Testarossa Restoration

[cologne2792]

It was a fascinating thread if only to see how a Testarossa is constructed - cracking work too !

[roygarth]

Adz The Rat said:

dibblecorse said:

Great thread but isn't that all the stuff that should have been rectified before you tried to sell it for top dollar ?

Did you just buy it, polish it and pop a for sale sticker on it ?

It is stuff that would have been done before sale anyway

Mmmmm that old chestnut.

Great thread though, thanks for posting.

[markiii]

got a link to the Tesarossa thread?

[NeilH]

Adz The Rat said:

Im sorry but I can't carry on this thread, or the Countach thread, as apparently a few people have complained about them to the moderators and I have been asked to stop.

I will stick a link up to another forum shortly where you can follow the progress if you like.

Is it just me, or have the PistonHeads forums gone down hill in the last 6 months or so ??

[JMP86]

Shame as I was quite enjoying both rebuild threads, in particular this one,

Someone earlier pointed out it could be to do with advertising, which after the chap with the Aston detail had his thread deleted without warning for advertising, then I presume it has to be one rule for all, be it a detail on an Aston, Rebuild of a Lambo/Testarossa,

A shame to not be able to carry on but taking a step back I can see the moderators have had to take action. I'll have to take a look on the other site to keep up to date.

[Adz The Rat]

markiii said:

got a link to the Tesarossa thread?

I havent started it yet sorry, will do soon.

[testosterone]

Adz The Rat said:

Indeed it is!

Always interesting to find out the history of these cars.

I bought the car from Graypaul when they were still based in Loughborough in 2004. I had been after a 512tr but nothing came up. This one caught my eye because the sills were painted like a 512tr and i convinced myself that there surely could not be that much difference between the two models. Ironically whilst i was in the showroom i see a signed poster with Jason kay's comments on it. Five years earlier i had hired this guy to deliver pizza for me at a store in Ealing ! The day i collected the car is one of those days etched in your life forever. The drive home to London was uneventful apart from the front number plate coming off within 100 yds of leaving graypaul's garage.It was held on with velcro as there is no proper number plate holder on the bumper. Because of the long front overhang the plate was always coming off so i drove two years without one and only got stopped once. I drove 3000 miles in the first month. The car had not been driven much before i aquired it so everything was a bit stiff. After the first month the car ran like a dream with the exception of a small leak in the passenger footwell when it rained. These cars like to be driven.

About two months later and about 5000 miles more on the clock i pulled away at a roundabout and i heard a bang. Pulled over, oil pressure and temp. fine and no further noises or leaks so i drove on. Next minute i get a horrible metallic grinding noise and the gears do not engage. AA called and car is recovered to Greypaul. Drive shaft seal failure was the diagnosis and repaired accordingly which took 2 weeks. After assembly Graypaul find that it is the diff. gone as well. Problem is none in stock in Italy so part is on back order. The new part is the uprated diff as fitted to the 512tr. When they get the part in Italy i ask for it to be shipped via courier as i want to use the car. Ferrari refuse saying everything must go on their truck to the uk so another week added to the repair. So 3 months later i finally get the car back but Graypaul have still not fixed the water leak ! A few weeks later i get a broken windscreen and the rubber seal is replaced at the same time and no more water leak.

The car was bought with a formula warranty which was the standard ferrari warranty offered by Graypaul and other ferrari main dealers. I seem to recall that it was limited to a maximum of £5000 per anyone single part however Graypaul did not enforce the limitation. Bearing in mind the labour time quoted for changing the diff. was in excess of sixty hours obviously meant Graypaul did not make any profit on this car !

The car was faultless for the next few months. I had now clocked up 12,000 miles whilst in my ownership and thought about a change. I took it to an indie for a valuation and was shocked to be informed that the car had serious corrosion on the carrier which is a frame that the engine sits on. It was not repairable which meant another engine out job out to replace. Back to Greypaul. After some tense negotiations Greypaul did the honourable thing and replaced the part FOC. I would never hesitate buying another car from them.

[johnfm]

Not really a 'restoration' is it.

You probably would have disassembled the hubs rather than just blast them and paint them.

This thread on Ferrarichat probably shows what a restoration entails - getting nuts, bolts, hubs etc treated to the finish they left te factory with.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/206-246/412399-er...

I assume this is the sort of thing traders do with all their cars IF they charge top dollar (like Specialist Cars of Malton).

If the cars are keenly priced, no need for a dealer to make a car pristine - a buyer always has the option to inspect the car properly and bid accordingly.