I had already put two coats of Master Series Silver under my cowl. Today I decided to put three coats of Rustoleum Stop Rust spray paint enamal over it. When I finished top coating the cowl I headed back into the interior of the Fiat and put a second coat of silver over the entire interior. From the fire wall all the way under the back seats. The can recommends allowing 3.5 hours drying time prior to top coating. I'm not sure if I'll get to it today, but I have seven days to top coat before needing to sand. I'd love to have three coats of black gloss on there before tomorrow. We will see.
An assortment of hoses and rebuilt calipers have arrived at my garage. Tomorrow I plan on installing all of my new calipers and getting ready to get the brakes system ready. Unfortunately, my vendor has two small hoses on back order which is preventing me from filling the system with brake fluid. I'm hoping to receive the missing hoses by the week after next and getting everything in proper working order. While I wait for that to happen I should be able to use the parking brake and move the car out into the sunshine for some much needed cleaning. I can also install all the missing fuel lines and prepare the gas tank. I need to pressurize the gas tank to check for leaks. Any leaks will be soldered closes and the tank will be sanded and painted. The tank has already been sealed internally which should prevent any leaks. But better to find out now than after I install it.
My new parts arrived for rebuilding my calipers and various other parts. I realized I had a lot of parts that needed clean and sandblasting/wire brushing. After talking with my wife for a bit we decided that dropping the money on blast cabinet was the way to go. Safe, clean and able to save us oodles of money since we didn't have to buy new parts. I can now fully resurface many rusty parts on this car. I'm very excited. First up, brake splash guards. They will be sand blasted and painted with a nice durable paint. More pictures to come. Before and afters. Should be awesome. Only problem is that doing things right is going to increase my work time. That's fine. I don't want to go back and redo anything later.
This past Easter I was asked by my wife's Aunt if I wanted her Fiat Spider. Her husband had got it for her with plans of a full restoration. After tearing out the interior and get numerous extra parts the project came to a stand still. A few weeks later, after talking my wife into getting the car, her Uncle sent me a picture of the style of car. Here is the picture he sent.
Looks awesome right? Well, today I got to go down to their house and see the current state of the car. (I'll put a gallery below). Looks different right?
I've been a hobby mechanic for my family for the past ten or more years. I look forward to the project. I have a background in sculpture, illustration and fabrication. This project should be a good fit. I've decided to start this blog so folks can follow along and hopefully it will make me work harder on the project. Or at least keep up with it. The car is actually in pretty good shape considering its age and the fact that it hasn't been on the road for a very long time.