1979 308 GT4

Funny, both my original (euro) and aftermarket (X-OST) muffler have the exhaust tips sticking UP at an angle. Yours seem to be pretty much horizontal... Are all US spec mufflers like that??

Hans
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Actually, the exhaust on my car is not the US spec original. When the headers were changed to european headers, the original exhaust will not fit (as the US and euro. headers are different.) Of course the car is supposed to have two converters in front of the muffler. Anyway, I think I have an Ansa because of the characteristic red band that separates the black portion from the chrome tip.

This drawing is from Forza. It shows what looks like an Ansa exhaust system on this series I. I think I have a similar exhaust system. I don't know for shure, because some other manufacter may have also used the red stripe.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Beta-

Here you go. A couple photos of the heatshield which hooks onto the ss bracket which you show on your car, then down over the steel frame, and under the bumper (affixed with a couple sheet metal screws).

It has a heat shielding material (asbestos) adhered to it. I would have loved to remove it altogether when I did my bumper reduction mod, but was afraid that there was a solid reason for heat shielding the cats/exhaust from the bumper/rear of the car.

John

Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I think the OEM was Ansa as well - maybe not the same type.

You may want to paint black on top of the silver paint - looks better IMO

 

That is great! Thanks for sharing the photographs. Do you also have another piece that covers the back of the reverse light? It does not look like it.

I DO have a shield that bolts on to the bumper but it is clearly smaller and not covered with asbestos. Here is Tav. 112 from the 1979 parts book, which shows something more like what you are showing.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Actually, just behind the chrome tips it was painted wrinkle black, but the muffler itself was just galvanized metal. I did go ahead and paint in with high temp black.

The rest of the bumper area is almost done. Again I am using FLAT BLACK for the semi-gloss black areas and SEMI-GLOSS black for the gloss black areas. Even the SEMI-GLOSS chassis paint I got is way too glossy. It made the car look like a CHEVY or something, so I had to re-paint some areas with the FLAT BLACK. (link to the BEFORE picture:http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136920861&postcount=414) (I LIVE for before-and-after pictures !)
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

In the first week I had the car I took a hammer to the muffler guard, to try to beat it back into shape, as it had been used as some kind of 'parking aid' by some prior owner/driver. I felt I could do a little better job smoothing it out, so after 45 minutes with a hammer and pliers and a block of wood it shows some improvement in these before-after photographs. Now I need to figure out how crazy I want to get repainting this.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I sprayed one of the bumper end pieces and these are some notes to myself:

Bumper paint diluted 25% with Lacquer thinner NOS (not otherwise specified)

First coat became dull, I suspected from hight humidity.
Second coat, in sunlight, was fine but did not flow well at 30psi, tried 25psi and seemed to work better.

 

I have the metal piece that covers the reverse light, too. It is essentially part of the back of the bumper.

The heat shield piece is separate.

John

 

Thank you for the information.

 

It rained today, so no painting. I figured out my problem: the lacquer thinner I was using was too fast acting. It set up before the paint had a chance to layer out. The guy at the paint shop actually said I may not need to thin the bumper paint, so next I will try it without thinning.

 

Bumper end piece is finished. Just some notes: I diluted the bumper paint 50:50 with some extra Chroma One reducer I had laying around. I sprayed at 35psi but perhaps 40 or 45 will be better.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The bumper was stripped with "bumper stripper" and then cleaned with lacquer thinner. Then cleaned with a paint prep solution, sanded with 220 again and cleaned again with paint prep.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Next, I sprayed the "Adhesion Promotor." It went on OK except for two places that had bad fisheyes. This stuff is hard to sand out. This was somewhat of a problem.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Perhaps the petroleum-based "paint prep" solution was giving me problems, so I tried a soap and water prep and re-shot the "adhesion promotor."
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Well, the fisheyes were worse this time.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I had some Griot's Paint Prep lying around so I tried wet sanding with that stuff to see if I could get rid of the fisheyes.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Still more fisheyes! At this point I decided to just sand them out and go right to the primer. 95% of the bumper was fine, just two small areas had the fisheyes from the 'adhesion promotor' coat.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The flexible primer went on fine and sanded nicely. It covered all the fisheyes and the little cracks and scratches in the rubber. It did not cover a few larger gouges.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

For the larger gouges I used some two-part bumper repair.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The primer is all sanded at this point. Almost ready to start painting. Some logistic problems in getting the paint on. It is difficult to reach all three sides at one time. I may have to do the bottom, then let it dry and then do the top. I also may just shoot the inside just to cover the overspray from the primer.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Almost a week of preparation culminated in about 10 minutes of spraying. I used two coats, diluted about 50% with Chroma One thinner, shot at about 45PSI . I was able to prop the bumper on a ledge and spray the three important surfaces at once.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I let the bumper sit for 24 hours. The instructions on the SEM bumper paint warn about installing the bumper too quickly. It indicates that maximum strength occurs after 48 hours. I did leave a few fingernail scratches while moving the bumper around. (this thing is really heavy...what a shame they did this to the car).

This picture shows the reverse light assembly installed. Now I am ready to pull the wires through the bumper.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I re-soldered the wires from the car's wiring harness to the purple 'pull through' wire. Fortunatly there is enough slack that I could leave the bumper on the ground at this point (the ends were propped up on carpet to protect the bumper from the concrete).
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The moment of truth...will the wires pull through, or will they get lost inside the bowels of the bumper??? Gladly, they pulled through without any trouble.
Image Unavailable, Please Login