“Is that the nightmare Dino?” someone asked as I exited my 1975 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4. I brought the newly refreshed Dino to its maiden car show last weekend after four years of setbacks and ballooning restoration bills. The onlooker had read the numerous updates we’ve posted over that time, including the “final” episode which ran in the latest issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. I put final in quotes because project cars are never finished.

The 2.9-liter V-8 engine bucks when I’m pulling away from a stop sign but then uncorks a lovely howl from 3000 rpm to the redline. The ultimate culprit is the guy holding the screwdriver—me—and the peculiarities of adjusting the four Weber carburetors. I should probably hire a pro, but I look at the carburetors and think, “How hard can this be?” When or if the engine runs smoothly, I want to feel an extra rush because I figured it out myself. When in life do we get such a concrete opportunity to solve a problem?

In the meantime, I’m in for some major frustration. Hours before the car show last Friday, I was elbows deep in Webers when my colleague Aaron Robinson swung by the garage to offer his opinions. Robinson’s a self-taught DIYer like me but more experienced, especially with the Lamborghnini Espada. He’s restored two Espadas and has spent many hours fiddling with their Webers.

The first tuning step is synchronizing the carbs, so they flow about the same amount of air. Each of the four carburetors has two throats, the tubes that introduce fuel into the air that’s sucked into the cylinders. A butterfly valve in each throat makes a total of eight butterflies. Fuel that’s held in a small reservoir on the carburetor called a “float bowl” passes through needle-thin holes in brass pieces called “jets” and mixes with the air before entering the cylinder. There are four jets per cylinder or 32 total. The size of the needle-thin holes ensures the proper ratio of fuel to air. To alter the fuel ratio, you install jets with different size holes. But first, you need to synchronize.

Syncing the carbs results in every cylinder having roughly the same airflow. With the warmed engine running, you stick a flow meter into each barrel to measure the flow while leaning over the hot engine and trying not to burn yourself. Not fun. It’s a chase-your-tail operation because turning one screw affects another so you end up going back and forth until all eight intakes have roughly the same flow. I’m as guilty as any desk jockey of romanticizing a hands-on job—hell, I did it three paragraphs above—but when it comes to tuning carbs, I silently wonder if most scribes would remain so effusive after working on a car for eight hours. It’s taxing. Robinson, to my great delight, declared I was “95% of the way there,” meaning I hadn’t overlooked something obvious and my syncing operation, which I’d done dozens of times, was in the ballpark. Thus satisfied, we hopped into the car for a 50-mile ride to GM designer Bob Boniface’s suburban Detroit backyard, where he holds an annual private car show to fundraise for Angels’ Place, a nonprofit that provides services for the developmentally disabled.

The Dino ran like a peach cruising down the highway, but it still stumbled when pulling away from a stop, so Aaron and I spent much of the drive spitballing potential culprits. Car mechanics use the scientific method: You observe something, theorize about the root cause, and then investigate to prove or disprove the theory. Robinson thought my engine wasn’t getting enough fuel during that transition period when the motor moves from idle to accelerating. Pressing the throttle with the right foot opens the closed butterfly valves and the burst of air wasn’t being met with enough fuel. So that cylinder would misfire. That was our theory anyway.

There are many possible reasons why an engine runs lean, but I’d already gone down several paths. That’s how this goes: You often find the solution by a process of elimination. We agreed that the next worthwhile steps would be to remove the carburetors, clean and inspect, and then replace the throttle-shaft bearings with modern sealed units. Performing the work took most of the weekend and the more hours I toiled, the more I believed that this effort would pay off.

Late Sunday night, I’d put everything back together and started the engine. My neighbor, who’s been witness to much of my Dino restoration journey, ambled over and said he thought the engine sounded smoother. I agreed but tried to temper my optimism as I pulled out of the driveway because I’ve been in that same place many times. That was wise because, yessss, the stubborn stumble remained. Maybe it was a little less acute. I couldn’t really tell.

Throughout this Dino project, I’ve had all sorts of friendly advice from many friends and associates who are far more knowledgeable than me. Most surmise I’m missing something fundamental, like perhaps the ignition system. Could be, but I already went down that road and saw a strong spark in each of the eight cylinders. An experienced pro could probably have this car sorted in an afternoon, and as I pulled back into the driveway, I thought perhaps the time had come to let one of them have at it.

But then, a day or two later, another theory emerged and, well, I can figure this out, right? I can! (I think. I pray!) And on it goes. I hope your upcoming weekend is less frustrating than mine is shaping up to be!

Here’s some of the latest from Hagerty:

• After the Corvette C8 finally went mid-engine, will the C9 go electric? GM’s Advanced Design studios in Pasadena put a California spin on what a future EV Corvette could look like. It’s the second of three planned concepts.
• Contributor Ivan Berg dives deep into karting, from its mythical Midwest origins to the red-hot prototypes that took the world by storm in the 1950s. Berg was active in karting in its early days, won some races, then wrote a book about it. Whether you’re a casual go-karter or a dedicated weekend warrior, the story sheds light on one of motorsport’s most stripped-down disciplines.
• Dario Franchitti will be the honoree for the 2026 edition of The Amelia. The event, including the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, will be held next March at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on the coastal island northeast of Jacksonville. Franchitti is a four-time IndyCar series champion, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and an overall winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car race. He’s also a knowledgeable and enthusiastic car collector, and Hagerty is thrilled to name him as our 2026 honoree.
• There’s nothing quite like watching a state-of-the-art automotive assembly line, thousands of parts coming together into a running vehicle. Larry Chen got the exclusive chance to tour Toyota's Texas manufacturing plant, the home of the Tundra pickup and the Sequoia SUV.
• Big letters in the rear window of Clay Edwards’s 1971 Pontiac Firebird Formula spell out this muscle car collector’s motto: “Fast is Loud.” It began life as a relatively simple Formula 350, but Edwards quickly went to work on this golden ’Bird. Here’s the kicker: He’s the original owner.
• No regulation has had such a lasting and pervasive effect on the shape of cars and trucks as the dreaded sealed-beam headlight. What started as a cost-cutting measure ultimately hobbled automotive design for decades, particularly in America. Here’s how it happened, and how its effects endure.
• “Healthy,” “nuanced,” “uncertain,” and “picky”—these are the words being tossed around by industry pros about the current collector car market. After a very eventful first half of the year, what’s clear at this midpoint is that… very little is clear at all, as Hagerty Insider explains.

Have a great weekend!

Larry Webster

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