Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, exotic car restoration, custom fabrication

We've moved our blog

2010-09-23T16:52:00.001-04:00

We've moved our blog to Exoticars USA

2010-07-25T18:53:00.000-04:00

We're hiring!

Attention expert Auto Technicians with Ferrari, Maserati and/or Lamborghini repair experience. We are also looking for a Porsche Auto Technician. Please visit our employment page.

2010-07-25T18:45:00.000-04:00

Company News...

We're expanding!
After 30 years of business at our existing location we are poised to expand to a 2nd location a couple of miles north of Frenchtown. NJ. Please stay tuned and look for an announcement about our grand opening celebration.

For sale: 1983 Ferrari 512BBI (PA)

2010-07-22T14:33:00.000-04:00

* 10,600 miles
* car located in PA
* recently serviced at Exoticars USA

Contact Wil or Sandy at Exoticars USA for more information (908)996-4889

For sale: 1996 Ferrari 355GTS (NJ)

2010-07-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

1996 Ferrari 355GTS - for sale. 21,706 miles, includes cover and battery charger. Garaged - car located in NJ. Call Wil or Sandy @ (908)996-4889

Lamborghini Miura

2009-11-14T09:10:00.001-05:00

The Lamborghini Miura is the original production super car available for sale to the public (If you can call rock stars, movie stars and industrialists public). The body profile appears to have been borrowed from the Ford GT40 racing car (which was really a Lola) and the drive-train seems to have been influenced by the Austin Mini with engine and gear box sharing the same oil. The 4 liter V-12 literally has to be shoe-horned in and out of the car it's packed in there so tight! The engine is fed by 4 Weber carburetors having 3 throats each which basically means it has one carburetor for each cylinder with separate adjustments for all twelve throats and all must be tuned and synchronized like an orchestra. The ignition system is similarly complicated. The engine has two ignition coils and two distributors. Each distributor has two sets of breaker points (mechanical switches) and its own mechanical ignition advance mechanism. All this equipment also needs to be perfectly adjusted and synchronized to make the right music.

This Miura S came to us for some minor service but we enjoyed being in its presence just the same.

Renewing your Ferrari's suspension

2009-10-02T10:45:00.004-04:00

Many owners are getting to the point where their Ferrari's suspension bushings are in need of replacement. Age is never kind to rubber, as the ozone breaks it down and you are left with a car that just does not feel like a Ferrari. New OEM rubber bushings work great, but are very expensive (over $100 for each bushing for just the wishbones....and there are 16 total!). Then you must add in the labor to press out the bushings, clean/inspect the housings and re-press in. This all adds up to a very expensive bill that does not even address steering components and shocks, wear items that also greatly affect the driving experience of your Ferrari.

We have been using aftermarket urethane bushings in place of the OEM rubber bushings for years and feel they are the way to go when your Ferrari's suspension is in need of an overhaul. The urethane bushings have much to offer, allowing for more direct steering (due to less deflection) and long lasting, quiet operation. We have track tested the urethane bushings over that past year, and they have performed flawlessly. If installed correctly, urethane bushings will last longer than OEM rubber bushings at less than half the cost!

Supercharged Ferrari 308GTB at Watkins Glen

2009-09-15T12:55:00.003-04:00

Fiat Freak Out 2009 - Valley Forge, PA

2009-08-16T21:18:00.004-04:00

We brought the blue 'double bubble' 1959 Fiat Abarth to the 2009 Fiat Freak Out national show in Valley Forge, PA. Some photos of the event. It was sweltering hot but worth attending - some cool old Fiats, Lancias AND the new US Fiat 500, manufactured in Michigan. Cute car, I want 2.

- posted by Sandy

New Hope Auto Show 2009

2009-08-10T11:35:00.003-04:00

This 2-day 50+ year old Pennsylvania car show drew smaller crowds due to predicted rain on Sunday. We still had a great time and enjoyed running into old friends and meeting new car lovers.
If you plan to go next year, here is the official website where show winner info will appear: www.newhopeautoshow.com.

We had a vendor tent this year and brought our own 1977 supercharged Ferrari GTB plus a customer's nearly finished 1959 Fiat Abarth which went through restoration this past year.

Pocono

2009-07-30T13:20:00.002-04:00

Wil at Pocono in July.

(Warning: large photos)

- posted by Sandy

Pure flash! Maserati Ghibli SS

2009-07-11T16:46:00.003-04:00

Just sharing a photo from this morning, saying 'goodbye' to a Maserati Ghibli SS that was finally headed home to her owner (original owner, I think) after a lengthy restoration. This is a basket-case to first place example of a sportscar brought back to show winning condition, erasing the ravages of time, moisture in the brakes lines, UVs, etc.

- posted by Sandy

Belle Macchine d'Italia 2009

2009-06-22T13:59:00.009-04:00

Still enjoying the memories of the 'Belle Macchine d'Italia 2009' at Pocono, hosted at Skytop Lodge and coordinated once again by Joe Corbacio and his daughter. This event has been held in the Poconos every year since 1987 and has only grown in popularity.

Here are some photos from the concours, held Saturday in drizzling, foggy conditions. Happily some stalwart owners braved the elements and helped make it another remarkable gathering of Italian marques.

Will not supply labels with the photos - feel free to comment if so inclined. Yes, we did forget to bring a camera and used a cellphone.

Many thanks to the Corbacios!

- posted by Sandy

Ferrari not

2009-06-17T16:28:00.004-04:00

...Mini yes! What a cool car, just here to have steering adjusted. Not your average Austin Mini.
I'll try to entice Wil to do some blogging here soon so it's not just me posting pretty pictures.

- posted by Sandy

Murcielago engine out

2009-06-07T23:30:00.000-04:00

This engine is giant! I spend most of my day in front of a computer shuffling papers. When I walked through the shop a couple weeks ago I had to snap a photo. Guess if a Murcielago has 700 or so HP the engine must be bigger than a box of Good 'N Plenty.

