a lot better than the old imo. Nice job!

 

[old_smokey]

This thread is great! Love that old photo from Monaco!

 

[Just Puttering]

This thread is great! Love that old photo from Monaco!

Thanks @old_smokey I have enjoyed reading both your threads.

I am also from Winnipeg…was born there and the family moved out west when I was five.

The size reduction and soffit modification on your deck does look a lot better than the old imo.

Thanks Jay,

Glad to have that disruptive project behind me and get back down to the workshop.

 

[Just Puttering]

that’s every F1 fan’s dream (i've only been to Monza and Imola)

Only Monza & Imola, Ha ha, that’s funny!! You are the one living every F1 fan’s dream. Living just a couple hours drive from two historic world class F1 circuits is incredible!

It’s odd timing reading your post this morning. It got me doing more reminiscing and I realized that my local track closed down 35 years ago today.



It was a great track, only 5km from my house, and loads of great drivers raced there. Gilles Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg, Danny Sullivan, Bobby Rahal, and loads of others ran there in the old Formula Atlantic series which used to be an F1 stepping stone. Michael Andretti’s 1983 lap record was never broken.

We even had Sterling Moss lap the track and give some driving instructions.



The final race was Oct 8, 1990. It was a 7 hour endurance race. It was a sad day for British Columbia Motorsports.



A new road circuit opened an hour away from me in Mission a couple of years later, and I still enjoy attending the races there, but Westwood will always be my favourite.

 

[Just Puttering]

In 2019, I finally got around to building a proper workbench. The workmate with a board clamped in the jaws worked so well as a workbench, that I lived with it as my main bench for 8 years

I had spent some months pondering bench types. I rather liked the proportions of some of the Roubo type benches, but didn’t want the expense of the hardwood, nor the complexity of the traditional joinery. I also liked the idea of a painted frame, as I could hide my woodworking sins behind a bit of filler & paint. (much like I do with my welding…haha)

Here is a web picture of what I had in mind :


A few designs & plans available on the web such as this one seemed interesting, but nothing ticked all the boxes.

 

[Just Puttering]

My previous two benches weren’t great. I built my first bench 30 years ago out of 2x4’s and plywood. It wobbled like crazy and the top was way too springy. The second one a decade later was really solid, but I didn’t like that it was attached to the wall.

I found the wall mounted bench encouraged me to store stuff on the back of it which was messy and cut into the working area. I also occasionally wanted to drag it away from the wall for larger projects, or to clamp from both sides and couldn’t do so.

I wanted a heavy, free standing bench with enough meat in the structure that it wouldn’t move, and absolutely no racking. I also wanted to use cheap construction lumber and use simple joinery. It would stand a few inches from the wall so I couldn’t leave anything on the back as it would get knocked off. A tiny shelf above the rear of the bench would allow some things to be kept within reach without restricting the bench work area.

So I grabbed a bunch of 2x6’s and started running them through the table saw.