The experts on here may well correct me but I'd be impressed if it's possible without the engine coming out. You due for a cambelt service, Harry? If not you may find it's financially worth your while bringing it forward if you take the engine out anyway.
It's like we turned back the clock to 1993 and that car just rolled off the showroom floor! Amazing - well done! It's a beautiful sight - enjoy it!!
Thanks guys. Car gets delivered back to me in 3 hours, 32 minutes time. Not excited or anything ..........
You really went all out on this car! Very, very nice work all around. I can completely relate to your treatment of this beautiful 348, as I've easily spent well over the total worth of my 355 on making it right, and I'm only just now close to being done!! (There's no emoticon for how I feel about that!) It's great you're able to do what you want to the car you love! Your appreciation for the model is among the strongest I've seen on this forum so far... I imagine you plan on keeping the 348 forever, right? Congrats on "finishing" the car, but we both know they're never, ever done!!
Thanks cuneo, and you're probably right about never really finishing ......... but my wife may read this thread over my shoulder so can't be too careful Must confess, got some good news yesterday. At the moment we live in a smallish 3 bed house, bought it when there was just me and my wife but now have 2 boys so need a bit of extra room. Ideally we need to convert the garage into living space (is just a small integral garage which is part of the house) but we live with our boundary right on the border of the open countryside (refered to as the village curtilage in the UK, may be the same there?). Anyway, planning authorities are notorious for not wanting you to build in the countryside but yesterday got an application approved to build a double garage with a floor above next to my house. My village council weren't pleased but they'll get over it So get the extra space and move the Ferrari into more appropriate lodgings - all good! Just look out for the "Scoping ideas for a garage" thread. Only half downstairs will be car and whole build will be up to house spec (ie centrally heated etc). Thinking rustic slate floor, home bar, rustic pool table, wide screen tv (that'll only pick up the sports channels) with view of Ferrari in other half. Any ideas hold them and post on a thread popping up in a mo.
If you pay even half the attention to detail to your garage as you did to your Ferrari, then I'm sure it'll be magnificent. By the way... avoid the temptation to put in a darts board. You don't want to be throwing pointy things about the place with an immaculate Ferrari nearby. All the best, Andrew.
Was asked by a mate to show him what the wax I use looks like on a well prepped car and as a vid normally shows it better than a picture, threw this together. Thought I might as well post it on this thread as it shows the paint detail pretty well. The wax is Swissvax Scuderia, get some great reflections with a couple of coats. http://youtu.be/Qy7AE8_3wCA
p.s. Looks better in HD but Youtube won't let me upload in a higher res, and I'm still not able to embed vids I've uploaded. Also, if you've not heard it before, believe me when I say you need headphones for the exhaust at the end which I included as my mate hasn't heard it with the Nouvalari on. It sounds very different if you do - PC speakers just can't cope with the base in the exhaust note. p.p.s. What you can't see is that next doors cat was watching me film this, you can see her sitting next to the tree in this shot. Went in after filming to have breakfast, came outside - line of dirty paw prints right up the bonnet, across the roof and down the back. She's done it before and I forgave her, not sure she's going to be so lucky this time! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank Pap. Not bad, you? By the way, failed miserably to embed a vid but the one in post #59 shows the shine pretty well
Do you mind me asking how much they charge for a total paintwork detail? My car is picking up some stone chips following the sunny days we've had and I'm thinking about having them all done in September before I tuck her up for the winter
Hi Harry. It really depends on how much attention your paint needs. Topaz do several different levels of correcting and they'd need to see your car to be able to tell you what they can offer and at what price. If your paintwork needs a lot of work to bring it up it'll cost a bit more than if you're almost there in the first place. Ring and speak to Mazin on 0845 900 5776 and say Pete with the 348 at Graypaul pointed you in their direction, they've done quite a bit to my car so I'm sure he'll know who you mean. After any paint correction they advised me on a decent wax, and it really does give great colour reflections. The vid earlier shows it off best, but I got a llittle carried away, incase you get bored watching light dancing off paint for what seems like an eternity, here's a shot instead Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Larry in Sydney Australia. Can you tell us what wax they recommended. thanks the car looks amazing. kind regards
Hi Larry. They recommended Swissvax to me, Swissvax Scuderia to be precise. I love the smell of the stuff, it smells all natural where some waxes have a slightly chemical undertone to the smell. It is pretty pricey but you have to put it in context. It costs about £115 a tub over here but it's a solid wax that melts to an oil if you rub your fingers over it in the tub, you just get a small amount of that oil and apply it by basically stroking your car (much to the amusement of my neighbours). It goes a long way - I've had my car for 2 years and I still have 1/3 of the original tub left. My paintwork is obviously in good shape but what I love about it is the way it'll reflect all the other colours in red paint. In some places in that vid it looks like I've got a chrome wrap on the car or something, actually just 2 coats of swissvax Scuderia.
Wow! You really have done an amazing job with your car, Pete. It looks sensational! Reminds me of when the 348 first came out (I was about 15) and it really blew me away. Well done! BTW, I can also vouch for Shiltech. They rebuilt the engine on my 355 about 1000 miles before I bought it. Runs like a dream and also has the Nouvalari exhaust which is seriously loud!
Thanks Steve. It's certainly true that Geoff knows his engines, did you know at one stage he worked with Sterling Moss and John Surtees. He also modified an engine for a 512 Le Mans car some years back.
No I didn't know that. Great information. Geoff was generous enough to personally reply to any queries I had in relation to my car which really helped a lot with peace of mind etc. Based on your experience and the way your car looks I think I'll be visiting the Swissvax website soon...
He's a really nice chap, as is Kyle, his son who works there as well. Regarding the Swissvax, it is good stuff. What I like is the depth of colour refection you get - the way the paint is red yet the reflections are deep blue for the sky, green for the leaves, it's basically just like a mirror. I've got a slightly shorter vid which shows the reflections really well and which I've embedded on a different forum so I know it can be done so will give it one last try. (sorry, just stubborn and refuse to accept I can't embed a vid on Fchat! This may take a while but will try every syntax I can think of.....) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjDY152BZXY[/ame] Thank........for that. Got there in the end!
Ok thanks. My paint is pretty good already, no swears marks and gleams. It's just the stone chips you pick up when driving as there so low! Who do you get to spray yours when you put the car to bed for the winter?
I got Graypaul at Nottingham (main dealer) to take care of it with the annual service. They've got a guy who's pretty good - I can't see where the stine chips were, anyway
Ok thanks. Ill have a word with Maranello in Surrey in the autumn. So annoying, I seem to get a new one on every trip. And I make a point of hanging well back from cars in front!