308 Interior resto/remodel

Well one job seems to have gone fairly smoothly. The exhaust is all in and bolted up except for the last tweaks and tightening down the hangers. After all the stories about Stebro I was not expecting everything to go so smoothly.

I bolted in the two small sections of pipe and the new Hyperflow cats. The Stebro slid right into place and all that was left was tightening all the flanges. With some creative use of 3/8" drive extensions even that went well.

Now I just need to clean and re-paint the louvered panels for behind the wheels and install them, the bumper and the diaper/heat shield.

I also had time to install Verell's shock bushings in the rear shocks. They fit a lot better than the set I had made locally. Even though I seem to have different bushings on the shocks themselves (I ordered a different model than most folks it seems) they worked great! The ones I had were just a little sloppy, these are much better.

I also found some hoses that needed to be replaced on the drivers side while I was cleaning the lump off. Seems one of my new CV joint boots was spewing grease all over the back end! I'm going to try fitting a hose to the gear box overflow also.

I've also been waiting who knows how long before I finally got around to taking out the drivers rear inner fender for some other reason so I could replace the Pininfarina badge. Turns out it just snaps into place, I could have done it long ago! Oh well, it's done now!

Gonna try to have all the back end buttoned up over the next few days and get back to finishing the interior. I still don't have any good ideas about the gauges though!

A few pics of the exhaust going together!

edit: I also test fit the diaper and it seems the exhaust lines up pretty well centered. I would like to see it a little lower though and I'll work on that when I tighten the exhaust hangers for the final time.


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Well, it's finally getting close to the end. I don't know that I could ever go through this again and there are still a couple pretty big items to finish but most of the work is done!!!!! I finally was able to wrestle the dash together, get the seat belts bolted in ( I know it sounds like such a simple job huh??) and installed all the trim.

The only things left to do are 1) get the windows re-installed, and 2) put the seats back in. There are a couple of other little things like windshield wipers and cleaning the whole car too.

Here are some pics of the progress. I think it's turning out pretty good.
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I need to get the glass all installed first then put the trim back on. The seats are pretty easy. I'm not going to guess when it'll be done because every time I do I jinx it somehow! It shouldn't be long though!! Hell yes I'm going to drive it!! I need to get it over 100K before winter gets here!

It sounds great sitting in the garage! I'll find out more once I get it back on the road but so far I like it!! It has a nice rumble at idle.

 

I haven't added it all up and I'm not sure I ever want to! I think the interior alone I probably came in about $8K or just under. That's all new upholstery, new windshield and all the little bits and pieces. That doesn't include the MANY hours of my time to remove and reinstall it all though. If I were to start adding up the trunk and exhaust it would climb pretty quick though. Porbably in the neighborhood of $5K plus just back there.

The good part is I have an almost new car except for a couple more little issues to fix with the drivetrain, A arm bushings and the steering rack. Other than that almost everything has been rebuilt or replaced. I must be NUTS!!!

 

It's getting closer! The seats are in and I went for a quick ride down the block today! Kind of windy with no windshield or back windows though.

I take it in Tuesday to get all the glass back in so by next weekend I should be driving it again. Seems there are going to be a few little things that will need looking into but I can't wait. For some reason the tach decided to quit working and I'm not sure the oil temp gauge is either. I shimmed the passenger door to fix a sag and it looks like when I put it back together I got the panels slightly out or alignment. That'll need to be adjusted but it works and the belt-line is back in line.

Not sure what's going on with the tach as it was working last time I started it up. That could be a fun one to track down!

A few pics with the seats and almost everything in....
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Nah, I don't need no stinking goggles. I only went about two blocks and turned around. Just enough to make sure it still rolled and stopped. The neighbors looked at me kind of funny as I passed them coming back down our street though!

I'll mention the corners. If you get a chance could you measure your mirror so I have an idea what to tell them for mine. If your not busy Tuesday I should be there about noon.

Thanks, I can't wait to get it done!

 

Well this has taken almost two years, way more time, way more work and obviously way more money than I ever thought it would. The car is done and back driving on the road. There are a few little details I still need to work on but it came out looking pretty good overall. The whole car needs a good detailing to clean it up too!

The oil temp gauge was apparently working I just hadn't gotten the oil warm enough for it to move. The tach still doesn't work so I'll need to trace that out and figure out why it stopped.

After getting the windows installed there is still a gap around the rear window and I can't figure out how it was covered before. The old seals were a little larger but not that much. On top there is about a 3/4" gap between the headliner and the rear window gasket. On the bottom there is about an 1/8" gap. I think I'll have to pull those panels off, unwrap the edges, and slide it behind the window gasket.

I only had a chance to put about 50 miles on the car yesterday. I woke up not feeling well this morning so missed the first club event that I should have been to.

The Stebro sounds good. I have the inserts in now so the next chance I get to drive it I'm going to remove them and see how much louder it is. With the inserts it's not bad cruising the highway at 60 but rumbles nicely at idle. At lower RPM's and light throttle I get a lot of popping so I probably need to re-jet the carbs. I think it was running a little rich before all this though so it shouldn't take a huge change. I'm going to drive it a little more before deciding what to do.

This has been a real learning experience and while most of the time it was frustrating and consumed way too much of my time I think it was worth it. Thanks for the words of encouragement and all the help along the way. I know for a fact there is no way I could have ever done this without all the helpful folks here on Fchat!!

John
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It's running Ok. Seems to be popping some at light throttle so I probably need to re-jet. Also seemed like a slight miss at times. I'll have to check things out as they come up.

I wasn't happy that he didn't fix the rear headliner like we talked about and the windshield is about 98%. He also used silicone around the outside of the trim instead of body sealer but I guess I didn't specify. Also took him about three times longer than he said it would. Overall I guess it's OK but not perfect like I had hoped.

It's good to (almost) have it finished. I guess it'll never really be done as something always seems to come up! Are you going coming out Sunday? How's your car coming along?

It feels great to get it back on the road! You couldn't wipe the smile off my face yesterday. I got home and just let it idle for a minute in the garage. I did get to drive some VERY nice cars, thanks again to everyone for getting me my Ferrari fixes!!

Thanks, it came out pretty good. It was a LOT of work though!


Thanks to everyone again for all the compliments and encouragement along the way!!

John