Race Engine Forum UK

Are those JBW Wheels or something similar and what are specs, widness, offset etc?

There isn't almost a single old car where classical "Minilite"-type wheels wouldn't fit. And this Spider isn't expection. Nice.

Thanks WhizzMan, yes these wheels will be staying on, the original 5.5x14's looked decidedly 'skinny' in the arches.

Yes Urbancamo, they are indeed JBW wheels, 7"x13" -7ET, with 205/60 tyres. To be honest there wasn't a huge choice in suitable offset 98 PCD wheels, not in my budget anyway. I didn't want anything too modern looking either, and despite 'minilite' style wheels not being particularly associated with the 124, I think they are reasonable in keeping with the period and motorsport appearance I was after.


Just put an order in to Spiderpoint for a load of seals and gaskets and should have a roll of Alcantara arriving for the dash before the weekend.

The seals, gaskets (the old ones were rock hard!) and other bits and bobs arrived on Friday together with the alcantara for the dash. So I spent some time today on a variety of things that needed to be done like rebuilding and fitting the heater box, cleaning and fitting the rear lights and making a start on the dash.

Despite the miserable weather I managed to make some good progress on finishing the dash today. I've still not decided what to go for on terms of the actual dash panel(s), full rally-style single panel with toggle switches or something closer to the 3 piece original with an opening glove box. Anyway, I will decide on that later, I really just needed to get the main dash moulding in so I can move on to fitting the windscreen.

Hi Simon


Nice looking job( again). I am currently modifying the dash on my rally spider. I have 2 dashes, one badly cracked by sun and one with modified bottom rail. I am not sure what to do. I was thinking of covering the dash with black felt to stop glare and cover the faults. "flocking" seems to be a bit tricky and I am not sure I can justify the alcantara. What glue did you use?

My shell is due back any time now ( there has been the usual hold ups due to work and other things). I'll post some pics of my dash board ( not as good as yours though). We seem to be at a similar stage. I have freed off and painted all the heater unit etc ready to go back into the shell. You mention that the dash goes on before the screen. Is that a choice or the only way to do it? My dash is cut to allow removal around the front roll cage, so I dont know if that aids "fitting" with the windscreen in place.

Nigel.

Hi Nigel,

Its good to hear you are making progress too, looking forward to the pictures. I have to say I have picked a lot more enthusiasm now that things are going back together for the (hopefully!) last time. Up to this point every time I've fitted something it has been in the knowledge that its going to be coming off again to be painted or fettled in some way, although there is still plenty of that sort of thing to do still.

My original intention was to flock the dash too using one of the kits from Frost, but I think you really need to do it electrostatically on such a big area for a decent finish with all the fibres standing on end (not actually tried it, so I may be wrong.) So I decided to cover it instead. Basically I cut the ends off to clear the cage, then covered the bare foam on the ends with fibreglass tissue and resin. The alcantara was only about £25 for a linear metre from a 911 trimmer on an internet auction site (not sure if it is actually genuine Alcantara, but some suppliers definitely state it is) and seems to be very good quality. The recommended foam backing I already had 'in stock' as left over roof lining from my Niva. I used Evostik Spray Carpet Adhesive from Screwfix for the backing and the alcantara, but added staples around the edges for extra security. I had to do it in two pieces - top and sides, then a separate piece for the rolled edge across the base. My dash was in pretty good condition but this method seems cover a multitude of sins and produces a nice padded WRC sort of look. Some 3mm ali sheet is next on the agenda to make dash panels.

As for fitting before or after the screen, it may be possible to to do either depending on how much clearance you have with the cage and whether the steering column is in place. I kept mine fairly tight and the column is still fitted, so mine is a bit of a fight to get in and only seemed to drop in from above which would be impossible with the screen in place. It was even harder with the glove box in place, although it may be possible to fit that after the dash. When I first bought the car years ago without an MOT, I needed to get the screen replaced due to a big chip to get it passed. Since having that fitted (by a windscreen well known windscreen firm) there was always a gap between the rear of the dash and the windscreen rubber. I lived with it like that until this rebuild and discovered that they had just bodged a load of sealant on the lower edge of the screen rubber and bolted it down, instead of seating it in the channel properly with the flange over the channel edge. So I was keen to make sure it all went back properly this time. I fitted the screen last night by running some wire in the groove of the lower mounting flange, sitting the screen assembly in place, then gradually pulling the wire out around the dash to ease the sealing flange over lip on the scuttle channel. (sorry but I was too focused on the task to take pictures!) This evening I fitted the lower trim piece. To be honest the screen is past its best being foggy at the edges but it will do for now.

I pressed on with the dash today. I'm going for a 3 panel arrangement based on the stock version but made from 3mm aluminium sheet, probably with a crinkle paint finish.