- posted by Sandy

wall bling

2009-06-07T16:45:00.000-04:00

Our beautiful steel outdoor wall decorations, fabricated cnc. No, we did not make them. You can buy them from Fred Nelson on ebaymotors.

Somerset Hills 'Drive for the Kids' autism awareness/benefit

2009-05-31T19:04:00.008-04:00

Went to a truly splendid event today, a benefit for autism in Bedminster, NJ. It was pretty impressive that this outstanding fundraiser was put together by a high school senior. Can't think of any way this could have been a better day. Except for the getting lost bit, but that's not the organizer's fault!

Fundraiser, awareness meeting, get together, broad range of sports car marques, drive through beautiful countryside + phenomenal spring weather made this a success on all fronts.

Top photo is a 2008 Alfa Romeo C8, my favorite and the "People's Choice" winner.

I'll see if I can embed a couple of my famously crude Facebook 'mobile upload' videos, first one of us zooming around in our supercharged 1978 Ferrari 308 (not a typical exhaust note!), then a partial panorama of the gathering of 40 - 50 exotics:

Posted by Sandy

Watkins Glenn FCA track day May 5

2009-05-31T18:51:00.002-04:00

Celebration of Speed and Design, Pocono Speedway May 25

2009-05-25T16:41:00.000-04:00

Honking down the front straight at this year's 'Celebration of Speed and Design' (CSD) at Pocono International Raceway. Many thanks to Joe Moore for once again coordinating a 4-day extravaganza.

Here is a very short cellphone video:

Lamborghini Countaches - Spring fever

2009-02-12T10:26:00.003-05:00

Just looking at this lineup, taken on a recent mild sunny day, makes me think of Spring. These Lamborghini Countaches have been in the shop for various tweaks and service, we're now waiting for the winter salt to be washed off the roads so we can road test and get them back to their owners.

What better was to celebrate the end of winter and forget about the trials of the world for an few hours than to peel down the road in a classic Countach.

...OK to be rigorously honest, I'm actually a gardener at heart, but I can see the attraction of these cars for all Italian car nuts out there!

posted by Sandy

blog for the Mazzer

2009-01-27T22:15:00.002-05:00

We created a separate blog to show the history and completion of Wil's scratch built 'Mazzer' project car. View the blog here Hopefully this car will be on the road in 2009 after many stops and starts.

Lamborghini LM002

2009-01-22T22:19:00.010-05:00

One of our customers just purchased a Lamborghini LM002. It's in pretty good shape and we're just doing a little maintenance and fix-up on it. This LM is a 1991 so it has what is basically a Diablo V12 engine with electronic fuel injection.

While performing a compression test, I noticed oil had leaked into the spark plug wells so it was decided we should replace the cam cover gaskets and while the covers are off we might as well check valve clearances and cam timing. None of the valve clearances were really way, way out of spec but 20 out of 24 needed to be adjusted by replacing the shim wafers that sit on top of the tappets. The cam timing marks were off too. If the engine was out of the vehicle we would have set the cam timing with a degree wheel and dial indicators but since the engine stayed put we just lined up the marks on the cams and bearing caps. Who ever had the cam covers off the last time used way too much sealant so we had quite a bit of cleaning up to do. The expression 'If a little is good a lot must be better' does not always apply.

Three out of eight of the threaded M6 holes in the fronts of the cam cam covers were stripped so we drilled and rethreaded them oversize for M6 Heli-coil inserts. The bolts and studs will have nice healthy thread to grab onto now.

The mechanic at the factory who assembled this engine apparently wasn't paying attention when he bolted the chain guides into the cam covers. The chain guide holes in the left cam cover were not correctly spot faced so that the seal washers had nothing but a rough cast surface to mate against causing an oil leak. We spot faced the holes correctly and the leak shouldn't reappear.

The tubular aluminum "bolts" that secure the cam covers to the cylinder heads and double as spark plug well liners should always be installed with a Teflon type thread sealant or the threads can gall, making disassembly difficult to say the least. Here we're chasing the twelve 36mm threaded spark plug wells in the cylinder heads with a tap and all 12 "bolts" with a 36mm Die. The last person to install the cam covers on this engine didn't take the proper precautions (correct thread sealant) and getting it apart this time was an adventure, to say the least (we also had to file the other guy's pipe wrench marks off of the bolt heads). Chasing the threads was an absolute necessity. We had this tap and die set specially made for us just for these engines since we run into this problem quite often.

2008-12-22T19:54:00.001-05:00

Simeone Foundation visit

2008-12-07T21:42:00.004-05:00

'All work and no play...' We enjoyed a holiday dinner with members of the Penn-Jersey chapter of the Ferrari Club of America at the brand (as of this summer) new Simeone Foundation museum in Philadelphia. Here is Wil next to an array of le Mans cars (1970 PORSCHE 917LH, 1958 FERRARI TESTA ROSSA, 1956 MASERATI 300S and 1954 FERRARI 375MM). Don't just go to the website to see more photos of this amazing collection. Go visit the museum.

(posted by Sandy)

the finest Maserati 425 on Earth

2008-10-22T11:27:00.015-04:00

There probably isn't a better example of a 1985 Maserati 425. We're delighted to be sending this Mazzer on its way home after a 3-year restoration to bring the abandoned vehicle back to life.

The Maserati 425 is an iconic sports coupe of the '80s. Fast and fun to drive, the ideal retro city driver (or so I've been told - I just take photos).

The 'before' pictures follow:

- posted by Sandy

Ferrari 355 meltdown!

