Ferrari – Completed
November 22, 2024
It’s been a long time coming but our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT is now pretty much ready to be photographed and filmed before going live
1979 Ferrari 400
Ferrari 400 on the ramps
November 21, 2024
Our 1979 Ferrari 400 has gone into the next round of preparation by our workshop. This time, Jon and Pete have been on the underside
Ferrari 400 Brakes
November 14, 2024
Jonn has continued his work preparing our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes on his latest round of work: Unwrap new calipers and
Updates on the 1979 Ferrari 400
October 21, 2024
The Bridge Classic Cars workshop team have been going full steam ahead with preparing the 1979 Ferrari 400. Our technician, Jon, has been heading up
Ferrari Heater Valve
October 14, 2024
Jonn has been spending some time looking at the heater valve of our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes: Carry out pressure test
Ferrari 400 Repairs
October 7, 2024
Jonn has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes on what he has been doing: Start pr3parations for refitting
Building Up our 1979 Ferrari 400
September 30, 2024
The workshop team at the Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ have been working their way through our classic 1979 Ferrari 400, recommissioning each system of
Ferrari 400 GT Exhaust Fitting
September 18, 2024
Jonn has continued fitting the exhaust to our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. He then sealed up and secured both offside downpipes to the front pipe
Ferrari 400 GT Exhaust
September 13, 2024
After Tony collected the exhaust for our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT, Jonn began working on fitting it to the car. Here are his notes: Start
Ferrari 400 Repairs
August 29, 2024
Here are Jonns notes on the repairs he has been making to our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT: Rebuild door handle and test. Remove striker/ actuator
Ferrari Repairs
August 21, 2024
Jon has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes: Continue repairs where I left off. Boot release cable. New
Ferrari Repairs
August 19, 2024
Technician Jonn has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes: Continue repairs. Fit new boot cable and handle. Thread
Ferrari Stone Guards
August 12, 2024
Christian has been repairing the stone guards on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT.
Ferrari Inspection And Repairs
August 8, 2024
Classic car technician Jonn has been inspecting our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT and has started making some of the repairs it requires. Jonn stripped the
Competition Cars Update
July 19, 2024
1989 Daimler Double Six: Our 1989 Daimler Double Six has been worked on by our incredible technician Jon. He has been going through and doing
Stripping the centre console of our 1979 Ferrari 400
July 11, 2024
Workshop manager, and electrical guru, John has been working on stripping down the centre console of our 1979 Ferrari 400. The wood itself will be
A Classic Ferrari
July 5, 2024
We recently welcomed an exciting new arrival to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop in the form of our 1979 Ferrari 400. Once it has been
Ferrari – Completed
November 22, 2024
It’s been a long time coming but our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT is now pretty much ready to be photographed and filmed before going live on the Bridge Classic Cars Competitions website.
After Jonn took the car out for a road test, he came back to the workshop and rectified a couple of minor issues such as some rattling coming from the door panels. Once the door panels were refitted, some tracking issues were rectified.
Ferrari 400 on the ramps
November 21, 2024
Our 1979 Ferrari 400 has gone into the next round of preparation by our workshop. This time, Jon and Pete have been on the underside of the classic V12 grand tourer to get it back up and running properly.
Jon began by fitting up new front brake pads into the calipers before turning his attention underneath the car. On inspection, Jon noted that there was a very slight blow coming from the exhaust so with that Jon and Pete removed the centre section to inspect it fully and try to find where this blow could be coming from.
After going out on road test, Jon noted that the blow had become a lot better. With that, he has added a bit more paste to the nearside front joint and whilst it cures, he is charging the battery up ready for more test drives.
Ferrari 400 Brakes
November 14, 2024
Jonn has continued his work preparing our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes on his latest round of work:
Unwrap new calipers and check. Fit new caliper to nearside but won’t bolt up. Found bolts too large to pass through caliper mountings. Grind out holes a minimal amount and fit caliper to nearside front. Make new brake pipes from flexu hoses to caliper. Fit and secure. Repeat process for offside.
Fit pipes from flexis to caliper and secure. Bleed brakes and top up fluid. Check for leaks.
