Report on (slow) S2 Coupe rebuild progress

[simonandjuliet]

It was the same on mine, the aluminium rivets corrode and the spades fall off. I just drilled them out and replaced with stainless screws. But as Tim says , the allen screws holding the reservoir on are often seized and break. Not the end of the world because you either drill them out or once the reservoir is off , you carefully rotate the stump back and forth with a pair of grips 

It worked for me !

[chriswgawne]

That's a great shame Norman......and of course it will be the first thing you see each time you approach your car. However it could have been worse couldn't it? You could have done the damage yourself!
It looks to be coming together really well.
Is there any mechanical work to do after the bodywork side of things is finished?
Chris

[nthomas1]

Chris - very true. Nothing worse than doing damage yourself! The car had a lot of work done in the 12 months before I bought it, engine rebore and new pistons, carbs overhauled at Omicron, etc, all with receipted bills that came with the car, so I’m hoping not too much mechanical work needed. Seemed to drive ok before I started stripping it, but on reflection should probably have run it longer before starting the rebuild.

[Scott]

Just to add insult to injury, my neighbour just balance a metal ladder near my car and it overbalanced putting a dent in my wing top. So my first journey after the rebuild will be back to the paint shop.

I'll put a suitable contribution in my swear box on your behalf. 

[chriswgawne]

Do you have an 'on the road' again date in mind Norman? I seem to remember that before Covid you spent blocks of time away?
Chris

[nthomas1]

Thanks for doing that Scott, my swear box is full!

Chris, I’d like to think that at current pace I can have the rebuild complete in the next couple of months. I was away in Spain for large parts of the year but Covid 19 has put paid to that for probably the rest of this year. Good to have the Fulvia project to work on.

[nthomas1]

Fitted the passenger door, now need to juggle it a bit to centralise it, and lift it a few millimetres.  The rolling jig made it a fairly straightforward process to do the initial fit.

To finish the build, there are a few parts I need that I'm struggling to find.  If any of you have the proverbial box of Fulvia bits and have any of these to spare I'd be most grateful.  The things I'm missing are:

- boot-open switch
- bonnet open switch
- compression springs for door-open switches (need 2), or maybe the entire switches
- expansion spring for bonnet safety catch
- barrel nipple that fits to the heater valve lever in the passenger footwell and holds the operating rod in place
- nut and bolt that holds choke lever in position

I'll also list these in the "Spares Required" section of the forum.

[nthomas1]

Fitted the striker, lock and handle so that I could fully close the door and check the fit.  Gaps are not bad.  Bottom right needs taking in a few millimetres but I'll leave it for now and press on with the seals on the driver side.

[nthomas1]

With the passenger side door seals all now in place, and the door and rear quarter light fitted, I moved on to the driver side today. I completed the fastening of the gutter rail with small screws, and, where the screw holes had been over-drilled by the previous owner, I used small rivets.  The quarter light is now installed.  The most difficult part was getting the wide top seal into the u-shaped metal channel.  I used a plastic trim tool to lever it into position - see third picture.

I’ve removed the column stalks for inspection.  I’m glad I did as the wiring needs attention.  The white and black lead connection was broken and a couple of others, blue and grey in particular, are only held in place by half of the wire strands or less.  Whilst I’ve bought a soldering kit in order to teach myself, this job looks like the sort of precision soldering that should be trusted to an expert.  Can anybody suggest the kind of establishment I’d need to go to in order to get this done?

[Jaydub]

Hi Norm, if there`s no one local, I am happy to resolder all the joints if you mail it to me.

Jaydub.

[nthomas1]

John - that would be great.  As I'm still locked down (my wife is in the high risk category) it's quite difficult for me to go out and find somewhere local, so I'll take you up on your offer.  Will PM you.

[nthomas1]

Trimmed and fitted the outer door seals today.  Would have been difficult without heavy duty tin snips.   Once again the old adage "measure twice, cut once" is very relevant.

Started trimming the Noico sound deadening material for the floor.  The car came fully carpeted (badly, and in red) with a full set of rubber mats in a separate box.  They're not in bad condition though not good enough to use alone.  I'm wondering about laying the floor pieces on top of the sound deadening, and then my new black carpets on top of that.  Will play around with them tomorrow.

[nthomas1]

I did a trial fit of the carpet today.  I've put Noico sound deadening on the floors but have not fixed it in place yet. Then I put the original rubber mats down and the carpet loose laid on top of that. I'm wondering if it might make sense to leave the sound deadening loose laid?

The rubber mat section that fits between rear seat squab and floor is in good condition. The sections that fit on the sills are not.  They've been cut lengthwise into two separate pieces - one for the horizontal surface and one for the vertical, and have a number of unsightly cutouts.  I'm going to buy new pieces to replace them.  My carpet set came with pieces of carpet to fit over the sills but I prefer the look of the rubber.  It matches well with the section below the rear seat, and with the section that fits around the gearbox bulge - which has cleaned up nicely.

[Jaydub]

Looking good, Norm. On the road when the lockdown lifted?

[fay66]

I did a trial fit of the carpet today.  I've put Noico sound deadening on the floors but have not fixed it in place yet. Then I put the original rubber mats down and the carpet loose laid on top of that. I'm wondering if it might make sense to leave the sound deadening loose laid?

The rubber mat section that fits between rear seat squab and floor is in good condition. The sections that fit on the sills are not.  They've been cut lengthwise into two separate pieces - one for the horizontal surface and one for the vertical, and have a number of unsightly cutouts.  I'm going to buy new pieces to replace them.  My carpet set came with pieces of carpet to fit over the sills but I prefer the look of the rubber.  It matches well with the section below the rear seat, and with the section that fits around the gearbox bulge - which has cleaned up nicely.

Norman,
I laid mine loose 20 years ago with no problems since, besides if you have the misfortune to spring  leak, it's soon whipped out.
Brian
8227