2008-10-19T10:08:00.014-04:00

We saved a customer a bundle by installing aftermarket headers and catalytic converters following a catastrophic exhaust meltdown. The stock Ferrari pipes are too thin, similar to the Achilles heel of Lamborghini Diablos. We replaced the headers with better grade stainless steel aftermarket parts and upgraded the catalytic converters. We had to test afterwards with our SD2 setup to ensure the engine was running correctly with the new hardware and add more insulation to help prevent a similar future occurrence as a
safeguard. The sports racing catalytic converters and header upgrades are also available for 328, 348, 360 and 430.

Here we're taking a peek deep inside of a catalytic converter on a Lamborghini Diablo using a "Visual Inspection Device" which displays live color video from an imaging sensor and lighting source connected to a flexible cable. It doesn't look like it was damaged by a short episode of running hot due to an engine management malfunction. It could have been much worse. Never drive with the Check-Engine-Light activated. It could be warning you of something benign but the light could also be trying to tell you a catastrophe is about to happen and please stop and shut off the engine!

- Post by Sandy

1958 TESTA ROSSA REPLICA

2008-10-18T21:58:00.002-04:00

We would have loved receiving the assignment to build this aluminum bodied car but we didn't. It's too bad because we would have done a better job. Instead we received the car for service because the engine was making a metallic noise and it ran on no more than 6 of its 12 cylinders. We fixed all that but found problems with the suspension, the steering, the cooling system, the ignition system, the throttle linkages, the electrical system, body to chassis alignment, the paint, the wheels and tires, etc, etc. This car needed major sorting and re-engineering but it now runs and drives beautifully.

When first built she apparently had a vintage Ferrari V12 engine but that was replaced with a Jaguar V12 equipped with Electromotive computer controlled fuel injection and distributorless ignition and TWM throttle bodies, before we received the car, in an attempt to make the car more user friendly. Unfortunately none of this equipment had been set up properly, which is why it wasn't running right (I imagine the carburetors and distributors on the original Ferrari engine weren't set up correctly either). The metallic noise had made us wonder if the engine had a loose valve seat, or something like that, but after removing a cylinder head the cause turned out to be a piece of copper wire lying on top of a piston and making contact with the head. Not having air filters, the engine apparently just sucked the copper wire in. Luckily it didn't do any serious damage.

Murcielago wheels, dash

2008-10-17T23:57:00.009-04:00

We powder coated the wheels black. We like the new look.

Powder coating is a great process yielding stunning results for wheels and all kinds of parts.

Leather dashes shrink, unfortunately. Here the black leather on the dash had shrunk along the forward edge at the base of the windshield, leaving sections of the yellow structure underneath showing. It obviously did not look very nice that way. We removed the dash (not a simple task) and it was clear that not enough leather was left folded over the edge and glued down when the car was built. We sewed large leather patches onto the skimpy tabs left by the factory, both to have something to pull on and to have more leather surface area to glue down to the back of the dash. We soaked the outer dash leather, stretched it, pulled it back over the edge, glued it all down and re-installed the dash. The result was a few stretch marks in the leather on top of the dash but it looks 99% better than it did. We could have installed new leather but the car's owner didn't want to go that far and was very happy with the result.

THREE VINTAGE FERRARI ON A FALL AFTERNOON

2008-10-17T23:49:00.003-04:00

This photo was taken as the center car, a 1965 Ferrari 330 GTS, was about to be loaded into the trailer for the trip back to it's owner. This is a really nice car for cruising around on a sunny fall day. It's not too big and not too small - a nicely sized traditional sports car with plenty of power from it's 4 liter V-12 and nice handling. It's a real pleasure to drive and to behold. I guess it's market value reflects that.

The 330 GTS was in for an annual service. On the road test we noticed a slight hesitation in the brakes. The car was raised on a lift and one of our technicians applied pedal pressure while another tech checked the brakes over and found a big bulge in the right front brake hose. New brake hoses were installed and off she goes.

The Ferrari on the right is a 1963 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso (luxury coupe). It is basially a road going version of the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB (short wheel base) competition car and is one of the prettiest Ferraris ever made. It's a nice little car with a 3 liter V12 and early disk brakes. Unfortunately it's a bit cramped for my 6' - 2" frame but that's not the car's fault.

The Lusso is in our shop for some work on the fuel system, cooling system, steering and electricals and is about ready to go home also.

The silver Ferrari on the left is a 1975 365 GT4 BB (Berlinetta Boxer) It has a horizontally opposed 12 cylinder engine which is the reason for the Boxer name since the two banks of pistons move back and forth, towards and away from each other like boxing gloves in a fight. This is considered the first mid-engine Ferrari. The 246 Dino came before it but at the time the Dino was considered a separate brand by Ferrari management. This was a fast car in it's day and is still no slouch. I'm told this car was actually displayed on the Ferrari stand at the International Auto Show in the old Coloseum. I think the CNN building stands there now but I remember many exciting trips to the Coloseum to see the latest offerings.

This car is here for a partial restoration and is very close to completion.

Waiting

2008-10-08T17:32:00.008-04:00

This 1959 Jaguar XK 150S roadster was found in a barn in Texas, with a bullet hole in the windshield. Now spot free from rust and protected in primer, it waits. Has been waiting in our barn in NJ for 8 years for restoration work to resume.

How much longer before it looks like this?

I heard that Clint Eastwood had one of these too in the early '60s (probably without the bullet hole).

- posted by Sandy

Happy ending for burned Lamborghini Diablo

2008-10-04T13:28:00.006-04:00

We are in the final stages of a 3-year reconstruction of a Lamborghini Diablo roadster which suffered an engine fire. Originally a silver car, the engine was toast and all rear body panels, hoses, wiring, etc melted. Now with new metal flake yellow paint, rebuilt engine, restored frame, we are just performing a final service. We can't wait to send this car home.

Garden State Ferrari Festival

2008-09-27T10:18:00.018-04:00

Before September turns into October, here are photos from this year's Garden State Ferrari Festival, held September 14 in Florham Park. We were there (2nd to last photo, lower right; note my new Ferragamo handbag!) with our black 1978 supercharged Euro Ferrari 308GTB (last photo).

