Lamborghini Miura Restoration Log

Week 21, 25 July 2007

Restoration, Week 20: Work is continuing apace, despite my delinquency in updating the page. There aren’t a whole lot of pictures since the various parts are strewn about the San Francisco Bay Area with various specialists (and because I brilliantly forgot my camera last time I went to the shop).

Engine news: The new valves have arrived and work has begun on the engine. One of the rods was found to be cracked and thus new Carillo rods were ordered. The crankshaft magnafluxed okay and once the new rods arrive, we will be able to determine what further work will be necessary for the crankshaft. The block checked out okay with sound main bearing saddle and good pressure check. The heads were largely okay but there were the following issues: 8 of the 12 spark plug holes were found to have unusable threads, including one without any threads at all(!) Thus, they are being fitted with “time-serts”. One head was slightly warped and thus required some surfacing. Clearance was found to be exceesive on both intake and exhaust valves and new guides with seals are being installed, which are of a special modified design that is the creation of Geoff Provo. Other issues included one head stud bore that was corroded through all the way to the water jacket, which would have resulted in some fairly spectacular coolant leaks had the motor been run. The nature of the problems we discovered (cracked rod, inability to install sparkplugs, coolant leaks) undoubtedly reinforces the importance of the cautious and thorough approach we are employing in this restoration. This is clearly not a situtation in which to leave anything to chance, particularly given the previous shop’s apparent inability or unwillingness to do much of anything correctly.

Shop news: The new gasket set has arrived, and the seats left to be stripped and the frames repaired as necessary. We will eventually have to choose a color for the interior upholstery; I personally think dark blue leather would look very smart. The brakes are finished being rebuilt and we selected the color for them (a correct enough medium silver). We also selected color for the springs and chassis, which will also be correct enough blue, green, and black respectively. The new valves have arrived and are at the machine shop, and the rebuilt Konis are back as well. The rebuilt instruments have arrived from Palo Alto Speedomter and look stunning. Finally, a pair of 9-inch reproduction rear wheels has been ordered from Great Britain.

Body News: The chassis/monocoque and body panels are back at the bodyshop from the blaster and have been stripped and primed, which was extremely labour-intensive (and expensive!). Surgery will begin shortly. We have a trip planned for this Friday morning (the 27th of July) to go to the body shop to see the progress in this area.

New valves

Rebuilt Konis

Seats prior to disassembly

Gasket set

Cracked connecting rod

Refurbished instruments. Notice that the speedometer is still showing the original mileage from new of 34,681km.