testarossas and rust

i'm thinking of making my next testarossa a daily driver, rain or shine. i'm not afraid of getting the car dirty from rain driving, but i don't know how much rust protection the car has. all those grills and strakes provide for lots of hiding places for water. i'm probably going to buy a late 80s to early 90s car.

thanks
john

 

Wow! A TR dd! I think it would be worth it to have a look see. I hate to think of where rust may be lurking on my Daytona. Especially after seeing resto pics on forums here.

Maybe a company like Ziebart will have a treatment that isn't horrible. The jags used to get treated with a waxol I've heard and in the old days cars in europe would get the underside misted on the underside before the winter.

I would believe water could collect somewhere on that car also.

 

Ziebart or rustproofing any used vehicle that has not had a complete dismantling and restoration inside and out...................and it will rot away twice as quickly than if you had left it alone...................TRUST ME, I know. Been ther, done that, got the title of the car........that's all that is left of it!

In other words, Don't do it. Just drive it and wash it and drive it and wash it...............repeat!! Most inportant...................Drive it!

 

Good point. Rust on a TR. Who has it and where is it?

I'll start.

That lovely black shiny drip mold on the edge of the roof. passenger side (RHD car) and only 1/4" from the rear. Both of my cars have the start of a small blister right there.

Yesterday I saw an 1988 TR with rust blisters on the very bottom strake of the drivers door (RHD). Actually on the door, not the flat area of the strake. And not small. 30mm round.

Apart from that, mine has some surface rust on areas in the engine bay that had very light paint coatings from the factory, and a couple of bolt heads.

All in all, pretty good for an Italian car.

 

thanks for the info guys. any info i can get on this will be helpful.

john

 

John,

Ask Jim G. (Napolis) this question - he used one as his daily for 150K miles - I think the frame eventually got rust issues.

Regards,

Art S.

 

Yes TRs do seem to rust in several places, these are the places I'm aware of:
Lower portion of the doors, and along their bottoms. Around the windshield trim, and drip moldings. Many places in the framework that aren't coated, and in particular the lowest frame parts that get scraped on the road and over bumps. Any steel part or portion is prone to rust. Like the air intake scoop and air filter box. Remember the doors and roof of Testarossas are steel - unfortunately. The fuel injectors - if they are steel ones - get very rusty, being down in the pockets of the intake runners. They might be okay on the inside, but the outside gets pretty bad. Cars that don't get much use, and still have the old steel injectors...have a good chance of problems. The newer replacement injectors are brass.

Many old-timers (....like Kerry.... used to give their cars a kerosene bath once in a while. It won't hurt the paint, and would get behind moldings and trim pieces and help prevent rust. For a daily driver TR I'd consider doing something similar. After I wash my TR, I use a leaf blower to blast the water out of all the nooks and crannies. It's shocking how much water is trapped in tiny places on these cars. If nothing else...after washing a TR....drive it, get it up to some good speeds to get rid of trapped water.

I've heard of a TR with over 200k miles on it...out west I think...and it's still going strong. Of course out west is about the best climate you can have though.

 

If you use it daily anywhere where there is road salt the car will rush away and there's no way to stop it. It's design is very rust friendly. After 14 years and 155K miles mine was no longer safe and before that the chassis cracked and was re welded which was no small job.

TR's are great but they are very expensive to keep going. The gear box is a weak link mine went at 85K (that fix is 20K) and a major is 10K+. Another problem is that parts have been shifted from Ferrari to Ferrari UK and that may make them a bit more expensive.

Best

 

great responses. certainly sounds like rain driving could be an issue. i'll have to take special care to blow out rain water from nooks and crannies before parking for the night. now that i know the problem rust areas, i'll put some thought into protecting those areas...can't let a little water stop me! i'm ok with the cost of running a testarossa...being good to the tranny/diff is a given. my annual commuter mileage is pretty low (4K) so it could be manageable.

john

 

Whats rust?
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Jim do you have any pictures of your TR? I would love to see it!! Oh and what was the color combo?

 

keep in mind, that on the lower door edges, it is more a mtter of electrolysis than rust. you have aluminum, steel, lead , and etc...... being combined to fill the area. when i bought my tr, it had this on the drivers side lower door (nothing major), it hasn't changed at all in the 8+ years i have owned it.

 

I'm don't think that I do. It was Black with a Red interior.

 

I've seen rust on "garage queens" that get washed too much.


Winter is deadly to these cars.