Classic Alfa Forums

The first project that my new workshop has in isn't an Alfa, but a firm favourite of mine, a Lancia Fulvia.
Even rarer than the popular coupe it's a saloon.
The chance to weld this car up had been offered a few times over the last few years but I had insisted that another driveway resoration wasn't within me......so I got my workshop!
It's the opportunity to do stuff like this that convinced me that getting a small workshop of my own would be a good idea....


So, last weekend I got this pic from Rich to say it was packed ready for delivery down to me.....the keen eyed may spot it's not exactly a driver at the moment!
We had an early meet up (earlier for Rich ) down at the workshop and managed to get the car off the trailer and into the workshop in surprisingly good time considering there is no front suspension and the front end was sitting on 2 mover dolly's.

Last Sunday I concentrated on getting things a bit more in order in the workshop rather than doing the car, much as it was hard to resist it I needed to make sure I wasn't tripping over stuff so a bit of sanity was in order.
Still took a few snaps of the car, first impressions looked like it was pretty solid for a 1972 Italian...

Managed to get a few hours in this afternoon.
Plan is to strip it out of the interior, sill covers etc to see what we are dealing with.
Back axle also needed dropping out to have a better look at some crusty looking areas.

The sills are still pretty strong but have got soem rusty holes, much thicker gauge steel than Suds means it has still retained strength and not crumbled to dust yet!
The floors had already been cleaned by Richard before the car came down and they look pretty solid.
All 4 sill ends will need work doing, inner arches will no doubt have places that are less than solid, back panel looks visibly crusty from the inside although the outside doesn't look bad...we'll make a decision down the line what happens there.

So the seats all came out easy enough, sill covers didn't reveal a disaster and the rest of it doesn't look too bad.
So I set to on removing the rear axle, expecting the 40+ year old bolts to be siezed solid in the spring eye bushes.
Incredibly all the bolts came undone with the exception of one shocker bolt that sheared. Even the panhard rod (OE adjustable for length) bolts came undone which had a very shallow head with 2 flats for a 17mm spanner came undone! A testament to the over enginerring way that Lancia did things in the pre-Fiat days, all the bolts are of a very high quality with no rust on the stem inside the bushes which allowed them all to come out. It it wasn't for the rust build up on the heads I'd swear they were stainless.....

A real honour for me to work on this car, I'm very much looking forward to this build which should see not only the welding done by myself but we may even throw some paint over it...
Then the drivetrain will be re-fitted and the car built back up to a roadworthy state. Plan is for me to get it MoT'ed so Rich can drive it home, that's the plan and nothing I've seen so far makes me think otherwise

Couldn't put it better myself

Looking forward to this project KEV . Built in 1972 what a great year too
It does look quite solid which is a bonus . What sort of time scale are you looking at for it to hit the road once again?
With regards to spraying what guns you got?

Nice one Kev, she does look very sound indeed. I know what you mean about the engineering. We have just started the strip out of a Flaminia Zagato and the transmission looks like it is out of a truck.
Like you said, it is nice to see a "lesser desirable" model being looked after as they are still important. I love my ti but total respect for four door saloons as well.
Power to your welder, and sparks to your grinder .

Timescale is very much open ended at this point JB, all depends on what we find needs doing and how far we go.....
Painting, I've done a bit but no means a pro at it so open to advice on guns. My own cheapo bottom pot gun won't be used, a top loaded gravity feed one will be bought. I don't have the capacity in airlines etc for HVLP guns so won't be going anything fancy.
Aim is to make it look tidy, as near as we can get to a proper finish without the expense of several kkk's to a bodyshop

I always like the underdog Kieth, so doing the Berlina model was a nice idea to me. Helped that I haven't had to buy it too, I just get the pleasure of resurecting it It does help with motivation that it's relaitively solid too so getting bogged down with months of welding isn't an issue. Loads of different jobs will come along to keep up interest.

bust day today with one thing or another. lots of riding around and not achieving a lot!
called in at the local gas place to get myself sorted with a proper gas bottle instead of using the disposable ones, took the wrong credit card so that had to wait..
went up to the unit to remove the rear doors.
this was achieved by removing the hinge pins as the screws that hold the hinges to the B pillar are tricky to get at and would need an impacr driver to remove.
nice use of an old bent valve as a drift, courtesy of the 16V that was in the 33 which should be coming home...
once the doors were off i could have a good look at what state the sills were in, thankfully the step part was in pretty decent order with only the odd place showing a hole. good really as full sills are just not available! i found some coupe ones advertised which could have been chopped to fit but at E500 they are just silly money. don't know whether that was for a pair but even so it is too much.
so i cut a section out and took it along to my local engineers/blacksmiths/fab shop. they were doubtful about being able to reproduce the correct shape but did agree to have a go. no surprise when i got the call to say they couldn't do it.
next place was much more helpful, the guy there proffesed to actually enjoy making sills, much more interesting than the heavy stuff they were doing, a fire escape isn't quite so interesting to make it seems!
hopefully i should have a pair before the weekend.
thankfully the inner sills appear to be ok. the view inside the small section looked ok and the feel of them inside the car is good. i won't know for sure until the outer sill is cut off, which i won't do until i know a new sill is to hand to fit in its place

