Rebuilding Sofia - 1971 Spider in Oz

[Sambo42]

Small updates here and there. I'm hanging out for the point where I can post pics similar to djape's.... So far:

- boot lid is mounted and gapped, rocker panels being fitted and checked for alignment, doors and bonnet should be going on soon (there's a bit of work in the door skins still going on...)

-have bought a windscreen frame from curly. Taking it off for rechroming today (massive shout out to him - the work on his other cars is superlative...he's doing an amazing job on a marcos)

-side indicators on order from the US and hopefully arriving soon to replace

-3.9:1 set of gears should be coming from sydney shortly. Will need to be lapped and installed - I might drive Sofia with the old gear set to start with to remind myself how the drive is before switching

-I took apart the heater last night and discovered (as I thought) that the heater valve is stuck (I assume it should move when the cable lever is pulled???) However have confirmed that at least the fan is working fine and the heater core is watertight. I managed to lose one of the spring clips holding the heater housing together of course - anyone know where I can find a spare?

- have cleaned up and re-greased the rear brake compensator ready to put back. I think I'll powdercoat the bracket holding it on to the car but have to wait for a few other things to do at the same time to make it worthwhile...

-I cleaned up the steering column switchgear and reminded myself that one of the stalks is floppy on the upswing. Can anyone remind me what the big switch on the left side of the wheel does? there is a small plastic piece that is supposed to be held in place by a copper piece that obviously takes current - the circuit obviously overheated at one point and melted a little depression in the plastic so the feel of the switch is crappy. I'm wondering how to repair without a complete replacement (superglue to fill the depression in the plastic? Not sure that I'm explaining things well. The wire connected to the circuit is green and goes to an 8-block connector...)

Pics next post

[Sambo42]

Brake compensator removed, cleaned. The rag and bolt are just plugging the hole that will take one of the brake lines





Heater core removed - stuck valve. One day I will have a beautiful, clean, tidy garage with an empty bench to work on. One day... The thermostat wire on the heater matrix was hanging free. Shouldn't that be attached to the valve?

[MrJD]

lots of people just remove the rear brake compensator.... anyone want to comment on keeping or deleting it?

[redcars]

On your heater that is a tube not a wire and it went to the original valve. Which was a thermal couple valve. I really like the way they worked, but you can't buy then anymore so yours was replaced with a normal valve and the tube was just cut when this was done.

[djape1977]

if it helps, heater core valve is the same as on any RWD lada. couple bucks.

[Sambo42]

if it helps, heater core valve is the same as on any RWD lada. couple bucks.

Hm. I could have done with knowing that before ordering it from germany for 22 euros... ah well. This is a dumb question I know, but how come fiat and lada shared so much hardware?

[redcars]

Be very careful when removing the valve or you will brake the studs on the heater core.

[vandor]

> This is a dumb question I know, but how come fiat and lada shared so much hardware?

The original Lada was designed by Fiat and was basically a modified Fiat 124 Sedan. Fiat built them factory in a new town, which itself was built from scratch. It was named Togliatti, after the then leader of the Italian communist party.

[djape1977]

original lada 2101 is about 85% clone of fiat 124 sedan and they shared 85% of parts. whatever is the same between 124 sedan and spider, is the same on lada and 124 spider. when ruskies developed other models based on original lada 2101, they had fiat parts bin at their disposal so there are plenty bits from fiat 124 special, 124 spider, 125, 132 etc on ladas. for example, interior door handle on my 1979 lada 2103 is exactly the same as on your spider.




since all RWD ladas were built on same basic fiat 124 design, changing body styling over the years, up to couple years ago with lada 2107, you'll be able to buy new parts for at least decade to come. for example that heater valve you'll be getting soon was probably made in russia in year 2013, and same goes for suspension bushings, propshaft u-joints, engine mounts and many many other parts...

[Sambo42]

Time for another quick update...

