First post, lurked since 2004, just bought 82 GTSi

Hi Brian

Thumbs up on the wheels. I thought the finish could have been a tad bit better. But for the money, can't beat the deal. I am very pleased so far with them. I doubt that I will apply the decals. I would imagine they'll peal off easily. What did you do on yours?

Speaking of saving money and good deals....Rutlands has been taking pretty good care of me. When I put together my big parts order, I went to Rutlands and said I am a poor basturd Alfa owner...I am cheap!...help me out. And they did. John over there hit me with a 25% discount across the board and has been taking care of me sense on the little orders too. Just as an example, got the AP clutch kit with seals and TO bearing for $518. That didn't include the rear main. But I think that is decent pricing as far as I can tell.

Thumbs up to Superformance, FerrParts, and Ricambi too. No bad apples yet.

Best Regards,
John M

 

Self indulgent pat on my own back!

Got the clutch and the timing belts done. Well and numerous other tasks while I was there. Went fairly smooth with birdman's guide in front of me.

One nagging issue....that really had me cussing....that dam alternator adjustment bolt. What are you guys using to tighten that SOB? I finally cut down a socket dummy driver. I have to admit, and I am sure you can tell, that captured bolt and 17mm nut that you must reach around the alternator to loosen and tighten was not Enzo's engineers finest hour. So there must be some special tool. Let's see a picture of it please.

Just an FYI...I tried using the NAPA cam lock...and its not worth a poop. Probably wasn't using it right. Next time I'll either just leave them unlocked....or whip up the wood clamp.

Car started on the jack stands tonight...and shifted into all gears. Running smooth. No leaks. Looks like I have a driver now....well once I adjust the clutch, bleed the coolant, put the wheels back on, etc, etc.

Best Regards,
John M

 

The appearance of the car is improving. I have drilled the shocks on the front bumper and pushed it in. Also added euro lenses for the turn signals. The window tint is also a thing of the past. Strypeeze paint remover made removing the tint glue easy without even needing a razor blade. Next project will be to recess the rear bumper by removing the spacers.

Wondering about the heat that comes off that muffler in the space between the rear bumper and rear valance. Anyone had any issues when doing this modification with the bumper melting in that area as a result?

Best Regards,
John M
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Thanks Vinny!

She takes good pictures. She is calling out for a paint job...same color though....of course. Then she'll make for some serious eye candy up close. Still got to put the 16" wheels on her too.

Best Regards,
John M

 

Thanks Chris!

Best Regards,
John M

 

Let there be wheels! Superformance 16" replicas with Kuhmo Ecsta 4X tires. The center caps sent from Superformance were in OEM Ferrari parts bags....so one would assume they are OEM caps. Drive and balanced out great.

Went to the body shop...got the estimate for respray going.

Best Regards,
John M
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Hi Brian:

These caps have a groove on the inserted neck. I went by Lowes, in the plumbing section, and picked up some O rings that did the trick. I needed two packages at $2.27 per and utilized the two thinner of the four O rings from each package. We also added just a touch of clear silicon on the fronts as they seemed more loose and thought they might rattle. After around 75 miles...they all remain.

Best Regards,
John M
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Time to update the list...

As of today...the car is disassembled and getting the respray prep. She is getting new skins on the lower part of the doors and other rust repair to the body. After looking at the rust buildup that develops between the door frame and the door skin, its a defect we all will ultimately be dealing with if you own one of the non-galvinized bodied 308s. We are replacing metal as necessary elsewhere. Front bumper was rusting internally, and had to be skinned, repaired, and reassembled. Seen this before on Alfa Romeo rubber bumpers. Back bumper was fine. Of course, we have pulled all lids, doors, grills, bumpers, headlights, etc....for the respray prep.

Got new lights for her. Decided to keep the original US side markers, and purchased all new ones from Ferr Parts for less than $80 shipped. On the fronts, installed euro signal marker lenses purchased through Superformance. And the original rear tail lights cleaned up nicely, but I decided to purchase new from Superformance for around $620 shipped. The headlights are modified (some shielding removed) Xenarc HID Sylvanias 6024. I purchased them a few years ago for such a project. And modified, they are nice and bright.

Interior is out and sitting in my garage awaiting leatherique. Doing seats, console(s), carpet, door panels, and steering wheel leather. The leather is in good shape, just covered in a poorly attempted respray. Should clean up like new.

Refaced and calibrated speedometer just arrived from PAS. Have a NOS 85 unit as well.

