It all started when we decided to take the ignition lock out of its housing. Most Ferrari's have the paint on this housing chipped and ours was no exception. Now the smart thing would have been to mask it off and re-paint it but we wanted it perfect and durable so we decided to powder coat it. As we quickly learned this assembly was never made to be taken apart and dis assembly involves undoing a number of operations that were only meant to be done once and never touched. To anyone who is thinking of taking their lock out DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!! It is a terrible job and you will likely break something. Mask it off instead and paint rather than disassemble. As it was I did break the lock and faced a horribly expensive NOS replacement.
Here is where Brett at Gran Turismo in Alliston Ontario saved us. He supplied us with the lock assembly out of a scrapped car for little more than a thank you as he was just enthused to be part of the restoration. I will take this opportunity to offer a plug for his shop as he does very good and honest service at reasonable rates. You can be sure of proper and conscientious work if you take your car there. Check them out at www.granturismoauto.com
In the end we were able to finish the lock housing in a fresh coat of durable powder coat, re-build our lock and even re-key the assembly to our original key. This is one job I do not want to do again.
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