It was back to messy fibre glassing work today in an attempt to get the remaining panels ready for paint. I had left the bonnet prep as I hadn't decided what to do about bonnet vents. In the end I opted to drop the rear edge of the bulges to for a couple of exit slots. I had envisaged dropping these quite deep, but a quick trial with the injection plenum in place (I'll be keeping the LE system initially so it needs to fit) gave clearance problems. I did think about asymmetric vents with the exhaust side being deeper as there is more clearance, but I finally decided to make them both 22mm deep and then cut back and drop the front 15mm edge of the ramp portion to effectively increase the vent size. I only got as far as roughly 'glassing' the vent in to place. The next step will be cut back the ramp portion and bond on a small lip, then smooth it all out.

Pressed on today with 'glassing' and blending in the bonnet vents and some reinforcement around the bonnet pin recesses.

Simon,

This is a very elegant way of adding louvres to the bonnet, using the existing shape of the bulges. Could (should?) have been a factory solution.
Chapeau!

regards
Tom

Thanks Tom. That's the nice thing about not building a true Abarth replica, you can be a bit more creative with it and 'do your own thing'. I managed some more prep. work this afternoon. A coat of polyester spray filler to smooth it all out and fill the pin holes, followed by yet more sanding.

Well, it's been a while since the last update, mainly because there haven't been any, but I made the decision a couple of weeks ago that I just need to get the car running again and worry about the planned engine rebuild later. So today I set about what I thought would be a fairly straightforward job of cleaning various ancillaries up and bolting them back on. But as is the way with things it wasn't quite that simple. Some time ago I had removed the crank pulley to work out a toothed wheel setup for the Megajolt, but I hadn't noticed that the woodruff key had been chewed up and was a bit of a mess, and the front section that locks the pulley was missing. Still, it should only have been a matter of drifting the remains of the old one out, nipping out to my local, usually well stocked motor shop for a new one and putting it all back together...WRONG. The little blighter appeared to have friction welded itself into the crank. I ended up having to release the timing belt, use a puller to wrestle off the drive cog. Then after lots of centre punching, three broken 4mm drills, much cursing and other methods of persuasion later, I finally got the remains of the key free. The trip to the local shop proved fruitless, so a frustrating dash across town ensued through the bank holiday traffic and roadworks (the council have nearly every junction dug up in Leicester at the moment before the financial year end), to try the bearing centre. I arrived just as they were turning the lights off and getting ready to go home, but after some rummaging around the very helpful chap at the counter came up trumps with new woodruff key, and only asked that I put some loose change in the charity tin!

All in all, a very frustrating day and at one point I was convinced the engine would have to come out, but I think I'm back on track again now. I'll attempt to make better progress tomorrow putting the injection system back on.

Just a quick update: I spent the weekend generally sorting out wiring looms, cleaning and bolting back on the FI system, and temporarily putting my old 'home brew' ignition system back together in order to get the engine fired up. Finally got it timed in and fired up on Monday afternoon, but it was a bit of a 'hollow victory' since I discovered oil gushing out between the head and block on the front corner where the oil gallery is. So a rebuild is definitely on the cards now. I think I'm going to press on with finishing off getting it into a drivable state and the bodywork and interior finished, then tackle the engine last once I've cleared the garage the remaining junk, and I can create a more conducive environment to engine building.

Simon wrote:Thanks Tom. That's the nice thing about not building a true Abarth replica, you can be a bit more creative with it and 'do your own thing'. I managed some more prep. work this afternoon. A coat of polyester spray filler to smooth it all out and fill the pin holes, followed by yet more sanding.

Simon,

The vents facing backwards was not the Abarth solution and in fact this was a problem for Abarth.

Your bonnet is great , and in fact I would be very happy to have one like this if you have a spare.


Miro

P : Original Verni car vents , like many other Abarths actually produce the reverse effect of trapping hot air under the bonnet , and making the temp under the bonnet well above what it should be ...

Thanks Miro, I am quite happy with the look of it, but we'll have to wait until I get it back on the road to see how effective the venting is. Temperature monitoring is my business, so I shouldn't have any excuses for not being able to measure it!

Unfortunately I only made a mould of the original (large bulge) bonnet and created the vented version by modding the GRP replica I made from it. So I don't have a mould to make the vented version directly. It is quite easy to do form a standard GRP bonnet though; just three saw cuts (and one half depth cut to make a 'hinge' on the rear edge) on each bulge, push the 'flaps' down to the desired level, then 'glass them back into place. I think the vent on the exhaust side could be made a bit bigger as there is more clearance, but the injection plenum on the other side limits the vent size. It will be interesting to run some tests with and without the vents covered up.