Countach Anniversary Restoration
Discussion
I mentioned on the other Countach thread that we were doing a restoration on an Anniversary at work (Amari Super Cars) and a few said they would be interested to see the work, so here we go….
We bought this Anniversary around December 2012. It looked to be in quite good condition and has only 10,000 km on the clocks, however it had been sat unused for around 2 years.
The colour is Ballon White (not the original shade) and the interior is full Rosso hide.
So, as it needed some tidying and some mechanical work, we decided to go the full length and do a proper restoration job on it.
Here are a couple of pics from when we first bought it:
Now forgive me as some of these photos may not be in the correct order, but I shall do my best. Also some may be repeated as there is some from my DSLR and some from the tech's tablet.
At the beginning of October we sent the wheels for a refurb and started to strip the suspension and brakes.
All the components were laid out to show the condition. Most of these were then sand-blasted, then some were painted and others were sent away for zinc coating:
More soon…...
We bought this Anniversary around December 2012. It looked to be in quite good condition and has only 10,000 km on the clocks, however it had been sat unused for around 2 years.
The colour is Ballon White (not the original shade) and the interior is full Rosso hide.
So, as it needed some tidying and some mechanical work, we decided to go the full length and do a proper restoration job on it.
Here are a couple of pics from when we first bought it:
Now forgive me as some of these photos may not be in the correct order, but I shall do my best. Also some may be repeated as there is some from my DSLR and some from the tech's tablet.
At the beginning of October we sent the wheels for a refurb and started to strip the suspension and brakes.
All the components were laid out to show the condition. Most of these were then sand-blasted, then some were painted and others were sent away for zinc coating:
More soon…...
We started work on taking the engine out, as it needed a service and belts, and we had no idea what condition the clutch was in.
It took a while to strip the parts off that needed removing first.
When we went to lift the engine, the gearbox was trying to move with it, even though everything had been un-bolted and loosened. Our tech thought it must be a spline sticking inside so decided to bolt it back up and bring the gearbox out with it!
It took a while to strip the parts off that needed removing first.
When we went to lift the engine, the gearbox was trying to move with it, even though everything had been un-bolted and loosened. Our tech thought it must be a spline sticking inside so decided to bolt it back up and bring the gearbox out with it!
Robert W said:
Are you sure it wasn't silver originally?
Hi Robert, you were correct, it was originally silver.More pics!!
To make the engine bay / cradle look like new, the old paint finish needed to stripped right back to bare metal. Doing this we could get rid of the surface rust and repair any bits that had rusted badly. This was done by hand with a sharp blade and also with a drill attachment.
TSS said:
Those wheels look great. Do you mind if I ask who did them Adz? Are they lacquered over the polished surface and did they take them apart or just polish the front of them?
WRC in Bamber Bridge did them, we use them for all our wheels. They fully split them and rebuilt them. As for laquer, Im not sure. I dont think so, as we normally use wheel polish and sealant to keep them looking shiny.
Sorry I havent updated this recently, it is still going along, just a bit slower as we have other work on, including a Testarossa getting similar treatment (will do a thread on that also).
We have done some metal repairs to the engine bay to get rid of any corroded pieces
We have done some metal repairs to the engine bay to get rid of any corroded pieces
Edited by Adz The Rat on Saturday 25th January 15:59
Now its gets interesting.
We did a compression test on the engine and it wanst good. 4 cylinders were accepetable, the rest were not.
So the engine had to come apart.
Now bear with me here as Im not very technical, but I believe we are cleaning and polishing all the ports in cylinder head & manifolds, grinding all valves and much more.
Photos will explain it better than I can:
We did a compression test on the engine and it wanst good. 4 cylinders were accepetable, the rest were not.
So the engine had to come apart.
Now bear with me here as Im not very technical, but I believe we are cleaning and polishing all the ports in cylinder head & manifolds, grinding all valves and much more.
Photos will explain it better than I can:
Not much to update as we have been doing a Testarossa over the last few weeks (I can do a thread on that if you like?) but here is a small update:
Engine bay painted
And we were very kindly sent some old cuttings of advertisements for this car by another Pistonheads member, thank you Robert!! A lovely piece of history for the car.
And an old photo he found from when it was silver, notice it used to have a big wing.
Engine bay painted
And we were very kindly sent some old cuttings of advertisements for this car by another Pistonheads member, thank you Robert!! A lovely piece of history for the car.
And an old photo he found from when it was silver, notice it used to have a big wing.
Adam B said:
Can you give us a ball park?
Most owners doing such a restoration, don't usually expect to get all the money back when selling, it's more a labour of love.
As Amari are selling are you pricing it as purchase price plus restoration costs plus profit margin?
(And thanks again for taking the trouble to document and post)
Hi Adam, sorry I missed your post.Most owners doing such a restoration, don't usually expect to get all the money back when selling, it's more a labour of love.
As Amari are selling are you pricing it as purchase price plus restoration costs plus profit margin?
(And thanks again for taking the trouble to document and post)
Ball park, Im not sure. Market value for a fully restored Countach has got to be decent though!
ro55a]dz The Rat said:
Not much to update as we have been doing a Testarossa over the last few weeks (I can do a thread on that if you like?) but here is a small update:
Hi there, would absolutely love to see the restoration of the testarossa, I have started a testarossa thread on classic Ferrari's
area of pistonheads, any chance that you could post the restoration there? Seeing as the car is now one of only three for sale on the site, it would be great to see what is being done and also interesting to see its overall condition compared to that of the countach.
What do you reckon?
Absolutely!Hi there, would absolutely love to see the restoration of the testarossa, I have started a testarossa thread on classic Ferrari's
area of pistonheads, any chance that you could post the restoration there? Seeing as the car is now one of only three for sale on the site, it would be great to see what is being done and also interesting to see its overall condition compared to that of the countach.
What do you reckon?
Ive been following your thread with interest, so I shall get a restoration thread started this week.
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