There were about 200 Ferraris, from Enzo, to late model and vintage models. The facilities for a show like this are great - 4 tiers of blacktop and good landscaping - all the cars looked their best. The weather was hot for mid September - but better sun than rain.

Despite the allure of marvelously restored older Ferraris (a 1961 250PF Cabriolet took Best in Show and numerous other awards), my personal favorite was a 430 Spyder painted an unusual tropical orange/red. (5th photo) Tamale red? What do I know, I just know what I like!

Note: these photos were posted at the exoticsrally.com forum and reposted here with the photographer's (Brent Mathews) permission. More photos can be found on this thread at Exotics Rally: We didn't bring our cameras, just strolled around enjoying the day. Fun.

Many thanks to Dave North of the Penn-Jersey branch of the Ferrari Club of America for painstakingly organizing once again a hugely successful occasion for Ferrarista.

- posted by Sandy

1952 Aston Martin DB2 hits the road

2008-09-21T10:58:00.014-04:00

Aston Martin, the company, has been hand building cars for discerning buyers and winning races since the early twentieth century. The DB models came after World war II when Aston Martin was bought by David Brown. The most famous Aston Martin is probably the DB5 driven by James Bond in the mid sixties.

This beautiful DB2, built in 1952, came to our shop a few years ago needing some repairs but as we started working on it one frightening thing after another was uncovered. Part of the chassis had rusted away, every bearing journal on the crankshaft was a different size, every single spoke in the wire wheels was loose, the bonnet (hood) had been crash damaged and badly repaired several times apparently (requiring extensive aluminum body panel fabrication) and the list went on.

She runs and looks like new now and it's easy to forget the challenges we ran into along the way. For example, this car has 3/16" flat glass in the doors. New windows were required and usually we have flat windows cut from safety glass from a local supplier. Apparently 3/16" safety glass is no longer available. Quarter inch wouldn't fit so we tried 1/8" but as soon as we started road testing the thin glass started cracking. The only other choice was 3/16" tempered glass (like the original equipment) but having tempered glass windows made is a bit more complicated. New windows were cut and sent out to be tempered (for strength) and one exploded in the oven. Later when we finally had the new side windows in our possession, one of them had been made a hair too wide and would not fit. Safety glass could have been trimmed on a special belt sander at the glass shop but that is a no no with tempered glass. It shatters into a million little pieces. Lucky for everyone we were able to make adjustments inside the door.

Radial tires, electronic ignition (Pertronix retro fit kit in the distributor) and a Bosch coil were trade-offs to make this classic more fun to own. The wood rim, aluminum steering wheel is also not original but adds a nice touch to the interior.

The lazy speedometer was fixed with some judicious cleaning and a drop of real whale oil in the right place.

Arnolt Bristol @ Buckingham Auto Show

2008-09-21T10:00:00.007-04:00

Here's a few photos of a customer's award winning 1954 Arnolt Bristol last weekend at the Buckingham Auto Show Concours d'Elegance. Here is a blurb about the Arnolt Bristol from Sports Car Market Magazine:

"The Arnolt Bristol was the obsession of engineer, industrialist, importer, and sports car enthusiast Stanley “Wacky” Arnolt. He made his fortune building marine engines during World War II, and, seeing a market for sports cars in America during the early 1950s, cut a deal with Bristol to use an updated version of its 400 chassis, designated the 404, to build a sports car. Bertone supplied the bodies, and the Arnolt Bristol went into production in 1954. The racing version, called the “Bolide,” did not come with a top, carpeting or adjustable seats, and windshield wipers were optional. “DeLuxe” models had all of those features and a different dashboard design with the instruments in front of the driver. A coupe completed the model line-up, though just six were built before production ended in 1961. Only 142 Arnolt Bristols were constructed in total, 12 of which were destroyed in a Chicago warehouse fire. An estimated 75 cars survive to this day...."

Here is the background of the Buckingham Auto Show from their website. This mid-September annual show is worth a visit :

" The Buckingham Auto Show is the brain child of Al Pincus and Ralph Tompkins, who became concerned with the loss of farm land and open space in Buckingham Township.
They presented their idea of an antique auto show and dinner annually to raise funds to purchase farmers development rights to the Board of Supervisors five years ago.
The show has been a huge success, manned totally by volunteers and the Fund has been recognized by both the State and Federal Governments and granted status as a Pennsylvania charity and a Federal 501(c) 3 tax free entity."

Posted by Sandy

NJ Motorsports - FUN DAY!

2008-08-25T11:36:00.009-04:00

We had an awesome time yesterday at the brand spanking new NJ Motorsport Park in Millville, NJ . Organized by the relatively new tri-state based Exotics Rally About 100 exotic car owners turned out for this charity run from Edgewater NJ to south Jersey to tour the phenomenal new raceway, so new the grass hasn't even started growing. Here are a few pics from the day. Visit the exoticsrally.com website for more and info on how to participate in future events.

Following a snail's pace tour of the new Thunderbolt track the guys had their jollies doing some blood thirsty go karting at NJMP (see last pic of Wil behind the wheel getting ready to wreck havoc).

Car shows are fun too, but these cars are meant to be driven and we certainly had fun in our vintage supercharged 308GTB alongside new Murcielagos, Gallardos, some Diablos and a host of Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, Corvettes, BMW, Bentley, Acura and Vipers.

Posted by Sandy

2008 Belle Macchine d'Italia at Pocono

2008-06-25T16:51:00.006-04:00

2008 Belle Macchine d'Italia at Pocono. Check out this blog for an interesting write up and veeerry nice photos of this year's event.

Ferrari Club 'Spring Fever Run'

2008-03-29T15:06:00.003-04:00

We drove our 1977 308GTB 70 miles to gather with 25 other Ferrari owners for a late March drive up to High Point State Park. Anyone else have spring fever?

