1978 Restoration

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:50 am

Well, my honey let me have my midlife crisis and buy a 1978 Fiat Spider. Picked her up out of a farmers field, covered in 1/2" of bondo on the entire body. Let's see what's below. Giving myself 2 years to get her on the road.

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RRoller123 · Post by **RRoller123** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:47 pm

Fantastic! Welcome! There are lots of friendly and helpful people here.

Pete

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:15 pm

Thanks Pete.

I'll keep everyone updated. Started to strip her down. Hoping to pull the engine by the end of the week and then start on the body. Just reading some of the other threads has already been very helpful.

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 11:53 pm

So here are the last few days of disassembly. The hidden starter bolt was a real pain in the a@#. The previous owner seemed to love Bondo. Found some 1/2" thick.

We had a little guest at some point

C130Gunship0514 · Post by **C130Gunship0514** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 9:14 am

Congrats on the car! Looking forward to watching a fellow '78 owner restore their car as well. Remember to have fun and take your time!

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 6:43 pm

You may want to purchase an Eastwood stud welder dent remover. My 1979 also had 1/2" thick Bondo on the fender tops and the stud welder worked wonders in pulling out the dents. I now have only a normal very thin layer when I had it repainted.

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:03 pm

You may want to purchase an Eastwood stud welder dent remover. My 1979 also had 1/2" thick Bondo on the fender tops and the stud welder worked wonders in pulling out the dents. I now have only a normal very thin layer when I had it repainted.

Thanks Warren. My shop tool inventory is growing by the second.
The metal under the Bondo is actually very straight, except for the rust spots of course. The previous owner had done some repairs, but instead of cutting the bad parts out, he simply welded pieces overtop. So then to get the look right he had to bondo over the entire body. There is literally 1/2" thick bondo over some sections with beautiful metal underneath. I will need what appears to be the usual - rocker/sill, shock mount, etc...

Anybody know of a good place for panels in Canada?

Frankd1 · Post by **Frankd1** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:47 pm

Welcome!

Wolf steel restorations, they are in Quebec and have a body panels. Their stuff is supposed to be good too

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:16 am

Thanks Frankd1

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:26 am

Looks like I have some shock mounts in my future

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:53 am

What exactly are these? Only one was hooked up when I got the car. I tried finding them on some of the parts supplier sites, but no luck.

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 11:57 am

Got her disassembled. Now comes the fun part.

124JOE · Post by **124JOE** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:57 am

those are old emision parts not needed any more. i unpluged mine and hid the wires

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:51 pm

Thanks 124Joe. They really didn't look important.

mohle · Post by **mohle** » Sat Mar 12, 2016 5:57 pm

Well, got the first shock tower out. New ones had already arrived from Autoricambi. Have some more parts on order from Vick Auto and from Wolf Steel.

Pleasantly surprised that there wasn't more rust under the shock tower.

1978 Restoration

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