74 Restoration

[aj81spider]

Between work and coaching the kids the Fiat time has been limited recently. I did manage to pull the brake booster and master cylinder last weekend, and refinished the booster this week.

Before:



After:



The master cylinder is getting replaced, so I didn't bother refurbishing that. Next step is cleaning up all the spots where the brake fluid ate away the paint in the engine compartment and covering up the surface rust that resulted. Probably won't get to that for a couple of weeks at this rate.

Also looks like I have to update the date on my camera!

[Gopher]

Nice!! Nice and Nice! I am receiving my 74 in about a week.

What did you use to cleanup the booster...that looks great!!

[narfire]

Looks good. do you spray a coat of clear on as well?
Chris

[aj81spider]

I sanded the worst spots, degreased it, and washed it well. Then I masked it, primed it, and used DupliColor Chrome on it.

I'm still debating clear coat. If anyone has an opinion on that let me know. It would protect the paint a little, but I'm afraid of whether it would peel or yellow.

[Adam]

Nothing worse than rebuilding the top end only to later find a bottom end leak and have to pull the engine out again. While the engine is out of the car and apart, have the bottom end rebuilt too.

When having your flywheel machined, make sure that the step remains between the clutch friction surface and the mounting surround. Having learned this one the hard way, not keeping the step of a few millimeters can lead to the clutch pedal bottoming out before fully disengaging the clutch.

[leeputmanjr]

First of all, I have to say that '74 Spiders ROCK!

I have done...everything to mine! It's not really a '74 anymore

Pictures, in no particular order:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... 203220169/

- Lee

[RRoller123]

NICE!!

[aj81spider]

Your engine looks really good. Hopefully mine will be at a reasonable level when I'm done.

It's stalled for a while (and will be a while longer) because I've been traveling a lot for work.

[aj81spider]

Finally got back to the car after a month of traveling. Spent today stripping all the lights, chrome, handles, etc from the car to get it ready for paint. With any luck it will be going to the paint shop this week.

Here it is mostly stripped.





One issue that remains (apart from taking the top off) is how to get the "1800" and "124 Sport" tags off the back. There doesn't seem to be any way to get to the studs that hold them on. Has anyone taken them off successfully before?

It was in the 60's in Massachusetts today, so I worked with the garage opened up. At the end of the day the red Fiat came out of the bubble and was taken for it's first run of the year.

[leeputmanjr]

Those rear emblems should just be pressed on.

[aj81spider]

Thanks Lee,

They were and popped right off.

I also removed the top today - thanks to an old thread with advice posted by Manoa Matt. This site has been invaluable for getting me through this restoration so far! Yesterday I only got the door handles off because of a search for advice on that.

[aj81spider]

It's been quite a while since I posted (or did much) on my restoration. The engine finally came back a couple of weeks ago after reboring the cylinders and new higher compression pistons. Along with that the valves and valve guides were replaced and a complete overhaul of the bottom end was done. Now I need to finish assembling it, and connect the clutch and transmission (also rebuilt) to ready it for reinstallation in the car. I don't plan to reinstall until I do a fair amount of other things (brake booster, electrical refurbish, etc) in the now spacious engine bay!

I took the car to a body shop I was connected with to get it painted back in April. I got a reasonably good deal (for Massachusetts!) because I stripped everything off the car and then had the shop use it as filler work when they were slow. They had to sand a good deal of the old paint off because the coats underneath were bubbling. As a result of the amount of work, and the fact that they only worked on it when they were slow, it too a couple of months to get back. It's back this week - so I guess I need to get moving on the project again!

Here's the car primed and ready for paint.



And here it is on the trailer getting ready to come home.





Hopefully I'll be posting better progress now that everything is back!

[courtenay]

Looks very nice - as does the old piece of GM iron in the background. Olds?? It looks pretty well turned out as well.

[aj81spider]

It's a convertible Chevelle that my friend who helps me with the car owns. It is a very nice car!

[aj81spider]

Looking at the date of my last post I'm realizing how slowly this is going! However I've been making small steps which I haven't posted. Today completed a big step - put the engine back in the car!

Here it is waiting to be re-installed:



Here it is going in:



Other notable progress. I rehabbed the trunk. Not sure what was going on in there, but it was covered with gunk that I spent three weekends wire wheeling out. I also pulled the gas tank and wire wheeled and repainted that.

Here's the before:



Here's the after:



I've got to do two things better: make progress and document it here!

The goal is to be running in the spring. The trunk was an energy sapping thing (interminable wire wheeling), but now that it's done and the engine is back in it seems achievable.