Updates on the 1979 Ferrari 400
October 21, 2024
The Bridge Classic Cars workshop team have been going full steam ahead with preparing the 1979 Ferrari 400. Our technician, Jon, has been heading up the project from the moment the car came into our workshop a couple of months ago.
To begin with, Jon has had to replace the heater valve nestled deep under the scuttle of the classic Ferrari and on the back corner of the glorious V12. Once the new heater valve arrived, Jon had to make some modifications to get the unit to fit and operate correctly while also modifying the clamp attachment before getting it ready to fit back into the car.
After it was back in the car, Jon could begin testing. The first stage was to refill the coolant and pressurize the system to check for any leaks and then he can began to tune and check over the V12, but on a brief start up Jon noted that the car is now running on all 12 cylinders.
With the engine now ready to run, levels topped off in both the V12 and the automatic gearbox, Jon could turn his attention to making sure the luxury classic GT car stopped. He inspected each individual caliper as well as tracing all the brake lines and pipes back to check for corrosion, pinches or leaks. Once Jon got to the nearside front caliper, he noticed a very slight weep when the caliper was under pressure. Upon inspection, he found that previous to the car coming to us someone had stripped out the threads on the caliper and retapped it from 7/16th to 1/2 inch, Jon found a suitable bolt and had our technician Paul turn it down in a lathe to make a suitable union.
While waiting for Paul to machine the bolt, Jon stripped down the speedometer which he found small shards of plastic obscuring the warning lights. Once he had cleaned out the unit, he reassembled and got it back into the car.
With the new union suitably modified, Jon could remake the brake line which runs to the caliper. After bending up new pipework, he found that with the new union in place the top brake pipe would not tighten where someone had previously modified the unit and the threads were very badly worn.
Ferrari Heater Valve
October 14, 2024
Jonn has been spending some time looking at the heater valve of our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT.
Here are his notes:
Carry out pressure test on cooling system. Attend to minor leaks found. System now sealed. Drain coolant. Strip and remove heater valve from under scuttle panel. Valve unserviceable. Strip and remove heater control from centre console. Found lever control broken. Repair and leave to go off. Refit control to centre console and secure. Clear area. Remove offside distributor cap to aid access to broken points wire. Crimpmon new terminal and connect and secure. Refit distributor cap. Raise in air and apply sealer to exhaust front pipes.
Ferrari 400 Repairs
October 7, 2024
Jonn has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes on what he has been doing:
Start pr3parations for refitting centre console and switches. Tidy wiring and fit new gear selector light. Bulb not working g. Replace bulb and test holder 9ff the car and works fine. Refit. Check fuses and power supply to bulb, no power. All fuses ok spin all fuses in holders and retry. Light works now. Dash lights in cluster appear to not be working but all ok after playing with rheostat. Fit battery from under my bench for now for testing and reassembly purposes. Battery may be physically to big to be a permanent fixture.
Continue to sort and tidy wiring under centre console. Reconnect bulb and holder for ashtray but bulb blown and none in stock. Mount controls to centre console wooden panel. Swap,parts fromnew choke control lever and mount. Start to fit choke cables. Found new piece of cable to use as second cable. Route and mount to,offside bank of carbs and route cable from centre console to nearside bank of carbs. Require bulb so can’t fit centre console yet.
Centre console ready to fit. With John’s help start making all cable connections to centre console. Fit all 4 cables for choke, heater, and both side direction controls for heater. Temperature valve seized but stuck in hot position. Connect all switches and test. All works. Finish fitting centre console and fix in position as best as I can. Continue with ch9ke able set up. Start to make bracket for second choke cable.
Building Up our 1979 Ferrari 400
September 30, 2024
The workshop team at the Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ have been working their way through our classic 1979 Ferrari 400, recommissioning each system of the car.
This time, Jon has been continuing his work on the underside of the Maranello masterpiece with the exhaust system. He has to make several new sections of the rear of the exhaust which involved cutting, slotting and clamping the replacement pieces to the back boxes, while also having to remake 1 of the original exhaust mounts.
