81 Restoration nearing completion

[SpiderJim]

For those who have asked for updates as I put it all back together. Love my red calipers and black suspension behind my gun metal rotas. I will keep updating this topic with pics and updates or mods to the car. I just have to adjust that bloody hood (any tricks to it?) then will begin painting and fitting my trim bits then the interior customization.

The hood is covered with droplets of rain, not a bad paint job... Still cannot get the pearl to show on digital film

[boogiedude]

That's lookin pretty good! Those aren't stock calipers are they?

[manoa matt]

Are you going to re-spray the wheel wells black, or leave the white overspray? Black will look a lot better, and hide dirt.

[SpiderJim]

Are you going to re-spray the wheel wells black, or leave the white overspray? Black will look a lot better, and hide dirt.

Laugh... Yes, I have the material and will do them a little later when the weather improves as I want to power wash all the grime off then do them. The calipers are stock. Just rebuilt the entire brake system with all new parts and or rebuild kits as they are in excellent condition. A bit of caliper paint after a good buffing then degreasing.

[stefhahn]

Jim,
this looks brillant!
As per the wheel wells I'd like to recommend to leave them white but overspray with black undercoat wax - this gives the nice color and you have the advantage to immediately see where the wax is going away later - as soon as there is a white spot: respray wax. I have done this with my Spider around 15 years ago and haven't had any problem with rust anymore
ciao,
Stefan

[wachuko]

That is looking great!! There was a photo in your other thread where the color did come through. That is a difficult color to photograph.

Any closer shots of the calipers?

FYI, I got these for when I paint mine: Caliper decals

I ordered a set of both the FIAT and ABARTH to later decide on which one to use.

[SpiderJim]

Jim,
this looks brillant!
As per the wheel wells I'd like to recommend to leave them white but overspray with black undercoat wax - this gives the nice color and you have the advantage to immediately see where the wax is going away later - as soon as there is a white spot: respray wax. I have done this with my Spider around 15 years ago and haven't had any problem with rust anymore
ciao,
Stefan

I'm actually treating all of the interior box frame members, under panels etc with that creeping wax using a special applicator to inject and swirl it around. Uses a long tube with a swirl spray nozzle under high pressure. Any rust already hiding gets captured and put to death.

[SpiderJim]

That is looking great!! There was a photo in your other thread where the color did come through. That is a difficult color to photograph.

Any closer shots of the calipers?

FYI, I got these for when I paint mine: Caliper decals

I ordered a set of both the FIAT and ABARTH to later decide on which one to use.

They would look quite nice. What is this fascination with the Abarth car. I must be missing a gene or something as I think it is quite ugly and reminds me of a Simca 1000 I rallied for Lucus

[azygoustoyou]

Hi Jaime,
I think you should paint the underside of the caliber white first. Put on your stickers and then paint them red. Then you could remove the stickers and you would have the words on there painted. It would probably last longer then the stickers. You have a cool idea and it looks good.

[wachuko]

Hi Jaime,
I think you should paint the underside of the caliber white first. Put on your stickers and then paint them red. Then you could remove the stickers and you would have the words on there painted. It would probably last longer then the stickers. You have a cool idea and it looks good.

Less work, less work, focus here, less work Doing that is too much work and you still run the risk of peeling some of the paint when removing the stickers.

I used the same stickers for the calipers on my 964 and it has worked well for the last 5 years.

[SpiderJim]

With the Spider just make sure you mask off the slider area or your calipers can get stuck.

[zzeeksfiat78]

to all,
i think they look good each to eachs own...
zeek