Ooops! Almost forgot about this little rascal that has just arrived! It's not REALLY relevant, but every bit counts for me! This is the "GTB" emblem that'll go into the dash. It's so cute!! LOL! I can't believe you can still get new parts like this one! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finally found a proper 3D online printing service with the right material for my needs, so I gave it a try! This is the steering column VIN plate. It still needs some sanding and painting, but the quality of the print is superb! And this plastic withstands up to 80°C temperatures, so I believe it'll perform very well over there! What do you think? BTW, Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, looks like I'll finally be able to start working seriously on the car's front suspension; I was able to buy both front hubs and a steering rack! Sure, they're used and will probably need to be overhauled, but that's no biggie for me. It feels soooo good to start moving onto the "mechanical" bits of this project! Hopefully, front end will be ready soon; I'm planning to get some Volvo "steelie" wheels to be able to get it standing on its own "front feet" temporarily. I'm still not sure about the rear suspension though... my car had the rar portion of the frame cut by the time I got it... so I'll either have to repair the frame and suspension mounting points to original specs or come up with a completely different setup (maybe a McPherson type?) What do you guys think should do? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, the steering rack and the front hubs are finally on a ship, on their way from Miami to Paraguay. That fact motivated me to start working on the car, in order to have everything ready to start building my front suspension as soon as those parts arrive. My daughter Lali (almost 5 years old) is very enthusiastic about helping me, so I decided to train her to become a useful assistant of mine. She's actually getting it right very fast, and helped me a lot with keeping the tools in their place and handing them to me when required! Last weekend we removed the complete wire harness; labeled and took pictures of every mounting point of the harness, in order to ease reinstalling it in the future. Next, I proceeded to begin removing the spot welds that hold the nose section panel to the frame; I need to take the remains of the sheetmetal off in order to gain better access to the suspension mounting points, so I can straighten the front part of the spaceframe and reinstall all the sheetmetal correctly later. My plan is to make new suspension A-arms from scratch; I'm still working on their design, and hopefully will have a mockup ready by the time the front hubs arrive, in order to make corrections before making the jigs and the final set. DOM tubing is not available in this country, so I'll make the mockups out of mild steel seamed tubing and will be buying the DOM tubing from the US if can't find a provider in Brazil or Argentina. I'm still unsure about the gauge of the final tubing; according to Haynes Lotus Seven build book, the required gauge for this type of Project is 1.25" diameter tubing with a 0,065" Wall thickness... but I'm unsure about that, that wall sounds too thin to me. I asked a friend of mine who's building a mid-engined car from scratch, and he told me he used 1" diameter tubes with a 0,125" wall thickness for his A-arms; I believe those might be safer and better looking, does anybody have any input/experience on this subject? Another thing I did on the weekend was to clean all the rusted spots on the car's body and applied Eastwood's Rust Converter, very interesting product, I might add. I'll be coating those spots with paint next weekend to help keeping all the panels rust-proof. Hopefully, I'll finish removing the front section sheetmetal over the weekend as well . Not many pictures this time, as there's really not much to show... hopefully I'll get some interesting shots of the naked front section next week! Also; James (aka i-velocita) was very kind in sending me leather swatches of the original tone used for the seats of the car. This are already safely stored among the other many parts of the project and will be very useful when I get into the upholstery part of the car. Thank you, James, for the constant support to this crazy endeavour! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, what started out as a simple offer for a broken hood latch lever turned out into an amazingly generous offer by Edward Davenport (aka "Fast Eddy") for quite a lot of very hard to find and important parts. Thank you so very much, pal! It's funny how things turned out... I first met Eddy soon after buying 37313; he was actually trying to buy the very same car back then! And now, he's become one of the top contributors to get it back on the road! Nice, huh? The parts list include an original MOMO steering wheel, a complete shifter (including gate and know) tail lights, direction lights, horn buttons (yes, more than one), a couple of broken, but repairable, hood latch levers, one headlight motor and some badges... AMAZING! I won't disclose any values or terms of the sale... but I'll say this much: WOW! Parts are coming by boat... so it'll be at least a couple of months 'til I can get my hands on them... I just can't wait!! :-D It's amazing how many generous people I've been able to find among this community... what a pleasant surprise! And by generous, I don't mean just people donating or selling me parts at unbelievably low prices... but also people willing to share their knowledge, spending time to write precise directions towards how something should be done, or even just supporting my efforts. I'm really very thankful for each and every one of you, and to Rob, for creating (and mantaining) such an amazing environment! Here are some pictures of some of the parts... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
On another note; More progress was made of the weekend. I was finally able to remove the remains of the RH fender. It was more complicated than what I initially thought, mostly because to the 3 sheets of Steel that were spot welded togeher on the lower windshield gutter, and the hidden welded tacks that I believe were used to initially hold the front nose in place, prior to spot welding it. These tack welding spots were not very evident at first, since the "dabs" of metal left were reaaaally very light, and almost looked like undercoating overspray. In order to keep my costs down, I had to source a couple of "in house" helpers this time... I pay their fees with M&Ms and gummy bears, so they turn out very affordable! ;-) LOL! My daughters are great... they kept by my side watching my every move throughout the entire process! Almost as if it was the latest Minions movie! Lali usually worries about me dehydrating, and she kept bringing me countless glasses of water over the weekend. Cami pretty much dedicated herself to put my screwdrivers and punches onto each and every hole or crevice on the car's body... that was hilarious! Anyways, this is how the car looks today. The damage on the RH front frame is now very evident as it twists inward, and I'll be building a new center section and reusing the headlight support on that side. I'll take careful measurements of that side in order to make a new LH headlight support. Hope to have more updates very soon... so stay tuned!! ;-) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Steering rack and front spindles have finally arrived to Paraguay! Well... time to start working on those A-Arms... still getting some stuff figured out design-wise, but hope to get everything sorted out soon. BTW; can anyone provide me with measurements of the original A-arm bushings? Those will be very helpful! The shop-assistants couldn't resist the urge to take a picture along with the new parts! It felt like Christmas' morning opening up those boxes, hehe! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Cute kids. The oldest will probably have her license when you finish your project. Then we will see a great picture of the smile on her face when she gets to drive the car her father built.
