Painting my 82 308GTSi

Wow. Looks great so far. Interesting that they didn't pull the rear bumper when stripping the car?

What are they roughly charging for the bare metal job?

 

I kind of thought it was odd they didn't remove the front reflector.

 

Or the light buckets.

easy easy to do

 

Keep up the pics so we can pick out problems with our own cars bodies or what to look for. Where are you located?

 

Yep, it's a 30 second removal.

 

Brian, if you don't mind me suggesting, it might have been wise to pull all the lights/bumpers/trim off before taking the car down there. I've found (through my own 1st hand painting experience) that the results are better in the end when the car is completely stripped.

I recall one trip driving an old MG down to the paint shop with my brother which we had stripped of everything we could - no glass or trim or lights or doors (doors in the trunk as I recall) at all. We were sitting on cut-down upside down buckets and wearing ski googles and drove right past a policeman in his cruiser. Can't imagine why he didn't pull us over....maybe he was having a sugar low after hitting the local Dunkin' Donuts.

 

Brian,
I would by all means have them pull both bumpers or do it yourself. It will actually take less time than it would to mask them. The front is only 2 (4?) bolts and the rear is the same with some large phillips head screws holding the rubber trim pieces to the bumpers themselves. Even for a "discount" paint job the results will be much better!

 

You ran across cool cops. I fished out a couple of useless !@#$head cops who forced me to have the car towed the last 2 miles home. My wife was following behind me and we were driving slow in 25 zones. The undercarriage was a complete, so it took a long time to wrap suspension with rags for the chains. It totally sucked! I guess there weren't any good donut shops around.

 

Nice, Viper blue is going to look great.

 

Unless they remove all clearance lights, doors and door glass, hood, motor cover, including all vent grilles front and rear, front and rear bumpers,inner fender liners,weather stripping, sill plates and roll the carpet back, you ain't getting a good bare metal respray.

We did my 308gtsi last winter, and the only major pieces left in the body was the windshield and rear window. You simply can not get the old paint, rust and crud removed from the parent metal any other way. All wheel well inserts were removed as well, the only way you can see the rust damage in the underbody. If you don't address the inside rust issues the new paint will just grow blisters as soon as moisture gets in and your cheaper bare metal respray will be a huge dissapointment.

Unless you do it right now you will never completly seal rust and blisters from reappearing. A bare metal respray means just that a totaly stripped body shell and sealed on both sides of the body metal, then you can start thinking about applying the primer sealler, and finally the color then the clear coat. Start with basic prep and then more prep, then addtional prep.

I am thinking you are going to be very dissatified with the result. It appears to me they are rushing the process. I had 2 of my shop guys working almost full time on my 308 and it took them 5 months for prep and metal replacement, this time did not take into consideration actual application of color and clear coat, and ultra fine sanding and buffing to a final finsh. We then put the car up in the air on one of our hoists to "cure" for 4 months. I might add this was not a concourse car but a driver. There is no cure for hard work, prep and then more hard work and prep.

Howard Musolf
1981 308gtsi
1982 400i Cabriolet
Maserati Spider
2 many brass eara cars.

 

5 Months to do a bare metal respray?? thats insaine.

 

That looks so cool! Great color.

looking forward to the finished pics.

 

Yes, it looks cool......
But when I saw the rusty parts.... You need a lot of work to restore the car correctly.
I don't know your goal. If you want a respray with small metal jobs, it seems to be very good. But If you want a perfect restoration, in my opinion, you choose the wrong way.
It is only my opinion.

Your color choice is very nice ! I hipe you will have a lot of fun with your car !

 

Personally I wouldn't have choosen a non-original colour that looks a lot like the original Blu Chiaro. But that's your choice as is the kind of bare metal respray. I had one done too and it's all a matter of budget and priorities.

 

My take on 308 paint jobs... Unless you are prepping a Concours show car, a $15K - $20K paint job offers a bad ROI for a $30K 308.
The only person that is going to pay $50K for a 308 is someone looking for a perfect class winning glass/dry sump.
How many buyers have negotiated a $15K discount in their 308 purchase because of paint condition... Bueller? Bueller?

The town I live in is loaded with Ferraris owned by waxers who are afraid of bug juice and miles.
I say paint it how YOU want it and then drive the wheels off.

 

I would agree..!

Not to mention your choice of shops was perfect. I don't know if you've noticed, but most paint jobs on custom Harleys & street rods are far better than those on many Ferraris and other european autos.

 

Yeah, and the critique of how you're repairing it... I don't get it; he showed a before and after picture, and said it was being done by a streetrod shop that's big on fabrication....
Looks like it was done well to me. It's repaired; who's to say from a few pictures on the net how well it was or wasn't done. Oh yeah, it's a Ferrari you're damned if you do/damned if you don't.
Looks good to me; and good on you for fixing a car.

 

As a former 97 B/W Viper owner, I applaud your color choice. I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Those side marker lights are like......30 bucks....but good for them to go gently on issues like that!

Looking good.......