| My Baby Before the Restoration |
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| Feel free to click on any picture to see it full size. |
| The little 903cc engine with the radiator and the fan out, everything partially dissasembled. The valve cover just painted the colour that the car will soon be. The top of the carburator was cleaned and polished with new gaskets and float/valve, but it's still not right. I'm waiting to buy the kit from Bruce. I am comfident that with a little more work and with good advice from Thad Kirk I will have her purring at no time. |
| The undercariage was relatively clean; I'm planning to clean and polish everything down there. The axle boots will be replaced and all the suspension rubber. The main seal seems to be doing it job well, still, so I'm not touching the pan. The car came so complete, I even have the undercariage pans that seal the air coming out of the radiator to keep it from recirculating back into the engine bay. |
| With the exception of the driver and passenger seats which are torn at the seams the rest of the interior including the rear lugage space, console and perfect beautiful dash. I had a hard time getting seat covers for the car, but they are finally on their way. I will post the results. All the plastic got a good deal of black magic when I first cleaned the car and it really come back to life. I can't wait for the interior to be put back together. Paint has to come first. |
| It looks scary but it is not really as bad as it looks. The car has no rust what so ever on the shell, rockers or rails, or for that matter the floors, except for 5 little rust holes where water had accumulated on the floors and had not drained. Those where all cut out, and replaced with steel the same thickness as the floor. That was welded into the floor after some carefull grinding of the tar crap that Fiat so thoughtfully attached to the floors 31 years ago. The wire harness looks insane but in reality is the simplest wiring I have ever seen in a car. All the connectors are colour coded and in different shape so they cannot be swapped. The old crapy metal/plastic dash I replaced with a custom made Oak dash that is an exact replica of the shape of the original, but it is stained and polyurethaned to match the grain and the colour and tecture of the beautiful wood steering wheel. The car also came with three brand new window windes in a Fiat box, and even thought the windows worked OK, I put the new winders in and adjusted the glass to work flawlessly. The hinges will have to come out now because they are worn, I am planning to replace them with new styled ones. The door moulding was the big expence here, even at Pep Boys it costs$10 per foot. The door handles inside and out will be re-chromed. The trunk is in fantastic shape. No work here except for paint, then carpet everywhere. Heather will be making a custom fit picnic basket to fit in there in place of the spare tire. Who needs a spare anyway? I'm planing to be driving this baby so fast the nails won't be able to catch up. Anyway, That is all for now; more later. Ciao. |
| A bad picture I know, but the only one I could squeeze in the digital camera that night. She is currently as you can see, stripped of her pitted chrome, which is waiting its turn to get stripped and re-chromed. Emblems/lights will all be brand new. |
| The chrome here too will be re-done, with the exception of the lights which are shared with the Lamborgini Miura, and only get a polish. Those little deflectors will be deleted. I'm still debating whether I should get a different mufler or if I should modify this one. |
| Coments? / Sugestions? |
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