Well,after a couple of month waiting patiently, the parts from Fast Eddy are finally here! They're AMAZING! But don't take my word for it... take a look at the pictures!!! Lali couldn't resist taking a picture with the car... she loves it! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Daniel, when she will be old enought to drive this car you'll have to watch all the boys. Your project look to be coming together well. Congrats!
I'm happy the parts made it to you finally! I'm very excited for you, and look forward to seeing a dream taking shape for you! Keep chipping away at it and before you know it, you'll be cruising the streets! (and watching the boys)! I love the pic of your daughter Lali! You are blessed with a beautiful family! Cheers! Eddy
Thanks to F-chatter Art Kimmel, aka"akimmel", 37313 now has a complete set of Koni struts on their way!! Thank you very much, Art! These are precious items for me! What a leap forward for the project!!! This forum is amazing... I've never expected this ammount of support from the forum members! I hope someday I can give something back to this amazing community! Image Unavailable, Please Login
...and even though things HAVE been going on, project-wise, I just couldn't find time to update the thread. So let's see... first of all, Art, the struts have arrived safe and sound and are BEAUTIFULLLLL!!! Thank you so much!! Ok... so I went to Japan and came back... not at all the experience I was expecting... couldn't find anyone drifting on 5-story parking lots! LOL! Beautiful place... but being gluten-intolerant proved really troublesome, since that disease is very rare over there. Car culture also wasn't what I was expecting... most middle-class citizens don't even use a car! I did spot some Aventadors, Rolls-Royces, Maseratis... not a single F-Car! I wrote several e-mails to a couple of Ferrari Clubs I found online, but none responded. Late october I got involved into finding parts for a newer Ferrari for a friend that bought a crashed car from the US. That "project" got me in touch with some interesting folks, and I was able to locate a complete set of suspension arms, both rear hubs, a couple of Cromodora rims and a rear brake caliper! So, basically, the complete set I need to finish-up the suspensión system is on its way, on a boat, to Paraguay as I write. Also, I got a good deal on a clutch/brake pedal combo from Canada. This one has already arrived. On a different note; I actually started repairing some of the stuff I already have. I never mentioned this before, but I manage many restorations for other friends. One of them is a 1963 Beetle that we're restoring from the ground-up. This car had several structural issues, as it had been involved in an accident some many-many years ago and wasn't repaired very well back then. This car led me to meet a very skilled metal shaper locally, and I gave him this project... long story short, I believe I'll get him to repair 37313's sheetmetal. I tried-out his skills with the LH headlight bucket, and the results are EXCELLENT! Anyways... 2016 seems very promissing so far for the GTBi... hopefully, well get it to "land" on it's own suspension before the year ends! Unbelievable, huh? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Also, I have recently been working on a replacement steering column VIN tag for fellow F-Chatter Ryan Bushell's 308 QV. So now I have a "template" for the QV cars, if anyone needs this tag for their car, just ask, and I'll design one with your own VIN number, so you can 3D-print it! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
what a project ! still remember your "buying post" from more than four years ago http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/341383-1981-308gtbi-project-parts-car-ebay-%242500.html maybe you could update a list of things that you are more (or less) deperately looking for ? Happy New Year
Hello, Michael! Happy new year to you too!! Yes... this is actually going faster than I expected! It really amazes me how when you get devoted to a cause/project, unexpected oportunities arise. Seems like nothing is reaaally imposible if you endure long enough... funny, huh? Anyways, this is more or less the list of still missing parts: -front and rear hood latches -"Disegno di Pininfarina" badge on the side -any toggle switch from the interior -any warning light from the dash -any parts of the center console -instrument cluster pod cover -outside door handles -damaged bumpers (front and rear) -any trim pieces -engine/transmission -1 front brake disc -1 rear LH brake caliper -both front brake calipers -2 cromodora 14" rims -parking brake handle -any glass -any wheel lug bolt Happy 2016 everyone!! Dan
The "design by" plate, is for sale in our ads...there is a rear bumper in there also.... I can match those wheels, I think...
I saw that badge... but it's in Holland (bringing it to Paraguay would be complicated) and it's pricey (I know, it's in like-new condition, but I really don't need one in a mint condition) I'm interested on the wheels though... I'll PM you later, BigTex! ;-)
