Lancia Integrale restoration

[1NRO]

Bumper bracket fixed back on after de-rusting, some stitch welds and the mother of all scrubbing with localised blasting prior to an all over coat of Granville rust converter/preventative and a quick coat of primer. There has been no filler at this stage though before it is painted red there'll be a light skim in some places as I'm very fussy when it comes to painting. Before that stage there's some prep to do on the rest of the engine bay and a good coat of 2k primer before all the seam sealing that needs done. That's what I'm on with currently though no pictures taken recently :-( though I'll be sure to get some of the seam sealing as that's important.

[TomLouwrier]

How beautiful can it get?
If only I had half the skills and one third of the results!

(taking off my hat)
Tom

[Guy Croft]

show us some of your woodwork Nik - I heard it's pretty amazing too,

G

[1NRO]

Thanks for the nice comments.The body work isn't too difficult, it just takes practice, tools and method. I've been using (and collecting) hand tools since a young lad so practice helps though always there's potential to improve so just have a go and it's unlikely you'll get worse. It takes time so no rushing, decent work is never quick in my experience.

I'm afraid I don't photo the woodwork so no pictures to show, I do it so I don't starve and not really for pleasure, it was years ago when that was a fun. I once met a world class concert celloist who was so sick of plying her trade she had to break away on a sabbatical and was not looking likely to return to something she had truely mastered, I could relate to a lot she talked about. I like variety, hand work and hand tools. The pleasure is in the making rather than the finished item, method and time. All materials have their traits, some easier than others, stone, wood, metals, paints etc I enjoy them all though none of them on a daily basis.

Nik

[1NRO]

Seam sealing. It's an ugly part of body work but essential if a quality job is sought, it takes time (more than you think) to go round every seam to to make sure full coverage is achieved, not all areas are shown in the pictures (it'd be a load of pictures to show that) but you can be sure I did every join. I've no time for the stuff that comes in a tin, I use tubes that fit a silicon gun so some level of neatness is possible. Not easy to be neat though, like spreading honey on your car! There are modern tools that run off the compressor with a different substance which are meant to be more neat but I don't have one and the integrale wasn't done using that kind of tool so traditional mess required. It'll be seen how it gets more tidy as various primer stages happen further on in the pictures. Tools needed apart from silicon gun are a tin of cellulose thinners, LOTS of rags and a brush of the type shown in the first pictures. Be bold and try and sweep the length in one go, resist as much as possible playing with it as it'll end up a terrible mess! Leave to harden over night and go back over an area if needs be. It can shrink or pop air bubbles sometimes so do leave to harden and check there's no defects before proceeding.


Before any of seam sealing the whole engine bay and inner wings were keyed up for a thick coat of 2k primer.




The area where the drain holes were left out are done with care to ensure a total seal. A slight "fall" is formed to channel any water away and down the side of the chassis leg where it wil drop to the floor. I believe this is more likely to survive the test of time when compared to what Lancia did, certainly can't be much worse!

[1NRO]

After some time for the sealer to harden, a good day or so, the primer needs flattened ready for another coat. This is a good time to get a start of knocking some of the rags off the sealer, feathering it in a little but not too vigorously that might pick up the sealer.




Looks a lot better after another coat of thick 2k primer. The sealer will still have rough edges, high's and rags on it, the solvents crisp these up ready for being flatted out before another coat of primer! Missing from the photos is that final flat off and a small skim of filler in places, just a little and mainly to fix some dints on the chassis legs and turret areas (there's been the odd crowbar used in the past I think!)




So a final coat of primer has it feeling decent and ready for a careful flat off ready for paint, not before time eh!





Painting went pretty well, nothing like exterior panels where I'd rub back and do again but plenty on and not too dry. The pictures towards the end have had a polish up a little, couldn't resist.













So that's it for a while now, the shell is fixed and other than some waxoyl (lot's) and raptor to the inner wings finished. I'm spent up on this project and will move to another now so the car will have to wait until it's turn comes round again, it's bolt-on panels next, can't wait ;-/

[WhizzMan]

Looks splashing! What other project is so good that it can put this to the background?

[1NRO]

:-) I've to finish my flow bench and a cylinder head I'm working on and then it's back onto the "money pit" Evo build before the 500 gets a turn and then back to this project, all that mixed in with other distractions and work.

[Infectus-Guy]

Project bouncing - a man after my own heart! That engine bay looks stunning, it'll be a shame to cover it all up! I swear if I win the lottery you're going to have to relocate to Torquay....
Guy

[coxeey]

Well Nick, you certainly inspired me and when I see your work I just laugh out of disbelief (you may laugh at mine as well!) but as you said, we are all on the same road...its just that some are further down than others. I am glad that I haven't needed to practice as much as you have but I can honestly say I know how good it feels to think that the welding is done (although the first few time I thought it I was wrong, so I felt good a few times). If you could have done your nearside chassis leg sooner (it looked so easy when I saw your photos) then I wouldn't be laughing now when I look at mine (It wont fall off though). Good luck with all of your projects. Steve.
PS I used Dynax on my cavities and was told it is compatible with Waxoyl. Having used it I suspect its Waxoyl with some additives although I will probably be shot for saying that.

[Guy Croft]

Got to say this - Nik's photography is every bit as good as his workmanship.

Agreed?

G

[tricky]

Agreed.


" (there's been the odd crowbar used in the past I think!)"

- That will be those pesky idler bearings then !

[1NRO]

Thanks Steve, I enjoy reading your resto updates too and though your scathing towards your own work it really isn't justified, all good work as far as I can see and importantly another car that will go on to do many years of service rather than steadily decline in health.

Photography! Guy, if you could see how many get deleted to leave a few usable ones you'd soon see I work on the principle that take enough pictures and some are bound to be ok, my poor old dusty camera!

Idler bearings and water pumps! There should be a sticker on the inner wing that bans their use and says "undo the mounts fool" :-)