Hi everyone, i've been following everyones restoration project with great interest, and about a year ago, decided to have ago myself. My first attempt to restoration was my wifes Fiat 500 (1972) and one thing i learned from that was: If at all possible during a body restoration get hold of genuine panels. I know these are rare now, and very expensive, but for someone like myself who is not very experienced there is no alternative. The Fiat 500 panels (it needed all fenders and floors doing) the patern non original panels simply did not fit very well. It added more than a week to the schedule, and the end result is far from perfect.
I've owned the CS2 spider for nearly 20 years now, and it stared to look tired. So i decided to have a go. No repairs on coroded areas i decided, instead for panel replacement. And only using genuine ones. Well 1 year and maybe more later genuine panels were hard to come by, but i did track some down, at reasonable price. Has to be patient. I'll keep you posted.
I'm doing all the work myself and outside, which is not a graet idea as the weather in Britan is not that great for at least 9 months of the year!

this is the before photo: (ex US car, but lowered and with early front and rear bumpers)

strip down time:

floor cut out, leaving the lip to spot weld the new panel. Before that some small sections need new matal in couple of places. I left the seat runner un-touched as i won't be able to access and re-spot weld back anyway. I will instead drill holes and fill weld.

new floor fitted and 2 coats of paint to protect it for the winter.
Front wings still not fitted.

Love the colour! With saddle interior and a black top would look classy.

Jim

yeah Jim, many thanks.

front end panels temporary fitted to check panel gaps and mark position of front wings (or fenders as you call them) for spot welding

Wow, nice work.

Decided to move the windscreen washer to a new position as per later spiders, and fabricated a aluminium tank rather than the plastic bag. Using the original motor though.

Nice work, where did you source the wings? I like the aluminium tank but not easy to fill?

Hi i eventually bought them from Spider-point Germany, as i shopped around for almost a year. Genuine Fiat i was told.
The panel in front of the wind screen will have a hole so it should be fine to fill up as the latest spiders have a similar set up. I want to make some space in the engine compartment for other things (dry sump tank!)

panels sand blasted to remove all paint and check for any repairs needed.
Hole in front panel is for the washer bottle neck and cover.

what kind of dry sump oil pump you thinking of running?

hi, i'm fabricating the sump using the production flange, and the pump is being produced by a company here in the UK called PACE. Unique bracket pulley and belt is also being calculated. I'll keep you posted on that.

where do you plan on putting the tank? that was always my issue on a street car. i love dry sump oiling, i have many setups, i have never made one for a fiat, but it is on my bucket list. i was going to use it in my scorpion, but now i am changing the whole engine to a 4ohc v6, already have the fitment down, just waiting on time to complete