bumperless boxer

Well I decided to have my front bumper repainted/freshened up a bit so off she came tonight after I went for a rip in her. I had to remove the panels ahead of the headlamps and the brake duct panels ahead of the front wheels as well as a bunch of visible bolts. It was simple to slide it off with the help of a friend on the other end. I solved a mystery too, the little black box that came with the car was suspected to be an ancient radar device and it was confirmed once the left upper panel was removed and I could see the radar unit hiding in there. Ill remove it along with the rest of the system and stick it in a box somewhere only to rediscover it later on in life. For a case of beer the shop is going to repaint the bumper 2 stage black with a flattening agent in the clear to match the level of gloss on the sides and rear they already did once for me, ill also look after the horns and other items in there while its apart. You can see the little sticker on the inside of the one horn denoting the note I suppose.
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where do those plastic air hoses go to?

thought they were for the brake ducts but look like some kind of fresh air vent

 

They are for the added on brake cooling ducts. Foitek in Zurich moved the daylight flashers inboard to add the larger cooling ducts back when the car was new. You can see the large ducts on the bumper above the smaller less functional ducts that were factory. The pipes go right to the back side of the front rotors. Ive debated removing them, installing a new grill and relocating the lamps but I kind of like the ducts and they look factory, wonder if they were an over the counter part?

 

I had the front of mine off some time ago to rebuild the three cooling fans, and noticed a three digit number (487, or something like that) lightly scratched into the surface of the fiberglass, on the central V shaped section on the bottom part. See your 6th picture. I can’t tell from your pics if your bumper has a number or not.
I’ve no clue as to what the number signifies, as it doesn’t seem to correspond to any of the numbers on my car.
While you’re waiting to get the bumper back, now’s a good time to do a little spray can detailing to this otherwise inaccessible area, and put a few drops of oil in the horn air compressor.
Maybe your BBi has an access panel for the compressor, but on my BB, no. Possibly a design ploy by Ferrari to keep the service costs outrageous;
Lubricate horn compressor;
Cost of materials, Oil, 2 cents.
Labor costs to remove and replace front bumper, $500.00!
Gotta love it,
John

 

No number on mine anywhere, I just went and looked before they start prepping it. Im also missing something like maybe a skid plate? 4 unused bolt holes in the center v section. The grill was a prick to get out with those small machine screws and nuts.

 

At the very front of the V section mine has a towing eye that mounts under the car, just a flat piece of steel with a U bolt welded to it. Four 13mm or so size bolts hold the piece on.
No skid plate or anything else is bolted to the under side of my car.

 

Ok, but it looks like there should be a metal rectangle there, or something? Mine has the hole for the tow hook though the front center valance. Ill clean up the structure, rads, etc and lube the horn compressor as well (good idea), paint the horns and freshen it all up, should look just wonderful when im done I hope.

 

At the front of the V, where you can see two holes in pic #6?
That's where the towing eye is mounted to mine. The 4 bolts go through the base plate, through the fiberglass, and thread into the black bracket just under your horns.
The tow eye base is made from a rectangular 1/4" thick plate about a half inch larger than the bolt hole patern. The eye welded to it hangs down about an inch, and makes a good driveway tester!
Since you already have a tow eye, maybe just mount a piece of plate there?
And true, a couple hours of cleaning and spraying can make it really look nice, even though you can't actually see much of your handy work with the bumper in place.
But you'll know it's there!

 

yes, there are 2 more ahead of them that you cant see. Horns painted (VW mars red, perfect match), grill and horsie cleaned, bumper being prepped.

 

I wasnt looking for concours, just nice and clean so no nit-picking! I put on my "new" daylight flashers as well. Ill have the bumper back on tomorrow at about this time. The hemo clamp I had did an amazing job of the condensor fins, beyond my expectations which Ill apply to my 308 next now that I figured out what works (the combs dont), took a couple of hours to do the fins which are good enough considering they are hidden behind the bumper.
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grill too.
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Paul,

You should consider putting some clear 3M type protective film over your new "flasher" lights. It will protect them from rock chips, etc..

I bought a small sheet of the film from Griot's Garage and made patterns to fit my lens. Cut them out, peel & stick them on.

 

Good idea Gary, Ill see if I can get some through the bodyshop at work, im sure I can. Now that the front is done im not looking forward to the first chip and anything I can do to prolong it I will like the 3M stuff on the nose on long trips.

Here is the finished product, total cost, lights aside is $11 for the mars red paint on the horns. They painted my bumper for free since I work there.
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that is your assembly number, which is different from the chassis vin number. see the assembly numbers thread in the 308 section. mine was *246* on 1977 308 gtb *20433* and it was on every panel on the car somewhere.
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Looks Good Paul, now don't you feel better!

Thanks for the assembly number info Michael, I look for more numbers as I work my way through her.

John