Next up, Jon moved over to the offside of the classic Ferrari to get the exhaust and oil cooler sorted out. To begin with, Jon had to modify the mounts to add some extra clearance, before installing the exhaust system. With that now in place, Jon could fit up the rear anti-roll bar links before moving onto getting the gearbox oil cooler into place with some modifications to the hoses and pipework to get everything safely fit back into the car, which included sleeving some of the pipework in what could become contact areas over time as well as putting heatwrap on the pipes to protect them from the exhaust which run close by.
Ferrari 400 GT Exhaust Fitting
September 18, 2024
Jonn has continued fitting the exhaust to our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT.
He then sealed up and secured both offside downpipes to the front pipe flanges. He fitted and sealed up both small bypass pipes. The rear sections are the same size as the centre sections so Jonn can’t fit them at this point.
A pipe has been ordered to sleeve all 4 pipes at the rear.
Jonn mounted the new transmission oil cooler. He mounted the pipes and marked their position. He then remounted and secured the cooler. Then, he shaped and bent the oil cooler pipe from the gearbox to the oil cooler at the front.
Ferrari 400 GT Exhaust
September 13, 2024
After Tony collected the exhaust for our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT, Jonn began working on fitting it to the car. Here are his notes:
Start preparing new exhaust. Remove old downpipes and pass pipes. Heat and cut pipes to remove bypass pipes fully. Clean flanges and mating surfaces. Found one front section pipe corroded and holes. Clean and prep for welding.
Continue with exhaust. Repeat procedure for other side silencers. Weld small,bypass back securely to silencer so able to remove remainder of old pipe. Clean and weld small pipe. Find sealing rings and exhaust gasket material from stock that will do the job.
Continue exhaust. Weld repair 1 nearside front pipe and dress weld. Mount both sets of silencers to each side and hang on mounts. Apply sealer to nearside rings and tighten both nearside front flanges.
Ferrari 400 Repairs
August 29, 2024
Here are Jonns notes on the repairs he has been making to our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT:
Rebuild door handle and test. Remove striker/ actuator i made and bend slightly and refit. Seems to be ok but lock stiff and key nearly broken. Stop and wait for new keys to arrive. Investigate passengers seat back insecure. Found inner hook for relaesing seat back been wired 8n open position. Cable inside seat broken. Make small bracket to fit to hook so able to lift manually. Fit and paint black. Coolant leaks. Start with corroded jubilee clips on heater pipe. Remove pipe and found pipe split badly, and connector corroded. Remove connector and clean. Use JB weld chemical metal to repair holes on connector and leave to set. Clean mating surfaces and make gasket for connector.
Strip and remove exhaust system. Cut of rear sections and cut and remove what’s left in rear sections. Re rivet heatshiels to floor both sides. Fit new P clip to secure offside handbrake cable. Fit water connector to rear of head and leave to go off overnight.
Fit coolant hose to heater. Pressurise system and trace leaks. Rad hoses leaking and all jubilee clips corroded and won’t tighten. Remove rad hoses and inline thermostat. Thermostat broken inside housing. Clean all pipe connections. Wash down front of engine waterpump area. Fit new hoses that we had in stock and order new thermostat and hoses we don’t have. Rek9ve offside front wheel and strip and remove brake flexi hoses fro replacement. Fit 2 x new hoses to offside front and secure.
Bleed offside front brake and pressure check for leaks, ok. Top up brake fluid. Refit wheel. Attend to horn not working. Connector missing inside steering wheel. Remove steering wheel and work out way to make it work. Drill out rivet from connector behind steering wheel. Fit wire andfeed through steering wheel. Tighten steering wheel and fit spade terminal to wire and connect to centre push. Fit centre and test, ok.
New keys arrived so refit nearside door handle and test lock with key. Stiff to operate but does work now. Secure handle in door.
Refit door handle fully and lubricate mechanism. Test functions all ok. Refit door panel.
Fit new coolant hoses and secure. Vacuum system and check for loss of vacuum. Fill system with new anti freeze mix. Attend to oil leak. Trace to gearbox cooler pipes fractured. All pipes seized and while attempting to remove direct from cooler, cooler split. Cut off pipes and remove system complete. Remove broken cotton reel mounts.
