Technical Project Paolo

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Technical Project Paolo

Paolo66

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I'm starting a new restoration thread for Paolo. I know there are a few on here but I never get bored of reading them so I hope you lot don't get bored of this one. I don't know how long it's going to take me (or how much it's all going to cost) but I'm taking the Italian approach of it's done when it's done.
Just to give you a bit of background leading up to this restoration we bought Paolo about 18 months ago in as original condition. He'd had a respray at some point (I don't know his original colour it's missing from the chassis plate) which was adequate but not amazing. We changed to a 650 engine and syncro gearbox last year and to be fair we were really happy in him and he didn't really let us down. On this years MOT however he failed on excessive corrosion. Left hand floor pan was particularly bad with a hole right through. Right hand was not much better and the panel which houses the battery bay had a repair on it which was basically filler!
As gutting as the news was we decided to bite the bullet and go for a full resto. I didn't want to repair a couple of panels and have the same situation in a couple of years time.
So far I've stripped out the interior and took out the engine and gearbox.
The plan is to completely strip him down to a bare chassis and then replace all necessary panels DSCF3077.JPG

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I'm changing the colour to 433 azzuro acquamarina (baby blue).
What's the trick to getting all the glass out safely and in one piece?
Will keep the photos coming when I get to the interesting bits

Damian
 
Good luck Damian.
I have seen much worse where the wheelarch joins the floor. That could be repaired with a bit of skill and patience. I would think carefully before ripping out too many panels.
I don't know of anyway to remove windows other than kicking them out. Well not exactly. Practice with a side window. Lie back inside the car, get someone else outside to gently support and catch it, then place both feet towards the perimeter of the glass and not too far apart and push the edge of the glass out. Once it starts it should get easier but try not to get over eager and feel your way gently. NB. If the windscreen has ever been replaced with laminated rather than toughened glass you can expect total failure with this.
You may want to do a risk assessment and think about what safety protection is needed.
If thet's successful you should be an expert by the time you get to the windscreen.
 
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Hi Damian,

You are taking the right approach by doing a full restoration it may cost a bit of money but it will pay off in the end.

I took the glass out by cutting the window rubbers away with a Stanley knife on the outside. Cut it away carefully down to where the recess that the glass sits in, so that you can see just the glass with the rubber surrounding it between the glass and the bodywork. It should pop out with a bit of pressure from the inside but don't try to force it or you could break the glass. Get somebody on the outside to hold the glass so that it doesn't fall on the floor.

Tony
 
So a little bit more progress over the weekend. Got the engine and gearbox out and then thought I'd start stripping from the rear going forwards. My engine bay is covered in that protective gunk that makes the surface really rough. I can see the advantages to having a coating but I'm in favour of a nice clean metal finish. So the arduous task of scrapping it all off begins! Some areas just scrape off and others have to have some heat applied. A bit of a pain of a job but needs must. Also took all electrical bits from the rear and threaded the loom back into the car. A before and after picture of the engine bay.
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Also got around to removing the knee pads only to discover that they were completely rotten. The last spray job had taken place with the knee pads in situ and masked off. Pictures show the damaged knee pads and the dashboard surface corrosion.
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So I'm plodding along at a leisurely pace and so far I'm quite enjoying it. I'm glad we decided to go down this route and although it seems like we've got a mountain to climb at the moment I know the end result is going to be worth it (I hope)

Damian

 
Well done Damian,
Keep going, you are at the fun stage of taking the vehicle apart. Make sure you take plenty of photos of everything before you remove it as it can be quite daunting when you take everything off and even after 2 months you forget where some of it came from.
Are you getting someone to do the body work or are you doing it?
Like the new colour, the wife would love me to change my one to that colour but the jury is still out on that one.
Keep the photos coming, it wouldn't surprise me if you find a few more surprises yet.
 


So I'm plodding along at a leisurely pace and so far I'm quite enjoying it. I'm glad we decided to go down this route and although it seems like we've got a mountain to climb at the moment I know the end result is going to be worth it (I hope)

Damian


Damian,

The bodywork on my 500 was not as bad as some of the others on the forum, but I still stripped the car completely and had the bodywork done professionally.

Don't worry, you are doing the right thing and will have a lovely little collector's piece to show for it when you are finished.

As has previously been suggested, take lots of photos and label everything as you remove it.

Oh yeah, keep us informed as well.

