My 355 mini-Restoration story

Ok, so after 2 unsuccesful attempts at making touch ups with a brush (which looked absolutely horrendous) I had just a little bit of dye left this morning and I took out the spray gun and compressor again. Diluted with about 35-40% water and went at it slowly because I had a lot of touch ups to do and very little dye left.

The result is absolutely magnificient and looks perfect.

For all those of you out there who want to do this work on your Ferrari, the Connoly leather just cannot take the dye being applied with a brush, it simply does not work and leaves streaks. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

You must get a spray gun and adjust it to a small mist and you can do a great job and make the leather look new.

The downside is everything has to come out of the car (seats, dash, center tunnel, handbrake cover, etc....)

It takes time and patience but it is definetly worth it

 

I've completed the leatherique work and I noticed the carpeting on the door panels was pretty beat up. I figured I would get a new piece of carpet but when I noticed that the piece of carpet was sewn into the trim edge leather piece, I decided not to mess with it and left it there.

I looked all over for some type of carpet paint or dye and came up with nothing. I therefore decided to get some acrylic artist paint from Walmart and try it out. Matching the colors was challenging but I figured a 50/50 mixture of nutmeg color and raw sienna color would be best.

I mixed both colors, added 50% of water (this paint dries fast) and brushed it into the fibers of the carpet back and forth. I let it sit for 5 minutes and then began rubbing the carpet with a dry rag to remove all the excess. You have to be careful not to rub too much out or the carpet will end up looking the way it did before.

The result is pretty good but a little bit dark, in retrospect, I think the raw sienna alone would have been a better fit but overall I'm happy and it took very little money, very little effort and very little time to do....

Here are some before and after pictures
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Work on the interior is going well....I stripped the old leather off the dash and then cleaned all the foam and glue off which took almost 2 hours. I put some paint thinner in a spray bottle and I would spray a section at a time then brush off with a metal brush, respray then remove excess with a large head screwdriver, respray and wipe off with a rag until I was down to the bare surface.

Once done, I cleaned it all off with some denatured alcohol and let it dry.

I then brushed on contact cement glue on the dash and the petroleum foam that will go on the dash before the leather. I let that dry for about 20 minutes and glued it on then cut out all the holes. It went well, next step will be putting on the leater which will be a challenge!!!!

I will post pics when I'm done.
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Next steps for the interior will be to complete the leather on the dash and then put in new tweeters and speakers. Might as well do that now since everything is exposed.

Finding speakers to fit this door panel was quite a challenge because they are either too deep or portrude too much outwards and would rub on the metal grilled behind the panel.

I found the best fit to be the XR-S17P and, at 149$ on sale from 600$, it was a bargain. I will need to put in a small spacer on the contour of the speakers in the door panel to give it some extra protection and make sure it doesn't rub but I'm confident these will work great!
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Soon to be addressed will be the sticky interior and find the best solution to remedy this. I will also start a separate thread relating my experiment with different products and outcome soon.

In the meantime, a box full of sticky stuff still sits in my garage waiting....
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After hearing how it was almost impossible to save the trim kit around the windhsield, I began to worry that it would cost me an extra 1000$ so I researched and found a local guy with a lot of Ferrari experience.

The trick is to remove the bottom trim gently and carefully and then lifting the windshield from the bottm while leaving the top and side trims on the car. They will lift righ out

If you try to remove the top and side trims before removing the windshield, that's when you run into trouble and damage it.


I found a little rust which will be addressed before it gets painted
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She sure is......she was prepped for skin surgery and admitted into the sanitized Operating Room on saturday morning. She was then put under anesthesia and the operation went well. The doctors were successfully able to remove all the green on her skin and bring her to glory with a stunning new red color.

She can now go on and live a normal, healthy life and hopefully a bright future. As a parent, I will do my best to care for her and maybe get her a sister one day (Perhaps a 360).

I love her dearly and plan to take care of her always.
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Thanks Todd, still waiting for your rear grille to come in by the way. It's almost like this car will always have a piece of you.....like your car donated an organ to mine! (Am I getting carried away here? Perhaps yes but I'm so excited!!!....)

 

Top will remain black as is

 

Thanks Eddy, Let me know when you take your first ride, I will definetly want to join you guys!!!!