2007-12-16T22:19:00.000-05:00

One of our latest projects is this 1960 Fiat Abarth with a hand made aluminum body by Zagato. I flew to France last spring for a long time client to perform a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) on this car and actually rode around in the streets of Paris with this car. Our client was able to negotiate a purchase after the inspection and the little car arrived at our shop in Frenchtown NJ a few months later by sea container.

The car had been refurbished in the not too distant past so it didn't need a so called "frame off" total restoration. The exterior re-paint was actually not bad, over-all, but several areas of the body showed signs of swelling under the paint. Removing paint and filler from the offending areas revealed pin holes in the aluminum, caused by galvanic corrosion between the aluminum skin and the steel skeleton. These pinholes had been filled with polyester body filler during the previous work. This is a no-no since polyester filler will absorb moisture if it is not completely sealed front and back. The filler was pulling in moisture from the back-side and swelling up.

To avoid damaging the minimal upholstery inside, the whole interior was removed.

(Post by Wil de Groot)

Hello Paul

2007-12-06T13:37:00.000-05:00

We welcome Paul Weinberger, our new fabricating guru. Paul has an expert background in restoring vintage racecars: Bugatti, Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Monza, Miller, Pre-War MGs, Allards, Pebble Beach contenders and other vehicles with provenance. But can he blog...?

Paul is putting the finishing touches on the Aston Martin DB2. We're just waiting for all the refinished chrome pieces to be reinstalled and then the car will be on its way home.

Goodbye Randy....

2007-11-03T13:41:00.001-04:00

We said goodbye to Randy Tartanian, who penned the majority of our blog since its inception in late 2005. Future blogging will be by Wil or Sandy de Groot. Thanks for your good words, Randy, and good luck.

Aston Martin Back From Paint

2007-06-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

The DB2 is green! Having color on the car is obviously a huge milestone in any project. Now we can see the result of all that preparation.

The body has already been color-sanded. The final grade of sandpaper used is 2500 (that means 2,500 ‘grits’ per square inch’) but then the paper gets turned over. Yeah, the backside of the paper is used to start the polishing process. You might laugh but it really makes a difference in the ease with which the paint buffs up. And by the way, the careful technique that was used earlier while blocking the primer flat still applies even though the sandpaper being used is so much finer. Many good paint jobs have been ruined by careless color sanding.

Compounding (the color sanding scratches are removed) is followed by polishing (the fine haze or, ‘swirl marks’ left by the compound are removed) and the result is a deep, sharp shine.

Why is so much time, money and attention given to wave-free body work and perfectly level, shiny paint? It’s only when the surface of the paint is free from waviness and the defect known as ‘orange-peel’ that the lines and curves of the car can be fully seen and appreciated.

So even an admittedly dated design such as the DB2 looks striking when you stand back and see the way the lines and curves flow and blend.

We still have to paint the firewall and chassis before we can start reassembling.

More on the Aston Martin DB2

2007-05-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

Pantera - progress

2007-03-22T13:37:00.000-04:00

Pantera progress

We have made considerable progress on the Pantera. New fenders, door skins, rocker panels and quarter panels have been fitted. It might seem like it should be a simple job installing all this new sheet metal. If this were a mass-produced car it would be a relatively easy task. The first fender that GM produced for, say the ’69 Camaro, was for practical purposes identical to number 10,000. Not so for the Pantera or any other hand-built exotic.

I never actually saw any of those Italian craftsmen building these cars. I have to imagine that Luigi’s fenders were maybe just a little different than Giuseppe’s. Enough so, so that one is not interchangeable with the other. Not at least without a little, or a lot of, massaging.

So it’s a matter of install, check fit, remove, adjust, install. Repeat this until everything lines up and gaps around the doors, hood and engine cover are uniform. The panels get held together with small sheet metal screws or preferably (and if space allows) we use clamping devices called ‘Clecos’. These are ingenious tools developed for the aviation repair industry that permit the technician to repeatedly remove and install panels without having to deal with a bunch of small screws.

When we are happy with the fit of the panels the welding begins. For the most part, MIG welding is used to attach the panels to the underbody. Where the outer surface of panels join, like where the front of the fenders meet the valance panel, gas-welding will be used.

The welds get ground down and cleaned-up. This is an important step because primer will not stick to weld ‘scale’. We took the time to media-blast almost the entire underside if the car. (If you recall, this car had been dipped to remove the old finish, along with undercoating, seam sealer and rust.) We also sand off the existing primer on the new panels.

Since this is a long-term project we need to prevent rust. Two coats of epoxy primer are applied. This will protect the surface while work progresses.

The next steps will be repairing damage to the floor pans (caused mostly by improper jack placement), addressing rust at the leading edge of the hood and installing a reproduction front valance panel.

Fabricating a windshield for a 1958 Devin

2007-03-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

This project encompasses all the skills needed to fabricate much larger pieces. We will cut, bend, stretch, shrink and weld this small item. That is everything that can be done to a piece of sheet metal whether forming a small patch panel or a complete car.

The Devin was one of many sports cars being manufactured in the fifties. This particular car lacks a windshield and the owner wants a small but functional windscreen to make driving the car less an act of self-punishment. Try taking a small stone or insect to the face at 60MPH to see what we’re talking about.

The actual shape of the windshield must foremost be aesthetically pleasing while providing protection for the driver. Since I will use the cowl of the car as a ‘buck’, the first step was to protect the area I would be working on with masking tape and cloth fender covers.

Consulting photographs of similar vintage sports cars reveals that the windshield frame will be about 1 ½ inches tall, I’ll make the portion that attaches to the cowl the same dimension. So I need to cut a strip of aluminum a bit wider that 3 inches and long enough to reach all the way around the instrument cluster pod. I measure this to be about 34 inches. We are using .063 thick material; this gives plenty to work with when it comes time to remove the tool marks.

