Well, it was inevitable! Here is my 126!

[dombooth]

Thd guy before me done a few bits & pieces i think mate, fibreglassed the drain plug holes etc to avoid any water sitting in the floorpan & rotting the jacking points out as there prone to go there going by my old old one which i had to weld up, the bit of plastic covering the sill hole was another precaution to avoid water getting into the sill, looks like its done the job! Happy to see the minority of rust, cant believe its been stripped down though lol good luck & hope it gets done right!

Ah okay, cheers mate.

It'll be done right, don't worry.

Dom

[dombooth]

This needs updating....

What do you guys recommend for removing paint/underseal from the underside?  Using a wire wheel on the drill but it's taking a while.

Dom

[thepuddlejumper]

For under seal I have used a heat gun and scraper, also saw this technique used for removing paint on car sos.
Ralph

[dombooth]

Wow, 1 full year of 126 ownership. I will get round to updating this thread one day...

[dombooth]

MAJOR UPDATE:

Wow... Nearly a year since updating this!

So last thing I posted about was engine removal...

So what happened next?

All the suspension and steering was removed, and as I haven't got a press to remove the old bushes, @gadge kindly did them for me, and it, erm, took quite a bit of work!!




I bought some AVO adjustable shocks for the front, quite cheaply and on @gadge's recommendation


Everything else was removed from the shell and then it really became a 4x4!



The underside as bought:



So originally I thought I'd remove all the old underseal etc and start from scratch. I did the floorpans then realised I'd never finish it...



So the day before by birthday I got some mates round to 'lend a hand', and this happened!




And back in to the garage:



Bought the underseal and cavity wax:


Started by doing the cavitys until it was oozing out of every crevice

[dombooth]

So onto the underside, started with a nice coat of Kurust to kill of any rust


Then got to work painting the underside with Zinc Primer:


Only the best brushes for this Fiat


The car seems to be glued together with chewing gum!


Then I found the dreaded tin worm.....





So a repair panel was bought


And that's about as far as it's come...

Jobs to do before March:
Finish painting underside with black epoxy and dynax UB
Weld up NSR arch
Buy and fit new bushes
Refurb leaf spring
Suspension shot blasted and powdercoated
Refit suspension & steering

[stuey]

Some awesome work here- you are at the stage I was at a few months ago ( Ive had all of my suspension powder coated and rebushed and  now waiting for it to be painted)-Its nice to see Im not the only one who balanced their car on its side to sort the underside!

[dombooth]

Some awesome work here- you are at the stage I was at a few months ago ( Ive had all of my suspension powder coated and rebushed and  now waiting for it to be painted)-Its nice to see Im not the only one who balanced their car on its side to sort the underside!

Oh it is 10000x easier on it's side!!  I'm of the, cough, larger variety of men so getting under was not very easy.  Getting mates round to flip it was brilliant. 

The arches I'm going to paint in zinc primer, then black epoxy to keep them neat and easy clean.

[Gadge]

Good work Dom and great choice of cavity wax! I've never used it before but I hear it's the best

[dombooth]

Good work Dom and great choice of cavity wax! I've never used it before but I hear it's the best

I've got a can spare if you want it it's yours fella

[Gadge]

Nice one mate I won't say no to that lol do you want anything for it?

[dombooth]

So...

I've refurbished the leaf spring:
The one that came on the car has a leaf flipped so was a bit bouncy, and it was missing the plastic rubbing strips.

So I bought one from @gadge that was original

So first we tried to remove the bushes, ahem, we failed!


So we stripped it apart, and I took that part of the leaf and new bushes into my local friendly garage, and he changed them for me for free

So I cleaned the plastic strips up... Well, technically mum did that bit...


Then putting it all back together smothering it all in water pump grease along the way


Then wrapping it all up in Denso wrap, the final result looking like this:



And tonight saw the bulk of the underside having its first coat of black epoxy:
The Mrs helped!!





Jobs to do before March:
Finish painting underside with black epoxy and dynax UB
Fit new bushes
Suspension shot blasted and powdercoated
Refit suspension & steering

[Gadge]

Looking good bud

[dadandlad]

Coming along nicely

What is your secret for getting your wife to help ?

[dombooth]

Coming along nicely

What is your secret for getting your wife to help ?

Cheers,

Naa shes the Girlfriend lol.  She came round for a few days so I asked her to help, and she agreed. :O

Dom