-windscreen frame (thanks to Curly) is off being rechromed. A bit of rust that will need to be taken care of but nothing like the original. I'm still toying with the idea of doing up the original as a learning process and to have a spare...but will need to do things like make up a jig and take lots of measurements so not prepared to race into that one right away

-petrol tank now painted with POR15 + chassis black on the top half. Although it's in the boot the POR15 on its own is not UV stable and thought I should be paranoid and paint it just in case. Had quite a time getting the 'plug' out that I'd made up to seal the fuel sensor hole, the fuel tank sealer produces a pretty thick coating that had sealed it in well and truly....



-I painted the brake callipers with calliper paint....not too bad but they're not as perfect as I want (you bake the callipers at 93C for an hour after they're dry - and try as I might I couldn't stop some of the paint rubbing off on the cardboard I'd placed it on in the over while it was still hot). Plus the colour is more orange than the brake pad holders that i had powder coated. Does anyone know whether powder coating these would be an option? How hot does the treatment get?



-I've started adding my extensions to the wiring loom to allow for RHD conversion - for the instrument cluster and for the ignition switch. I also discovered that the diagram I carefully drew labelling the connections at the back of the ignition switch has completely faded and is unreadable. Yippee.



-have started to clean up the instrument cluster (does anyone know if the glass can be replaced on any of the units?) and the vinyl pieces of the interior. Trying ajax spray and wipe to clean, boot polish to blacken, nu vinyl to make shiny. Not too bad a combination so far...

[Sambo42]

Another quick update - small bits and pieces again.

I redid the brake callipers - powder coated and I'm much happier with them. Now finishing the rebuild by replacing all the seals...





The heater box is now rebuilt with new thermostat valve. One of the control cables was snapped so have reconfigured (having shortened it overall by approx 10cm the test will be to see whether it can reach far enough)

I've taken apart the instruments to clean the glass. I'm replacing all the light bulbs with LED units and hoping that the lack of heat will prevent them fogging up again. The clock face is perspex and yellowed so will have to cut a new piece of glass for that...

[Sambo42]

Now the current job is rebuilding the dash. I've gone with walnut veneer - so far happy with the cut. I ended up going with polyurethane glue (sikabond here in Oz) - rolled out thinly and uniformly on the ply template then clamped for 24hrs with polythene wrap to avoid it sticking to the clamped pieces. The glue leaches through in a few places where the veneer is thin. The problem is what finish to apply afterwards - after my online search it looked like varnish would be OK to go over the top. I've been trialling an exterior high gloss varnish vs wipe-on polyurethane to see which would look better (on plain ply) - the varnish is certainly thicker quicker so was going to go with that. However I'm discovering that in a few places the polyurethane glue has a slight opaque appearance presumably due to micro-bubbles appearing during the cure? So now rethinking - any advice guys? do I reapply another layer of veneer using a PVA glue instead? (weld bond) Or is there another alternative as a topcoat? (I know Curly used 2-pak clear coat..) Any advice from the Brainstrust? (those into woodworking as well...)


Veneer glued and roughly cut to shape before careful sanding with the good old dremel...

[Sambo42]

Here is a closeup of the glued and sanded veneer - you can see the glue coming through the veneer... now to work out what finish I can put over...

[Fi8spider]

Not sure what advice to give re the Sikabond seeping through?? Maybe another layer of vernier as you suggested with PVA will do the trick.
With regards to the varnish and your selection of using a high gloss, I reckon you'd be better off applying it out of a spray can for nice, clean and even finish. I have a sweet piece of birds eye maple in my dash and went for a satin finish which I am really happy with. British Paints make a polyurethane gloss furniture spray which i've used and is very good. Bunnings have them for about $10 a can. Sikkens is another great brand, most of their products are UV stable but I'm not sure if they make varnish in an aerosol can.

[Sambo42]

Thanks Fi8spider. Have tried the PVA approach (weldbond) which leads to similar bleed through. My next attempt is resin glue from the US (the veneer site). If that fails last option is to build a vacuum bag setup and do it that way. I feel like I'm building a gold-plated sledgehammer to crack a peanut....

I've found spray on poly at bunnings (Masters has a better selection actually I reckon). I'm going to keep building up the layers with the wipe on poly as well. The varnish approach certainly looks nice and glossy - I'm up to 10 coats on my test piece. Soft though - I'm thinking the poly approach might be better (I have sikkens ultra gloss as well).