Chris
 
Franko500,
I would love to do the bodywork myself but welding is something I havent had a go at yet and I dont want Paolo to be my practice piece. Its the wifes car and if I mucked it up I'd have to move to Oz! I'm researching local garages and will be getting some quotes soon.
Chris,
If my car ends up anything like as good as yours I'll be well happy. In my head at the moment its perfect but I've got to put it all in practice

Damian
 
Took the fuel tank out today and never knew there was another plate in there, the fuel tank heat shield. Wasnt bolted down or anything just tucked in behind the fuel tank. Tried to find a schematic as to how its fitted but didnt find anything. Anyone?
Whats the trick for getting the wiring loom back inside the car? Got the rear through okay but the front looks more difficult as theres more to it and it only pokes through a small grommet

Damian
 
Damian,

The fuel tank heat shield just sits underneath the fuel tank, there is a circular cutout in the middle on one side that locates up around the filler cap and there are two flat parts on the opposite side that match the mounts on the bonnet area. I wouldn't worry too much about that at this early stage.

On the loom you won't be able to push it back into the cabin. You need to disconnect the bullet connectors near the fuse box, there should be a whole bunch of them with brown sleeves over them and also over by the speedo area. This will allow you you pull the loom out of the car with the fuse box and leave you with half a dozen wires up by the grommet that feed into the cabin.

Have a look at page 9 of my restoration on this site and you will see what you aiming to remove.

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/foru....php?t=14089&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Tony
 
Cheers Tony. I'll have to have a good read of that whole thread, it looks really interesting

Damian
 
Took a few more things out today mainly electrics. Couldnt find a way to remove passenger side wiper blade splined mounting shaft. Push it half way out and it stops on a vent cowling. Any ideas?
 
After more stripping and prodding I've now discovered I need to add replacing inner and outer sills to the list. No point cutting corners and I guess if I'm replacing the floors I may as well. Not that I have much option with the holes in them!
 
Damian,
I have just done that job. It's a great feeling when you get the new ones in and everything starts looking whole again instead of just holes!
 

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Photos Damian PLEASE!
You might want to try welding a patch piece on the internal sill. You don't see the repair and it helps keep the integrity of the shell.
Shame your car has gone so quickly to being a restoration candidate. :(
 
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I'll put some photos on although they wont be very exciting, just rusty holes in panels. The car has never had a restoration done on it, some dodgy repairs yes, but not a proper restoration. So to get to 48 years I don't think is too bad. If I do it right it should last another 48!
 
Rusty holes...very exciting to me (y)

I see what you mean..it hasn't rusted very quickly at all (48 years) but I meant that because you are being thorough, (unlike the person you bought it off by the sound of things), it has gone from being an apparently fit and healthy car to being hospitalised like mine.:cry:

Sean's spot-on though, once you see bits going back on it's a great relief. Have you got a body repair shop sorted yet?
 
So I'm replacing the front panel and battery bay panel but not the front wings. As the flange on the front wing is welded to the flange on the front panel how do I get the old front panel off and still leave enough of the flange on the wings to weld the new front panel to?
 
Still stuck on a couple of issues which I hope you guys can help me out with. First is getting the passenger side wiper splined shaft off the car. Get's half way and then get's stuck on vent cowling as you can see in the photos
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Don't mind doing some damage to get it out as this can then be fixed but it needs to go back in nice and smooth as I can't damage the new paint work. Anybody had a similar problem or am I missing something blindingly obvious?
Still can't see how to get the front panel off without doing some damage to the front wing flanges. Anybody who's removed theirs, how did you do it please?
 
Damian, it looks like you might have an adaptor on the wiper spline which I haven't seen before. If you can extract that you will have a very dainty spline and the idler mechanism should wiggle out.
 
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To remove the scrap front panel whilst saving the wings, using an grinder ideally with a very thin cutting disc make a cut down each side and along the bottom of the panel about a centimetre inboard of the welded flanges. The vertical and horizontal cuts need to connect so that the bulk of the panel drops out.
You will then see the spot welds as depressons in the steel of the flanges. Change to a grinding disc and carefully grind each spot and gradually tidy up the edges. Do this very methodically and you will need to be inventive with pliers to keep twisting off the slivers of steel.
Assess the whole project for safety first as a lot of protection will be needed.
I used this method in reverse to save the front panel.
 
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