1978 Restoration

[mohle]

So I bought my little sandblaster setup. I tried it with a couple of bags of crushed walnut shells. Does a great job and leaves a nice finish. Unfortunately I am going through media fast than I can afford. At $30 per bag, this job is literally going to be $1000 just in media. Anybody have any experience with this stuff and how much I should be using?

[mohle]

I've got both shock towers out. What a royal pain... Will have to weld in some new metal behind them. The passenger side is pretty solid, but got some good rust at where the steering box mounts. Will have to figure a solution for that.





So I started the passenger door post repair. Hurray my parts from Wolf Steel arrived.

[mohle]

Haven't really had a lot of time to spend over the last couple of months, but got in a little bit last night. Still cutting out the cancer. Also received most of my panels. Might need some more though. Coming to the conclusion that I really dislike rust.

[mohle]

Had a little more time over the weekend. Got the first shock tower in and quickly realized an issue. I had spray painted the original towers to get an exact outline where the new towers had to go. Then I drilled four 1/4" holes in the new towers, in places where the original had spot welds. I lined these up with the corresponding holes in the body, inserted screws and aligned it according to the outline of created by the paint. When I but the top up against the inside of the fender brace, the bend in the new towers are off a bit. I originally attributed this to some flexing of the mounting surface from persuading the old towers to come off. It was some tweeking that I could do. However the real problem appeared to me a little later. The towers are about 1/4"-1/2" too long. Given the extended length, the mounting hole for the suspension cross member does not line up with the hole on the new tower.

When I sourced the new towers, some vendors showed them as a one piece assembly, others as a two piece. This is a crucial difference as the two piece allows you to vary the contour as well as the overall length. As long as the angle of the towers hasn't changed, I shouldn't have any alignment issues, but it will raise the ride height. Guess I also should have done a little more checking before welding them in place. I will have to see how the other side lines up. If it's the same, then I should be OK. If not, then I will need to figure something out or tear the whole thing out again.

[mohle]

Thank God the kids are done soccer five nights a week. Now I'm starting to get some time to work on what I like. Working on getting the rocker panels rebuilt.

[mohle]

A little fab work required.

[Ptoneill]

Quite the project, I envy folks with metal working skills I bought a welder but found it is much harder than it looks....great job!!

[mohle]

Always had that same admiration. Partially why I am doing this project. It's a great way to learn. Key is to take your time. The little things are what make the difference. It is a big project, but just finding one of these cars around here was a bit of work. Even the $5000 - $7000 needed the floors and shock towers done.

As far as the welding goes, the metal on these cars is too thin for "true" welding. It's more like a quick on/off thing. Stitching them together one little spot at a time. Go too long and you'll blow a hole in the metal. Weld too quickly and/or without enough spacing between welds, and you'll warp the metal. Just like stitching it back together. Sure is fun seeing the progress though.

[jlw35]

Mohle,

"When I sourced the new towers, some vendors showed them as a one piece assembly, others as a two piece. This is a crucial difference as the two piece allows you to vary the contour as well as the overall length."

I purchased a shock tower from one of the vendors (one piece), and now realize that I should have purchased the "two piece" because of the contour and not the length (which was correct after some slight modification on my part). Now my dilemma is how to contour the one-piece tower (not sure it is even possible), because I have about a 3/8" gap near the upper portion of the tower.

Anyone else run into this issue and if so do you have any suggestions as to how to fix this.
Unfortunate because this is the last "big" hurdle prior to putting any more effort into my Fiat, if it can't be resolved, then I'll have to part with the car.

Thanks
Jeff

[mohle]

I had the exact same issue. Not entirely sure yet how it will work out. If you read further up on the thread, I mention that very problem. Not 100% certain how it will work out in the end. I've only worked on the passenger side of the car. As it is right now, the bottom of the shock tower is about a 1/4" too long. I am hoping that the other drivers side will end up the same. Biggest part will come when it's time to align the car as it changes some of the steering angles. This may be correctable as I am planning on lowering the car a tiny bit.

[mohle]

Needed a little change and started to do some work on the hood. Unbelievable how much filler was on it.

[Ptoneill]

That looks a lot like mine....amazing how much someone can hide with filler and primer!!

Keep up the good work!

[mohle]

Don't mind a good coat of primer, but the filler is crazy. The hood had been dented and they didn't even try to pull it out. They just added filler and sanded it round until it looked somewhat like a hood. I may not be the best body man in the world, but I can say for certain I am not the worst.

[mohle]

Mohle,

"When I sourced the new towers, some vendors showed them as a one piece assembly, others as a two piece. This is a crucial difference as the two piece allows you to vary the contour as well as the overall length."

I purchased a shock tower from one of the vendors (one piece), and now realize that I should have purchased the "two piece" because of the contour and not the length (which was correct after some slight modification on my part). Now my dilemma is how to contour the one-piece tower (not sure it is even possible), because I have about a 3/8" gap near the upper portion of the tower.

Anyone else run into this issue and if so do you have any suggestions as to how to fix this.
Unfortunate because this is the last "big" hurdle prior to putting any more effort into my Fiat, if it can't be resolved, then I'll have to part with the car.

Thanks
Jeff

Jeff,

You may try to suck the tower to the body with some bolts and washers. Have a look at some of the pictures above. I drilled holes in the new towers where there were spot welds on the originals. Then I put the bolts through with washers on either side. Finally using a nut and the bolt to suck the body and the shock tower together. This also held it in place while I welded other spot welds back together.

[seabeelt]

Just catching up on this thread as I have been involved with other projects myself. "Sand blasting". You can get black beauty metal slag from Home Depot. Less tan $15 a bag. Cuts better than walnut shells. Plus you can sweep it up and re use it. Just have to sift out the rust bits before dumping it back in the blaster.

Project is looking good. Keep it up