Here's my series 1 81 400i grill. Not exact but roughly 5-3/4" wide and 6" high. Note crack, both are like that. Image Unavailable, Please Login
If the grill dimensions are the same with the exception of mount pins vs screws how hard would it to have a second program that mills the end slots with a step so us 400 owners can drill mount holes?
Good day Gary, Thanks for the pictures! Indeed, the mounting holes are a lot different than what I was expecting... I thought that they were in the corners, as opposed to the "step" that Paul mentioned. Cheers, Sam
Good day Paul, Thanks for the pics! My 365 grill is 150 mm square (about 5.9")... The dimensions are close, but the 400 series would appear to be not square... Or maybe they were and grill distorted over time? Cheers, Sam
Good day Paul, It is possible, but one would need to confirm the dimensions, as my 365 is quite square... However, I will check again in case they were distorted because of the heat warping, etc. Cheers, Sam
I'm not so ceratin about my speaker grills after seeing the pictures from Gary and Newman. I think mine looks like that withh the screw inside the recess. The holes in each corner is maybe just a "thing" on the drawings ?
Good day Theodore, Nothing was scanned. I do have access to a 3-D scanner, but find that I can CAD up most simple designs faster with less touch-ups. Consequently, I designed the speaker grill using CAD. My machinist took my CAD design and then ported it to Solidworks to create a 3-D model. From here he will migrate the Solidworks file to what is needed by the Milling machine. I could create a 3-D print of the grill, but the quality of the 3-D printers I have access to are just "ok"... I much prefer milled metal, as it will by much more durable and can be finished to whatever someone would want... powder coated, anodized, painted, even plated if one wanted. Cheers, Sam
Good day All, I have not posted in this thread for a while and so I thought I would update it... Over the past year I have had little time to work on 18775 and so not much has been done... other than finding a few bits here and there that I was looking for (e.g. new side moldings, door ajar light, etc). However, I was planning my strategy on the car and ultimately decided to: a. Re-paint the car to a nice Driver's quality I plan on driving the car as a daily driver and so fully restoring and having a show quality repaint seemed pointless. The current paint is OK and I could live with it, but it really needed some refreshing... so a repaint was decided. b. The interior was knackered. The hot desert climates took their tool on the leather and the dash and so these simply needed to be redone... and has been. I splurged for new leather (same color, etc as the original) and dash material from Henk (HVL). c. The suspension rubbers are old and cracked and so I will be replacing these... along with replating and replacing the various suspension pieces, etc d. The exhaust is also knackered. The exhaust manifolds are solid, but need some refreshment. I will be ceramic coating these like I did on my Boxer. I am unsure about the exhaust and may take a whack at making my own than look close to OEM. I was able to find some NOS Ansa tips and so I will see how this goes. The worst case is that I can buy a set from TimeValve, etc. e. Engine Bay... I thought long about this and I will be removing the engine in order to do a proper detail (paint and replate) andd refreshment. Gleggy and Paul both highly advised me to replace the sodium valves and so I will heed their advice and replace the sodium valves as well as an upper end refresh as needed. One has to remember that 18775's engine has only 15000 KMs and so it "should" not need too much... well... here's hoping. Overall I will be doing a bit of a restore and refreshment with the goal to make the car into a really nice driver. Cheers, Sam
Good day All, As I mentioned in my previous post... I will be repainting the car. This was a lot more work than I realized. The reason being is that where I am located it is extremely, extremely difficult to find autobody shops willing to work on any older cars. If you can find shops willing to do the work they charge anywhere from 2x to 4x the cost of getting paintwork done in other parts of the Country. Why this is, is because the Insurance companies have negotiated with the Autobody industry to have fixed costs for repairs. Thus shops that work and repair newer cars become very efficient working on them and so they actually get paid more $$$ via fixed cost than if they were to charge per hour. The result is that they can turn cars out very rapidly which also makes them more $$$. So the shops prefer not work on older or specialty cars unless they charge an absolute premium. Even getting a quote from these shops is a challenge and takes numerous calls, e-mails, etc. It was an eye opener for me. That being said I finally found a shop and owner that I got along really well with and 18775 went there the other day. Attached are few pics as how the car was delivered. I stripped the car down as far as I could go. I elected to keep the glass in with its trim, as I did not wish to risk breaking the glass or damaging the trim (NLA)... Thankfully there is no rust on the car and so it will be a relatively straightforward repaint. The color will be the same factory color (blu tourbillon) with painting of the inside of the doors, jambs, trunk (boot), and hood (bonnet). I also decided to body color paint the rear tailight panel. If I do not like the body color tailight panel I can always black this area out at a later time. Ideally I would have pulled the engine, etc first... however, given the effort to find an autobody shop I did not want to miss my time opportunity that they had. Anyway, I will post more pics once the car gets back from the shop... which should be in 2-3 weeks. Cheers, Sam Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good day Brian, Indeed, I also think the darker blues look great on this series! As for luck... Indeed, I will need it... and some time... and some extra $$$ ... and some perseverance Cheers, Sam