the afternoon was spent up at cadwell for a few hours with the other brave souls. teds' sud looked great as ever, apart from missing the lower front spoiler after an off at the very quick coppice corner!
simons' new trofeo sud looked great and sounded spot on too, seems like you were getting more used to it too according to toms' stopwatch, eh simon? as quick in the afternoon's damp as the dry morning, great stuff


anyway, back to work
the rear panel looked very dry and crusty on the inside exposed face and the outer painted side was covered in blisters. i feared we may need to find a replacement but as per the sills non were to be found.
so grinding away the paint and rust seemed the logical thing to do, see exactly what we were left with.
as it turns out it's not as bad as i feared. sure there are some holes to repair but overall it's still in a fairly strong fettle. as the car won't be a pampered concours car (so rich tells me...) then making a solid, tidy car is the aim of the game so i think with a bit of work the panel can be saved.
it will need a liberal soaking of waxoyl on the inner face once we are finished which should hopefully stop it getting any worse

the rear boot floor and chassis rails appear to be pretty solid if a little dry and crusty. a serious prod to any suspect areas failed to produce anything of note so pretty happy with that.

the drivers door is the worst although all 4 will need some work to the bottom lip.
this one though needs a couple of inches along it's whole length of outer skin but will also need a new lower/inner section making up.
plenty of bodywork coming up then.

Well worth saving - I met a guy with a spotless green one somewhere, I think it was the Sharnbrook Hotel thingy, all that yummy radical engineering in a saloon body with proper back seats, what's not to like?

Lauren

Top work as always Kev, glad its as solid, if not more than first suspected..

the new outer sills have been made up by my local engineering shop, far too long to be folded in my little table top one!
really good quality which i'm relieved about considering he reckonned they weren't quite as good as he'd hoped due to the tight angles. with a little adjustment they'll fit just fine.

after a slow start i finally got around to chopping out the n/s sill. will be some repairs needed to the central portion but overall it's solid.

just a short visit today, had more jobs to do but i really do need to get my house in order and get things where i want them. no point having the room but not being organised.
like running out of slitting discs just when you're tidying out the sill........

must try harder

Floor to sill seam looks very good Kev, does it look like it has had that done already.
Good to hear your outer sills have been made. Handy fabricator you know.

Looks like a great & interesting project Kev and nice to see a saloon being saved, the car has little corrosion which is a joy to see

all looks original inside the sills so far kieth, no sign of anything being done. original spot welds on the lower lip seam too so if it's been done it was done neatly.

an old boy who rents the unit next to me popped in saturday afternoon JB when i said i was doing a fulvia, he has been doing up classics for years and is a font of knowledge. now in his 70's (i guess) he still keeps his workshop on to keep himself busy. he has a few classics in his place but is in no rush to finish them!
he was expecting to see a coupe when he walked in the door so was surprised to see a 4 door saloon. seemed genuinely impressed with the cars condition despite not being a big italian car fan so had no agenda, and seems like the sort of fella that says it straight.

now you know why i didn't get a lot done yesterday afternoon

Nice project Kev - and the new workshop will be a real benefit in so many ways.

As you say, rarer than a Ferrari or Lamborghini!

I've seen a really nice one of those somewhere, think it was grey, might have been Autoitalia, might have piccy somewhere...

I can see why the S1 has gone quiet, it'll be getting grumpy!

Fulvia resto was a clever stalling tactic on my behalf as my S1 is embarrassingly incomplete and Kevs is looking like it'll be ready well before.. Keep up the good work on the Berlina Kev..!!

stalling tattic continues mate.......

had a decent afternoon down the unit.
the lower portion of the central sill section wasn't it bad shape at all, just a bit at the front and rear that needed changing so i just did a 24" piece front & rear leaving the original piece in the middle as a good reference point.
as the lip was in great shape i decided to try out the spot welder i bought over the winter.
happy to say it works a treat. i had concerns about it overheating and tripping but in reality during normal use it was fine.
the beauty of it is that there is no cleaning up with the grinder needed like when you plug weld with a mig, saves a bunch of time plus looks much more factory fresh
chuffed with it.

managed to try my new (2nd hand) mig out too which now the new earth lead and clamp is on i'm pleased to say it welds ok. i also now have a bigger proper gas bottle so no more running out of the disposable ones half way along a job.

fitting a sill is all about the little jobs, actually welding the sill on is the easy part!
making sure the front & rear ends are in good order is a priority before any thoughts of attatching the sill can be done.
only thing for it is to chop away the surrounding panels and see what you've got left to deal with.
happy to say that it's very good metal inside the back end.
front end had a bit of corrosion around a strengthener that sits behind the wing/sill which is very close to where the subframe mounts so needs to be strong.
i had already taken the precaution of getting some heavy gauge steel incase of anything like this needing doin so making a new piece for the box section was easy enough. the reinforcer was added back in with fresh metal so should last a good while again once the waxoyl etc is pumped into it.

just about ready to trial fit the sill now. well, i've already trial fitted it a few times of course but it will need the doors hanging back on before any welding is done.
nice to be able to do a few jobs in comfort

Loving these threads !!!