Clutch assembly, fuel filter, air pump check valve, trans fluid (Royal Purple), engine oil and filter, coolant and new SF aluminum expansion tank, timing belts and Hill bearings, drive belts, speedo sender, oil pressure sender, cleaned the window regulators, replaced the window motors and window buttons, installed the superformance replica 16in QV wheels with Kuhmos, and more all have been completed. Car is very reliable at this point, and everything works....will it did before it got disassembled.

Paint code is confirmed as AZZURRO FER 502/C. (Thanks Chuck!). We did a spray out. Going to look great!

I haven't set down to add it all up, but as you can tell you have to put some money in them to get them the way you want them.

Best Regards,
John M

Here is the list....
Green completed or near completion
Orange in process currently
black planned
red stopped

Engine and Drive Train

1. Clutch kit including pressure plate, friction disc, throw out bearing, bell housing O rings, rear main seal, clutch cable (maybe), and any other consumables. Understand I need a special socket.(Rutlands AP, Installed)
2. Timing belt kit including two belts and tensioner bearings...need to fab cam lock.(Rutlands for belts, Ricambi for Hill bearings, NAPA FOR CAM LOCK)
3. Water pump (new or rebuild current?) (brass or pot metal impeller?)
4. Replaced Oil pressure gauge sender (Dennis McCann $70)
5. Replaced Speedo pulse sender (Superformance)
6. Drive Belts (replace all, next to do, parts from Rutlands)
7. air injection check valve (one installed, Rutlands)
8. Radiator hoses (inspect...likely replace all on major)
9. rubber Fuel lines (inspect...likely replace all on major)
10. Ignition, distributors' cap and rotors, plugs, wires (likely leave alone right now, replace on major)
11. Oil and filter replace (mobil one 15/50 syn, Rutlands for filter)
12. trans fluid replace (royal purple)
13. Considering de-smog, de-cat (any advice welcome)
14. I know I should in the near future check cam clearances, that will be round two....the major
15. What is that wire harness plug near the reservoir on the left side of the engine bay pic?
16. Replace expansion tank (rusting out at the beads across the top, replaced with Superformance aluminum repro, had to fab adaptor for sensors)
17. Replaced air filter (TRutlands)

Body, Brakes, & Trim
Overall pretty good shape here but there are some needs.

1. Rear parcel seal (Rutlands, installed)
2. Rear parcel vinyl zipped cover (off ebay repro, installed...nice unit)
3. replace Engine deck lid mesh (mine has a hole in it...who knows how that got there!, clamp pointing up????)
4. Engine deck lid strut x 2 (Advanced Auto, $40, installed)
5. Gas door rubber flap (installed, Rutlands)
6. flag mirror screw cover (small one, parts arrived from Ricambi)
7. replaced Nose badge (ebay $85)
8. replaced decals...emissions, expansion tank, paint (made them $0)
9. Rotors and pads (Rotors good, pads good, ATE pads from Rutlands arrived, to storage)
10. Brake fluid
11. replaced FRONT GRILL (someone cut it to fit the bosch fogs in there! Excellent shape used unit installed from ebay $400)
12. spare tire hold down bolt
13. books folder (have the books)
14. jack (have the rest of the tools and the jack bag)
15. Door limit strap pin (someone stuck a phillips screw in there)(Rutlands, one arrived, one back ordered)
16. replaced cig lighter (NOS Ferrari part ebay $11)
17. Matts tan - parts arrived, color off
18. redye Carpet set tan
19. rear shelf and b-pillar upholstery material (mine has been painted black!)
20. replaced clock glass - parts from Crowndog
21. Leatherique kit on order (carpet, leather, steering wheel)
22. Front bonnet foam kit (Rutlands, will install after paint)
23. Remove Fogs
24. Remove window tint
25. Need battery cover (replaced with repro from FERRPARTS)
26. Replaced Window motors x 2 (slow moving), cleaned regulators, installed new switches
27. Replaced speedo head unit with NOS 85mph unit, sent original 85mph unit off to PAS for recal and reface to 180mph unit

The Finale
1. replaced/stored original TRX with four reproduction 16 in. wheels, new center caps, new valve stems, and four new kuhmos
2. Rust repair and complete respray (body not too bad, but rust in door corner and around the car in various places. Looks surface)
3. Complete engine rebuild (will do bearings, piston rings & pistons -- and liners if necessary, valves, valve guides, valve stem seals, etc.)

 

Thanks Patrick:

Since this ole gal arrived without much documentation, I thought I would start a history and compile some good documentation going forward.