Good day All, I realized that it has been a long time since I posted anything on 18775. With that said I have nothing really new to add except that I did get my differential CO2 blasted this Summer. However, I did forget to add updated pics (from 2015) on my refreshed/recovered interior pieces, so here they are. Cheers, Sam Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good day All, Adding to 18775's doc I did create a number of threads on the various bits I refreshed/restored and so I decided to include links to these threads in this thread: Bare Front Cabin Pics https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-bare-front-cabin.592292/ Suspension https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-suspension-pictures-request.602092/ Bushing Removal https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-bushing-removal.603461/ Torque Tube Removal https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-torque-tube-removal.620131/ Suspension Bushings https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-suspension-bushings.622190/ Shock Rebuild https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/365-gt4-2-2-shock-rebuild.622534/ I now need to install all of the bits above, but before I do this I want to repaint the frame. The challenge here is that 18775 does not have a suspension and so it is a bit of a challenge to take the car to a shop for the repaint. Consequently, I am setting up a temporary spray booth in my shop and will repaint the frame myself. I did experiment with some specialty rattle can frame paints, but found that the overall durability of these paints is so so at best. Consequently, I will be using a more specialty paint for the frame. I will provide more info on the paint and the process once it is done. The last items will be in the engine bay where I will be removing the engine along with replacing the exhaust valves with SS (as a precaution) and any other bits needing attention. Hopefully in the early new year this last task will start and if all goes well perhaps 18775 will be on the road next season. Cheers, Sam
Good day JLF, Yes, I did and the pics of those who did their frames with it (satin black) look pretty nice. Given that I am in Canada and currently our temps are typically below freezing, I am concerned that the paint will get frozen during transport. However, a buddy of mine owns an Industrial paint company and has offered to mix up a few batches for me to test. I am sure this will be the best solution, but a little nervous, as I have not used his paint or process before... and given that their paint is virtually indestructible, there is no room for error on my side. Anyway, I will get some of the paint next month and experiment with it and spray some scrap metal to see the results. I will post up the results. Cheers, Sam
Good day AK Jim, Indeed, POR 15 is very durable. However, I did some test applications (a number of years ago) and I was not happy with the result. I found that the sheen was too glossy and it went on somewhat thick which did not look quite right to me. With that said, it is very possible that I was simply inexperienced with it and did not know how best to apply/thin/etc to achieve the result I was looking for. So far the Eastwood Chassis 2K (Satin) looks (at least in pictures) to be what I am want as a finish. It is unfortunate that Eastwood does not have a local distributor, as then I could buy some to test. I really should have bought some this past Summer, but I was sidetracked with other items and forgot. I did try some rattle can paints and the best of these was the VHT Roll Bar and Chassis Black (satin) paint. The sheen level was a bit shinier than I wanted, but looked OK. The real issue was durability. Although the paint held up better than others, one could easy scratch the paint off. Since I am putting in a lot of effort to repaint this area, I want to the paint to hold up... at least for more than a season or two. Thanks for the suggestion! Cheers, Sam
Good day All, Wow, it has been a long time since I posted about 18775... and so a bit of a catch up... 1. I removed all of the suspension bits, replaced the bushings, etc and then replated and refinished all the parts I could find included those outside of the suspension. Effectively, every niut, bolt, stud, part, outside of the engine bay has been refinished in the correct finishes as they were on my car (see pics). 2. After spending a crazy amount of time reviewing what paint to use on my suspension, I elected to go with the Eastwood 2K Chassis black satin. I could have got some superior stuff locally (epoxy paint made for ocean oil rigs), but then it would be near impossible to remove if ever wanted. I tested several paints and types and if I found the sheen I wanted, then it was not robust enough. The Eastwood paint looked great ... at least in the online pictures I saw... and so I used it. However, since I am in Northern Canada I had to wait until I could be assured that the paint/activator would not freeze. Since my car had no suspension I could not transport the car to the paint shop...and so I had to do everything myself. Since I am not conversant with using this type of paint, I had to research the primer (also 2K) to use, appropriate paint gun, then prep everything, the create a make-shift paint booth, and practice a bit. My shop's furnaces are shared with other area buildings and so I have to pick a weekend that I could shut down everything and ensure no one would be present for at least a day... as the paint/primer solvents are nasty. On top of this I also had to deal with work/customer projects and life in general. So... I only finished the frame painting about 2 weeks ago. All in all it turned out very well and I am pleased with the result. The only negative is that the sheen is a bit shinier than I would like. The positive to this is that dirt/grime will not stick as well. 3. Now that the frame (firewall back) is painted, I am reassembling everything and once complete, I will remove the engine to refinish the engine bay, hardware, and go through the engine. So... still a ways to go. I did try and schedule my work to provide more spare time and so hopefully I can get the car on the road this season.... fingers crossed. In the meantime, here are some pics and a view of the before and after of my frame... which is quite a contrast... and I forgot how weathered my frame looked and the motivation to refresh it. My frame had no rust, damage, etc but was severely weathered because of the extreme desert climates where my car resided (Saudi Arabia, Palm Springs CA). Not only did the weather take its toll on the frame, but also every hose, rubber bit, and interior leather. When I am done, I think the car will present very well with my target being in an excellent driver condition state. I will post more over the next while, as the fun begins... Cheers, Sam Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Such attention to details is just amazing. The expensive pile of lego blocks will take time to reassemble for sure. As a mater of curiosity, you seemed to have removed the heat screens from the underside. Any asbestos there? I am planing to overspray the chassis here, but was just contemplating whether or not to remove the heat screens...
