38031 81' GTSi lives again

Hi All
Thought I'd post some of the escapades I've had restoring my GTSi over the last couple of years.
I bought number 38031 in June of 2014. I'd decided to buy a 308 and set about seeing what was on the market. I looked at 77 carb in Sydney, but it was a US car converted to RHD, had it still been LHD I probably would have bought it, but they're never quite right when they're converted so I passed.

I eventually settled on a UK original RHD that had been brought to Melbourne Australia in 2009. Being English it had the expected rust, sill panels were badly repaired, door skins were rusted and badly repaired. All in all it was pretty complete but mostly unloved.

When I purchased it, it had done approx 600km in the last 5 years, I promptly sat in it started it and drove it 1300km to Brisbane non stop bar refuels, and pleased to say made it without issue.

I then set about learning what was right and not right about the car. The baseball sized Momo gear knob, the "lovely" carbon fiber look step plates etc went first as did the "Smiths" clock that somebody had fitted in its past.
From there began a roughly 2 year rolling mechanical repair/restoration. Suspension bushes, shocks were replaced all round. Gearbox was rebuilt (2nd gear synchro was worn out ) timing belts, tensioners, fliuids all replaced (I'm a mechanic so quite happy doing all these myself.

Being now the proud owner of a Ferrari, it entitled me to a factory visit which I did in 2016. An awesome experience which if you get the opportunity, do it.

By September 2016 I decided it was time for a full body restoration so it came off the road and I stripped it to a shell
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This was the car just before she came off the road (looks good from a distance, not so great up close)


And the Stripping Begins

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Image Unavailable, Please Login Heading off to the panel shop which was to be a disastrous experience

 

Once it arrived at the Panel shop, the stripping began. I will point out at this time, the panel shop is the authorized Ferrari body shop in Brisbane. I was given an estimate of 12 months and $40000. I was allowed to supply all my own parts Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some of the rust around rear wheel arches
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Sill panels after years of dodgy repairs I assume to get it past British MOT's
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These quality door repairs were carried out in Australia when it arrived

 

Unfortunately I dont have many pics of the repair work being carried out. The body shop was supposed to supply me with a full documented process, but as will go into, the car was never completed there and hence I never got the pics of the carried out repairs Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

These were the last couple of pics i was able to take detailing the extent of the repairs carried out. I had two new genuine door skins fitted, both sill panels were replaced (1 genuine, 1 non genuine) new rear non genuine rear valance as well as a new non genuine front spoiler. New sections fitted to the front guards as well as hand made repair sections to rear guards and front nose

 

So 12 months came and went (the expected completion time) I was supposed to have been invoiced monthly for repairs carried out and despite regular requests for an invoice, non was received. When it got to about 20 months, with no progress for the last 8 months, I instructed the proprietor to give me a cost for work carried out as I was taking the car back. I was then presented with a bill for $59000 and was told they wouldn't finish the car. Well some prompt action from me contacting Ferrari S.p.a regarding their approved repairer, lodging court action as well as reporting them to the appropriate regulatory authorities, we reached an agreement. I paid more than I wanted to, but when it came to getting my car back speedily, i took the agreement and ran

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The last view the authorized repairer got of my car

 

Whilst all the non progress was happening on my car, I took the opportunity to stock pile as many new parts as possible, all new seals, badges etc as well as make the engine look pretty
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The dashboard was stripped and all the extra sponge someone had put in to make it a nice "puffy" dash was removed. Correct vinyl was purchased for the re
trim
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The task of then finding a body shop willing to take on someone else's half finished project began. I ended up finding Styling Automotive in Brisbane, Dave Stiling the proprietor is a straight up guy quality of work is good and I was billed weekly for work carried out.They set about re sandblasting a lot of panels that had begun to rust again after sitting in the other shop for so long.
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Hi Mike This has all been done over the last 2 years, the actual final painting and reassembly has all happened since July. The car is currently 99.9% complete and is driveable finally

 

From here the car went into primer which was the best it had looked since it came off the road 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

 

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So then came the time for colour, this was pretty exciting as completion was now appearing a reality. A bit more about this car. It was originally sold new by Maranello Concessionaires in England, it was Argento in colour with blue trim and carpet. From what little history I have on the car it appears to have been turned red/tan in the first few years. I'm only guessing but I wonder with Magnum PI popularity in 81, whether there was a waiting list for red/tan, but you could have a silver/blue one right now and then the owner decided to get it painted and reupholstered, couldnt have been cheap regardless.

So when I started this project I had to decide what path I was going to take, originality or not. I opted for a bit of both. I had the car painted in Rosso Corsa (correct shade for 81). Silver is one of the few colours that doesnt appeal to me on a 308. I love them in yellow, black, the metallic blues etc, just not silver, so I opted for red which matches with the tan interior that I cant afford to redo just yet. It had the later QV mirrors on it which have stayed and it also has the rear wing in body colour which has also stayed, I procrastinated a lot whether to keep the wing or not, but it stayed.

What i wanted to keep was the original UK aspect of the car, I've read a lot of stuff on how the 2VI 308's are least favourable etc, but I kind of like the uniqueness of them being produced for such a short time and as such mine was one of 67 RHD GTSi's sold in England which makes it special to me .

So constant scouring of eBay etc, I was able to source the UK bits the car was missing, the Carello rear fog lights, Cibie 35 spot lights etc.

I also bought a new OEM front bumper, new carello indicators as well as the repeaters on the guards. New reproduction grille (the original one had been cut to make room for the later look spotlights)

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From here it was reassembled to the rolling shell that i had dropped off Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

To alleviate the boredom/anxiety of waiting for the car to come home , the extremely small garage got a makeover/tribute to the 80's in anticipation of the cars return

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The day finally came when it was time to get the car home. The tow truck collected it and dropped it in my street. I have an extremely narrow and relatively steep driveway, so there was no way for the truck to drop the car into the drive. another critical factor was the car has no brakes. We dropped the car in the car in the street, then connected it via strap to a ute and carefully (very carefully) lowered it down the drive. This was July this year 22 months after it got towed up the driveway to be painted

Leaving the panel shop

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Now the car was finally home, the task of reassembly began. As I stated over the last 2 years i had sourced as many new parts as possible and stockpiled them for reassembly as well as source second hand NLA bits as well. I cant thank the FChat people enough for the wealth of info contained in the posts but also all the guys who have taken it upon themselves to produce the little bits that complete these cars. From FChat members i have sourced alloy adjustable cam gears, the plastic fuel line clips that secure the CIS lines all the little stickers such as the bonnet support strut sticker. Water slide decals for the airbox restoration and the list goes on. A big thanks Verell from Unobtanium Supply for all those impossible to get bits, dash kidney vents, rubber bumpers for the rear louvres, plates for the console switches etc, Martin308 for his LED handbrake light and the list goes on

Whilst the budget after the paint shop rip off has postponed a retrim of the seats/console/doors, I did fit a new carpet set from Lakewell which I have to say I was very happy with and it fitted perfectly

I also took the opportunity to fit sound deadening before refitting the interior


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I even sourced myself an Alpine 80's cassette deck to replace to latest model pioneer that was in the car. It's not an 81 deck (I think it's actually 84) but you know you take what you can get sometimes

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Participating in a couple of motoring charity events slowed some of the reassembly, but in October the car finally poked its head back out of the garage

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Tomorrow evening she makes her debut at a car meet, hopefully she makes it there, there hasnt been much of a shakedown to date