How about some Ferrari porn?......all new tail lights arrived safely. The reds have different bulb holders than my 82. These came in the Ferrari boxes so I would assume OEM carellos.

Have the originals up on ebay if anyone interested http://www.ebay.com/itm/130657036532?item=130657036532&viewitem=&vxp=mtr#ht_2041wt_113

1st picture on the cook top are my originals. The 2nd picture of the single pair are the new ones (if you couldn't tell!). The new ones are just so much brighter and capture more light than my originals even after extensive cleaning.

Best Regards,
John M
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The car resides in the body shop, blown apart. And with the Leatherique dye for the saddle leather, steering wheel, and carpet as well as new trim plates for the console on the way, no better time to strip the dye off all the leather. Got it all done in around 10 hours or so. I disassembled it all as well. So the panels are off the seat backs, the pockets off the door panels, console completely blown apart.

Someone along the ownership of this car got real happy with a spray can. The interior hand been sprayed with some sort of dye with the interior installed in the car. Besides some minor overspray, you could see things like the outline of the seats on the console! Geez...such good work. They really lathered it on the console top, and the seating top surfaces. Fortunately, this thick coat wasn't hiding a bunch of issues.

Overall the leather looks really fantastic considering its age. I'll have a little work to do filler wise on the driver's seat back and bottom, and a little on the console around the E-brake boot. A few others, but nothing really significant. The rest looks really nice.

Bring on the Leatherique!

Best Regards,
John M
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Plenty

Honestly haven't added it up. I'll probably be a bit below 30K all in. Realize that is getting a really good deal on paint and body work from a long time friend who has done plenty of body shop work for me over the years and I am turning my own wrenches.

Best Regards,
John M

 

Thanks Robert!

Don't need them yet. Everything working on the originals. If things start getting goofy, I will though snag a "birdman". Thinking the next go at her this winter might be an engine out for a preventative rebuild.

Before I forget....need to add to my list. I have replaced the inner and outer rear wheel bearing on the passenger side. Will do the driver side bearings when she gets home. The passenger side was particularly bad and making a "c-130" drone. Driver side not so bad yet, but I purchased both sides. My 308 is, dare I say it, almost quiet at highway speeds.

Best Regards,
John M

 

Updated List:

Green completed or near completion
Orange in process currently
black planned
red stopped

Engine and Drive Train

1. Clutch kit including pressure plate, friction disc, throw out bearing, bell housing O rings, rear main seal, clutch cable (maybe), and any other consumables. Understand I need a special socket.(Rutlands AP, Installed)
2. Timing belt kit including two belts and tensioner bearings...need to fab cam lock.(Rutlands for belts, Ricambi for Hill bearings, NAPA FOR CAM LOCK)
3. Water pump (new or rebuild current?) (brass or pot metal impeller?)
4. Replaced Oil pressure gauge sender (Dennis McCann $70)
5. Replaced Speedo pulse sender (Superformance)
6. Drive Belts (replace all, next to do, parts from Rutlands)
7. air injection check valve (one installed, Rutlands)
8. Radiator hoses (inspect...likely replace all on major)
9. rubber Fuel lines (inspect...likely replace all on major)
10. Ignition, distributors' cap and rotors, plugs, wires (likely leave alone right now, replace on major)
11. Oil and filter replace (mobil one 15/50 syn, Rutlands for filter)
12. trans fluid replace (royal purple)
13. Considering de-smog, de-cat (any advice welcome)
14. I know I should in the near future check cam clearances, that will be round two....the major
15. What is that wire harness plug near the reservoir on the left side of the engine bay pic?
16. Replace expansion tank (rusting out at the beads across the top, replaced with Superformance aluminum repro, had to fab adaptor for sensors)
17. Replaced air filter (TRutlands)
18. Replaced inner/outer PS upright rear wheel bearings (SF)
17. Replaced inner/outer DS upright rear wheel bearings (SF, parts have arrived)

Body, Brakes, & Trim
Overall pretty good shape here but there are some needs.

