1982 Fiat Spider 2000 restoration project

[royn]

SoFlaFiat

My goal is to try to get the job as good as I possible can myself. Spending time in the garage is my way of relaxing from everyday life.

I started welding in the side markers and the holes for the mirror. I used some welding supports.

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My old faithful Esab Miggy let me down. I could probably have it repaired, i will look into it later on.

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I looked around for a new welder and ended up buying a good used on, its a Kempi welder. It sat me back quite a while trying to find one, but I am happy i did.

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I have finished the details on the front inner fender and supports and I am now in the process of fitting the fender. This is quite a challenge to me, but I am trying my best.

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[RRoller123]

Really nice work!!

[royn]

Thanks for your nice comments RRoller123 !

I am still not finished welding. Sometimes its good to leave the garage and yesterday was a long drive back to the upholstery shop. I was very excited to see the final results. I have only seen the color i picked in a small color chart.

I must say i am very happy with the result. This upholstery guy have done an excellent job !! It gives me great motivation to speed up the rest of the work

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[AriK]

Stunning!

[joelittel]

Great color

[Odoyle]

Very inspiring, I like your euro side-marker conversion, it really does change the attitude of the front end.

[royn]

Thanks guys for your nice comments !

Finally the front end coming together. Due to previous damage, the hood has been shaved a little to make it fit. I try to weld in some spots to adjust for it. There are a lot of pieces that needs to be welded and adjusted. Very time consuming for an amateur afraid not doing it right.

This is how its looks so far.

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[SoFlaFiat]

Wow!!
Body work coming along beautifully and the interior bits look amazing!!
Well done!!

[royn]

Hello Spider friends,

Just wanted to say hello again, I am still alive It`s been way..... to long since I had the time and opportunity to work on my Spider !!

I also see that a lot of pictures on the forum are gone (photobucket ). I have uploaded some old pictures to Imgur and I post as a memory. Hopefully I can come up with a lot of new pictures as work move forwards !

[Odoyle]

You are doing a fantastic job! Fender replacement looks well executed. Your interior work is gorgeous too. I assume you used a vinly interior paint to paint the dash and similar trim. I am restoring my 77 in a similar fashion, with respect to the turn signal delete and tan interior. What final color are you thinking on painting it?

[royn]

Thanks for your comments. All the interior work is done by a professional upholstery shop and its very nice ! Everything is covered
in leather.
Next I will start to make some brackets for the euro bumpers and weld in the holes. I have not figured out what kind of turn signal to use in the front.
Final color is going to be red, I think !

[royn]

I finally finished making the brackets to fit Harrington front bumper. My goal was to be able to see the grill and the stainless steel frame, when bumper mounted. I had to cut some metal, to be able to make the bumper fit.



I made the brackets from some solid steel, with holes big enough to make final adjustments.











Ups ! forgot to take picture with the bumper mounted. Coming next time.

[royn]

Primed and ready for some paint.





I finally decided to go for acrylic paint and the color is Rosso Corsa !



I painted the engine bay and luggage compartment in my garage.

[royn]

I have the gearbox ready and next step is to reinstall engine and gearbox. I just wonder if its smart to do this by rising the car and install
the engine/gearbox and crossmenber in one operation and drop the car down ?




This winter we have more snow than I can remember and shuffling snow has stolen a lot of my time

[RRoller123]

Really nice work! When does that snow usually melt away? Here in New England, our car season starts around mid-April.