My inner OCD made me start a new project: cabin recommissioning. Car has 22kkm (~14k miles) and one of the nicest preserved interiors around, BUT - you can always make nice ... nicer, ha! Before pics: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login (sorry for the incorrect shift knob - it has been already replaced) Seats and dash already taken out: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Instrument cluster's plastic cover polished and PPF protected:: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some people don't mind the patina and some like when everything looks brand new (or almost brand new). I'm in the later camp.
Instrument binnacle (after): Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Driver's seat: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Those seats look awesome, but then to my eyes so did the "before" condition. The only flaw I see with the seats is the wrinkles on the seat bottom, it seems that every single TR has that. I assume that is a result of the curvature on the OEM seat cushion, has anybody come up with a solution to eliminate it? On my car the seat bottom cushion feels a bit compressed/packed, what replacements foam are folks using when they refresh the seats?
As much I wished my car was perfect - it was not. It had some typical scratches for every Testarossa: on the handbrake, driver's seat side bolstering, instrument clusten binnacle top edge, etc. Plus, the whole dash was showing a moderate amount of the chalky discoloration, which you can see here: Left - before; right - after. Image Unavailable, Please Login Now whole interior looks perfect (basicly brand new). Here are some more samples: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Sorry for a dirty door sil - we will dry-ice clean it. Image Unavailable, Please Login I will do a detailed interior photoshoot when the car is ready. While having the dash out, we have also replaced the tweeters. I have posted many pics in this thread: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/testarossa-sound-system-upgrade.673905/
Good catch. The car had four 512TR bits the previous owner had put on the car: 1. Silver cavallino on the front grill 2. Silver cavallino on the rear grill 3. Silver shift knob 4. Metal oil cap. I have completely removed the front silver cavallino as per original TR spec and have changed the silver shift knob to a correct black one. However, I have decided to keep the silver cavallino on the back grille (should be black) as I just like the look better. Ditto for the 512TR matal oil cap, which is such a quality part and looks soooo much better and substantial than the plastic Testarossa oil cap. I already have a new coolant tank decal and new coolant tank cap is coming next.
Got the car back. Sorry for the misaligned driver's seat - the tilt of the seat was off on left and right side of the seat by one 'notch' - already fixed that (need to take new pics). Image Unavailable, Please Login Instrument binnacle - all small scratches on the edge (from finger nails) that are typical to every Testarossa are gone: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Correct (black) shift knob installed: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Doors: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login The dash in all glory: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Some dry ice cleaning, 'cos why not: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Next: door seals replacement. Already got those from a forum member selling them on ebay.
Since you're going for perfect Interior looks good, but the steering wheel is wrong. The F one doesn't say Gritti - that's the Momo version. Got a spare NOS one if you need it. The knob is a Hills Engineering one? You're missing a strap on the intake. And the red protection on the starter terminal. The guys that did your front bumper should fix that overspray.
Great catch on the ducting overspray on the front bumper. I may remove it just to have that ducting painted black, even tho you can only see it with the bonnet open , when you peek behind it. But if one is going after perfection... Front bumper and the engine cover are the only two parts on the car that have been repainted. Front bumper due to having a few stone chips and engine cover since I didn't like the way paint sat on the fiberglass panel - there were some imperfections. Btw - this is how it looked when I bought the car (insulation missing): Image Unavailable, Please Login After cleaning: Image Unavailable, Please Login Some lousy Lougi's job we found: Image Unavailable, Please Login Fixed with resin & fiberglass: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login and done: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login BTW - this is an interesting part we found after cleaning the underside - a sticker from a company that manufactured that part for Ferrari: Image Unavailable, Please Login It thought it was cool, so we left that sticker unpainted (as you can see on the pic above).
As you can see on the first pic, the car had the correct coolant sticker, coolant cap and air intake strap when I got it. I already have the new coolant sticker, but need to order the correct (anodized) cap and that strap. Yes, the black knob I got is from Hill Engineering. The car came with a newer silver knob from 512TR, which I removed (now makes for a great paperweight on my desk). Re the missing red protection cap on the starter terminal you mentioned - is that this part: Image Unavailable, Please Login https://www.ferrariparts.co.uk/part/ferrari/126505 I will order everything from Maranello Parts together, as minimum shipping from the UK is $70 or so.
That's the part but it's NLA. Maybe you get lucky, otherwise you can probably 3D print it. The engine lid insulation is also NLA. There were 2 types, this - http://www.twest.co.jp/archives/003/201606/large-57613456e4bcd.jpg or foam. You can use 2cm thick self adhesive foam cut correctly. Something like this - https://fmic.eu/383285-under-hoodtm-thermal-acoustic-lining-81cm-x-137cm-32-x-54-dei-50510-usa-dei-50510.html
I decided to skip the insulation altogether. All the Testarossas that I have seen with the insulation replaced looked too much DIY-ish for me. The few that still had the original one in place looked even worse. At least painting the cover black gives the engine bay an elegant, clean look. PS. The car also looks cool without the cover, with the engine exposed, but that is too impractical.
The good people @ Maranello Classic Parts managed to find me a seemingly NLA red starter shield: Image Unavailable, Please Login This is the second time they are finding me an NLA part - a few weeks back I have enqured about a battery cover for the F40. A few weeks have passed and presto - a brand new battery cover found! So my advice is always ASK, even if a parts seems to be NLA on all known websites.