RESTORING THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OF A 1972 V12 FERRARI 365 GTC 4
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When I acquired the car it was holding a valid,current Ministry of Transport Test certificate & should have been road legal.This was not the case & brake lights, direction indicators only functioned intermittently & the condition of the headlamps were poor & functioned below required test standard. |
The silvering on the headlamp reflectors was so badly corroded the MOT tester had obviously not paid any attention to this& several other relevant items. It was clear that with a diligent inspection the routine annual inspection would have resulted in failure on this & quite a few other items. |
Since my acquisition every single part of the electrical system has since been subject to specialist overhaul, repair, or replacement as detailed below.Some of these items were very difficult to source especially for RHD cars. |
   Headlamp motors, mountings, hinges & attachments before after gentle blasting & repainting. Motors were overhauled by a specialist company to ensure simultaneous operation of both headlamp pods. I have no idea of what the motors originally looked like but the residue of paint suggested silver & satin black. |
   The headlamp pod motors were out of sync lifted up at a different rates.The drivers side pod was especially slow & I was not sure wouldachieve the raised position.The motors have now been rebuilt & the various parts cleaned.greased & repainted. Installation & alignment of the headlamp pods proved tricky. Installation & adjustment of the pods without damaging the new paintwork is a two man job. |
Starter Motor |
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Foot well fans I stripped these these fans apart because their exposure to the elements had rusted them quite badly & they ran weakly.I have replaced the motor brushes & lubricated the bearings.After repainting them they look fine & are much more effective. |
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Wiper Motor The wiper motor was really slow due to a combination of age & the condition of grease. I stripped the motor apart, replaced the bushes & the motor bearing & replaced the grease with a suitable lithium based product.The operation is much improved but not so you would want to be out in really heavy rain!! |
 Ignition distributor 4 x sets of points , |
.jpg) Ignition components are Marelli and the system operates through a twelve cylinder, twin coil distributor cap, It can been clearly seen that there are alternate cylinder contacts at two levels.The white numbers refer to the lower level contacts & yellow to the upper level contacts. The twin level rotor arm is a substantial unit shown right. |
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Ignition Coils There is a ballast resistor on the front of each coil to improve & stabilise coil performance & facilitate staring. These were checked out by a local company & were in perfect working order Spark Plugs |
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 Air Horns The horn compressor was non functional due to lack of oil. I filled the oil reservoir & tried it daily until it freed. Once free it just needs to be both used & oiled regularly |
 The red paint on the trumpets was peeling badly & I stripped back to the metal which was shiny chrome.I roughened the surface with emery paper & used an acid etch primer before repainting original red |
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 Rear Stop/tail lights: Carello Reversing light: Carello |
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 Headlights: The headlights were extremely difficult to find for use on a RHD car. The major sources i.e U.S.A. & Europe use lamps for left hand drive cars (circulazione destra) & I needed lamps for a RHD car (circulazione sinistra drive on the left) I luckily found a pair of NOS lamps for a RHD car in Tokyo.They were the correct lamps with provision to take a parking light bulb part number 05.244.816. |
 Driving lamps: I have two correct Carello driving lamps plus the protective covers to replace the rusty incorrect ones fitted on the car when I got it. |
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 Front direction indicators : |
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 I am not sure of the original vehicle source of these units but I am certain they are not only for this Ferrari. Looking at their fit & shape the body must have been formed to fit the light & not vice versa. |
 Every principal circuit is assisted by a suitable relay as the relay board shows. This schematic is by Wil Stevenson of Seattle, USA.All these relays are stock FIAT 4200798 units& readily available.There are other relays in the electrical system but these units are fitted on the relay board under the passenger side scuttle on a RHD car. |
 Radiator fans I have stripped these fans & replaced the motor bushes. They now work perfectly & I have repainted the casings & fan blades |
Alternator Overhauled by specialist electrical motor repair company |