@raemin; Heat shields are just aluminium sheets riveted onto the tube frame. There is a fiber pad that is poorly attached to the aluminum with contact adhesive but on mine, the adhesive was no longer adhering the pad. The pad may have asbestos but it does not powder/flake so its pretty safe to remove. I would recommend drilling out the rivets and removing the heat shields if you are painting the chassis. @samsaprunoff; nice work. Your restoration is inappropriate to the spirit of Ferrari though. The original car as delivered in the 70's had far worse surface finishes than what you are doing. Your restoration is too good. I think you need to bring it down a few notches.
Good day All, Thanks for your comments! @71Vette:, Thank you very much! I wish I could work faster... but just too many things going on. It is shocking at how time just flies by... and seems to accelerate as one gets older! @raemin; Indeed, as s14kev stated, the shields are just riveted in place. Although it would have been easier to leave them in place, I did not want to paint them and chose to remove and re-anodize them so they look fresh. Anodizing is relatively easy and inexpensive to do... and so why not given that the shields/plates are easy to remove. I am pretty sure the surface material is Asbestos and/or a Asbestos impregnated. Asbestos can be handled with care with reasonable precautions. However, Asbestos dust is something that one has to be really careful of. I will post some before and after pics of these shields very soon... and may even find a modern and perhaps less nasty material to replace the Asbestos with. Re-plating and powder coating the parts is not very expensive. I spent under $800 US for all that you see including more that I did not have pictures of (e.g. a 4 Litre container of nuts/bolts cost under $100 to be replated... yellow or zinc chormate). The real cost would be in hiring someone to remove, catalog/document, and investigate what the original finishes were + prepping the bits for the appropriate process. On my side, every single part including nuts, bolts, studs were drawn, pictured, and compared to the factory parts books. For some bits, the original finish could be seen in places. For others... I had to email others, find pictures, etc. Interestingly, what I found was there was no real standard finish on all parts on all cars. I suspect that Ferrari would send out plating to whoever gave them the best price... and so sometimes all were yellow cad or a combination of Yellow, silver, and clear. In cases where I could not find clear evidence or a consensus I took some artistic freedom and chose what I liked. Reassembly will take some work, but it is fun... as now all the nice bits get reassembled. I am so thankful I documented everything. Even so, I still had to double check things, as I had some questions on what I documented. In the end, all was correct... but time was still consumed to reaffirm. I could reassemble things faster, but I enjoy the process and so I work at an relaxed pace. @s14kev: Thank you for your post and suggestions on trying to maintain Ferrari's original standard ... which can be an oxymoron at times. My original plan was to simply refresh things, but the car's past exposure to extreme heat really knackered things and it bothered me if things just look nasty. Also, I blame Paul (Newman on here) for doing this to me. Seeing Paul's work prompted me to elevate my game as it were...Now every time I do something on my cars it takes a lot longer. I am unsure if I will ever forgive him That said, as I started to refinishing one thing, the item next to it looked bad... and so it cascaded. I am still trying to keep my goal in check... and target the result as an excellent driver. I have now idled my 365 efforts, as I am rebuilding and partially refinishing the carbs on my 512BB. I was working on both cars and would go back and forth if I was waiting on something on the other car. I want to button up the BB asap, as I do not like to have too many cars in pieces. Since the BB's carbs are now ready for reassembly, I should have them all done and on the car by the weekend. I still need to do some wiring repairs, as someone had snipped some factory wires which prevented the fuel enrichment mechanism from working properly (BB Carbs each have a solenoid activated fuel enrichment circuit). If our City would clean the streets of the Winter gravel, the BB could be on the road in a few days time. Thanks again for your comments and encouragement! Cheers, Sam
@samsaprunoff What a great project and result! I am pretty sure all my bushings are in the beginning stages of needing a refresh. Is it possible for you to share all your knowledge on here so future amateurs like me are able to replicate your work?
