Fiat Spider 2000, 1980

[basso]

and now for something competely different

My handbrake levers chrome was not shiny anymore and rust appears.

And i ask myself if it is a good idea to open the rivets and renew it - new Levers cant be bought

I decided to do so ( of course) open the rivets and the sepaerated the Levr form the plastic parts and the Metal wich needs to be zinc plated again. The lever was send to my favorite chrome plater...the other parts where blasted and zinc plated again, the plastic was polished...

And here ist the result:
The lever with shiny new Chrome:

and the completed Lever:


Now every chrome part in my Spider ist renewed and shiny like new

There is one thing that is missing on the photo: If You take a look at the axis of the Lever you can see two screwholes.
While dismanetling the lever i need to cut the stamped metal (wich holds the lever in place) out.
To fix the lever, a thick metal plate was made. But actually i forgot it for the photo...

[basso]

Sadly the seletion Sticks knob ( the brown one ) of the limited Editions was not on mounted on my spiders Gear selection stick. While trinig to have an original Limited edition i searched the web for the correct knob and found a black one.
But it needs to be brown....hmmm.

Okay, i have to learn how to handle leather... I have to say my mum is a fashion designer and so i was first sitting at the sewing machine when i was a little boy – but leather is a different thing.

I first dismanteled the black knob and made a master for the brown leather, sewed & glued it



and my original part is done

[basso]

With the new Knob in mind i wonder if the steering wheel can aslo be renewed.

I blasted the Steering Wheel wich was then black coated and i began to cut and sew the leather.
It is a nasty thing to do and i needed 3 tries to fit the Leather to the steering wheel.

Do i have to say that i am very proud? I never did this before and feel really happy with the result

[basso]

..the new leather seat covers have been made by a professional - this is too tricky for me

But while looking at the brand new Covers i saw that there is no chance to use the old rusty grid for the rear seat bench.

But what to do? A New one couldnt be found.
My idea was to make a new one out of stainles steel - never to rust again.

But never had done this before ( like most of the things on my Spider...). I bought stainles steel and began to bend the first frame
and welded it to one piece...


p.s. long time ago ( 6/ 2014)....

[basso]

It is s leather day
the next desaster: the seats - over and over rusty and wet....






They needed to be blasted and conserved with owatrol,
what i did...







And again coverd by fine leather...




The cable in the last photo is for the seat heating – one
of the not-original-extras

[basso]

Did i mentioned before, that i cant screw rusty old parts on new leather?

Again rivets had to be cut off to seperate the seat adjustment mechanism and to rezinc it.
the Parta arrive and are now - why sould i describe it...


new

p.s. if Your seat adjustement wheel is hard to rotate the inner foam is cracked and blocks the theeth of the mechanism.
It is simple to fix, and cheap

[DRUMMOND]

Great work Basso very detailed!!

[basso]

The last Chapter of my Restoration has begun!
Its time to screw everything in place to have a wunderful limited Edition again

My spider just arrived an is now in perfect shape and - most important - in its factory colour: chamagner beige metallic.

After unpacking my old friend i wasn't able to say anything - it was so amazing and the first time i had the chance to see the beautiful shape of this car...



after a long time staring at the body i needed to mount the badges in place to make it a real limited editon again...



It is so easy to screw things on the body when everything is new or rebuild! I couldnt stop screwing....

[royn]

Great work Basso !
Now the fun part begins, keep on posting Pictures

[basso]

Of course!

There is one thing that i wanted to fix during the whole restauration but i never knew how it should have been done till
a 3D Printer enters our home

I was finally able to get rid of the lousy brake and gas line holder ( the metal stripes ).

I started building holders for the inner fuellines to check the layout and i must say they are easy to print and easy to mound ( and hold the fuel lines in place). The Holders are made out of ABS and mounted on the floor using stainless steel blind rivet nuts.

And this is the result


Actually i am printing the complete set for the brakelines and the fuel vent line

[KLC356]

I am new to the forum and have just went through your restoration history.

I am not sure what to say. WHO ARE YOU?! This is craftsman like restoration beyond many restoration shops. You repair parts others would just purchase - and it is better than new. What is your day job?

I really cannot understand how you do so many things so well. First time doing leather - that leather work was amazing. Welding, clock restore, radio console, on and on... I do not understand 1/10 of how you re-engineer these parts.

I was on the fence about restoring my gas tank since a purchase is very easy - and in long run of time/effort it is the wisest decision. But I want to be like you! I appreciate the way you are attempting to keep everything original. No way I could match any of your skills, but you have inspired me to give some things a shot (I can always buy replacement if I fail).

How many other card have you restored?

My new hero - thanks for all the posts.

[KLC356]

..oh and I am curious - can you provide a close up of the fuel tank stickers you created.

[basso]

..oh and I am curious - can you provide a close up of the fuel tank stickers you created.

Hi KLC 356!,
the Stickers on the fuel tank are:
1. the production number in white ( it is not really a sticker, it is a stamp printed on my 3D printer),
2. the red Sticker is only an POR15 info sticker for "SEALED WITH POR15 U.S. STANDARD FUEL TANK SEALER
MAX. TEMP : 315°F /160°", and the date. It seems to be a bit overdone, but i have dealed with so many liquoers and liquids that i thought it could be helpful to know the infos about the sealing.
3. The last Sticker ist the fiat original ricambi sticker wich was originally applied.

Basso

[tima01864]

Would like to know more about the owatrol. Been looking into preservatives, channels, inside the rocker panels.

[basso]

Hi Tima01864,
Owartrol is perfekt to infuse rust.

Sorry i, need to get a bit deeper in this than you might expect but i think it is the best way to explain the usage of owatrol.

Rust is hydrophilic, and thats the reason why rust will never stop. The water in the rust reacts with the metal and the rust get deeper and deeper and deeper... If you aply owatrol on rust it will repress the water and drys the rust - perfect the transformation is stoppped.
But Owatrol is water soluble ( correct word?!? ).
If You put it into the inside of the rocker panels the effect wont last long.
I do not know how Owarttol reacts with something like Fluid film. ( if You like to stop the rust inside the Rocker panels i think fluid film is better than Owatrol, because it is not washed away by water...

Owatrol is the hero when rust in folds is your task. There You will have to simply drop it in the fold till it the whole fold is filled, let it dry, cover the fold with an sealant and after that cover it with an rust preventing paint ( i use Brantho 3 in1 because it is used by thousand for this purpose). The Owatrol is here used to repress the water in the rust of the fold - we used it to stop rust in an mercededs door two years ago and coulnd finish it - the Owatrol was not covered but the rust stopped till now and we do have a lot of rain here in Hamburg it is perfect...

My whole Spiders folds are covered this way and i dont think that there will be any rust in any fold again...
For more infomations about owatrol use this link: https://owatrol.com/en/

When i suggest to use some specific products i do this because i have used them and feel comfortable with them, if you know products beeing better give me a note i like trying new stuff

Basso