With the strip cut and de-burred the next step is bending it the long way which basically gives us the ‘rake’ of the windscreen itself. This is a straight forward bend on the brake which I just kind of do by eye.

Now it’s time to shape the frame to match the curve of the instrument cluster pod. I’ve marked the masking tape with the smooth, sweeping curve I want to accomplish. I have to stretch the bottom flange I order to bring the ends around. This is done with the help of our stretcher (yes, the name is obvious). The jaws of this machine actually spread the metal apart a small amount each time pressure is applied to the handle. Another machine does the opposite; gathering up and thereby shrinking the material.

But the effect of stretching the bottom flange is to push the ends of the frame down. The thing that’s needed is some shrinking to bring the ends of the frame back into alignment with the marks. The thing to be aware of is that performing an operation on the work piece will cause a reaction somewhere else. So generally it’s a matter of a little back and forth to get the metal to go where it’s wanted.

Once the basic shape of the frame is complete I mocked-up the windscreen with a piece of cardboard. This will become the pattern for cutting the windscreen material later on so I made it oversize. We are ready now for the owner of the car to look things over, sit in the driver’s seat and make adjustments based on personal preference. We decide on the contours and a finished height just below eye level.

I said earlier that this project includes all the operations one can perform on a piece of sheet metal. ‘Where is the welding?’ you ask. Well, the customer wanted the left side of the frame to sweep farther back on the cowl than I had allowed for. So…I have to add to the frame, a small amount of welding but welding none the less.

The frame gets more fitting and adjusting to get it to lay flat against the cowl. Then some pick and file work to make it pretty followed with sanding to remove the tool marks left by the shrink/stretch and filing operations. The holes to mount the frame are drilled into the cowl.

The windscreen itself will be made of 1/8 inch clear polycarbonate (Lexan). This is very tough material that can be cut and drilled with ordinary tooling. After tracing the pattern onto the Lexan the piece is cut-out a little oversize on the bandsaw. This material shapes nicely with files and sandpaper so that is how the edges get cleaned up. Next, I measure and drill the mounting holes. We’ll use slotted screws because this type of fastener was prevalent in the fifties.

Here’s the completed product. We will leave the finished ‘brushed’ although we could just as easily polish it or paint it the color of the body.

Panel Fabrication on a 1952 Aston Martin - continued

2007-03-02T12:09:00.000-05:00

The right side wheel arch was the first area to be repaired. I started by annealing a piece of aluminum. This process leaves the metal ‘dead-soft’ and relatively easy to work. The 90 degree lip of the wheel opening is formed first since this is the most extreme bend. This operation was performed on the bead-roller with some help from the stretcher. The rest of the shape is made with the shot bag, hammers and a bit of e-wheel work.

When the piece has the proper shape I file the edges nice and straight. A curved tooth body file works well here. Lines are scribed on the existing fender and cuts are made to the inside of the marks. I’ll file the opening to size so that I have a very narrow kerf. This makes welding much easier and results in an all around better job.

After TIG welding the repair panel into place the weld beads are dressed down so that the thickness of the weld is similar to the sheet metal. Now the fender can be straightened and metal-worked.

Strip paint

2006-10-18T20:16:00.000-04:00

Removing paint. I will come back and comment on this later.

Panel Fabrication on a 1952 Aston Martin

2006-10-18T19:48:00.000-04:00

This car is undergoing a complete re-paint. The existing finish, while shiny, was not of the greatest quality. It was completely removed using a combination of chemical stripper, plastic media-blasting and sanding. We discovered that the bodywork beneath the paint left a lot to be desired (this is my way of being kind). Actually, the patron saint of Bondo must have visited whatever shop had previously worked on this car. That’s all I have to say about that.

The body itself is a piece of artwork. Those Brits were masters at forming and welding aluminum. Unfortunately, the previous fifty-four years had dealt a few blows. The bonnet had taken a bit of a pounding and the repairs done over the years were not something we could apply a new finish to. Besides, the underside of the bonnet is completely exposed when open so the appearance inside has to be just as good as the outside.

We mounted the bonnet in a large dolly using the same attaching points as the car. This gave us a stable platform while providing one-man mobility.

The Biturbo has been painted

2006-06-14T21:25:00.000-04:00

, color-sanded and polished and is now in the assembly stage. Many new parts are still available for these cars and the supply of good used parts is also fairly plentiful.

These cars have a considerable amount of bright-work; polished stainless steel trim which gets dented and scratched over-time. Generally, if the item is available, it is more cost efficient to buy the new one than to spend several hours repairing and polishing the original. In our case there were a couple pieces that we elected to repair because the damage was minor.

Working dents out of trim is essentially the same as metal work on a fender, just smaller. Low spots are carefully raised until the surface is level. Progress is checked by sanding using small sanding blocks, this reveals the low spots and the high spots. Naturally, the use of abrasives in this way leaves scratches which must be removed by using progressively finer grits. Stainless steel is pretty hard. Once the scratches are softened we can start buffing. This is the tedious part but worth every bit of time spent.

We will be installing the engine and the interior in the next few weeks. I was able to purchase a nearly complete used interior in good condition. Since this is not to be a show car we can save the expense of a new, hand stitched interior.

Scuff and Buff on a Cobra

2006-06-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

This is the real thing. Even though it is not a sixties vintage car the eighties version is an actual Cobra, not a replica. This car is in good shape and just needs a little help with the paint finish.

We have washed the car, removed the trim that would otherwise get in the way and wet-sanded the entire body with 2000 grit. The goal is to remove just enough material to level any orange-peel. We took the opportunity to touch-up the small chips that any car collects if actually driven on the street. I for one would rather have to deal with chips than to own a museum piece.

Carefully compounding and polishing the sanded paint leaves a brilliant shine. This job took only about two days but the result was really striking.

