Wednesday, October 10, 2012

An often overlooked part: The front cooling panel

The nose of the Dino has two large openings in its lower section to duct air to the radiator. These are present because the oval front grill does not allow enough air by itself to adequately cool the engine.

Ferrari engineered and fitted the cars with a panel that can be installed or removed as needed when lesser or greater airflow is required. These panels have more often than not been lost with the passage of time.

Moreover, nose repairs over the years, have left more than one Dino with its mounting holes filled in as the body shop at work was never aware that the panel existed in the first place. Our car was no exception as even before we started, the mounting holes had long since been covered over.

In keeping with making the car correct a new panel is being fitted by the guys at RM. This panel will be painted with the car and kept for installation on cool fall days.

Keen observers will also note that a new grill surround is being made and is in the early stages of being fitted. There is still a lot of trimming left to do before sending it off to anodizing but we are certain that we are in the right hands as work progresses.




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