Preparing my Spider 2000 for the Track

[Simon]

That is a very valid point WhizzMan, and one of the reasons I made the hardtop very thin (2 layers) and light. It actually feels lighter than the folding hood. I will weigh them both when I take the roof off again.

[cos]

the bonnet looks fab! keep the posts comming!

[miro-1980]

Simon,

Great job on the car and fantastic thread.

Keep it up, please.

Aside from my 131 Abarth project I have a 124 spider ( 1980 model US import ). I am very interested in following your project development. Please let me know if and how do you want to modify the suspension , which I understand is quite tricky, especially when attempting to lower the car. Some who have tried it before developed major stability problems and mostly went back to factory setting. have you thought of putting the original Abarth suspension?

Miro

[Simon]

Sorry for the lack of updates, but progress has been a bit sporadic of late. A trip to the Oldtimer GP a couple of weeks ago, with a brief stop off in Antwerp at Guy Moerenhout's ( I could only peer through the window as he was away on vacation!), got some enthusiasm back. So once home I set about moulding up the inner frame of the bonnet and getting it getting the two halves bonded together.

Reinforcement panel in place

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I also made up some hinges (cut from an old Lada sump guard). I'll round them off nicely one I get the positioning sorted out.

Mocking up hinge assembly.

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Well, having got the two bonnet halves bonded together, this evening I put the assembly on the scales and was pleased to see that it came out at 5.7Kg, pretty close to my estimated 5.6Kg earlier in the thread. Obviously there is still the weight of paint and fasteners to fit.

Bonnet assembly on scales

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Thanks for the encouragement Miro, it sounds like your Spider is of very similar vintage to mine. I will let you know how things progress with the suspension, currently I just have the lower springs fitted. I am actually at a bit of a decision point as I need to decide what to do wheel wise. Cost precludes me going down the Abarth replica route, and I am still debating 13 or 14 inchers (tyre availability, which of my brake kits to fit and period look are all in the equation.) Some 7x13 'Minilites' are looking favorite at the moment with 70 series tyres.

More later....

[Simon]

I made a bit more progress over the weekend and this evening.

I made up some hinge pins out of 10mm ali rod and 'glassed' them into place in a similar location to the factory set up. These locate in the brackets I made earlier. I may notch the front end of the bracket with a rising slot so that the bonnet can be removed easily, but still hinge normally.

Hinge arrangement

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The next step was to make a start on fitting some bonnet pins to the rear edge. I was originally going to go with the traditional Abarth rubber hooks but decided I would most likely be snagging things on them when washing the car (when I finally get some paint on it!) or when generally tinkering about. So I decided to got with a more modern flush fitting arrangement. I did think about moulding in some integral recesses, but to be honest I just want to get on and get the job finished now so opted for some pressed ali plates. I'll bond and rivet them in place

I drilled a pilot hole through the bonnet and scuttle panel into the inner wing/bulkhead.

Marking the centre of the bonnet pin before curring out the recess.

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Then removed the scuttle panel to open the pin mounting hole out. With the recess there is so little room between the bonnet and scuttle panel that the pin needs to be very short leaving no room for the top nut. So I will be welding the nut flush in the panel and fitting the locknut below (accessible from under the dash. I used a couple of hole saws and a sanding drum in the drill to cut out recess for the plate.

'off the shelf' pressed ali recess.

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Temporarily fitted in place to check alignment. The pin will need to be angled forward slightly to allow for the arc of the bonnet as it lifts up.

Checking the fit

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That's it for now, hopefully I'll get another couple of evenings on it this week to do the other side and weld in the pin mounts.

[Simon]

I made some more progress this weekend, nothing too exciting but another step closer to getting the body ready for paint.

I finished off the other bonnet pin recess and welded in some mounting bosses for the pins, then added clearance holes in the scuttle panel so that it can be fitted and removed with the pins still in place. With the bonnet hinges and pins fitted I could then start trimming it to shape. The fit still needs some refinement but I'll address that when I move on prepping the body for paint.
I next turned my attention to the doors as these are now the last panels to need sorting and I am also keen to save some weight from theses hefty items, but without going to the trouble of making fibre glass ones (I need a bit of a break from all that!) After removing the OS door I weighed it before stripping it down, it came in at 21.2 KG. I'll be making up some Perspex replacements for quarter-light and main glass, which should save a decent amount. I do plan to use the car on the road so a degree of practicality is required which will probably mean retaining the electric window lifts (simply because I already have them as opposed to manual winders), which actually weren't as heavy as expected (still need to weigh them) and most of the weight seems to be in the actual door construction itself. I had planned on a mammoth hole drilling exercise on the inner skins as seen on some factory cars, but in the end decided to just cut the redundant panelling out. I put a joggle on the edge of the opening to stiffen the edge and make it look a bit more 'factory' (not that anyone will see it!) I didn't got the 'whole hog' and cut the whole panel out around the perimeter as would be normal race car practice, as I want the option to fit the original winder and lock mechanisms, and also retain some rigidity in the latch area. The removed metal amounted to about 0.6kg - every little counts, as they say!

