Fiat Spider 2000, 1980

[Odoyle]

Fantastic work, looks like your making good progress! I am curious as to what type of metal and thickness you used to make the anti-rattle clip (feather clip as you referred to it) as my shifter keeps rattling like mad past 4k rpm.

[basso]

Fantastic work, looks like your making good progress! I am curious as to what type of metal and thickness you used to make the anti-rattle clip (feather clip as you referred to it) as my shifter keeps rattling like mad past 4k rpm.

Hy Odoyle,
i use spring steel ( but missed to translate it correct ;( ). It was 1.5 mm thick and 10mm wide and was cut with an dremel. If You are about to form spring steel do not use heat to form it!

Basso

[basso]

Its been a while since my last post, but i was busy all the time....
Actually i am painting paint my freshly cathodic dip painted car body but it was a long journey wich i like to shre with You

When i tried to loosen the crossmember one of the bolts on the side member broke - a mess,
but with the crossmember off the body i saw a small desater:


and with dispatching the welded sheet the whole desaster appeared


the side rail was completely rotten... the other side looks nearly the same.

What to do? I need to replace them...Ok, but how?

After a few discussions with professionals i planned to do the job:

There are some things that have to be considered first:
1. My body is on a rotisserie - mounted at the front and the back - if i replace the side rails the body could bend...
2. will the new side rails fit to the spider? What is possible if not?
3. How will i get the new side rails in having the correct angle?
and al ot of tasks rise during this complexe repair.

Actually i welded nearly a complete new body during this Resto, but this is a job i dont want to do a second time....

I begann with the first Problem the risk of bending:
To prevent the body to bend i decide to spend my rotisserie Car Jack holder wich look a bit like WW2 Plane langing gears

My Rotisserie before:

With my landing gear inspired supports:

[basso]

I bought new rails an with comparing them i saw that they are different:
the 1980 Spider use a crossmember wich has a metallplate welded on the crossmember – therefore the rail has a notch to fit - the new one missed it - damn!


And guess what, the other rail is different too - the place for the vapor canister is missed on the new Rail.


Ok both new rails have to be rebuild to fit....

But before cutting them out of the body i need to makr the correct position...
My Idea was to use the Crossmember a few metal parts and some Stiockers to mark the correct position - it worked perfect! Here are the pictures of my "invention"


On the crossmembers axle mounts are pointers screwed wich are outlined on a sticker when both pionters fit in their Outlines the crossmember ist correct positioned ( vertical and horizontal ) and with having them on both sides the angle is also perfect.

[basso]

Now the Rails could be departed from the body... to make a long story short:
I had to replace a lot more than just the rails - the ending of the Suspenion holder was wrecked to and the sidewall was rust biten to

I cutted the needed parts out of the old rails, welded them in the new ones and dry fitted them using the crossmember...
the holes for the steering parts does not fit, the lenght of the new rails is to short - a lot of things to manage...

Here are a few Photos of my work...

[basso]

and tons more





And here are some Pictures of the rails during the combination - every thing was slag blasted before carefully welding to one piece...




AND finally everything is correct in place....

[basso]

the next piece of my spiders body wich needs to be fixed was the passengers side door sill - rotten too...

But before this could be done i had to weld a "langing gear" for the back side of the Body - it is not a good idea to change a sill with a hanging body the new sill was bought, a original pininfarina part - i dont wanted to build it up again to fit...

The door sill replacement began easy: i citted to old one out and tried to insert the new one - but... the front and the end of the replacement part are covered by a few layers of metal, wich have to leave... it took 3 Weekends to take the parts away and to fit the new sill into the body....

[basso]

There are a few more things wich had to be done prior the cathodic dip painted body arrived last week - the upper rear panel needs to be renewed, the rear wheel well outer part on both sides, the roof and a lot more, but finally i got an first impression of what my car will look like ( not a rusty little one)

First the body was freed from paint and "de-rusted"...


after several baths in whatever a shiny black beauty arrived at my garage


I begann imediately to conserve ervery fold with owatrol ( to prevent rust)


and then sealing was applied wich was later coated by laquer...

[DRUMMOND]

Hi Basso

That is a lot of work!!
Congratulations on saving another spider from the scrap yard.
I am sure it will look terrific when you are done

[basso]

.. i did not noticed that my last post was so long ago

I have done a lot wich i like to share with You

My Spiders-body was partly covered with "Schwerschichtfolie" ( a EPDM-Foil ).

[basso]

after that the insulating mats could be cutted out.
i decided to cover them with an fabric - they are mad of cutted fabric and by cuttingthem my whole car was filled with them.



the mats cant be formed to a 3d Shape so it is necessary to sew part in shape ( is that understandable ?!?
I think the next pictures show what i mean....






I am glad that this is done - the mats are hard to cut ;(

[basso]

After that, i was able to fit the new carpet and all other Things of the interieur in place... after 5 years of
metal work it looks like a car to me the first time...

[Ptoneill]

Incredible set of skills!

[basso]

the original Floor of the trunk is made out of masonite - masonite is not water resistant. While searching the web i found a robust and durable material - it is a kind of Expoyplate. I bought the material and wonder how durable it is, i needed 4 jigsaw blades to cut the plate.
But finally it is in shape and fitts perfect in my trunk - i dont think that i ever need to do this again
and here is my new trunkfloor

[basso]

If You ever try to fit the Map Pockets in You will perhaps have the same trouble like me:
they are curved and wont fit and look cheap - i wanted to have Map Pockets wich look like they have been made exactly for my car and fit without a gap on the doors rubber. my solution was easy as can be: Screw the Map Pockets in place, use a heat gun with max 210°C and carefully ( dont get to close to the plastic) warm up the front end of the map pocket. When it become warm you can simply use an towel ( or wear leather gloves to carefully press them on the door rubber. Hold it for a few seconds and then...



...i am so happy with it - the result look terrible good ( the picture quality is not so good, but You can see that the lines of the door rubber and the map pocket are parallel and there is no longer a gap between them.