Ferrari Mailing List: Restoration of Rick's 308GTB

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Hello Friends,

Something tells me I should apologize for the Ferrari content, but
I'll take the risk of posting anyway. :-P  I'll break this longish
note into sections, starting with an overview.  I start at the
beginning.

PRELUDE

In the fall of 1978 I met, via telephone, a man named Phil Tegtmeier.
I told him that I wanted a Ferrari and he sent me some pictures of the
car I eventually purchased.  Here they are, (dark) scans from the
original pictures Phil mailed to me.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/308gtb1_1997.jpg

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/308gtb2_1997.jpg

In January of 1979 I flew to Philadelphia to meet Phil and to see the
car in person.  Phil later told me that when someone goes to see a car,
the hook is already set.  AND IT WAS!  A couple of weeks later I flew
back and bought the car.  Drove it home to Tulsa in the snow.

A year or two later I bought Matt Boyd's Mondial QV.

http://www.aubard.us/Mondial/100_1242.JPG

I then owned TWO Ferraris.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/TwoFerraris.jpg
 
Soon thereafter I sold the 308GTB to Ric Rainbolt.  He used it as a
daily driver for a year or three while I drove the Mondial.  The paint
on the 308 had crazed terribly from life in the Texas sun.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Disassembly/MVC-012X.JPG

And the constant use in the Texas rain helped the salt from life up
north attack the sheetmetal.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Disassembly/MVC-015E.JPG

Somewhere along the way I sold the Mondial to Dave Craig and was
Ferrari-less.  (I bought the Mondial back from Dave a year or two
ago, then sold it last summer to Ed Helsing, here in Houston.)

Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Ric asking if I was interested
in buying my 308 back, to which I answered, "Hell yes!"  I really
missed that car.

BODY RESTORATION

Rick was buying Jon's 348 so we worked a deal on the 308. Ric managed
a new paint job which we factored into the purchase price.  He also
got to enjoy the disassembly of the car.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Disassembly/MVC-019E.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Disassembly/MVC-035E.JPG

Once disassembled, the car was ready for the body shop.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Disassembly/MVC-070X.JPG

The shop then stripped the car to bare metal - steel, aluminum and
fiberglass.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Strip/STRIP19.JPG

After all the metal work, the car was primered and verified to be
'straight'.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Primer/PRIMER19.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Primer/PRIMER21.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Primer/PRIMER27.JPG

Back from the paint shop with $10,000 worth of Glasurite 101 lovingly
applied, the car came back to Ric's garage.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Paint/PAINTED02.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Paint/PAINTED05.JPG

A few days later most of the car's trim was reinstalled and looking
good.  Ric was quite proud of the results.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Paint/FINAL18.JPG

BACK HOME

With the trim reinstalled, the next step was to buy some modern
rubber.  Ferrari of Dallas had a set of non-ABS 328 16" pull-off
wheels, one of which was bent.  I bought the wheels, had the damaged
wheel repaired and had all four repainted.  I could then buy sticky
16" rubber.  The car, with its new shoes, then had some glamor
shots (by Deb).

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Paint/FINAL18.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Frntqtr1.jpg

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/NACA1.jpg

INTERIOR I

First work on the interior involved refinishing the leather.  The
painter assumed that the interior would be replaced so they weren't
careful about damage or over-spray.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/SeatBefore1.jpg

First step was to strip the lacquer from the seats.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/Seats26.jpg

The door panels were also stripped.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/Door_works008.jpg

The window mechanisms were also rebuilt.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/Door_works004.jpg

A coat of Leatherique dye was applied to the seats and door panels
but it wasn't terribly durable.  The carpets were carefully cleaned
but not replaced.

http://www.aubard.us/Ferrari/Interior/Driver_seat_after_e.JPG

This is the way the car existed until last spring.

SERVICE

Not many miles had been put on the car since its partial restoration
but the engine was due cam belts.  After removing the covers, the
cams were locked in place with a special tool made for the job.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0081.JPG

With the cams locked and the engine at TDC, the pulleys were marked.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0083.JPG

Off came the tensioners and the old belts.  The tensioners were
rebuilt and the new belts were reinstalled.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0085.JPG

The cam belt covers were then refinished (Ship Wright's Disease).