Here are the pics...

Threaded boss made by rounding off the nut supplied with the bonnet pin kit.

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Boss welded in place and ground flush.

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Bonnet pin screwed in to the full length of the thread to sit low enough to account for recess. A locknut is fitted from under the dash.

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20mm clearance hole in scuttle panel takes a standard 20mm electrical grommet, which also acts as a buffer for the underside of the recess in the bonnet.

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Door removed ready for stripping and lightening. Ragged hole at the front is where someone has chewed out the panel to fit speakers.

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Adding 'lightness'

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Complete door assembly (minus outer door handles and trim) weighs in at 21.2 KG!

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Redundant inner panelling cut out, and edge joggled to add some stiffness and give a more 'factory' appearance.

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[WhizzMan]

Are you putting in a roll cage with side protection bars in? I'm asking because I was contemplating cutting the innards out of my own doors (semi-modern Alfa) to save weight, but I'll leave them in until I have the roll-cage in place. Please keep the pictures of your excellent workmanship coming, it's nice to see someone work with this skill and eye for detail at work.

[Simon]

Hi WhizzMan,

The cage is a Sparco FIA item so has door bars, but they are removable though. When in place they would actually clear the inner door trim if it was in place. I have seen quite a neat cage on a Mazda MX5 racer where the door bar actually has a kink in it that fits into the door where the inner panel was removed.

[Simon]

I am trying to keep the momentum up, so spent another couple of hours in the garage this evening. A bit of fettling on the fit of the bonnet and some sanding...

Bonnet in place, and some more body prep.

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Organised chaos!

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[WhizzMan]

Are you sanding your bonnet with your engine parts exposed on the bench? I know most of us can't afford a separate room for engine preparation and assembly, but I try to keep my engine bits as clean and dust free as possible.

[Simon]

Like most of us, my garage has to evolve with the current task or project and is currently in 'dirty' mode whilst doing all the fibre glassing and body prep. I then have to clean everything up for it to become a 'spray booth', and similarly for engine work. The engine bits on the bench are not part of a build (a spare Crossfire head and induction system I am messing with whilst trying to build a flow bench) so I'm not too concerned about them at the moment. Like yourself, I keep any critical bits packed away.

[turbofiat]

Love your custom made hardtop. I want to see more photos of it.

I sold my Parrish Plastics top about 7 years ago and wished I had kept it because I put air conditioning on my Spider this year and the extra insulation would have helped.

[Simon]

Love your custom made hardtop. I want to see more photos of it.

I sold my Parrish Plastics top about 7 years ago and wished I had kept it because I put air conditioning on my Spider this year and the extra insulation would have helped.

Thanks Turbofiat and sorry for responding sooner. For various reasons I haven't checked in here recently but I have been working on the car on and off for the last few months, alternating with my VW project that is at a similar stage. I'm still gapping and prepping the bodies on both for paint as I want to get all the sanding and spraying out of the way so I can finally clean the garage up the for the final build. I will get some pictures of progress uploaded in the next few days.

Spider now competing for attention!

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[Simon]

The story over the last few weeks has been bodywork, bodywork and more bodywork! This has basically entailed hours of fettling door gaps, yet more small rust repairs, welding up the US spec. side marker/repeater holes and a lot general body shaping. Despite my intention just to tidy it up and use it as a track car, misaligned body lines and inconsistent panel gaps really bug me, so I've probably ended up spending an inordinate amount time on this.

Filling the side marker holes:

Side Marker holes

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fill panel tacked in place

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Stitched in short runs with the MIG to reduce distortion as much as possible

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Smoothed off with the flap wheel ready for a skim of filler

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One of the several more little rust repairs:

Rusted rear lamp mount chopped out

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New tab tacked in

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Smoothed off

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Body shaping nearly complete and ready for an application of spray polyester filler to smooth out the remaining blemishes, before a final sanding/shaping session and primer. I'm getting excited enough now to start thinking about the paint scheme!

Body shaping nearly complete

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Now for something a bit more exciting (compared with hours of grinding and filing anyway!). My nice shiny Radtec radiator arrived yesterday. I got a great deal on it after, as luck would have it, Radtec had a stand next to ours at the Autosport show back in January. Darren Field their Sales Director sorted it all out following my previous attempt to order one through a distributor who cancelled the order for some inexplicable reason. Their pattern is for the early cars with a slightly narrower rad aperture, but it fits on the standard central lower mount, I'll just need to make up a couple of little mounting plate/baffles. It's the best thing in the engine bay now!

Radtec Radiator

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Test fit

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[Guy Croft]

I'm impressed with the Radtec item, please put a link in the 'Links' section.

I am always on the lookout for good suppliers like that and one can only judge the product when it's delivered.

G