I have the bearings Mel, now just need to mount one shell and take off 5000" so I can slip the shell in and out of the bearing retainer to fit the shims. Then I'm ready to fit the diff.
ROB IS THE BEST IN THE WEST ,NEXT TIME YOU COME TO VISIT MY RANCH AGAIN ,WOULD YOU KINDLY DO MY DIFF FOR ME PLEASE.I WAS THINKING THE OTHER DAY IF YOUR DIFF HAD BLOWN AT MY PLACE LAST TIME YOU VISITED ,THEN MY TR COULD HAVE BEEN DONE AS THE SAME TIME.GREAT JOB ROB ,YOU HAVE A LOT OF PATIENCE MY FRIEND.ALL THE BEST TIME,HOPE YOU TO SEE YOU SOON . TOM
Nice work..love to see the detail photos. I have a question. I picked up manifolds for the right side as the previous owner hit a curb and damaged them along with the rims and one rocker arm. Before I try to replace the manifolds while the engine is in the car, what are the odds that I will have a broken stud or will break one taking off the old manifolds. Then, if I do break one off, what is the best approach/recommended tool to removing the broken studs. Any thoughts/tips on this project before I start would be greatly appreciated.
Tom, the odds are high that you will break a stud. They corrode badly and are hell to get at. I bought a stud removing socket that goes over the stud and three palls grab the stud and unscrew it. Buggers the stud but gets them out. Then you can fit new studs for less than $1.00 each with some coppereze. The tool came from Irwin. If the stud shears off, I bought a kit from Snap On, Bluepoint. It has an outer collet that goes over the stud and this collet locates a carbide drill bit perfectly to the centre of the stud so you can drill a neat hole. Then there is a hardened shaft that you drive into the hole in the sud with a knockometer. The final part is a special sleeve nut that goes over the hardened shaft and then is simple turned with a 13mm ring spanner. Combined with a little heat and some Innox penetrene to soak around the stud base, I managed to get all of mine out. BUT............it was a little easier for me as I had turned the engine upside down knowing that this would be a b1tch of a job to do upside down.
Robert, Thanks, that is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I will wait until it snows and give it a try, or wait until I pull engine out for belts and other stuff in a few years. The damaged manifolds are functional and are not leaking or restricting flow, but the alluminum covering is all mangled from hitting something. Last thing I need now is to take on a project that forces me to pull engine. I'm familiar with the stud removal tools and was not sure if others have had much success removing studs while engine is in the car. Not willing to chance it until summer fun is over. Thanks again, Tom
Hey Tom, If everything is working and it's a cosmetic upgrade, wait untill the engine is out next. It's a horrible job just to get the manifolds off with the engine in the car, let along repairing a broken stud.
Great day today. I collected the subframe from the powder coaters and all the suspension and engine mount components. Also had the entire exhaust headers ceramic coated inside and outside. All of the alloy components, torsion bar drop links, shocker top mounts etc have all been ceramic coated also to retain the look of alloy but with the durability of the ceramic coatings. So I made a small start. Just fitted the rear sway bar and the U brackets for the lower control arms. It was amazing. Like dealing with brand new bits. It's going to be a lot of fun to put this back together. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Robbie, I mean this in the nicest possible way.............. YOU'RE NUTS ! If I ever harboured a desire to revisit Testarossa ownership, it's well and truly gone now !! BTW, why stop at the rear subframe? You may as well keep going until you get to the front bumper. No sense doing half a job is there?
Hi Scott, Maybe just a bit nuts! I didn't stop at the subframe mate. All the front suspension is out too. Control arms being done, Koni's being rebuilt, new springs. Full bushes. The only thing I'm not doing is removing the steering rack. No need to go in there as it looks perfect. A lot of work in these cars to make them really ship shape. Complex old girls really.
