Hi Everyone: Three weeks ago, I bought a 2004 360 Spider 3-Pedal with 7,000 miles on it (has 8,200 now three weeks later). The car is wonderful. However, I brought it to a local Ferrari service shop and we put it up on the lift and it appears that someone had tried to lift the car by putting a floor jack under the fiberglass belly pan back by the left front lower control arm. This is not impact damage, as it is a jagged whole punched right through the pan (with no damage before or after the hole). Being I am sure that a replacement pan (if available) is about a million dollars, I was wondering what is the best way to repair it? The pan seems to be made of fiberglass. Should I simply remove it and lay on a fiberglass patch front the inside, filling in the outside and grinding it smooth and painting it flat black? It seems that this car never met something that it didn't bottom out on (there is a small hole in the back glass panel too and in the abs pads that cover part of the frame by the rear suspension. The tech took it all in stride...but it is driving me nuts. I am going to order the Hill Engineering skids plates for the front (also scuffed up)...but that seems really mild compared to some of the photos I saw on ferrarichat. Thanks. Brian
I just purchased a replacement reproduction one myself this morning. This was the cheapest place I could find a replacement part. Ferrari Parts: Spares, Whole Cars, Wheels, Glass, Rubber, Suspension And More. The other option is to go through Exotic Auto Recycling They also sell the reproduction part. Exotic Auto Recycling, Leading part supplier for Ferrari, Maserati, & Lamborghini
Wow...great tip. Still trying to figure out what to do. $452 is less than I thought and replacement seems quite simple. However, it seems that this is a 100% cosmetic fix (as it does not appear to impact performance). And the irony is that it is a cosmetic fix that no one can see unless you lift the car. However, it is driving me nuts that it is there. --Brian
LOL...welcome to Ferrari ownership!!! I wonder what percentage of owners suffer from OCD?? I know I do!! and would do the exact same thing you are... would drive me nuts too!!
On my 360 challenge race car I pulled all underside panels and repaired with fiberglass as part of cosmetic work - straightforward. It had a few scars underneath, but all panels are now as good as new Jes
Mine looks like someone threw a hand grenade on it. If I knew more about fiberglass, I would repair it.
Hey Jes: Were they hard to remove? Seems like about a dozen fasteners...but I am not sure if there are some hidden complications that lurk beneath. Brian
Yeah, easy to remove, and fiberglass is pretty easy to repair with. I have no particular experience with fiberglass, it came out fine (to my eyes), and with a race car it is more function over "form". Though, I wouldn't expect a street car to have much to repair under there (except in cases like yours).
fiberglass is fairly simple....patch, sand, & paint....that small of an area is a great way to learn. Use a small thin piece of galvanized metal or plastic attaching from the inside, cover with fiberglass tape and seal with liquid fiberglass...all on the inside. Then fill from the outside until level or a little over, and sand & paint. Look up patching fiberglass on google....a gazillion hits...
Fiberglass is a cake walk. Give it a try. Like Brett says above but I like to embellish the repair, at least on surfboards, by masking off an area that is a nice shape like a diamond and then repair inside that. When the work is done you can see the shape as it is the extent of your new layers of resin & fabric. I am not sure of the composition of the panel that you are talking about if it is more like a surfboard with woven fiberglass fabric and smooth or more like a boat made up of chopped fibers but if its the former cut your heavy cloth into the shape too for a little flair and professionalism. Clean surface with acetone and rough up with 200 grit sand paper (for cloth repairs) and the repair should be lasting. Lots of info on the web about fiberglass repair.
Find a local kid who is involved in surf boards. Anyone who has built or patched a surf board can fix your part if you just want to mend the hole and make the part structurally sound. It will take a little more time to make the patch look invisible from the underside and not every kid would know how to do this. You might have to look for someone experienced with Corvette repair or some guy from the local Experimental Aircraft Association who is involved in building a composite home-built aircraft. Or you can read about fiberglass on the Internet and do it yourself using products available at most DIY outlets. Hint: Think sand paper and acetone to clean and rough up the patch area, a piece of cardboard covered in cling film fastened on the outside with masking tape to temporary plug the hole, a cheap paint brush, some fiberglass cloth, some thin epoxy resin suitable for laminating, and an hour or two of your time. Work from the inside. Several ( perhaps many depending on the weight of the cloth) layers of medium weight (9oz) cloth is best for this kind of repair. Cut the cloth into circles of decreasing size and put the largest down first, finishing up with the smaller ones. When cured, remove the plastic covered cardboard from the outside, sand to produce a "tooth", spread a little body filler on the patch, sand flush, and give the patch a squirt from a can of black spray paint. By spending a bit more time I could make the repair invisible both inside and out; i.e. it would look like it was never damaged, but the time involved would cost more than buying a replacement part even if I were to "work for beers".
Any decent boat repair place can do it as well. They have lots of experience with finished fiberglass.
Congrats, Instead of worrying about the belly pan, put some miles on that garage queen my friend. Don't make the same mistake that the previous owner(s) made. Enjoy the drive.
What are you talking about? This guy put on 1200 miles in three weeks. That's over 20K per year, WAY over the average for a Ferrari. It doesn't look like a garage queen to me. And correcting damage done to his car is something many Ferrari owners do all the time. For example, I'm performing a DIY engine/dif oil change, and motor/transmission mount replacement this morning and there is a crack in my belly pan. I could easily just put it back on when I'm finished, but I'm going to spend a little time fixing it. Frankly, I don't see the harm in maintaining a Ferrari and I congratulate someone doing a little research on this forum to get some ideas about how to tackle the repair. Don't expect me to apologize for keeping my car in good repair.
Mi rear under tray looks like it survived a bomb attempt . I thought it was CF not fiberglass. I may play around with it over the winter if unsuccessful I'll find it used . Point being I've been driving it as is.
I also have a 2004 360 Spider and when I first got it the front pan started flapping on the highway! I thought I had hit something and it scared the hell out of me. Luckily, I know a racer friend who put it up on a lift and re-fabricated the nut brackets (several screws that held the panel were either broken or inoperative). Since then I've had no issues and I added rubber driveway levelers which really help prevent scrapes going to and from the curb end of the driveway. I highly recommend those to anyone who has similar issues. Finally, I'm REALLY careful about entrances and exits off of roads.
As for a garage queen comment, I was referring to the previous owner(s) and not the op. As for the belly pan, how about body/repair shops that deal w/ Corvettes? Best of luck.
