Dino Saga 061203 _ Really Blue Again

Dino Saga 061203 _ Really Blue Again

Eddie moved right on. Primed last Friday, Sanded Monday and Tuesday, Painted on Wednesday, Sanded on Thursday, Polished on Friday. Drove it home Saturday morning. Just under 3 weeks, as Eddie promised. Beat the chrome parts that had to go to Los Angeles. Last word was that they would be in SB on Monday. We will see.

Now the fun begins on my end. Headlights and front turn signals can go in right away. Tail lights, rear side markers and license plate make it street legal. Front side markers are still waiting for inspiration. I could buy new ones but after looking at the old ones I think that I will try making new Chrome parts myself. Originals are chrome plated plastic and do not match the curve of the car. All four markers are unique and the rear ones do fit pretty well. The front ones are fine along the bottom but the top has a tucked waist that lets the fender ride over the chrome. Or not quite ride over and just crack the chrome and the plastic supporting it.

K&S sells brass shapes to hobbyists and their stuff is available in hobby shops that cater to model railroaders. Some hardware stores also stock K&S material. 1/16” x ¼” stock makes a fine frame. 0.025 sheet can be cut and folded to make the recessed part. Soft solder should do fine if parts are jigged well. Sand and polish to shape and chrome. I am going to try one and see how hard and expensive it will be. Left front will be the Guinea Pig. In the meantime the old cracked ones will go back.

I had Eddie paint the aluminum trim around the door wind wings and they now fade into the background. The aluminum was originally black anodized but 34 years of sun bleached the black completely. Was bright aluminum on the outside, still black on the inside. Satin black enamel makes outside match the insides just fine. He also applied a conversion coat to the inside of the doors along the bottoms. That ought to stop any rust that is still there.

Inside of car and engine compartment are pretty dusty. That was a lot of sanding. I will clean it all up and re-stock the trunk with my trusty tool kits. Expect to have everything but bumpers done by mid week. Grass has really slowed down and might not even have to mow this week. But Christmas Parties in the clubhouse start on Friday so expect to be busy for a couple of weeks.

Interesting to see the car with almost no chrome. That is all that is required to make it look modern. Slightly curved door windows would make it complete. Amazing how the design holds on.

Enjoy the pictures. Hope to have it all back together for next week’s Saga.

John
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J-
The car looks great! Does it run any better with the new paint job?

 

Aloha John and thanks again for sharing.......keep up all the great info...what an inspiration you are........looks like your dressed like I am in Maui....t-shirt and shorts does it......Mhalao...Gregg Blue
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what's a paint job like that cost if there was no bodywork?

gregg

 

Congrats, looks great! Did you get a few horsepower out of it too? I'm curious about what a paint job like this costs too.

Birdman

 

Gregg,

Don't want to get too specific. Eddie likes Ferraris and he did a complete, down to metal, repaint 10-11 years ago after repairing major front damage. He had a 308 and now has a 328. I can tell you that paint job was under $5,000. You have to remember also that I pulled all the trim and am putting it all back on. Re-Chroming bumpers is also on my nickel but he is acting as go between. The amount of hand labor is God awfull and it slows down a production shop which is what Eddie runs. But... it can be done... with help from your friends.

John

P.S. Eddie said that the paint itself was over $1,000. PPG all the way with the new more durable clear coat. JC

 

The paint looks great! Now, you are at the crossroads everyone faces after new paint and chrome, where do you stop? How tired is the interior and should I replace the wheels that are looking very tired and dull...

When we redid our Dino, we opted for an all new leather Daytona seats and new Campy rims, the fun just never stops!

Congratulations!

 

Your Dino looks gorgeous!

I'm a big fan of PPG products, been using them since they were called Ditzler (30+ years).

The joke about the winter clothes; not funny

 

A local shop here (in Toledo) that does all the high end cars (yes, there are Ferraris and Lamborghinis in PoDunk too) recently repainted my beater. It was clobbered by a drunk "unsuccessful" hit & skip driver while parked and I elected to get the remainder of the car painted, as it has been in service seven plus (7+) years and suffered its share of stone chips and door dings.

Much like John, I took most of the car apart and put all the trim back on myself (they hung/aligned the repainted body panels). Everything except the windshield header and strip between the trunk and cockpit were painted off the car, making for better coverage and zero unwanted overspray.

Bottom line, right at $4k ($1200.00 insurance/$2800.00 out of pocket, including buying all new rubber seals & chrome, grills, etc.). Not to take any more away from John's thread, the photo album is here: http://www.rfdm.com/gallery/album43
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I'm surprised that you painted it with the glass in - I'm no expert, just intrigued about the order of doing things.

jg

 

Looks great!!
Erik

 

This is fairly common, but risky. Dino's are prone to rust at the base of the winshield so usually it is best to pull the glass and cure any problems hidden behind the glass, if John has my luck a rust bubble will show up next week!.

You can leave the glass in and put a rope underneath the rubber to pull it away from the body so it does not leave a painted edge. The only reason to leave the glass in is money.

If you pull the glass you risk breaking it and you have additional costs to properly prepare the glass openings and reinstall the glass, if the car has no rust issues then you might skip taking the glass out, but since this car has a rust issue (what Dino doesn't?) I think it might have been better to pull the glass.

