My Second Fiat - The Runner

[wachuko]

Enough waiting! Let's finish this puppy!! Driving it back home to finally continue working on it. Wohhooo!!

[CajunMike]

Looking good Jaime!

[Europa]

Good to see you back at it Jaime.

[wachuko]

Good to see you back at it Jaime.

Thank you! Glad to be working back in the car... I have until August to finish everything... it will be my daily driver at that time.

How are you coming along with yours? I tried searching for recent post from you on your car but came out empty.

[wachuko]

Good to see you back at it Jaime.

Yeah, I know! Finally!

Started by removing the bent bow from the top's frame. It was pretty bended...



Next to the replacement bow:



Replacement installed... put some anti seize compound on the bolts and washers to make sure it moves freely... Now to clean it all, treat it with some rust neutralizer treatment, and then paint with POR-15

[courtenay]

Good to see you back, Jamie. Your photo documentation provides excellent tutorials for the rest of us. I'm particularly looking forward to the "top install" chapter as I have a nice new Germanex top still sitting in the box.
Cheers,
Bruce

[wachuko]

Good to see you back, Jamie. Your photo documentation provides excellent tutorials for the rest of us. I'm particularly looking forward to the "top install" chapter as I have a nice new Germanex top still sitting in the box.
Cheers,
Bruce

I will document with photos and, if possible, videos. I created a thread a long time ago when I was searching for a replacement top (man! how time just goes by so fast!! ): http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8895

In that thread there was a link to a procedure for the install that Europa shared, pretty good step by step but for a newbie like me I needed more photos...

I bought my canvas top from Duetto Motors. Very good price, looks to be of good quality (I haven't installed yet ) and great customer service.

http://www.duettomotors.com/tops/fiat_c ... e_tops.htm

Mike Bouse has a good write up on how to install the top.

Here's a link to Chris Obert's installation guide.

http://www.fiatplus.com/members/tech200.htm

Plus International-Auto (IAP) has these steps in their site as well...

http://www.international-auto.com/fiat- ... lation.cfm

BEEK and dzyfngrs told me that they would help with the install... and I will take them up on their offer, but first I have a lot of work to do before the car is ready for installing the top... the front bow needs to be finished and some sharp borders fixed (plan is to use some JB weld and, once dried, sand it to shape).

[wachuko]

Baby steps, lately work at the office keeps me busy until late hours... anyway... I removed the front piece of the frame. The one that touches the windshield frame. It needed cleaning, sanding, and fixing some rust and holes... JB Weld to the rescue.



Removed all the glue. Filled the holes with JB Weld, then I sanded to shape everything. Tomorrow I will paint the frame with POR-15.







I don't have photos of the finished product on the frame work... because I could not resist to put the top on just to test... so back went the front bow, and carefully installed the top just for show Tomorrow I will remove the top to finish painting the frame and will take some photos of the frame.





Plus I was able to organize and clean the garage enough to store both projects inside...still need to get rid of some of the crap that is in the garage, but at least both cars are stored inside... This is the year of getting these puppies back on the road... maybe not to finish them, for sure, but to bolt every panel in the Porsche so that it is road worthy, even if it means using with all the multicolors it has... fashion be damned!

The FIAT needs to be finished completely as it will be my daily driver. Only thing I will not be able to do is the body work. I want to get the body stuff fixed and painted (some rust spots, fix crack on door hinges area, and the small dent on the passenger side).

[wachuko]

Frame coated with POR-15...





Also coated the rear section that holds the back of the top in place...



Back in place, without screws... I want to get new screws, if possible, in stainless steel.



Floor is sound... I really do not want to have to remove those pads I have seen photos of you guys that have done it, and it looks like a lot of work, a mess to do, and I don't see the benefit or doing it in my car... unless you guys think otherwise...



Also need to see if I can fix the inside panel... I have a good one that Frank gave me, but it is for the other side. I will take it out, use some epoxy and see it that works.



That is all for now... baby steps, baby steps...

[wachuko]

I just have to share... top's frame has been down for soooo long that I forgot about it as I was getting out of the car boy did it hurt as I hit it hard with the side of my head... note to self, low ceiling, watch your head idiot! ...

[wachuko]

It was a great day! Frank stopped by with his car. Got to take photos of how everything should look when installing the top, we replaced his car worn out black top for a tan top. Tan simply looks so much better... Then we did mine.

Overall, we could have done this in a couple of hours, but I was in no rush. I was enjoying Frank's company...we had a couple of espressos, installed the top in his car, lunch... Frank played some piano, more espressos, worked on mine, dinner, the whole family was home by then so Frank was kind enough to play the piano again for us...we should have opened some wine and kept going, lol

Anyway, thank you Frank for all your help! With my car in parts I was clueless as to where things went.

Photos and step by step in a few hours. Getting another espresso first.

[dmwhiteoak]

Sounds like y'all had a good time. What better way to spend a Saturday. I have a top instalation in my near future so looking foward to the step by step.

[courtenay]

Jamie - Really looking forward to the top installation photos - but in the meantime - how does that inner side panel over the inner wheel well attach? Can you get it out without removing the top?

[wachuko]

Jamie - Really looking forward to the top installation photos - but in the meantime - how does that inner side panel over the inner wheel well attach? Can you get it out without removing the top?

I will take photos of that too... you can remove it without removing the top. But you have to loosen one of the bolts that holds the top mechanism, and one screw that holds the rear tie-down bow to slide the cover out... again, I will post photos since I have to replace one.

Sorry for the delay... family pulled me out of the garage and now they are waiting to watch a movie... so I have to make pop-corn...

I will post the photos tomorrow morning.

Edit: Let me at least post a photo of the finished product:

[wachuko]

After installing two tops on Saturday the first thing I have to say for those on the fence of making this a diy, don't be afraid. It is actually something mere mortals can do. Works best if you have a friend helping out.

The two articles posted before are your best guide. So I am not going to rewrite what they have done. I will just compliment with a few photos we took along the way.

Here's a link to Chris Obert's installation guide.

http://www.fiatplus.com/members/tech200.htm

Plus International-Auto (IAP) has these steps in their site as well...

http://www.international-auto.com/fiat- ... lation.cfm


Remove rear molding around inside of rear top well. This is the metal molding covered in vinyl that is inside in the back. At the bottom of the top. Six screws holds it in place... here is a photo of it removed:



If your car is a 2–liter, remove the three plastic covers on the center bows. Put them aside because you'll need to put them back on when you're done.

Loosen bolts holding rear anchor bar down. Push this bar up until you can remove top from underneath. Not need to remove it. Loosen all screws and slide up.



Pull the top up and off of the front bow far enough on the edges to remove the side wires from around the small posts. Loosen screws holding cable. Pull cables from old top, unglue bow strips from all three bows and remove top from car.







Loosen top in front and remove screws holding rubber molding in place. Remove rubber molding and remove glue strip from front bow, being careful not to tear bow covering.









At this point we decided to fix the cover on the front bow. Some spray adhesive (3M) and some clamps did the trick.



Drill out the rivets from inside the window flaps using a 1/8 (0.125 ) drill. There are three on each side - one in front, two in quarter windows.

I forgot to take photos before drilling these out... so I will just show their location with the photos of the new ones installed...