Testarossa XR2?

Gentle Reader,

This weekend the weather finally cooperated. Gorgeous, sunny, mid-70's and low humidity. Well, today, it's nearing 90 with some humidity. Nonetheless, I got so much
done Friday, Saturday and today, never mind the extra warmth. Oh great, I just looked
outside and it's raining. KT and the Boys are coming over, we were gonna grill out.

BACK to the title of this post: Testarossa XR2?

Testarossa is Italian for Red Head. Ferrari named their sports car in the late 1950's Testarossa because the cam cover was painted red.

The Capri XR2 came with the cam cover crinkle-painted black. However most of it had chipped off over the years. "DOHC" and "16 VALVE" were painted red on the cover.

Yesterday, I removed all the accoutrement above and attached to the cover, and the cover itself. The rubber gasket had been seeping oil, so it was time to replace it. Plus,
I wanted to paint the cover red. See below:
Once the paint is good and hard, like next weekend, I will remove what is in the way and carefully sand the flat surface the surrounds the lettering. I may leave them red, or paint them black. Depends on how it will look.

"So," you may be thinking, "what's with the aluminum foil?"

While it may look like foil and it is aluminum, or it may be stainless steel, it is the outer coating of insulation tape.

"Why?"

That pipe comes from the intercooler. The intercooler cools the intake air that has been compressed by the turbocharger. One day, I'd opened the hood after just getting home from work. That pipe was too hot to touch.

Think about it. The intercooler is supposed to cool the air. From it, the air travels up that rubber hose over the hot exhaust and engine to the intake. So, I insulated the pipe first with really good foam tape, then covered it with the very sticky aluminum tape to help reflect the heat away from the pipe.

The cooler the "charged" air is, the better for the engine to use and it makes more power, too.

I also crawled under the car and replaced the non-existent shift rod bushings. I could move the shifter in any gear at least eight inches side-to-side. Plus, it buzzed at constant speed. Thanks to Mid-County Mustangs, I bought new bushings. Unfortunately, Ford/Mazda only made two of the three bushed pieces replaceable. That didn't stop me, no sir/mam!

I simply brought the whole assembly in the house, found suitable pieces in my parts bins, ground off the riveted end of the pin and replaced it with a bolt, washers and lock nut.

Good as new! WOW! What a difference. Nice firm and it goes where it's supposed to go
and not all over the place.

Check a couple more things off the vehicle to-do list. That's it for now.

Thanks for looking,

Scott