Can we talk 124 Coupe?

[RoyBatty]

Hi Redline,
What "other guy"?

[Redline]

Ah, he bumped his thread so often I figure we all knew it.

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... it=biturbo

Nice wheels, I think. If I were closer, they would be mine.

[RoyBatty]

Installed the euro style front markers.

[djape1977]

good thing you got rid of those fugly us spec side lights , but non us spec ones should be higher up on the fender

[RoyBatty]

I am aware of the stock location.
Thing is, I'm the one that has to be happy with what I do.
As of now, my eye ball is happy with the current location.
I welded up three of the stock holes and used the most forward hole to mount the lights.
This does not mean that my final decision had been made for their location.
But I do like the way they look where they are.

[kmead]

I like them not crowding the crease.

They look to be aligned with the start of the radius of the bumper from the top surface to the trailing edge when seen in side view. Logical

Really nice progress. My '69 850 SC has the US market nipples which are in approximately the same location as you have installed them.

[RoyBatty]

Almost done cutting the the rust from the body.

[georgeramos]

Hi Roy, are you planning on removing the glass before paint? If so have you figured out what to use to replace the original "neoprene strip" used on coupes? What did you use to remove the stainless surrounds?

thanks

[RoyBatty]

Hi George,
Nope, just gonna remove the chrome trim that is still left and mask off the glass.
This might be of some help to you.

The removal tool is something you can probably find at the nearest help rack. Or you can use a putty knife or two.
As for resealing the windshield and rear window, I have a friend that does auto glass professionally, He used a primer on both surfaces and some type of sealant from a tube.
Worked great.

[RoyBatty]

Taking a short break from the sheet metal work to work over the suspension.
I rebuilt the old A arms from my 75 Spider and installed those units to the front of the Coupe. I had previously purchased fully loaded A arms from Auto Ricambi, so I had the old ones the use for this purpose.
While doing this work I cut 1.5 coils from the front springs to lower the nose a bit. Only lowered the front about 1", maybe a little more. It is the result I was looking for. Now I gotta do the rears.
Here's how it was.

And with the front springs cut.

[georgeramos]

That front stance looks real good. I am very happy you did that cause im right behind you. Can you detail the suspension work a bit more? Any issues or obstacles to watch for?

[RoyBatty]

Hi George,
No obstacles or tricks really.
I spent more time removing the upper shock nuts than anything else.
As I stated before, I cut 1.5 coils off the front coils. I was using my spider as a baseline since the springs I found a couple years ago seemed to be stock springs that someone had cut off the same.
I wanted to get the rears done fast. SO here is an outline of what I did.
Block the front wheels and leave the parking brake off.
1) Remove package shelf cover under rear window and remove upper shock nuts. Trust me it's easier this way. Plan to use a little penetrating oil to get the nut to come off the shock.
2) Jack the car up as high as you can and then support the body with jack stands under the rear jack points ahead of the rear wheels.
3) Spray penetrating oil on the nuts that secure the lower mount to the lower spring perches.
Now jack up the axle to just about the point that you have the suspension fully compressed. Support the axle with two more jack stands about midway between each wheel and the diff.
4) Remove the lower shock mount nuts on one side of the car. Then using the floor jack under that sides shock mount raise the axle to allow you to remove that stand from under the axle. Once the stand is out of the way, slowly lower the floor jack. Watch for ANY binding of any lines or cables. Oh and if you still have the compensator on the rear brakes you will want to disconnect that linkage and keep an eye on the lines to it. My compensator system had been previously removed.
5) You may need to adjust the height of the side you're not yet working on a little lower to allow the side you are working on to drop far enough to release the spring from the car.
I was able to remove and cut both rear springs in 1 hour using this process.

Also, I was going to use my old rear springs from my spider, but they were longer than the springs from the coupe.
They had the same number of coils and the same diameter material, but the difference in uncompressed length made me go with cutting the springs I had just removed from the coupe.
I only removed 1.25 coils from the rear.

Here she is finished,

[georgeramos]

Loving the look. Thank you

[RoyBatty]

HA!
I catch so much crap from my co-workers for the Fiats I drive, especially the Spider for some reason.
I figure it's jealousy more than anything else.
But I got the last laugh yesterday, when the worst offender with the jabs and jeers was out in the parking lot at work, looking at the Coupe with me yesterday.
As we were looking at the difference in stance since I lowered it, a late model white VW GTI drives by slowly with a nice looking blonde lady at the wheel.
I noticed she drove by much slower that all the other parking lot traffic, and as I was talking with my co-worker, I saw her do a U-turn and come back. As she got across the road, she calls out. "Is that your car?" with a nice smile on her face. "Yup" I answered, "just doing a driving repairstoration on it". What year is it she asks, and then later mentioned she had always loved the little Fiats, and especially the 124 series. She advised me to have fun with the car with a smile, and then left.
My co-worker was flabbergasted and speechless.
HA!

[4uall]

Nicely done!