1957 Fiat Elegant - Restoration advice and help needed

[PAVAN KADAM]

Suren,

Nice to see the way in which the car is getting restored.

Long time, no hurry. Good its better this way than rushing up.

Although the exterior has got enough work done on, the interiors need to be treated with pitch and over it some damping material. Using fibreglass on the inside is well worth it.

Get a antirust coating on the underbody, since fiats are known for rusting from the bottom.

BTW what color is going on the car.

[suren181]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Suren,

Nice to see the way in which the car is getting restored.

Long time, no hurry. Good its better this way than rushing up.

Although the exterior has got enough work done on, the interiors need to be treated with pitch and over it some damping material. Using fibreglass on the inside is well worth it.

Get a antirust coating on the underbody, since fiats are known for rusting from the bottom.

BTW what color is going on the car.

PAVAN: Thanks for stopping by at this thread.

The Fiberglass layer would be put in after cleaning the floorboard and other areas. They would not be putting Pitch Tar before laying the FG. Is this OK?

Do you feel that just an Underbody rust coating would do and FG need not be layed on the Underbody? This exercise of FG would be really Time and labour intensive hence expensive too. Would like to avoid FG if it is pointless only though.

The car's colour would be decided only after the interior and underbody work like FG and antirust is done. We would be experimenting by spraying the car in different colors. The first trial however would be with black, and if it does suit the bodyline would abide by it and go no further.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by suren181

PAVAN: Thanks for stopping by at this thread.

The Fiberglass layer would be put in after cleaning the floorboard and other areas. They would not be putting Pitch Tar before laying the FG. Is this OK?

FG as a material would only help in damping your in-cabin noise, its never a rust avoider.

Pitch is the best thing to be used on your floorboards, this comes in great support to avoid rusting. Maybe to add a bit of elegance use fibre glass( can be avoided). You also get tar sheets which is easy installation and looks quite neat also.

Do you feel that just an Underbody rust coating would do and FG need not be layed on the Underbody? This exercise of FG would be really Time and labour intensive hence expensive too. Would like to avoid FG if it is pointless only though.

Underbody-- Clean it thoroughly and get the wuerth underbody antirust spray, thats the best thing to put on the underbody.

Pitch can be avoided on the underbody as its too cumbersome to be applied,starts dripping after application.


The car's colour would be decided only after the interior and underbody work like FG and antirust is done. We would be experimenting by spraying the car in different colors. The first trial however would be with black, and if it does suit the bodyline would abide by it and go no further.

[b]Dont get into too much of experimenting on the paint as each coat adds few mm thickness on the body. Lighter shades or preferably the original shade of the car would do a lot more good for the car.
Painting is a big headache, better take your family members consent before choosing a color.

Best of luck with the restoration, What about all the cosmetics and the engine condition BTW

[amit V8]

just curious to know, why the various light/lock holes are so uneven??
was it like that when it came from the factory or it turned into something like that??
please see the pictures.

[suren181]

Originally Posted by amit V8

just curious to know, why the various light/lock holes are so uneven??
was it like that when it came from the factory or it turned into something like that??
please see the pictures.

Amit, it definitely did not come from the factory with such awry shapes cut out on them for sure.

Most of these have been done down the line by various tinkerers. As you know these portions are prone to rust more than the center pieces themselves and the only remedy was to fabricate sheet metal in these shapes and fit then on to the body. During this procedure holes were made normally by welding the material with hand held welding torches, hence the irregularities. These were done ages back and not recently were we have equipment like pneumatic/electric drills/jigsaws at our disposal. Moreover these holes have to be shaped with a smooth file for they do have Bondo over it and once the filing is done. they would be in much better shape.

The front headlight area is due to a mismatch. the original Elegant comes with a smaller headlight but my car has been altered somewhere down the line to fit in a bigger headlight since, the small ones are/were rather rare to procure. hence the fender carries the holes to fit the bigger headlight and the bottom part has been drilled to hold the bigger headlight assembly.

Wonder if my explanation made any sense to you, but don't fret am sure we'd have the Gurus coming by with a clarification that would be much more clearer to grasp.

@ PAVAN: Guess then the best option would be to just go about doing the normal thing like Pith with a layer of Tar sheet on the floorboard, Wurth antirust on the complete underbody. The Fiberglass probably I shall use on the innards of the door, the roof and other exposed body panels like the C pillar, the dicky inner etc.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by suren181

@ PAVAN: Guess then the best option would be to just go about doing the normal thing like Pith with a layer of Tar sheet on the floorboard, Wurth antirust on the complete underbody. The Fiberglass probably I shall use on the innards of the door, the roof and other exposed body panels like the C pillar, the dicky inner etc.