Ferrari Repairs
August 21, 2024
Jon has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes:
Continue repairs where I left off. Boot release cable. New cable is too short so work out how to join cables at rear. Make bracket to support both cables in boot. Route cables and join at rear.
Not functioning as intended with joined cables at rear. Find new long bowden cable and use inner which will reach to boot lock in old outer cable. Route and mount and join to lock. Adjust and test. Keep adjusting until operates lock.
Finish boot release cable. Adjust and test, ok. Refit boot trims. Restick carpet to offside quarter panel. Resecure boot floor. Tighten connections to boot light, ok. Remove fuel rrturn pipe from filler neck to fuel pump. Fit new pipe and conne t. Fit 2 p clips to chassis to secure pipe. Refit boot carpets. Resecure box with boot and fuel cap release handles next to drivers seat. Hoover out and refit carpet.
Attend to drivers seat runner. Seat base broken. Get captive nut welded to plate to fit inside seat base to secure runner. Tighten runner and refit drivers seat. Investigate door locks not working via key. Lube and eventually get drivers door lock working ok. Strip passengers door and remove handle. Found striker actuator on rear of key barrel broken. Strip and make new piece fron alloy to fit and try.
Ferrari Repairs
August 19, 2024
Technician Jonn has continued his work on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT. Here are his notes:
Continue repairs. Fit new boot cable and handle. Thread cable through outer and measure. Remove inner cable and handle and compare to old cable. New cable approx 3 foot shorter so will have to join cable in boot to activate lock release. Cut old outer to length and retread inner cable. Make bracket to mount rear portion of cable. Drill out and mock up to check.
Cable hard to pull and bracket not strong enough. Remake bracket from thicker steel and mount in place. Rear cable section is a solid able and has kinks in inner so this may be reason for stiff operation. Adjust length of new cable.
Ferrari Stone Guards
August 12, 2024
Christian has been repairing the stone guards on our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT.
Ferrari Inspection And Repairs
August 8, 2024
Classic car technician Jonn has been inspecting our 1979 Ferrari 400 GT and has started making some of the repairs it requires.
Jonn stripped the interior and removed the boot and pedal release lever mountings. He then removed the boot cable from the boot lock. A new cable was fitted.
Competition Cars Update
July 19, 2024
1989 Daimler Double Six:
Our 1989 Daimler Double Six has been worked on by our incredible technician Jon. He has been going through and doing a few repairs on the luxury V12 saloon before it is ready for its excited new owner. He had to look into why the horn had stopped working which Jon traced and fixed the issue. Then, Jon had to do a couple of repairs to some interior trims and fix one of the fog lights before moving onto replacing a faulty starter relay.
Porsche 914:
“Finish reassembly of dash and steering column. Refit steering wheel and secure and connect and fit horn push. Put wheel brace in boot. Refit roof and fit handle that had come loose. Tighten battery terminals. Fit new terminal to starter exciter wire. Secure fuel pipe and wiring in engine bay. Put 5ltrs fuel in and take outside to warm up. Set carbs and road test. Remove and straighten steering wheel upon return. Remove jets from carbs to check which ones are fitted against the recommended ones”
1979 Ferrari 400:
Our 1979 Ferrari 400 has been in the care of Jon in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop at our Suffolk HQ to be looked over and to collate his condition report.
Stripping the centre console of our 1979 Ferrari 400
July 11, 2024
Workshop manager, and electrical guru, John has been working on stripping down the centre console of our 1979 Ferrari 400. The wood itself will be refurbished for the car, but while it is out John is testing all the switches and making any repairs that are needed. Another part which is being worked on by John is the choke cable which wasn’t connected upto the lever which controls it.
A Classic Ferrari
July 5, 2024
We recently welcomed an exciting new arrival to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop in the form of our 1979 Ferrari 400.
Once it has been inspected by the team, the plan is for this classic Ferrari to be available to win through Bridge Classic Cars Competitions.
