South Pacific spider restomod begins

[DieselSpider]

We have the opposite problem here as its just about always convertible and motorcycle season so no seasonal downtime for repairs/upgrades.

We have a good number of beaches where you can drive right up to the waters edge too and the State of Florida is only about 140 miles wide so also about 70 miles or less to the beach just about everywhere.

The red consoles and door panels were painted black by a previous owner and I am in the process of reupholstering in black marine vinyl though I am tempted to change it all to sand.

Not going to go with a Florida Pink Lawn Flamingo Vibe though.

[Kiwispider]

I was tempted with black vinyl but was worried about it becoming thermo-nuclear hot in the sun.

Just curious - what is the "Florida Pink Lawn Flamingo Vibe" that you're not going for?

[DieselSpider]

Typical stereotype perceived about Florida is it being for NewlyWeds and NearlyDead's with Pink Plastic Lawn Flamingos out in front of their abodes.



There is also the ritual of Flocking someones lawn in the dead of night when they have a significant birthday or retire.


No Pink Flamingo ornaments, stickers or upholstery for me.

[Kiwispider]

That's outstanding! But, yeah, I can see why you wouldn't draw inspiration that.

[DieselSpider]

That's outstanding! But, yeah, I can see why you wouldn't draw inspiration that.

No pink pants or suspenders to hold them up either.

Spent hours yesterday hand stitching the embossing into the marine vinyl I covered the door cards with. I stitched through the card and made a drilling template to make getting the holes through the 2.5 mm plywood backing easier. Put in double rows of stitching so instead of 3 X 16 inches or about 4 feet of stitching it took 8 feet of hand stitching. You could say I faked the embossed stitching with real stitching.

[Kiwispider]

Got any pics?

[DieselSpider]

Got any pics?

Not on-line. Its taking a while for the vinyl to relax but much better than the torn up mess of multiple door card sections from different colored cars pasted together and then painted black with regular spray paint which was pealing.

I cleaned up the arm rests of as much of the over spray from various exterior colors put on the car as I could and dressed them up with Rustoleum's Wipe New Trim Restore product and am pleased with the results. No tint to rub off on your clothing and dries up pretty nicely leaving a finish that lasts a long time.

[Kiwispider]

Paint colour test panel.

Sprayed the hood to test the colour



I didn't think I would have the skills necessary to paint the car myself - spraying this test has not caused me to change my mind.

[Kiwispider]

Prepping for bodywork

With garage space at a premium, I figured being able to move the Spider around while doing bodywork would be a good idea. I made this cradle/trolley to sit the car on once the engine and gearbox are removed - due to happen next week.

The uprights are the bumper shocks taken from the removed tubular bumpers, they are aligned with the car's four jacking points. I cut up the rubber from the bumpers to make pads for the top of each upright. The underside of the car has already been media blasted and epoxied in order to make it road legal here in NZ, so no real need to go under there for now. I have a 200mm thick block of polystyrene to sit in between the uprights to keep the car from hitting the floor in the unlikely event of catastrophe. Not sure if the bumper shocks will compress under the weight of the car, but will find out soon enough!

[Kiwispider]

Been a while since the last post, here is a progress update.

Towards the end of 2019 I had my local mechanic help remove the engine and gearbox in readiness for restoration, and then set about stripping the engine bay and the interior.




Apart from a bit of surface rust, and corrosion from brake fluid leak, it looks pretty sound.

Took the seats and door cards to a local upholsterer who works on classic cars, and he stripped the seat covers and foam. Drivers seat had the typical twist, maybe 1" out of alignment. Rear seat springs were the most rusted part of the whole car.




Made an electrolysis bath to remove the worst of the rust before finishing with wire brush. The bath worked better once I extended the anode around the entire perimeter of the bath.



I cranked the seat back back into alignment, reinforced the seat backs with a welded 1" flat bar cross brace, rust-proofed and painted, ready for new upholstery.

[Kiwispider]

Next task was to address obvious surface rust areas on the body. I had read here that behind the rocker panels can be a notorious spot for trapping moisture so - even though there were no obvious issues - off they came. Don't let anyone tell you they are spot welded at the front; after drilling mine off I discovered they are held on by small bolts that were completely invisible beneath the underbody rust proofing.

As suspected, it was all pretty good....



....so just a quick tickle up, primer then paint.



Engine bay and cross beam were sanded, wire brushed, garnet blasted, treated with rust converter and Brunox epoxy applied to bare metal areas.



The front valence and grille surround was similarly treated ready for patches to be made to blank off holes and re-work the grille surround.

[Kiwispider]

New Upholstery

I don't have any photos of my car's interior prior to restoration, but I found this one on the internet which is very similar, although mine is a bit more worn, my seats were a bit more faded and had lost their shape, and the door cards had red carpet scuff panels instead of black.



Much deliberation with my upholstery guy about how to achieve the look I was after, and what materials to use. In the end I pushed the boat out and went for a beautiful tan leather with burnt orange highlights for the seats. We could only get two tan hides, which gave us enough offcuts to do some of the door cards but not all, so we went for a two tone using a look-alike vinyl for the lower panel. The armrest will also be tan and follows the line of the orange piping. The black carpet scuff panel will match the rest of the carpet.



In contrast to the door cards, which have quite a lot of detail, we opted to simplify the seat upholstery pattern by doing away with the lines of 'stitching' on the original seats, instead doing flat panels with contrast piping. The shape of the seat cushions was achieved using the existing foam and just attaching the upholstery to the subframe properly in the right places.

[Anbele]

That’s an awesome upholstery color choice…albeit for the look you’re trying to achieve. I have a metallic gray ‘79 with red interior…well, it was originally red and I brought it back to red again…I personally think it’s very classic…like several of the ‘50s corvettes or ‘60s Mercedes. I wish I could post a picture…it’s the one and only thing I hate about this site. Anyway, keep those pics coming!

[Kiwispider]

Thanks Anbele. I think I'm out of step with a lot of car people though, I get the feeling there are far more who prefer restore to stock rather than restomod, and there are some cars you just don't mess with. As a teaser of what's to come, what's your opinion on tail lights!?

I've had issues posting pics also, my pics were displaying fine when I read your post, now they're not. Huh??

[Kiwispider]

Pertol tank and floor pan

Drained and removed the petrol tank, it was remarkable that (relatively?) pure fuel was making it into my engine given there was so much debris in the tank.



Gave the tank a good flush with white vingar, baking soda and water and dried it out by blowing through it with a hairdryer, then sealed the inside with POR15 Gas Tank Sealer. Then restored the sender and the outside, from this...



... to this.



I gave the whole floor pan a thorough clean then started picking away at the sound deadening material, but most of it didn't want to budge. It would have taken days with a jack hammer to get that stuff off, so if it's that solid, why not just leave it? It was mostly around the drain holes that needed treating, so usual story - wire brush; rust converter; Brunox epoxy. Once again, I gave a quiet acknowledgement to the good fortune of having a rust free car.