1. Rear parcel seal (Rutlands, installed)
2. Rear parcel vinyl zipped cover (off ebay repro, installed...nice unit)
3. replace Engine deck lid mesh, custom making one at body shop (mine has a hole in it...who knows how that got there!, clamp pointing up????)
4. Engine deck lid strut x 2 (Advanced Auto, $40, installed)
5. Gas door rubber flap (installed, Rutlands)
6. flag mirror screw cover (small one, parts arrived from Ricambi $100, bought two)
7. replaced Nose badge (ebay $85)
8. replaced decals...emissions, expansion tank, paint (made them $0)
9. Rotors and pads (Rotors good, pads good, ATE pads from Rutlands arrived, to storage)
10. Brake fluid
11. replaced FRONT GRILL (someone cut it to fit the bosch fogs in there! Excellent shape used unit installed from ebay $400)
12. spare tire hold down bolt
13. books folder (have the books)
14. replaced jack with Alfa Romeo Spider jack...removed nub off top of jack to make work with F car(have the rest of the tools and the jack bag)
15. Door limit strap pin (someone stuck a phillips screw in there)(Rutlands, one arrived, one back ordered, being installed with paint work)
16. replaced cig lighter (NOS Ferrari part ebay $11)
17. Matts tan - parts arrived, color off
18. redye Carpet set tan
19. rear shelf and b-pillar upholstery material (mine has been painted black!)
20. replaced clock glass - parts from Crowndog $25
21. Leatherique kit on order (carpet, leather, steering wheel, $277)
22. Front bonnet foam kit (Rutlands, will install after paint)
23. Remove Fogs
24. Remove window tint
25. Need battery cover (replaced with repro from FERRPARTS)
26. Replaced Window motors x 2 (slow moving), cleaned regulators, installed new switches
27. Replaced speedo head unit with NOS 85mph unit ($300 Lyle Tanner), sent original 85mph unit off to PAS for recal and reface to 180mph unit ($210, Palo Alto Speedometer)
28. Replace DS door hinge pins, door pops when open fully, being completed at body shop (parts from Rutlands)
29. Replace console AC control plate (Italian Car Parts $75)
30. Replace console toggle switch plates (Ricambi $106)
31. Replace Antenna Gasket (Unobtanium $55)
32. Source Emergency/Trouble Light kit
33. Replace Marker Lights, NEW Originals (Ferr Parts $80)
34. Replace Tail Lights, NEW Originals(Superformance $625)
35. Replace Headlights with modified HID Xenarc x6024 kit, NEW ($300, alfa connection buy)

The Finale
1. replaced/stored original TRX with four reproduction 16 in. wheels, new center caps, new valve stems, and four new kuhmos
2. Rust repair and complete respray (body not too bad, but rust in door corner and around the car in various places. Looks surface)
3. Complete engine rebuild (will do bearings, piston rings & pistons -- and liners if necessary, valves, valve guides, valve stem seals, etc.)[/QUOTE]

 

The 308 came home from the body shop this Friday. She needs a return visit for a final clean up...but I had to bring her home....couldn't wait any longer! As I walked around her today, the body is about as near perfect as one could hope. I did find one little sag on the front passenger corner that will need addressing with some wet sanding and buffing...but that is about it. The paint is just glass. She is running well now, drives without over heating, clutch is perfect, shifts perfect, looks perfect. I did the full respray from Feb-Aug 2012. We pulled the car apart and did it all. Looks spectacular now. The interior got the leatherique. Did everything except the dash and arm rests. Leatherique does wonders, but it won't fully turn the clock back. I think at some point I want to really replace the interior...entirely. But that can wait awhile.

I really want to pull that engine apart at some point for at least an upper end rebuild, and performance cams. Transmission shifts perfectly...so nothing there needed other than preventative items like new seals that could be done easily while its out. Anyway...here are some photos. Azzurro 502C...the original color as best as could be discerned. Its a beautiful color, and has a bit of pearl in the formula according to my body shop.

Best Regards,
John M
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Jim and Stuart

Thanks for the compliments. She is #40371 from December 1981...a 1982 model year. I recreated the catalyst decal for the jam, while the VIN plate is in original condition. Of course we removed all that for the painting...but that was not too difficult. Sounds like mine is near your silver ride Jim. What is your serial last 5 digits?

Roads are fairly fun over here. I had to make a spin around the countryside today...of course! Stuart I apologize for these pics as I am grabbing them in poor light in the garage with a tablet. But as you can see the interior looks decent, but not as good as that paint job. I may have to bite the bullet at some point and redo all that leather and carpet. But that is another battle for a later day. Those wheels are superformance reproductions and I agree that they make a huge difference to the good on the car appearance and handling wise. As to the costs, I want to help others with the cost expectations of bringing one back that was somewhat tired and inexpensive with regards to the initial purchase cost. But I am not fretting over the costs and dont loose sleep over them. Actually, so far the costs have been more than reasonable for what I have accomplished. All money well spent for fun.

Best Regards,
John M.
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