Edit....Back from paint!

[Ptoneill]

Well my car is finally off to the paint and body guy....both happy and bummed, up to this point I have done most of my own work. Here are a couple of before, as in when I first bought the car, to it being hauled away 4 years later. The scary part will be trying to put it back together after the incredible paint job the painter, Scott , will put on it.

First day home...400 dollar 79 Fiat, junk yard auction, drove it home with bad brake booster!


Made a clean spot, buffed out decent


Things quickly got out of hand......damn clean spot!


About $800 dollars worth of parts bolted on lower part of the motor...Marks ignition, Miller Mules pully's etc



New brakes...Marks Fiat 500 conversion....and wheels...Yes Marks...he really should start a loyal customer discount program!


My idea for the way the rear should look.......I like it


I love wiring....?


Off she goes ...an ugly duckling about to become a swan!!


More to come!!

[SoFlaFiat]

Looking good!!
She's come a long way!
Congrats!

[Daniel]

looks like your doing a good job hope she turns out great! nice job on the dash so far too.

[RRoller123]

Nice!

[btoran]

looks good. what color are you painting it?

[Ptoneill]

Very similar to this.....although I will be using a three part PPG

[btoran]

i know red cars are faster, but 640hp? wow. you'll have the fastest spider aorund.

[Ptoneill]

That engine would make a spider twist like at twizzler!! I found the color at the SEMA Show last year, BASF has not released it yet but the PPG rep said they could match it.......we'll see.

[Ptoneill]

Ok, so my car has been in the body shop for about a week or two....very interesting process......first I must give credit where credit is due...for all you guys and gals who do your own work on the body of these cars you have my admiration. I am very mechanically inclined and have no problems with mechanical or electrical issues...but I cannot stress how important it is to have a talented body person prep your car.

My car by all outward appearance was a fine example of a 35 year old car, if found only one very minor rust thru area..a tiny pin hole in the divers side floor board....see pictures...boy was I in for a surprise!!

This is a photo of the passenger side door jamb....be in mind that this was not visible prior to having the paint removed, it was backed with a duct tape to hold the bondo type material in....



I found out that the car had several of these "repairs"...apparently the car had be fixed by someone who had a stock in the body filler industry, they did not pull dents, they simply filled them in..



This is the door jamb after being corrected....



I have many more photos to upload....It would be no fun to upload them all at once... although if you really want to see them you can go to the photo bucket link below and see them....... I will add commentary later...again you all that do this body work yourselves are my hero's!!!!!!!!!

[azruss]

once you get the bill from our body guy, you will understand why many of us do our own body work.

[Ptoneill]

Trust me I know how much the cost is I have been working all the off duty work I can get to pay for it. This car started out as a small project and rapidly got out of control. But I have done all the other work myself and he is very good about letting me hang over his shoulder to learn about the different techniques he uses. We have also thrown about different ideas which I will post later some of them we have implemented and as far as I know have not been used on these cars. The nice part is that I have not gone into debt to build it which is why it has taken so long!

[wizard124]

Pat, I empathize. I had some surprise rust on the passenger running board. I also thought about doing the body work and paint myself (never done same before). I was also out of work room......

I'm very happy I sent it out, you will be too! There is truth in knowing your limitations

[Ptoneill]

Ok here are some more photos .......after the last couple of surprises we decided that the body would be taken down to bare metal. This turned into a very good idea!!



Beware of buying a primer covered hood.......I don't even remember who I got it from but they deffinately got me!!



Close up!.....



I ended up using my dented original hood, it was much easier to pull the dents vs fixing the replacement hood...I hate people who intentionally deceive others



I am having the front and rear modified

Front shave


Note...slits for bumper mounts...






First primer coat....really getting close



Gotta go, will add more this evening!!

[Ptoneill]

Ok here is the back...I will show the doors separately as they had some real issues.....

Rear modification to hold Lokar Led lights


Shaved lip, filled seams, gas filler and antenna removal, shaved trunk lock (electric popper)

Mock up prior to body shop









Very happy!!

The pictures are cut, the full pictures are viewable on the photobucket link below

[SoFlaFiat]

It's coming along very nicely Pat!! Looking good!!