Alfa Romeo Spider 3.7L 24V V6 Build

[Joshbm]

The attention to detail is epic!

Whats that tune in the background?

[Noi5eB0mb]

Full custom fabrication. This is one of the threads I really enjoy following - with that being said, I am too going that way when I get my car

Staring at the last picture got me thinking, are you going to keep it a convertible? I don't remember if this question was asked/answered before, if no then are you planning on a soft top or anything?

[fyse]

that is so sik!!

[Bystrov]

awesome car man! supperior craftsmanship, and its the first tile i look at these wheels and actully like this style... as for the paint finish, u can tell its got some minor imperfections, u should do a matte black vinyl wrap. it hides all the imperfections from the pain and bodywork. and gives an aggressive look to the car which is exactly the look your going for. ive been doing body work for a long long time and know what this car means to you, ive been following your build since the start and i am actually glad u finished it and i applaud your craftsmanship bro! great job!

[street]

Replys.

Ow yeah! Sick ride dude!

Thanks Speedbump!

street

The attention to detail is epic!

Whats that tune in the background?

Thanks Joshbm! The track is Kanye - Devil In A New Dress.

stress

Full custom fabrication. This is one of the threads I really enjoy following - with that being said, I am too going that way when I get my car

Staring at the last picture got me thinking, are you going to keep it a convertible? I don't remember if this question was asked/answered before, if no then are you planning on a soft top or anything?

Thanks Bro! I have a new soft top and frame ready to go once the interior install stage is up.

street

that is so sik!!

Thanks fyse!

street

awesome car man! supperior craftsmanship, and its the first tile i look at these wheels and actully like this style... as for the paint finish, u can tell its got some minor imperfections, u should do a matte black vinyl wrap. it hides all the imperfections from the pain and bodywork. and gives an aggressive look to the car which is exactly the look your going for. ive been doing body work for a long long time and know what this car means to you, ive been following your build since the start and i am actually glad u finished it and i applaud your craftsmanship bro! great job!

Thanks Bystrov! There are imperfections. This car came right out of the booth after the second coat with no clear applied, no wet sanding, no buffing. Nothing. This is the way I wanted the process carried out because the testing stage does not require a show finish. The car has always been slated to return to the same shop and get the full treatment once I know everything is working as it should after testing this summer. The new color will be the dark grey I have on a test panel (the wiper cowl) which can be seen in post #228.

street

[street]

Gauge Detail.

Continuing with the gauges.

I took the steering wheel's fabric concept and applied it to the mid-dash gauges. Here's how it went.

I made interior trim rings to cover the gaps within the ports. 25 thou aluminum was used as it's quite flexible and with a bit of trimming and trial and error test fitting, I had my 3 pieces. I then wrapped them in black suede and re-mocked them into place.



Last rim ring, trimmed and wrapped in suede.




The match point were marked and a touch of painter's tape was thin and strong enough to hold the form.



Next up was to cut a section of thin black vinyl.



Spray glue was applied and then it was wrapped to the trim ring to form a 50% top coverage. Then trimmed to spec.



Final product - A 50% Black suede and 50% Black vinyl trim ring and surround.



In place on the panel with gauges. Side detail.



A very thin black strip in aluminum will house the split to complete the concept. Every gauge shown mocked into place. Locking it down tomorrow with a full wrap on the entire front panel.



street

[Red82]

Great job!

[street]

Reply.

Great job!

Thanks Red82!

street

[street]

DEMON Gauge Detail 2.0

Never one to be easily satisfied, I punched up the gauge concept today and started over. I still wanted to incorporate a mix of materials of suede and vinyl in black and felt more solid about today's work.

First up was to wrap the entire upper panel in black vinyl and then get back into the other concept for the gauges. Since the panel was covered in vinyl, I kept the gauge surrounds to just the suede. Then for added detail and support, I fabbed up and wrapped a small clip at 12 o'clock on all 3 gauge surrounds.





I then loosely put it back into the dash for spec against the rest of the gauges. The upper edges of the main panel will get cleaned up and smoothed out with the lower section for the head unit getting either suede or vinyl to finish.



street

[P78]

i like that better then what u did first to those gauges

[Joshbm]

second ones look alot cleaner, the wrapped clip makes it better to IMO

[mateo m3]

you can have those pieces wrap in carbon fiber, i have seen some guys here do pretty good work. with the caliber of work you have put on this car, not really liking that vinil work.

[street]

Replys.

i like that better then what u did first to those gauges

Thanks Bro. But I know I can do better.

street

second ones look alot cleaner, the wrapped clip makes it better to IMO

Thanks Joshbm! I was looking to clean it up some more and I think I've found it.

street

you can have those pieces wrap in carbon fiber, i have seen some guys here do pretty good work. with the caliber of work you have put on this car, not really liking that vinil work.

Thanks for the suggestion, mateo m3! But unless it's REAL CF done with resin and twill, then I won't mess with it. Even if it was a good wrapping job with that sticker CF, I'd then have to tell anyone that asks that it's fake. Can't have that.

This is my first crack at wrapping parts in fabric so it's all a learning curve for me. Bear with my results. Just know I won't put anything on this car that is out of place or below par.

street

[street]

Gague Concept 3.0

Continuing to dial in the gauges tonight.

What I decided to do was to discard the stock panel and fabricate my own and have it recessed within the dash for a cleaner look. Once I did that, it became pretty apparent how I should go about these last 3 gauges - mimic what's going on the the main pod.

A 3/4 trim panel was then fabricated and I wrapped it in suede to house the gauges. This was then placed in front of the panel I made to give it more depth, which was also wrapped in suede.



I then slotted in my head unit and put everything together.



At first glace it looks like just a single panel. But upon closer inspection, it's a protruding ahead of the head unit. I've yet to wrap the gauge's exterior and will either go with a silver or matte black finish.



A nice feature of this head unit, is that there's a large central repeating circle that plays off the gauges.



street

[Joshbm]

wow! again it just keeps getting better!