2006-04-12T17:29:00.000-04:00

Here is a job we recently did refinishing a complete set of wheels for a 1970 Lamborghini Muira. The original cast wheels are pretty rough on these cars; the appearance is that of a bad stucco job painted flat silver.

We started by dismounting the tires. Although it is certainly possible to refinish a wheel with the tire on, the amount of work needed in this case made tire removal necessary.

While the wheels could have been chemically stripped, we decided on media blasting. Glass bead had hardly any effect on the existing finish which had a kind of gravel guard consistency. I switched to garnet, a very aggressive material which will readily damage machined parts if improperly applied.

Even with the garnet the job took what seemed like a long time. An unexpected benefit was that the surface of the casting itself was considerably less rough when I was finished. The goal here was to re-paint not to metal-finish and polish to a shine. That would have taken several days per wheel. That said, I did want to smooth-out the rougher portions of the casting. I used my die grinder along with various sanding drums and rolls to carefully remove the high spots.

The other issue concerned voids and missing material. Some of the castings on the older exotics leave a lot to be desired. We have seen oil leaks in engine blocks caused by porous castings. I used ‘All-Metal’ to fill voids and chips. This is pretty tough filler that I think will stand up well to the abuse a wheel can see. Again, I was not trying for a perfect finish; I definitely left most of the original ‘character’ as it was.

After the filling stage, it’s pretty much standard refinishing work with a huge amount of inside corners. We love sanding them, don’t we? The backsides of the wheels were prepped for paint to the same degree as the fronts.

The two-stage polyurethane silver I applied has way more bling factor than the original finish and is far easier to clean.

DeTomaso Pantera - complete restoration

2006-01-26T19:56:00.000-05:00

DeTomaso Pantera, an exotic name for a potent combination of ground-pounding American muscle and Italian style. An ‘in your face’ kind of car straight out of the seventies.

This car had been in storage a long time. And time had not been kind. But the owner, having been informed of the extent of the work required, was committed to the project.

A couple words in support of seemingly unworthy projects: Here’s the thing, exotics, along with American muscle cars and European sports cars, were designed for people who are passionate about cars. Since there are very few cars worth restoring from a strictly dollar and cents point of view, it is passion for the form that accounts for all the work being done on cars that a mere bean counter would send to the scrap yard without a second thought.

And another thing, it is easy to say that a specific car is not worth restoring given how much one could spend on some other car in better condition. That may be true, but that other car is always somebody else’s. Somebody else’s choice of quality, of time and money invested; everything right down to the color. So if I’ve held onto the car my Dad owned, and thirty years later want to restore this rust bucket, some other car just won’t do. Price doesn’t even show up on the radar, it’s a non-issue

So this is a total teardown, rotisserie restoration. In fact, we determined that the 351-C was salvageable and that the ZF gearbox needed minimal work, the support structure of the unibody was sound and that it was mainly the exterior sheet metal that had taken most of the abuse, along of course with the interior.

Panteras, like most of the exotics of that age, were built with absolutely zero regard to long term corrosion protection. There are simply too many instances of dead air spaces with no allowance for drainage. Combine this with a tendency to neglect to paint or otherwise protect the inside surfaces and it almost seems like a conspiracy on the part of the Italians. You know what, they went fast and looked good and that’s all that mattered.

The crew at Exoticars-USA in Frenchtown, NJ got started completely disassembling the car down to its component parts. Phil Murphy handled the task of researching the availability of parts. He was able to order all the major panels including fenders, door skins, quarters and outer rockers.

Having obtained exterior sheet metal, the task of putting it all together is in the hands of Randy Tartanian, the resident panel beater. Fabricating inner panels out of cold rolled sheet metal is sometimes difficult when there is little of the original piece to follow. “The goal is to duplicate the function of the original part” says Randy. So using a wide variety of tools including the bending brake, English wheel, shrinker/stretcher, plasma cutter and an array of hammers, the needed panels are formed and fitted into place. Welding is accomplished with the best method for the particular job. MIG, TIG, Spot and Oxy-acethelyne welding are used.

Currently the Pantera is in the process of having the sheet metal installed. The engine is partially rebuilt and the gearbox has been serviced and resealed. The choice of color is yet to be made.

Maserati Biturbo - more pictures

2005-12-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

More about the Biturbo

We have repaired a major amount of rust. When faced with extensive corrosion a good approach is to obtain a donor car. Rather than fabricating complicated panels and structural assemblies from scratch, it is almost always easier and less expensive to obtain used parts from another vehicle. Granted this is not always possible but in the case of our Biturbo we found a rust-free car that was being parted-out. We specified where to make the cuts so that we had plenty of material to work with. In this way we were able to replace large portions of the floor pan and adjoining rocker/sill assembly in complete sections.

The first step is to get the undercoating and seam sealer out of the way. Scrapers and propane torches work well but a great (although pricey) tool I like is the rotary wire brush available from several manufacturers. The hook shaped wire bristles are very aggressive (and re-sharpenable). I prefer to clean more than what might seem needed. Later on, during the welding and hammering stage, I have less smoke and drippy undercoating to deal with. Once the pieces are cleaned up we went ahead planning our splices.

We used existing bends, especially in the floor pans to help plan the cut lines. Also, we took advantage of the structure to help make the job easier. So instead of cutting the floor pan just anywhere, we spliced right over an existing stiffener. This gave us a readily identifiable place to cut as well as resulting in a stronger seam.

As you can see, we replaced a large section of the left side floor pan and inner rocker. ‘How did this much damage occur?’ you may be wondering. It seems to us that a few small rust holes opened up high on the firewall. This allowed water to run inside the car which was combined with a long period of outside storage (never a good idea). And of course ‘rust never sleeps’. Quietly doing its job 24/7, happily providing work for those of us foolish enough to go into the auto restoration business. That and, of course the fact that the car was built by the Italians. It must not rain in Italy.

