Rusted Out 1970 850 Spider Fix-Up

Nothing too exciting to report tonight. Got the angle iron welded onto the drivers rocker panel to support the floor, and started roughing out the floor panel. I did throw a quick layer of paint on the passenger side. I am pretty pleased. Almost time to start thinking about seats(lol)! MGB or TR6 perhaps?

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Ok, got the rest of the drivers floor in today. Still a little more welding to go. I had zero luck with trying to hammer out a floor indentation, so I decided to use my bead roller to form a depression, and let it go. Here are the panels before I put them in...

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And here is the final result. No more flintstones mobile!

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Next up is to finish the welding and get the gas pedal hooked up. I think the cable is sticking somewhere.
 
If you’re still looking....
I was going through some 850 stuff and found a Haynes manual. Cover is torn but it’s all there. Make an offer, cheap. Ships from 87102
Also found some “Iron Cross” wheels.....
 
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If you’re still looking....
I was going through some 850 stuff and found a Haynes manual. Cover is torn but it’s all there. Make an offer, cheap. Ships from 87102
Also found some “Iron Cross” wheels.....
I think I am all set on the manual, thank you. Let me go check out what those wheels look like!
 
Got out to finish welding up the floor boards tonight, got two zaps out of it, and ran out of wire. So much for that!

But since the floor is basically done, time to move on to the other, worst rusted area...the trunk area. I will deal with the hood disaster later. Here is the floor and battery area.

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See the rust around the opening? It is around the seam. Don't know what I can do except clean that up and let it go.
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Here is the bottom of the front nose. This is a mess.
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And here is the corner.
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I think I am going to approach it by reinforcing the rusted out center brace and then just start rebuilding the parts that hold the trunk in place. I think.
 
A busy couple of hours here at the fiat mortuary. I have a lot of right angles to make in the trunk area, and my hammer-and-vise approach that worked ok on the floor will not work here. So, I went and bought a bending brake at HF. It cannot handle higher gauge metals, but for my purposes it will be fine.
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Let us remove the old trunk floor, shall we?
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Well, that did not take long. Stupid pictures are upside down.
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, my plan is to simply "sister" on new metal where the old has rotted away. I have looked at some of the other build threads on here, and those guys are craftsman. Rather than patch this, they would jig the whole car and remove all of these pieces. Well, I cannot due that, and the end result would be a disaster. But they are doing it right.

Having warned you, here is the first piece I built using my bender. These will attach to that support bar at the bottom of the trunk.
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And here it is attached. I painted it for its glamour shot. It was super easy to make. 15 minutes from bending to welded. I will rebuild all along the bottom of the trunk floor this way. It was so much fun, I made another, but forget to take a pic. Doesn't that look nice?
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"Hey, Luigi, let's put drain holes in the bottom of the trunk so the car doesn't rust"
"Ok Mario, but don't forget to plug them up and make them useless!"
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Finally, on a sad note, all of the rusted remains of the original floor were unceremoniously pitched today.
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Tomorrow...more trunk repairs, God willing!
 
Oh he is willing to have you do it no worries and you being the slavomatic it shall be done (gratuitous Al Consentino reference there).
 
Before and after pictures of the trunk floor. I kinda got out of control with the seam sealer. Also, the raised area is not as goofy looking as it seems....the paint made the magic marker run all over the place. I will give it another cost tomorrow.

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Time to tackle the next big hole. This one is a little tricky. Here are my cut lines. This will get me past the rust zone.

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And here is the ensuing hole!

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Here is my newly welded on lip to support the panel as it approaches the trunk floor. I really do try to drill in a straight line!
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I cut out out a patch for the big hole to try and butt-weld it, but I think there are a couple of areas that are too weak for that. I am going to cut another tomorrow and leave enough metal for a flange and bead roll it to fit.
 
I went ahead with the butt-weld. And part of it looks like it was welded by a butt! However, it is on there good and strong and I am about 80% satisfied with it. I did not get the curve 100% right in the front. Oh well. Maybe I can find a chin spoiler for it! Other than that...the big holes are plugged in the front!

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Enough welding for today. Time to go enjoy my other rear engined car!
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Watertight! I learned a lot on it, but it was a little easier. After I finished it, I put a hose in it and filled it with water. Found a few leaks. It was just flat panels...no curves.
It looks great. Lots of fun, there are a bunch of them around here. They show regularly as a club at the Gilmore Museum just a few miles south of where I live.
 
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