Theres one locally mate, which I can get my hands on for parts if you need stuff

Not as good and solid as this one, but a complete car.

I can take some pictures later and send them to you

pics would be great mate, not sure what of yet but always nice to see another!

not sure what parts rich may need......

I actually obtained another Fulvia saloon and a heap of bits so hoping I have most bits we need, however always interested to hear of a Lancia for spares... !

had the afternoon off work so went up to the workshop.

had painted the inside of the sill in the week with a weldable zinc primer, better than nothing i guess.
clamped it in place then hung the doors back on to make sure of a nice gap with the sill and it was in a good vertical place, needs to be flush with the door skins once they are closed.
top edge inside the door was tacked into place whilst bottom edge got spot welded all along. must say i'm loving my spot welder
when everything was holding station the welds were completed all along, doors removed again to complete.
was a couple of areas that needed a small repair but easy enough.

took an age to grind down inside the door shut, glad of the spot weld along the bottom edge, saves a huge amount of time.

front and rear ends need tidying out and blending into the arches as it appears there are no visible seams?

really pleased with the fit of the sills though, a credit to the local guys who made them up for me

after studying a few pics of saloons that actually still have sills in place i set about building up the front end to wing joint.
there are no seams at all between the wing and sill so a patch had to be made up to bridge the gap between the two but also continue the lines of the wheel arch on the wing. takes a bit of patience.
once happy with the fit and the end of the sill chopped out to fit the new patch it was tacked into place then seam welded all around. joggled joins to both contact edges at the sill retained a decent amount of strength
once ground back all looks well, pretty pleased with the shape of it.
also needed to chop a few more inches from the wing edge as it was a tad thin for welding.

next the rear end wheel arch needed tackling.
the inside portion needed a bit of work first off to create a stable base for the wheel arch repair scetion to be attached to.
again studying pix of other cars showed the wheel arch part continues down to the sill bottom so a patch was made up and the sill cut to suit. patience needed again!

the door needed to be refitted to ensure the gap looked right so plenty of scope to get things wrong, thankfully it fitted pretty well on the first patch after a little fettling

once tacked into place all around to keep it's shape and double checking things it could be welded all around and inside the sill end.

pretty chuffed again with the shape and fit.

i'm going to spray inside the sills before closing the ends, did aim to do it today but time ran out again.

Looking good mate Looking very good

thanks for the comments chris mate

a day off work so went up to do some more work on the fulvia.
whilst still working on the passenger side i thought i'd attack the front door as it is by far the worst and is a bit more variety rather than just starting on the other side sill

corrosion was evident on the outer skin but also the underside was pretty poor.

first job was to take some accurate measurements of where the bottom edge is using the chrome door strip as a reference point.

the underside was then cut away and a repair plate made up. a bit of a pain in that it was too long to go in my little folder so had to clamp it down on the bench between 2 firm guides and fold it the old way, a hammer & dolly!
edge joggled to fit in the door bottom stronger than a butt weld would allow.

tacked into place keeping a check on alignment in all directions, the bottom lip is used for folding the new door skin over so could afford to be a little high but not low, but also had to be in the right place so it didn't sit proud of the sill when the door is fitted, or in too far...

checking it for alignment on the car is the only way to be sure

outer door skin was cut back next to where the metal was solid, luckily only a few inches up the skin.
the corners under the skin was poor so those were cut out and new patches welded in
a plate for the door skin was made to suit with folds along all 3 sides and a joggled edge for attaching back to the original outer skin.

door was refitted back onto the car to check for an exact place to fit it to keep decent alignment

once happy it was tacked into place so it didn't move whilst the edges were folded over.
i put plenty of sealant between the 2 new pieces so that it will be completly sealed so water cannot get down between the 2 faces..
once folded over a few tacks were added along the bottom fold of the door skin just to help keep it in all place.

outer skin was tacked into place to keep some shape then seam welded the underside repair to the inner door section then to get full strength but careful to do it in stages to try and prevent any distortion


outer skin then fully welded and ground back

the sealant has nicely oouzed out on the inside joint so that should prevent any moisture getting in the new fold.
it will be sprayed and waxoyld in time but you can't beat having sealant in there from the beginning