The car looks great, can't wait to see how the interior turns out. Are you going to use leatherique? Joe
Can you post who does the bakelite steering repairs as mine will need it to? Or if you prefer you could PM me. Thanks bud!
Rob, the name of the guy that does the bakelite steering wheels is Curt [email protected]. Joe, thanks. I'm anxious to get started on the interior. I will definately use the Leatherique. Their website has some amazing testimonials for the product.
My youngest son and I spent some more time on the car today. We finished restoring the paint. The following work on the body remains: my paintless dent guy needs to work his magic, I will have the dent on the driver's front fender repaired (bondo removed), and I will possibly have the bottom part of the trunk repainted. I will also need to spend a few hours cleaning and polishing the wheels, cleaning the wheel wells & tires, removing the black paint from the front grille, and have my ebay trident surround chrome plated. The exterior of the car should look like the car has been restored...at least from 10 feet away. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Krysti and George Pavlisko, who own Leatherique, gave a leather restoration seminar at my house two weeks ago. They are great people, true car lovers, and their products are very good. In addition they can help you with tips on how to replace a minimal amount of leather (when absolutely there is no alternative) but still keep it mostly original and with the proper patina. Give them a call, Krysti will most likely pick up the phone. Below is their business card. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Vasco, thank you. Ivan, thanks for the information on Leatherique. I was amazed when I looked on their website at the miraculous transformation of some of the customer cars. I can't wait to get started on the interior. I will definately give them a call.
I inventoried the the parts that came in boxes with the Maserati (from my brother's house). The good news is, the only part that I apear to be missing, to complete the car, is the lid for the ash tray. Does anybody know where I can purchase an ashtray lid or complete ashtray? I found the little covers that go over the jack points on the body. I always thought the holes looked ugly. I should have known Maserati would not have left them looking unfinished. My brother completely disassembled the transmission down to the point of needing a press to disassemble it further. I'm not looking forward to trying to figure out how it goes together. There are lots of zip lock bags of parts that are numbered...I hope the numbers mean something to my brother. I know absolutely nothing about transmissions. Here are some pictures of the transmission. If you look hard, you can see that one of the inner gears (2nd gear) is stripped on the inner part of the gear (not the large outer part). I went to a new local european auto shop this morning and the owner said he likes working on old ZF transmissions and he has the equipment to do it. I'm going to bring him the transmission on Monday and see if he is up for the task. I have a mystery cooler that came with the car. I am guessing it is an oil cooler. Does anybody know if it original and where it goes? I also have an extra radiator. My brother thinks the previous owner had a larger radiator fabricated and installed on the car. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to restore the painted finish on the wheels (and keep the original patina & and Borrani stickers). So far, the only thing that appears to work is fine steel wool. Does anybody have any recommendations? 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
Do you have th eoriginal books with the exploded diagrams? If not, I do and can take a bunch of pix of that and post them.
On the wheels, instead of steel wool, check out the different 3M scotchbrite pads you'll find at a paint store. Go wonder around a good automotoive paint and supply store. They have many different grades of different abrasives for your projects. I'd take some crisp hi res photos of those stickers before I got too close to them so you can make some reproductions if you make a mistake. The car appears to be shiny enough that if you did have to repaint the wheels I don't think they are going to look too new or out of place. Think of that as maintainence like tires. I assume you are going to replace the tires asap and that will change how dramatic it looks. Getting into those wheel wells and cleaning and touching them up will help offset new paint on the wheels as well. Matt at ReOriginals in TX will probably have some of the randoms bits you'll need on the car. Not cheap, but knowledgeable guy. Ray
Wonderful original car. While I definitely would do as you are doing and save the paint, etc. ... she needs a full mechanical overhaul, which will be an enormous amount of fun. Please don't fall into the trap/mistake that too many make and confuse patina with poor maintenance and thus live with a car that has a poor driving experience because old and original suspension bushes are still being used, along with shocks, etc. Oh and using a steel wool to unrust the wheels still requires them to be painted afterwards, otherwise they will rust again very soon ... I ride a motorcycle to work and back every work day and find it amusing when this suggestion is suggested to derust handle bars, etc. All you are doing is effectively sanding back to raw metal which looks nice and shiny for one day. What really needs to happen with a bikes handle bars is they need to be stripped and rechromed ... thus your wheels need to be (probably) sand blasted and then painted. Lucky man. Best Pete
Ray, thanks for the advice. I didn't even think of the local auto paint store. I will spend some time there this week and see what they have available to facilitate my project. Good advice on the stickers also. You are right about refinishing the wheels. If I can't get them to look good enough, I will consider it. The original undercoating is in great shape. A scrub brush and soap should work wonders. I'll check out ReOriginals. Pete, I am planning on rebuilding all of the mechanical components, except hopefully the engine and differential. Suspension and brakes are a top priority. I hope to make it drive like a new car. My goal with the wheels is to clean up the existing paint and take the corroded spots to bare metal. I thought that clear coat might prevent further corrosion. I will spend a couple hours on the worst wheel and see how it turns out. Worst case scenario is I waste a couple hours and end up having them blasted and painted anyway. Thanks for the kind words and advice.
Presuming that the wheels are far enough gone that they would benefit from a respray, hand labor simply can't do anywhere near as good a job as blasting. Even if your time is free, I wouldn't waste it. It's always sad to lose the original stickers. Your photos don't seem to show them, but I'll bet that excellent replacements are readily available through the Alfa community (especially Bill Gillham). His contact details are throughout the AlfaBB, or PM me and I'll forward them. Enjoy the car, thanks for sharing your story with it. Don
Don, thanks for posting the information on the stickers. There is a sheet of them for sale on ebay right now. I spent a couple hours this afternoon on one of the wheels. Here is the result. It appears to look ok (maybe a little too much patina?), and I was able to save the original sticker. I put a good coat of wax on it, to hopefully prevent further corrosion. Thanks for the kind words. I bought a vintage Alfa/Ferrari/Maserati ashtray off ebay yesterday. The base is slightly different than mine, but the lid looks like it will work on my base. The transmission is at the shop. As soon as they get it apart, I will see if I can find second gear. I would appreciate any advice on locating bearings or synchros. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think you need to find someone to rework/straighten those hupcaps. That wheel setup is like my old 2600 Sprint. Years of popping the hubcaps take their toll. I'd take a hard look at those stickers and see if they are any good or make your own, some of the repro stuff is disappointing. Consider Coldwater's advice- blast and paint. I think it's time from a maintenance standpoint. Rust is bad. Wax won't stop it. Then find/make a tool (plastic/wood is the thinking) to safely pry them off when needed. When you mount new tires find a good guy that will take the time to balance them properly without a bunch of weights. How collecting the parts for the mechanicals coming? keep having fun! Ray Is that a new tire in the pic? I just took a second look.
Serious point about rust on the wheels, especially when it comes from someone in the climate of Palm Springs. Safety first. Bill Gillham's repro stickers are excellent IMHO, don't know about the ones on eBay. And like anything else, the right tool makes for a happy hubcap: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95214 Enjoy.
Love the paint, and the fact that you are cleaning it up rather than a restoration. Keep up the good work! It takes a lot more work to keep it original, but it's worth it.
