045961 on the road

It has been 9 months since I bought the car and I finally got it home Saturday after doing quite a bit of work on it over that time; once in the garage, I spent about 10 hours of cleaning to make her purdy; all nooks/cranies , feeding the leather interior excessively (man does the dry leather soak up Leatherique!, very very supple now), claying, waxing, shining etc. all totally worth it; once shiny, took the car out for its first run, about 100 miles, and it performed awesome;love the sound, the feel, the way it handles. All that I had hoped for.
Erik at Rathmann Autoworks in Poway did all the mechanical work; we took our time and again, totally worth it.

We decided to address more items than initially planned, but with the endgame being a car that can be driven daily and that has pretty much all and any small issues taken care of.
Among others we did:
• Complete belt and gasket service
• Changed all fluids
• Changed all filters
• New spark plugs
• New SP wires
• Various gaskets
• Complete injection system clean and overhaul
• All new brake lines
• Fix front suspension strut
• Emptied gas tank and cleaned
• Installed new gas line
• Installed 2 new fuel accumulators
• Charged A/C
• New NOS brake fluid reservoir
• Fixed steering column
• Distributor cap cleaned and adjusted
• New converters

Cosmetic:
• New leather on dash and console (leather a bit tight at moment on top but will stretch with time).
• Cleaned front and rear lenses
• Removed front grille, cleaned and dapped it to eliminate rattle
• Cleaned engine and bay, hood pad
• Cleaned spare wheel and tire
• Initial light underbody cleaning
• Cleaned all interior and lots of Leatherique for all leather parts in interior
• Bought Pininfarina inscribed carpet mats
• Replaced front door speaker grill mats ($2.50  )

Other:
• New battery
• New TRX tires, four
• Wheels correctly repainted
• While console out, checked all wires and connections and replace all light bulbs
• While dash out, replaced all light bulbs, checked wires and connectors
• Fixed trip meter
• Cleaned all gauges as they were out
• Replaced rear bulbs with LED’s for brighter rear lights
• Washer motor, taken apart and cleaned
• New wipers
• New hood struts
• Fixed hood release
• Fixed gas door release
Fixed trunk release
• Aligned seat belt receiver
• Clean trunk of all old materials and glues, newly glue various carpet parts to alu parts they go on, for good fit
• Installed new front headlights for better visibility, kept originals
• Fixed passenger side mirror

Once all of that was done over the last 9 months in stages, now of course next comes registration of a car hailing from Missouri and title, to get it street legal in California. And you all had heard about that one!!

We took the car first to AAA, which verified the VIN etc, then tried to add into DMV system, but would not take; over to DMV with all papers; VIN not in system, but then supervisor helped add it in there. Next SMOG. Smog stations sees the VIN but not the model!!! So, Erik installed new converters, and got the car dialed in on the SMOG machine of a friend. We got totally close to the original EPA 1983 specs and tried it with the so called referee (who makes the determination if your car has all the prerequisites smog pieces on your car to pass CA smog). Apparently the car is nowhere to be found in the CA SMOG/BAR system. So, off to the required Lab in Orange County in the next 2 weeks; they check the car for required emission parts (as far as we know we have everything required on there). If all there, they will test it;it it goes through, they send paperwork to EPA, takes about 4-8 weeks; if approved, back to referee, once more testing, if good, we get registration and BAR sticker; so I am hopeful.

If we are not able to get it through or cost would be prohibitive, then I will have to sell the car outside CA; would really hate to do that; Plan B is then to find a CA legal car as I really love this model, the car itself and want to have one. Keep your fingers crossed.
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some pics from work done
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more
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You could always move out of CA.

 

She's a beaut and you've done some nice work getting her back in nice condition - congrats!

Best of luck getting through the smog stuff. Even with a prior CA registered car, the DMV folks were a bit dumbfounded as to how to deal with the car... a good example is that the person doing the visual inspection wanted to "correct" the model in the DMV files from "412" to "Pinninfarina" (because "that's what it says on the side of the car"). I had to argue with her that the model name was indeed 412.

My suggestion as you go through DMV: watch them like a hawk and make sure they're inputting all info correctly since both VIN and model will be well out of their comfort zone.

Fingers crossed that you can keep this beauty in CA! Keep us posted on how it goes.

Cheers!

Ruben

 

thanks Ruben, appreciate that.
AK Jim, no wayyyyy!!!!

 

Really didn't think you would.

 

love the colors. all that work is now hinged on a person that cannot spell Ferrari. our great country. I sure hope the car stays with you, well deserved

 

Congrats on getting it back on the road! And also--for the work you put into "rescuing" it. I remember the Craigslist ad. Great work...white on black is a great color combination...

 

Great job, best of luck getting it smogged. Hopefully it won't be too stressful!

 

I had he pleasure of seeing Klaus's car yesterday and pictures do not capture just how nice this car really looks. The white/black combo is stunning. Very elegant. I was surprised at how well the white paint color compliments the shape and overall design of the car.

You've got a really special car there Klaus. Enjoy!

 

Thanks Ben, appreciate that. Was also nicely surprised how well the car was received by all at SCC yesterday.

 

How do those mats fit? Are they the ones on ebay?

• Bought Pininfarina inscribed carpet mats

 

GT Jones,
Yes they are, I really like them,fit great,were sent quick and save the original carpet.

 

Would like to buy the same mats for my 412. Can you indicate the supplier please?

 

Also, I love how your car still has the Ch. Pozzi dealer sticker in the back window. Classic.

 

Got ya beat......2 yellow decals in this photo from when I first looked at the 400i
And mine is also white !

Gary
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Yes you are right !!!
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Absolutely Outstanding!

 

Very nice car, congrats for the work done.

 

GT Jones and ON Silver
Mat contact is Automobilia NL Automobilia.NL, special parts for special cars... - Automobilia.NL

 

added this above the Pozzi decal
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Interesting........shows nothing available...
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A friend ordered a set for its 400, the sides are not the right size and quality is very average.

 

the item as ordered through ebay, yes,side piece is about 2" short but for me the main thing is to preserve the carpet and I like the surface of these ,easy to clean.

Automobilia.NL
Automobilia.NL, special parts for special cars... - Automobilia.NL
Cynthia van der Kemp
0031186660871

- ricambi-automobilia

VEL. PF MAT SET TAN/GOLD FOR Ferrari 400 412
VEL. PF MAT SET TAN/GOLD FOR Ferrari 400 412
Item Id: 121706443741
End time: Jul-31-15 09:30:50 PDT
Seller:
ricambi-automobilia (24205)
Member since Oct-28-00 in Netherlands
Location: Zuid Holland, Netherlands