Pitch== Only on the floor boards & inside floor of the dickey

Wurth Antirust === 1) Underbody
2) Inside of the wheel well

Tar Sheet == 1) On the side running boards
2) Centre spine
3) On the wheel arches all over inside the car

Dupont Dampner=== Available in stores in 2 ft by 5 ft roll
Can be used on the door innards as dampening

FG on the whole can be avoided, they actually serve no purpose.cheers:

[the mole]

Originally Posted by suren181

The front headlight area is due to a mismatch. the original Elegant comes with a smaller headlight but my car has been altered somewhere down the line to fit in a bigger headlight since, the small ones are/were rather rare to procure. hence the fender carries the holes to fit the bigger headlight and the bottom part has been drilled to hold the bigger headlight assembly.

suren why dont you restore the fender back to the original headlight size, I agree that the two sided small headlights are rare, but there are some other ones available in Italy which are a correct fit and not that pricey.

[suren181]

Originally Posted by the mole

suren why dont you restore the fender back to the original headlight size, I agree that the two sided small headlights are rare, but there are some other ones available in Italy which are a correct fit and not that pricey.

Would love to, in fact had procured a set of the complete left and right side of another car which had the smaller headlight fitted. Unfortunately, one of them went missing and there is only one side of it left. By any chance would that help in the restoration of Karl's car?

The part I am talking of is Item nos. 18 & 17 welded together though as in the drawing that you had posted and which I reproduce below:



If it would help in any way, I could try to locate, with Stanher's help of course the whereabouts of where we had left this piece and then probably rack our brains to see how we could transport them out of here. These parts came out of a Millecento which was trashed.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by suren181

Would love to, in fact had procured a set of the complete left and right side of another car which had the smaller headlight fitted. Unfortunately, one of them went missing and there is only one side of it left.
If it would help in any way, I could try to locate, with Stanher's help of course the whereabouts of where we had left this piece and then probably rack our brains to see how we could transport them out of here. These parts came out of a Millecento which was trashed.

Aah, about time you reminded me of that elusive mudguard, suren!

However, I might point out that it certainly didnt have smaller headlights but both regular fiat ones.

[suren181]

Stanher, These came of the Black car if you remember well, and IIRC that car had the smaller headlights. It is the same car that I had the front facia removed from alongwith the sides that we are discussing now? Do correct me yaar if I am wrong.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by suren181

Stanher, These came of the Black car if you remember well, and IIRC that car had the smaller headlights. It is the same car that I had the front facia removed from alongwith the sides that we are discussing now? Do correct me yaar if I am wrong.

Illai saar, these are NOT from the black 57, MDY 4547. Yes, you did take the front panel off that car (with the grille etc.), now fitted onto your car. But we did NOT take the mudguards off that car, they were from the above white millecento. And even MDY 4547 had bigger headlamps fitted, as seen in this pic.:

[hillram]

Suren..Waiting to see your Centre light for the VCCCI and DHAA Rally in Jan 08.

Shyam..Its DHAA not DECHAA for the last time..Im a member of DHAA and I have gone thru there MOA and AOA where it is mentioned as DHAA and also in many press reports.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by hillram

Suren..Waiting to see your Centre light for the VCCCI and DHAA Rally in Jan 08.

Shyam..Its DHAA not DECHAA for the last time..Im a member of DHAA and I have gone thru there MOA and AOA where it is mentioned as DHAA and also in many press reports.

:sigh: As with the Coffee-bite ad, the argument continues!

Well, Anirudh had mentioned it as DECHAA the first time I met him. Plus I also recall their banner having said so during the first rally of theirs I'd attended (in aug. 2005.)

Ok boss. Lets accept what you say for now! Peace. Hehe.

Anyways, I hope they are able to plan accordingly atleast this time and have a back-up venue for Jan 09!

And ram, its Elegant not Centre-light for the last time. The latter is used by the more "mass" crowd! I have met many fiat conossieurs who call it by the former, and period brochures and manuals where it is mentioned as elegant.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by Stanher

And ram, its Elegant not Centre-light for the last time. The latter is used by the more "mass" crowd! I have met many fiat conossieurs who call it by the former, and period brochures and manuals where it is mentioned as elegant.

Can you share these with us? I can't remember seeing a brochure calling it Elegant.

[the mole]

Thanks Suren but our dear Karlos with all his foresight was able to provide me with chopped fender pieces from another Elegant which I am using to rebuild the chopped fenders for MTP 8389, Incidentally the fenders on my car are original and very restorable, will update the thread soon with more pics.