Restoration of a 1987 Bertone

Progress being made...
  • Headlight buckets reinstalled and functional
  • Windshield trim and wipers
  • Rubber door and targa top seals replaced
  • Door handles painted and reinstalled
  • Side moldings painted and reinstalled
  • Paint buffed to a glass finish
  • Rear deck lid and spoiler painted (not yet buffed)
Next up...
  • Engine cover primer and paint
  • Front trunk hood sanded and repainted/cleared
  • Bumpers and trim paint and install
  • Interior put back together and cleaned
  • License plate and drive!!
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Drive hell, with all the work he is putting into this car, it should go straight to BAT and make Huey around $25,000.
 
Deck lid and spoiler installed and buffed. The spoiler needs at least one more hit with the buffer, which I will do this afternoon. Tail lights are reinstalled and buffed to a new shine. I'm considering the license plate light delete that I saw posted here. Too bad I didn't think of that before I painted, I could have welded up the holes but I really like what @jovani did on his -- you know what they say, plagiarism is a form of flattery, right?

Now I'm working on some of the little pieces that need sanded and painted before I move onto the engine cover and front trunk lid. I'm getting that much closer to driving this thing.

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Got the license plate today! Took it for a spin (even though I don't have the front turn signal lights installed and no inspection yet.) I noticed a couple of things I could use some advice on...
  1. It doesn't handle like an X1/9 should. The front tires feel like they are on ice. It could be the tires but it was actually a little scary going around a couple of curves at a modest 40 MPH.
  2. The driver's side front wheel has a bad negative camber. I have adjustable coil-overs on it and have the camber adjusted out as much as it will go but it still looks like how the kids camber their tires on their Honda Civics these days. It's only the on the driver's front. Could it be a bad hub or something?
 
Huey said:
Got the license plate today! Took it for a spin (even though I don't have the front turn signal lights installed and no inspection yet.) I noticed a couple of things I could use some advice on...
  1. It doesn't handle like an X1/9 should. The front tires feel like they are on ice. It could be the tires but it was actually a little scary going around a couple of curves at a modest 40 MPH.
  2. The driver's side front wheel has a bad negative camber. I have adjustable coil-overs on it and have the camber adjusted out as much as it will go but it still looks like how the kids camber their tires on their Honda Civics these days. It's only the on the driver's front. Could it be a bad hub or something?
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Well, I will assume that 1 & 2 are related. That the camber issue is causing the poor handling characteristics. To try and address this a couple of questions:

Has the car been aligned?

Have you checked the wheel bearings and bushings?

You said you have coil overs. Have you checked the height settings?

Its it possible that the driver's side front strut is bent? That's usually the cause of excessive negative camber.
 
Huey said:
Got the license plate today! Took it for a spin (even though I don't have the front turn signal lights installed and no inspection yet.) I noticed a couple of things I could use some advice on...
  1. It doesn't handle like an X1/9 should. The front tires feel like they are on ice. It could be the tires but it was actually a little scary going around a couple of curves at a modest 40 MPH.
  2. The driver's side front wheel has a bad negative camber. I have adjustable coil-overs on it and have the camber adjusted out as much as it will go but it still looks like how the kids camber their tires on their Honda Civics these days. It's only the on the driver's front. Could it be a bad hub or something?
Click to expand...

If you look back at the pix you took when you picked up the car, is the neg camber evident in those pix, or does the front end look pretty normal?
 
I think I answered my own question. Jacked it up again and used a pry bar -- left front ball joint is shot. I ordered two new control arms with ball joints, which will hopefully fix it right up. Then I'll take it and get it aligned. So yes, I think 1 & 2 are related. It was fun driving it, though. That light at the end of the tunnel is finally getting brighter! Woohoo!
 
Huey said:
I think I answered my own question. Jacked it up again and used a pry bar -- left front ball joint is shot. I ordered two new control arms with ball joints, which will hopefully fix it right up. Then I'll take it and get it aligned. So yes, I think 1 & 2 are related. It was fun driving it, though. That light at the end of the tunnel is finally getting brighter! Woohoo!
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That would certainly account for it.
 
Finished the engine cover; I thought I'd do something more unique. I haven't yet decided if I like it or not. Maybe a more subtle grey would looked better than a bright silver. I don't know, maybe it will grow on me.

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I agree with Hussein, if you were going to have more silver accents on the car, maybe as minimalist as just a modest pinstripe, it would help the eye "see" that the silver rain tray is the accent color. It's what we are used to seeing on cars.
 
Huey said:
Finished the engine cover; I thought I'd do something more unique. I haven't yet decided if I like it or not. Maybe a more subtle grey would looked better than a bright silver. I don't know, maybe it will grow on me.
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I like that appearance very much! Some of the younger Bertone X1/9's had engine covers painted the same color as the main "top" color. My '85 Bertone engine cover was the older standard black, and I also got it with a few minor flaws (white spots, which look like small bird droppings, but aren't). The idea of having my '85 engine cover in matching gold with metallic brown tray is very intriguing!

I know separating the main engine cover from the tray would be necessary to do a good job on a two-tone treatment, but out of curiosity, can one get the engine lid powder-coated a single color without removing the rain-tray, or is separating it into the two pieces a necessary first step? I'm only asking this in case I decide to keep the cover all-black.

EDIT: regarding additional details to add more of the contrast color to the car: Maybe add matching silver side-stripes from eBay seller ImportAutoGraphics? The sample image below is the wrong color X, but shows what might be the correct color stripe (I'm not sure if that's silver or white, but you get the idea). ImportAutoGraphics also lets you remove the FIAT name or replace it with BERTONE.

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EDIT2: Oops, I just remembered that your X is new enough to have the side space already filled in with the side-protection. So the stripe decal idea is out, without a lot of extra work. In that case, I second Dan's suggestion of a modest silver pinstriping job. Having a little bit more silver on the car would definitely complement the silver rain tray.
 
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ecohen2 said:
Wow! I saw that car just before you picked it up and you have done an amazing job with it!
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Thank you. I have put way more time into this than I ever thought I would. I honestly thought I could get away with just polishing it up and driving it but it was too far neglected for that.
 
Progress made. Took it for a couple mile spin (after turning around and going back home because I forgot to tighten the lug nuts.) Front bumper needs reassembled, back bumper needs painted (again) and I still have lots of color sanding and buffing to do. Mirrors need to be fixed and refinished. So far so good, it runs great and it did excellent on the test run.

Replaced 5th gear yesterday and it made a huge difference. Now it doesn't pop out of 5th :)

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