Rebuilding Sofia - 1971 Spider in Oz

[Sambo42]

Howdy folks

I've posted over on the Turbo124 forum but I'm getting closer to needing some more advice from other spider folks so I thought I'd share the journey (gulp!) over here.

I bought Sofia, my 1971 spider with a little bit of rear end damage back in 2010 from a German guy who had brought the car out to australia in the 90s. I used her as a running daily driver and rebuilt the 1600 engine with a 2litre block (completely restored) and heads from my old lancia beta - which worked beautifully. But then decided I had to get the rear end damage fixed.....and that has turned into a full restoration. So here goes with the story - am going to tell it mostly with pictures.

Here is what she looked like at the beginning (can anyone tell me why my landscape photos from photobucket are being cropped on the right?)



With the rear end damage:

[Sambo42]

When the rear end damage was pulled out and stripped we found this:



And then went chasing the cancer - of course the sills were completely rotten being an ex-european car:

[Sambo42]

The bodywork started at one bodyshop then moved to Gary (aka the miracle worker or body builder as I call him)

I cut out the left sill initially myself and welded new section in the rotten floor and put in the new section:

[Sambo42]

Gary was worried that the support bars holding the door opening in place were insufficient to prevent twist, replaced them and rechecked the door height both sides (with LASERS) to discover that at some point in the past the left side has gone out of true. Which meant cutting out and replacing the B pillar.....

[Sambo42]

Gary then rebuilt both sills, the left rear quarter, the left inner and outer wheel arch (despite new outer and inner panels from the US the panels needed to be just about rebuilt to fit the car) and the right outer wheel arch:

[Sambo42]

So after getting her back from Gary towards the beginning of 2013, almost nothing happened for the rest of the year, thanks to a new house purchase and moving, then getting engaged. And given the wedding is in december this year, I thought (ambitiously) that it might be nice to have her as a wedding car...so have started back in in earnest. Currently I'm finishing off the inner R wheel arch (outer is done) and the section back from the B pillar on that side. then it will be time to start the engine bay and the underneath. Phew!!

[Martin124]

That's a big project that will be worth it in the long run. Keep the pics and updates coming.

[vandor]

Wow! You are a lot braver than I am
The pictures on this site can only be so wide, if they are too wide they get cropped. But one can right-click and select 'view image' to see it full size.

[RRoller123]

750 pixels width max

[PininF]

Great job mate !

Would be great to get the car ready as the wedding car…
I see you have Vic plates if you sign up with the Fiat car club we can turn it into a Fiat day with a few club members willingly helping out with the brides maids (in the follow cars of course), what do you think Martin

Cheers
John

[Exit98]

Oh my, that's quite a project.

71's are so pretty. It will be a beauty when it's done.

Good luck.

[Sambo42]

Can anyone tell me whether the front bumper should have overriders? When I do an online search some cars seem to have them and some don't (they were never present on my bumper but I think they really add a lovely feel to the car). And thanks for all the support - I'll keep posting pics.

[vandor]

US models all had overriders. Most Euro ones did not, but they may have been an option?
I like a clean look, so I took mine off and had the holes filled when the bumper was rechromed.

[Martin124]

Great job mate !

Would be great to get the car ready as the wedding car…
I see you have Vic plates if you sign up with the Fiat car club we can turn it into a Fiat day with a few club members willingly helping out with the brides maids (in the follow cars of course), what do you think Martin

Cheers
John

I'd be keen John. The only problem for me is that the wedding is in December. I run a Games and Hobby business. December is hectic. But I would be more than happy to try.

[Sambo42]

I'm loving the idea of a convoy of spiders! Although the wedding is going to be up in Newcastle so it might be a bit of a trek...(!)

Have just come in from an evening of grinding down my crappy welds in the wheel arch - I'm not prepared to post another pic until the welds look good. I smell of singed hair.