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0088.JPG

Back together, everything looked great.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0090.JPG

COOLING SYSTEM I

While things were apart, the coolant reservoir was rebuilt and new
hoses were installed.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0094.JPG

SERVICE II

The ignition was replaced using new parts from Superformance.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0097.JPG

Once complete, the new ignition worked as nicely as it looked.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0103.JPG

A/C UPGRADE

Working with Rock Browning at RetroAir in Dallas, we designed an
A/C upgrade for the GTB.  As 308 owners know, the factory A/C in the
car is on par with an asthmatic hamster blowing across an ice cube.
Our goal was to design a new system which was totally reversible and
made no visible changes to the beautiful Pinninfarina design.  That
is what we achieved.

The first step was to upgrade the compressor.  That was done right
after completing the belt service.  The original compressor is a
design licensed from York and manufactured in Italy.  It is a boat
anchor.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0054.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0057.JPG

Here's where the compressor was mounted.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0058.JPG

Here's the Sanden 507 compressor mounted via an adapter engineered
by RetroAir.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0529.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0531.JPG

With the compressor installed and hoses connected, the interior of
the car got disassembled again.  This time, everything came out.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0276.JPG

The Evaporator box, complete with the asthmatic hamster, was removed
as a unit.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0247.JPG

With the hoses disconnected, the unit comes out with four bolts.
Yea, a little twisting and wiggling is required but it comes out
through the passenger foot-well.

RetroAir rebuilt the evaporator and installed HUGE capacity blowers
that fit in the same space as the hamster!  And the whole evaporator
assembly fits right back where it came from and attaches to the
original mount points.  Seriously, the biggest challenge was not
loosing the four bolts!  Even the new blower simply connects to
the existing power wire.

Next step was to replace the front hoses, receiver/drier and
condenser.  The condenser will not come out without removing the
radiator.  And the radiator won't come out without removing the
hood.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0204.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0214.JPG

With the radiator out, it only makes sense to rebuild the cooling
fans.  And of course, the fans can't come out with the radiator in
place.  Once rebuilt, and of course, repainted, the fans went back
in.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0412.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0414.JPG

The new condenser is bolted to the brackets on the radiator.  The
custom-designed condenser fits right where the old unit was located.

The radiator slides right back in from whence it came and two bolts
later, its in place.  The new A/C hoses are connected and the new
coolant hoses are installed to seal up the system.  Refill and bleed
the cooling system and the car is operational again.

The new A/C hoses connect right back to the new drier and the new
evaporator and the system is reassembled.
 
INTERIOR II

The 308 is a hand built car and like many similar cars, it didn't
fit together perfectly.  The floor seams needed to be leveled.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0284.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0283.JPG

Once the floors were leveled and seams resealed, new carpet was cut
and edge bound.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0278.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0301.JPG

The new carpet is cemented in.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0322.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0320.JPG

The door panels were refinished using SEM's Color Coat in Shadow
Blue.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0325.JPG

The console was refinished in black using the same SEM product type.
The paint is still wet in this picture, making it look too glossy.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0329.JPG

The seats were stripped again and saturated with Leatherique's
Rejuvinator Oil.  After that, any micro-cracks were filled with
Crack Filler.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0337.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0338.JPG

The vinyl stripes on the seats were then refinished black, as was
the original color.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0367.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0368.JPG

Once cured, the stripes were masked with easy-release masking tape
and the seats were sprayed in Shadow Blue.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0372.JPG

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0373.JPG

Reinstalled in the car, the newly refinished seat matches the new
carpet beautifully.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0382.JPG

The original radio was rebuilt and reinstalled.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0383.JPG

The new A/C is controlled by the original controls, preserving the
look and feel of the car but with 21st century performance.

http://www.aubard.us/hvac/HPIM0449.JPG

The interior complete, the A/C operational, the service current and
the engine running GREAT, the only thing left to complete was the
installation of the little chrome prancer on the console.  I bought
a new one for $40.  The stud broke off as I began to install it.
Crappy quality product AND it is slightly incorrect in shape.  Only
a tiny bit, but enough that close inspection reveals that the legs
don't perfectly match the indentations left from the original motif.
It is now glued in place.

CONCLUSIONS

The 308GTB is in great shape and is getting driven daily now (since
it hasn't rained recently).  It shares seat time with our '73 Jaguar
V12 E-Type, the Triumph TR3 and our most recent project, the '69
Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

Thanks for the read, my friends.  I now go back into sleep-mode.

regards,

-rick