My 355 mini-Restoration story

Got them on ebay.

 

Thank you Ferrarichat, Rob and everyone for making this the "thread of the month" It's quite an honor.

See Rob's newsletter and announcement here:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/newsletters/201204.html#Post%20of%20the%20Month

 

Congrats!! Well deserved.

 

Congrats!

 

Fantastic!!!

 

Auguri!

 

The note from Rob hooked me. Thank you for the 2 hour plus read this morning!! Subscribed!

 

Amazing project! Working on fixing up my garage this summer to facilitate such a renovation myself. Model still to be determined : )

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Incredible project!

This is very inspiring... making me want to bite the bullet more and more.

 

Congrats. Great thread indeed - I've been following since the beginning.

Can't wait to see those engine components on the car!

 

Your brake calipers are nothing short of unique. They look very good.

The red air plenums are sweeeet!

Be interesting to see if that vinyl wrap on the side engine skirts can take the heat of the engine bay.

 

Great stuff, Fab. Continues to look better and better.

 

Was supposed to pick up the car today, take some pics & video. Took the day off and was super excited...

Unfortunately, I got the call this morning that it wasn't done yet. What a dissapointment!

I'm supposed to get her tomorrow but there is still a lot to do and I'm not sure how he is going to get it all done in 1 day. Anyway, I've been waiting for months so I guess I can wait 1 or 2 more days....

Can't wait to bring her home.....my stomach is full of butterflies!!!!

 

Very exciting! Is the weather good up in the frozen north by this time of the year? Looking forward to pictures, video and you impression of the finished (for now) product.

 

The days are getting better and better. Snow and subzero temps usually end by mid-march and then the nice weather begins.

 

Yeah, awesome project.

I wonder how much the final price is gonna be...

 

Obviously, one big thing I've learned is that we're never done with these cars and there's always something that needs to be either fixed, replaced or upgraded but I think I can call the restoration complete and I will be posting a final budget along with pics and video hopefully by next monday.

 

Went by the garage today and the car won't be ready until tuesday...

I am F*%K#!G Livid about it!!!!!!!!

My car has been there for close to a month and not much has been done. Other cars that came in after me got serviced before mine. I feel that this is completely unfair that others are enjoying their Fcars on this beautiful weekend while I still have to wait.

On top of everything else, it turns out that one of the Fabspeed test pipes is a little crooked and kind of turns upwards instead of going straight. This is offsetting the whole exhaust placement so it will need to come off and get cut/bent whatever.....more delays....******** this is frustrating!!!!!!

My calipers are back on and the exhaust mounts look good.

Hopefully by tuesday I'll have it but that might get delayed yet again because it's supposed to rain.

AAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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With these cars, you either learn patience or you lose your mind. They go by their own schedule. I had to learn my internal "Ferrari" gear when working on my 348. It is slow and steady. As soon as you try and rush something, she bites you. I just plod along until the job is done. You have done that yourself. Just keep going forward slow and steady and you will get there. Of course, that does not mean you can't stop now and then and blow off some steam.

 

Got a call from Ralph today....turns out he was working on my car until 1am last night and again today, on a SUNDAY!

I immediately felt really really bad about yesterday's post. He's a hard working guy who tries hard to please everyone and knows what he's doing. He's had a few unlucky setbacks and is overwhelmed with work. His garage is completely full.

He's not much of an Internet guy and does not really read my posts even if he knows about this thread in general but I still want to make it right and post that I didn't mean anything bad and I regret it now.

I was dissapointed I couldn't get the car yesterday so I pretty much acted like a big baby when I should have been a little more patient and more understanding. Please everyone disregard yesterday's post......I was only venting and I clearly over-reacted.

Now, onto the car update:

The Fabspeed test pipes I bought were a little off. One of them has a more pronounced angle on the weld than the other. This is preventing the installation of the exhaust. I therefore now have to bring it somewhere to have it bent or maybe even cut and re-welded.

If I can get this done tomorrow, I might get the car back on tuesday.

 

Big Baby!!! lol. On the other hand we DID get a nice little drive in on Saturday and I got to try out a 355... I'm still wiping the drool off my face... I now know why you can't wait.

 

I was really hoping to join you guys, next time I will be there for sure. The car is really coming along nicely

 

I heard about that.