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Finally finished my car!

4K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  cdnpaul 
#1 ·
I started taking apart my 78' spider in Mid December to be stripped and repainted; I have added various pictures of my project here and there on this forum since then.

Got her completely put back together this weekend!

New 15 X 7 Rota wheels, Top & seat upholstery kits are from Centerline, carpet kit and carpet mats are Ricambi-Automobila, door panels are Mr. Fiat.

All the weatherstripping and detail pieces came from IAP or Centerline.

I did all the work myself except the paint.

Super pleased with the results... And the car actually seems to DRIVE better now with the new finish.

Regards
Chris
 

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#6 ·
nice, very nice. I notice a Stang in the garage as well. I don't think you can find better wheels than those for the Spider. Nice diversification. ciao, chris
 
#12 ·
Thanks alot for all the very nice comments:
My persistent lurking and searching on the various threads of this BB was an enormous help;
i.e I was ready to remove my engine and transmission during this project to correct my 2nd gear syncro "crunch". It wasn't terrible... and it probably made me a better manual trans driver by forcing me to match the speeds better and double clutch etc. But I didn't want to spend all this time and money on the car and for there to still be a nagging "issue". Anyway, I tried the recommended Redline 75W90NS trans oil and the problem has been 90% corrected! I still need to be a bit 'ginger' down shifting to 2nd... But it is no longer enough of an issue to bother with. My wife can drive the car and it's no harder to shift than any other manual car.

On a whim I followed a series 2 spider thread that explained how to "retract" the rubber bumper shocks and pull the bumpers more into the body of the car.
I didn't retract them fully, just 80% or so, as I was afraid they would be too difficult to get access to the bolts and nuts remounting them.
The results are super! I no longer feel like I need to spend $2-3K converting my car to chrome bumpers. I think the rubber bumpers are every bit as attractive.

The tires are Nitto NT450 P205/55 R 15. I got this size from several different Threads (fitting these same wheels) and just shopped for the best deal.
 

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#13 ·
Centerline provided both the new top and the seat kits. I was changing my interior from the Burgundy leather seats with red carpet... To all Black interior with gray carpet. And I'm very happy with the color change.
The seat kits came with zero instructions and I really wasn't able to find much of ANY advise on the internet to help me with the re-upholstery... But I took my time and worked my way through it. I did this in my living room during the cold part of the winter (I put together a thread of the work too)
If I had opted for Leather kits (which I did not) I probably would have given up and paid $1k to have the work done by a pro. The Vinyl has pretty forgiving.

The Centerline top kit came with the factory instructions (a godsend!) but was still very much a big job to finish. It took me a month of weekends to slowly finish the install... And this is not my favorite type of work.
I've replaced the tops on a TR-6, MGB, & a Datsun Roadster... This Series 2 Alfa top was vastly more difficult. However, it is also Vastly more attractive, vastly better engineered, and vastly more weather/wind tight. The instructions could not have been better written.

My carpet kit was kinda confusing to me?? And I still think it was intended for maybe an earlier Spider with some sort of parcel tray behind the seats??
I created my own parcel tray with some masonite board and foam rubber.
This made all the difference and is actually more practical than the 'draped' carpet I had before.

Thanks again for all the very nice comments!!

Chris
 

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