After the welding and grinding were done we applied two-part urethane seam sealer liberally. I’ll back-up here and mention that inside surfaces were painted with either rust encapsulator or zinc-rich weld thru primer prior to welding. We anticipate a tough life for this car so the floor pans and inner sills got two coats of ‘Rustoleum’ enamel. Not historically correct but then this is not to be a museum piece.

The bottoms sections of all fours doors were re-skinned. In addition, I had to fabricate the bottoms of the door frames. Is there polyester filler (bondo) on these doors? Yes. Modern fillers mixed in the correct proportions and applied and used properly, that is, among other things; nothing thicker than 1/8 inch and never forming an edge, will last practically forever. Metal finishing a panel to near perfection takes a lot of time, time that may not be warranted.

After all the body work is flat and sanded with 180 grit, the car gets washed with wax/grease remover followed by a coat of self-etching primer and three coats of surfacer. That’s where we are now. The car has been allowed to dry for over a week so the next step is dry blocking the surfacer with 220 grit on the longest sanding boards practical

Ferrari Daytona

2005-12-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

Refinishing the cowl panel on a Ferrari Daytona

The cowl panel on this car detracts from an otherwise clean vehicle. The area between the windshield and the engine bay has suffered several amateur spray can touch-ups and looks rather shabby.

After removing the windshield wipers and washer nozzles I applied masking tape to protect the brightwork around the windshield and also the painted surfaces of the fenders. I definitely do not want to be painting body color or trying to buff sand scratches out of the trim.

The older Italian cars often have some kind of seam sealer applied to fill the gap between windshield moldings and the adjacent body panels. I needed to carefully cut and scrape to remove what appeared to be black silicone. Now I’m ready to start sanding but first I cleaned the whole area with wax and grease remover. That done, I sanded off several layers of flat black paint. The area was too small to use air-powered sanders so I just worked by hand. Starting with 100 grit and finishing with 220, I ended up removing almost all the existing paint and primer. I should mention that I dry-sanded in an effort to reduce the potential for making a mess in an otherwise tidy engine compartment.

Satisfied that I had a good surface to accept primer, I chemically cleaned the area again before masking-off the engine bay, fenders and windshield. The whole car has to be covered to prevent overspray. (Not like in the bad-old days of lacquer primer, that stuff was practically dry as soon as it came out of the gun.)

After a third cleaning, I applied two coats of high-build primer/surfacer. Tomorrow I’ll sand the primer and prepare for paint.

Murcielago exhaust

2005-12-22T11:29:00.002-05:00

Back in 2005 when this car came in, all Murcielagos were under warranty. As an indepent shop, we were happy to install Hamann wing and spoiler, upgraded Quicksilver stainless steel exhaust and an ECU upgrade which necessitated using LaRA-AS factory software to ensure the engine and all sensors were performing correctly.

Lamborghini 400GT 2+2

2005-12-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

Hard start problems on a Lamborghini 400GT 2+2

This is a pretty car that is in great condition and doesn’t need any body or paint work. I just think it’s got a striking look. As far as I’m concerned Lamborghini styling never got better than this.

This car is in the shop because of hard starting problems. The tech on this job performed an inspection and compression check and, given the good compression numbers, feels the car should perform better than it does. The older cars, more often than not, have problems with carburetor and distributor adjustments. After all, many technicians (previously known as mechanics) have never had to adjust a carburetor and have never even seen a set of ignition points. What the heck is dwell angle?

We will probably do a complete tune-up, set valve lash, adjust cam timing, put the distributors on the machine to make sure the advance curves are correct and adjust the carbs or possibly rebuild them.

Rust

2005-12-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

Here we are repairing some fairly extensive rust on a Maserati Biturbo as part of an overall restoration. The bottoms of all four doors need to be patched. This includes the inner doors as well as the outer skins.

I rough-cut the rotted areas to get an idea of how big the patch panel will need to be. Cut a piece of sheet metal a little oversize and fabricate the required features. These particular doors have a simple shape to the bottom of the inner structure and only need the pinchweld flange bent to the proper angle.

Somewhere in here the dirty work has to get done. I’ll clean the insides of the door with scrapers, wax and grease remover or lacquer thinner to remove all traces of sound deadener, undercoating, body wax, whatever, because that’s just the way it has to be.

I will install the doors several times during the process to test the fit of the outer skins before trimming the patch panels to their final dimensions. Whenever possible I like to lay the oversize patch panel over the area and then cut the panel and the original sheet metal to size in one step. I find cutting a straight line with a cut-off tool really hard to do so this is where a good plasma cutter pays for itself in saved time and reduced aggravation.

The patch panel and the original metal need to align without significant force having to be applied. The price of a poorly fitted panel is warpage and distortion which will need to be straightened later on. I always have to remind myself not to take shortcuts at this stage.

And now, onto the welding; I learned the art of hammer welding many years ago and am constantly amazed at how well the technique works. Of course the method was developed when automotive sheet metal was considerably thicker and access to the backside of panels was considerably better but is still to my way of thinking the best way to join two pieces of sheet metal. I also really like the whole oxy-acethelyne ‘thing’. The flame, the sparks, the occasional 2nd or 3rd degree burn. It’s just so macho in a way that TIG will never be.

So, once the welding is done all the slag and oxidation have to be removed. I use the usual assortment of wire brushes followed by a good scrubbing (inside and out) with chemical rust remover. This stuff will remove the last of the welding residue and provide a phosphate coating to protect the surface from rust.

After all that I’ll move to the good old hammer and dolly/pick and file stage to finish the repair.

hello

2005-12-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

From Exoticars USA, in Frenchtown, NJ: restoration of exotic cars - , Italian and English exotics sportcars including: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, Cobra. We promise some pretty interesting images of extraordinary cars undergoing transformation. Blogging by Randy Tartanian, blog maintenance by Sandy de Groot.