If I had a Pretty Strawberry Blonde Wife helping me work on my Testarossa, I'd spend ALLOT of time in the garage TOO!!.....She's a "Keeper"!!!.....Mark
Great work Rob. Don't make it too nice though, you may never drive it again for fear of wrecking all that work. I think I have done 2500 kms in my 308 since the full resoration finished................in 1999. I'm surprised the underneath was so rugged given that they had 1/2 an inch of goo sprayed over everything to protect it from the elements.
Actually Mark, I'll be keeping her company this weekend. She has to change the gearbox in her track car so I'll tinker with the Testa and give her a hand with the heavy stuff.
A box of goodies from Superformance in the UK arrived yesterday. Today I didn't have much time but I pressed the new rear upper control arm bushes and fitted this to the sub frame. Just awesome dealing with everything new or fully refurbished. You feel like wearing white gloves when you are putting it back togther. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Another box arrived today from Maranello Concessionairs in UK. It had all of the bolts, studs, nuts, shims etc that I needed that were beyond resurection. For the most part everything was great. Many of the studs have been superceded now and the numbers are all over the place, but by mix and matching I was able to get enough factory studs of the various lengths to do what needed. Here's a bunch of nice bags on the floor of the garage. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lovely new exhaust studs with copper nuts. All new Nylock nuts for the tops of the shock absorbers. Maybe zinc coated but very dark colour and certainly not gold cad like the originals. These will have to be sent out and fixed. The stud spacers for the front shockers are good. Correct colour and finish. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
But here's something that really annoyed me. As part of the removal and stripping process, three of my control arm or shocker bolts were siezed inside the bushes and had to be cut out. Naturally these bolts had to be replaced. Also, the two lower front shockers that also go through the lower ball joint weren't in great shape so I ordered two of these also. This is a 14mm bolt approx 90mm long with a 19mm head. The special part is that it only has 16mm of thread. Not easy to purchase locally so I looked up this part from Eurospares. 13.35 GBP per bolt!! That's like $20 per bolt and I needed three and two others that were nearly as expensive. After exhaustive efforts locally, I had to bite the bullet and order them. When they arrived, I had a better understanding of what I got pimped for! No cad coating, just zinc, and rough coated at that. Originals are gold cad coated. But that's not the kicker. Let the pictures tell the story: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now who does that. It's a 3d relief image of the prancing nag in quite good detail! No wonder they are 20 bucks! The damn bolt is a work of art.............but not what came off my Testarossa. So what do you do now. Cad coat the new bolt and use it or continue to search for the correct bolt with no damn graphic. Or manufacture your own. Not happy............... But it didn't stop there. I ordered new Nylock nuts for the tops of the shockers and also for some of the control arm bolts and certainly for the lower front shocker/ball joint bolts. 14mm nylock nuts, but with Ferrari trademark yellow nylon inserts. What turned up..................certainly not Nylocks. Now they are all called 'self locking nuts' and are effectively a standard nut with a slight taper at one end with the end squished. Designed to bind into the thread of the bolt and lock in. Try fitting that onto a shocker shaft and expect the shaft not to spin inside the shock. Try using that on a bolt and then replacing the nut only later on if you need to remove it for any reason. Just by the nature of the nut it will do thread damage to the bolt. Really not happy to use these, but this is what the factory supplied!!! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So it appears that no matter how much money you spend, even the factory can't supply you with the right parts to restore your car exactly as it was manufactured. I'm now going to have to locate a different Nylock, cad coat it to suit and just put up with the fact that the nylon colour isn't correct. And I reckon I'll have to make my own bolts rather than using these pretty Nag embossed factory bolts.
So......rant over. Springs have been shot peened and powdercoated. All alloy components, drop links, shocker tops etc have been ceramic coated and soft polished. I wanted to maintain the natural alluminium look but have the durability and cleanabilty of the ceramic coating. Very pleased with the results. Shocker rubber mounts have been blasted and recoated with zinc and yellow cad. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before and afters. Shocker tops. Springs. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
