Fiat Barchetta - Pictures and Restoration
Discussion
Paul S4 said:
I know a bit about Alfas...( I have a 156), but not much about these great looking Fiats. What engines do they have, and are there any RHD conversions ?
Believe it or not I'm more of a jap fan, but I can't resist the charms of cars like this. I talked my dad into buying a 156 2 years ago and he absolutely loves it. The Barchetta has a 1747cc engine (some say 1.8, some say 1.7) with 130bhp. I believe it's a Punto engine, or dervived from the same.
There are right hand drive conversions but generally it seems to put people off - the cars are designed to be LHD and so are not symmetrical, and the ones that have been converted have been doing to varying degrees of success.
I have to say I've found it very easy to transfer to driving a LHD - I've driven abroad only twice in my life, but 3rd time doing it is in this car and never once have I gone to open the door instead of changing gear, so it shouldn't put anyone off at all.
I haven't updated for a while as I've not really touched the Fiat. Building a motorbike has taken priority over the summer but managed to make a little time for it lately.
One of the brake backing plates was a bit rusty so I wire brushed it and left it for 24 in a soda solution hooked up to a battery charger. After pics to follow
And the panel ready to weld in to the near-side rear arch as it had rotten through.
Plenty more work to do but hopefully I'll get the car back on the road this year.
One of the brake backing plates was a bit rusty so I wire brushed it and left it for 24 in a soda solution hooked up to a battery charger. After pics to follow
And the panel ready to weld in to the near-side rear arch as it had rotten through.
Plenty more work to do but hopefully I'll get the car back on the road this year.
Still working on this. The closer I look the more it rusts! Ahh Fiat.
I took the bumper off to have a look behind and get better access to the bits I need to do.
Bits of rust like this:
Exhaust hanger looking flaky too
Double skinned area outside spare wheel well is well underway
I ground the rusty areas back to bare metal and later coated in Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80
Rust has set in all over the inner arch
This box section is above the wheel and strengthens the NS wall of the boot. Scraped off the seam sealer and found rust all the way around. Ughhh!
This is me trying to remove the rotten inner arch by drilling out the spot welds. Awkward place to work but it's coming on slowly.
I especially loved this bit...peeled away the underseal under the drivers floor to find this
oh dear!! I'm going to have some serious repair work to do in this area.
I took the bumper off to have a look behind and get better access to the bits I need to do.
Bits of rust like this:
Exhaust hanger looking flaky too
Double skinned area outside spare wheel well is well underway
I ground the rusty areas back to bare metal and later coated in Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80
Rust has set in all over the inner arch
This box section is above the wheel and strengthens the NS wall of the boot. Scraped off the seam sealer and found rust all the way around. Ughhh!
This is me trying to remove the rotten inner arch by drilling out the spot welds. Awkward place to work but it's coming on slowly.
I especially loved this bit...peeled away the underseal under the drivers floor to find this
oh dear!! I'm going to have some serious repair work to do in this area. 
duffy78 said:
its a lovely looking car but at what point do you stop and think to yourself is it worth carrying on with the repairs?
Never! One of the many cars that I think are worth the time and effort and I'd sooner have this in the garage than anything else at the moment. I'm loving learning the skills to do this kind of work and it can get frustrating at times but doing a little bit each day and keeping the ball rolling makes it very enjoyable. Edited by duffy78 on Thursday 25th September 16:23
Managed a little bit more at the weekend but didn't get more than a couple of hours on it. Still, got the worst of the rusted inner arch out and left a nice clean, neat section to put new metal in
The remaining metal is better than it looks in the picture so a bit of wire brushing will have it clean again. Not until I've treated that bit of bubbling in the corner of the outer arch though
Cardboard template is underway. I'll make a metal structure that will replace all the missing metal which can be tacked, spot-welded and seam-welded as appropriate.
I've never done anything like this before so I'm just taking my time and making sure it's going to last...any tips or advice are welcome.
The remaining metal is better than it looks in the picture so a bit of wire brushing will have it clean again. Not until I've treated that bit of bubbling in the corner of the outer arch though
Cardboard template is underway. I'll make a metal structure that will replace all the missing metal which can be tacked, spot-welded and seam-welded as appropriate.
I've never done anything like this before so I'm just taking my time and making sure it's going to last...any tips or advice are welcome.
Hey all,
This project is still happening SLOOOOOOOOOOOWLY! The girl I moved in with when I started this is now my fiancé and we're busy planning our wedding
Progress has been slow but I'm still ticking along on it. Got the N/S rear arch nearly done. Terrible picture but this is it before I tidied up the welding.
I removed the floor-liner too, so that I could see the rust underneath. The passenger side (O/S) has been repaired in the past but doesn't look amazing so I might try and tidy that up. The drivers side looks like this
I'll get the power tools out and cut the rot away and have a go at repairing that over the next couple of weeks.
This project is still happening
SLOOOOOOOOOOOWLY! The girl I moved in with when I started this is now my fiancé and we're busy planning our wedding Progress has been slow but I'm still ticking along on it. Got the N/S rear arch nearly done. Terrible picture but this is it before I tidied up the welding.
I removed the floor-liner too, so that I could see the rust underneath. The passenger side (O/S) has been repaired in the past but doesn't look amazing so I might try and tidy that up. The drivers side looks like this
I'll get the power tools out and cut the rot away and have a go at repairing that over the next couple of weeks.
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