Bye Bye Little Fiat
Off to the next Italian car novices...
Started on Aug. 10 by Raze (Forum Supporter)
1972 Sport Spider
Drive Train:
Work to Date (Mechanical):
Work to Date (Electrical):
Work to Date (Cosmetic):
Work to Date (Body):
Work to Complete:
Off to the next Italian car novices...
.
Since I first dragged it home.
Shining in the sun.
Couldn't stand how loud the car was with only a catalytic converter and the original resonator, so I added a cheap eBay SS muffler. It does a great job of keeping a nice tone, but taking out the harshness by ...
For more of the step-by-step refurb process see: Fiat Build Thread
Picked up this set from a fellow GRMer, did some refurb on the powder coating by scraping all the flaking off, sanded/blended the edges, ground out the missing chunks, used metal epoxy putty to fill the lips, sanded smooth and ...
I really wanted to get the 'look' I wanted from this car. All of the original badges had been taken off and the whole thing smoothed with bondo before being painted by the PO. I wanted the car to look ...
After welding in that seat mount to the newly installed floor section and cross-member, I primed, painted, and then rubber undercoated the patch. I was then satisfied enough to go ahead and install my new (40 year old original) seats ...
Here's the old vs the new, no comparison, I butterflied the old one to show how much rust was in there and how the PO had just bondo'd over it!
Fabbed up the cross member piece I cut out with the floor. Again, used the el-cheapo bending brake. Welded it up, all good.
Made up a floor patch with some 16ga cold rolled steel. Bent it with a $40 30" Harbor Freight bending brake, and used a hammer and my vice for the complex round/fillets.
Removed the seats only to find another job lurking beneath!
Sort of, more like I'm refurbishing some old ones in really good shape:
After pic
After pic
After pic
Another 'before' pic
Another 'before' photo
Finally fired up the welder and repaired the rust in the doors. Both doors were repaired, the following pictures are from the passenger side door which had the more complex corner repair. The driver's side was mostly flat square repairs...
More...
More...
Instead of spending real $$$ to redo the interior I just got old spare/trash/leftover interior pieces and parts (see earlier pics to realize I had no original consoles of any kind in the car to begin with) for cheap and ...
While I had the head off to fix a leaking head-gasket, I got carried away replacing every seal and painting the whole head. I really like how it turned out. I also replaced the leaking copper core radiator with a ...
Replaced every seal and gasket after completely disassembling the head due to a HG failure. Also stripped, cleaned, and wire brushed then painted every part...
Bought a old used cracked dash, sanded down the high spots, filled with Bondo, sanded flat, spray on Dupliclor truck bed liner layered up and sanded between layers, left me with a great finish. Also made a custom gauge face ...
I'll let the picture do the talking:
How it looks today...
Finished reassembling the dash after rewire and repaint and wheel resto-mod
Added clear corners...
Added a leather steering wheel cover and stitched it in place with heavy duty upholstry thread and a canvas needle (broke the leather needle, this is thick leather!)
Everything works now!
New ATO fuse block
PO had wired in a stereo and run the wrong fuse in the harness, caused things to go horribly, horribly wrong
Progress...
Added the front emblem, trunk emblem to come, de-bumperetted the rear bumpers, krylon stained glass paint on the rear lens covers, great color! chrome painted the housings which were peeling and degraded...
Retimed the cams on the engine, seems to have fixed the 'down on power' problem experienced by the PO. Got the engine bay cleaned up and partially repainted, new battery bracket installed, new tires, exhaust clamp, and some carpet dye ...
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