The winshield is not difficult to get and is reasonable and it is rare that it is not replaced when the car is repainted, the back window however can be tougher to find.

It looks like the shop knows what it is doing and I suspect it did everything right in this case and it looks like a nice repaint.

It is just hard to know where to stop when you start these kinds of projects!

 

Where can you buy front windshields and how much do they cost for a 246 GTS?
Thank you.

 

I believe I bought mine from GT car parts... I actually have a spare windshield in my garage still in the crate for a GT.

I did my Dino about 5 years ago....

 

Remember guys this is John's car we are talking about ! This is a Dino whose entire life has been spent outside in a carport and is used as a daily driver. He is well aware of where rust could be and does the proper preventive maintenance when needed. Leaving the glass in is fine, he knows where his car is rusty and not. Its a pleasure to see his Dino parked in the local lumberyard knowing its going to carry things home that no other Dino would ever bring home. Its a Dino that is a delight to see on the road because I know John is enjoying it as it should be used, not as a museum piece.

You spend a fortune on a paint job for a museum piece not a daily driver that will get door dings, etc.

mike

 

Several sources for front windshields.

I think Tom S. may have some.

There are two or three European guys who have 'em, Dinoparts.de for under 600 Euros, Dennis McCann, try Eurospares in Maine. Matt at Reoriginals.com has them.

I've even seen them on ebay a couple times in the last 12 months.

Not all that hard to find.

DM

 

A museum piece does not sit outside its entire life subject to rain and the elements!

You cannot tell if you have a rust issue with the windshield installed until you have major issues, the only way to know is to remove it. While this might have been a good decision on John's car to leave the glass in, it is not the advice I would have given to anyone, including John.

My point is that ANY Dino is subject to being rusty, I know, I own one! None of my Ferrari's are museum pieces, rain or shine they get driven. My Dino was a 9,000 mile garage kept car when I bought it and when we repainted it, guess what, we had the beginnings of a rust issue at the base of the windshield. There was certainly no evidence of that until I pulled the windshield. Based on my Dino, what do you think the odds are that this or any other Dino might have a similar issue? I suspect very high. Remember, this car went in for RUST repair, its kinda like mice, see one, you probably have two!

I just think there are times to be on the offense, not removing the glass now could later prove to be a false savings. There is NEVER a time it would be cheaper to look for rust than when the car was in primer. If a rust issue comes up now, there is no place on a Dino to blend the paint, it is one continous body.

It might have cost $300.00 to remove, inspect, and reinstall the original glass, for $300, I would have removed it. He spent less than $5,000 on paint or roughly 5% of the cars value, certainly not a fortune!

Just my opinion...

For the record, I am not saying this Dino has rust at the windshield, just saying that I think it would have been money well spent to remove and inspect... a little preventative care. This forum is about exchanging experiences on the cars we are all passionate about, perhaps my experiences with my Dino will benefit someone else.

 

Gorgeous Dino, great paint. This was my GT's original color, and you have convinced me to repaint it in the fairly near future!

Cheers,

Julio

 

John just two questions please:

Is this color "Blu sera 106-A-18"? (looks like it to me)

Could you share the PPG order or code number?

Thanks,


Julio

 

Well one could argue the point about the Museum pieces and whilst one is at it, one could argue about the rust as well. True, with time and dare I say, money, one could do what Omgjon is doing; or do as John Corbani is doing, run the car, know the car and what it needs and take care of it and get it back on the road to enjoy it. Wish I had done that, I might by now be challenging John's mileage

 

John lives in Santa Barbara, it rarely rains there.
Just look at how he dresses in the photo and recall that this is the month of December. Rust may not be as serious of a concern there as it is in other places...

 

I respect that, but you fail to recognize that the car was in because the portion of the door was completely rusted through, my 9,000 mile Dino had this same problem, I think maybe you might be misunderstanding my concerns, doors and windows and rockers are problem areas on ANY Dino, so rust is an issue in Cailfornia or New Jersey..

But I agree, probably less so than a car in the northeast.

Ok we have beat this poor horse to death...! lol nice car enjoy!

 

His earlier repaint was using a Ford metallic dark blue. This repaint look to be the same color. Look in his earlier "Dino Saga" series.

 

john:

how long did it take for you to remove the trim pieces yourself? what are you going to do about the plastic pieces (like the front blinkers) that look worn - are you going to polish them?



for everyone else:

does anyone have experience with removing and replacing the front and rear glass (i know omgjon removed them)? are the current gaskets good enough to seal properly the glass? what is the best way to remove the windsheild trim?

i have a dino that i am going to repaint. i am not going to go as far as omgjon has gone in a restoration, but would like to make it right. clearly to do what i want, the glass will need to come out. based on omgjon and john lead, i think i might remove the trim items myself for fun. any help anyone could provide would be appreciated.

 

You realy want a glass company or the body shop to remove them, not a good idea for a first timer. If your winshield needs to be replaced now is the time, also a good idea to put fresh rubber on, makes install much easier and they may get damaged taking them out.

Also good time to polish the trim while it is out of the car...