Smiths fan motors. What happens when the Italians ask the British for help

As the restoration continues it was time to work on the Smiths fan motors that ventilate the cabin and feed air to the previously featured heater core assembly. The restoration of these items is an exercise in futility because their proper operation in no way allows for the adequate volume of air that is required to keep occupants properly ventilated. The Italians undoubtedly assumed that if anyone needs more air then they can just open the window and went on to use these most un-impressive English built fan units.

That said the fans are what they are and in wanting to keep the car original, we decided to restore what was there. As always a complete dis-assembly and restoration of each component was undertaken. All painted parts were powder coated and hardware was plated or replaced as necessary. Once assembled the motors were bench tested for 10-15 minutes each and then packed away awaiting final assembly.

Another part done and now on to the photos.

NOS parts steer us in the right direction

Vital to maximizing the driving feel of any sports car is ensuring that there is no play in the steering system. Most old Ferrari's never drive as they should because the steering rack is overlooked during the restoration process. As such the car is never as precise as it can be. The steering racks on these cars can be very tricky to re-build and original parts are increasingly hard to find. Many people fit generic racks which are never as good as the originally fitted units.

01464's rack was sent to specialist re-builder John H. and we did the final exterior restoration. John was able to not only re-build the rack, but supply NOS tie rods and original tie rod ends which are very hard to find and complete the restoration nicely.

Before and after photos follow and it is hard to believe that beautiful rack was hiding under all that crud.

Restorers Note:

The main parts of the steering rack body should be painted black and not left silver like in the photos. We corrected this before installing our steering rack but never updated the photos.