why gold plate??
Yes that could help for sure - however - ill end up with a lot of plating and change the thickness - - the black oxide should adhere to the metal with no issue - I'm going to media clean them again and rerun them to see what happens......
Ok blue, but which one. There is everything from the light blue of the sky to a dark blue that is almost black. I would research the originals used by PininFarina,Vignale, Touring etc and pick one. tonga"s crew
That sure looks like vestiges of nickel. But you can't go wrong by making these black oxide. It would be easier if you let the shop de-plate these then b/o them. Blasting them with light duty blaster is too much work and you end up with uneven results. john
there is something on them - also - when i lay them out - looks like the 8 bolts for the donut, and 8 bolts and nuts for the front suspension arms and a few odds and ends. All the leaf spring bolts (similar to the donut bolts) all took the black oxide .....seems to be centered around certain type bolts.....and the condition on these bolts meaning corrosion is minimal, which tells me then had some good protection on them. Yes , i considered brining them to the chrome shop to strip the nickel..... It is interesting to wonder why these were that way and was this typical on the early cars?
update on the plating issue above, i have the bolts stripped at the chrome shop and they concurred that they had nickel paling on them. Considering most of the bolts as i stated earlier were suspension related, it was believed that was done originally to keep the rust down. Anyhow - word of caution if you get a chance to see some real old hardware, they may have been painted when they painted the underneath of the car. Obviously, black oxide does not stick to nickel. Now all the bolts, nuts, washers etc have been replayed black oxide. Nice finish and ready for assembly.
I have some updates to share with you on the body restoration since april this yr. With the acquisition of the front and rear section of another ellena, we decided to separate the body from the frame and media clean the car down - - so below are the pics of this process. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Ed, Did you buy the front and rear clips that were being sold on Craigslist? I think they were painted red.
with the body media cleaned , we used a powder coat primer for all the frame areas on the car, as well as the inside....gets into places you cannot do with a gun. Once this was completed we started the repair process on the body panels and some small repair on the inner panels as well. also made new rear section of the trunk lid, bottom of both rear quarters and both front dog leg section. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
more progress..... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Frnt nose and rockers Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
more shots Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
no but can you send me the link...what town.....i got my stuff from Tom S......he has been a big help
next we are focused on the front valance (having a new one made) grill area and we just finished the lower right and left lower valance (pic's to come) . The grill and valance is one of the most important areas to get right, so we are setting up a series of measurements to ensure the right and left side are well balanced and proper curves. Due to some hood damage on the top side a new hood skin is currently being rolled out as well....we are making it 1/8 longer on all side so we can close the gap on the hood to the fenders. In the next few weeks - or month, all the heavy lifting of metal work will be done. We fitted the front windshield in place as well....nice fit all the way around. I have also made great progress on the components to the car, most have been restored - so ill start showing some of that work next. My hinges were bent all to heck, so a good friend with an ellena took his off his car and sent his to me to straighten mine - in addition we make new pins for the hood hinges and the doors.
I took these in 2009 at the RM Auction at the factory/Maranello.. nice project...enjoy! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
a few more... I know pictures can help with a restoration...Good Luck! I have a friend who also has an Ellena...I believe he is helping you?...He is in Michigan... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ed, really appreciated these pictures, what a real treat! So, the dash is actually welded to the bulkhead, very unusual? john
john, your welcome - i have more if anyone needs more details. the dash is welded to the bulkhead - looks like the bulkhead (firewall) is riveted to the outer structure. fyi, on the passenger side when we got the car, it looked like damage occurred on the upper metal area where the inner fender structure meets the top of the fender near the pass upper latch area. So we took all that off and found that there really was no damage but what did happen is that the inner fender structure was welded 1 1/4 inch too high thus causing the fender to not sit correctly - sooooo, it looks like they put a press on the top of the inner structure and caused it to collapse until the fender would sit straight. WTF!! We good everything off, straighter the metal, determined the proper height and cut the excess off and rewelded - not perfect!. The Pressed so hard they structure it also buckled the wore wall at the pass foot area.....we straightened that back out as well. Fortunately the Frame structure on the car was perfect, so no replacement of tubing needed. Alignment wise we did frame measurements all over and that was right on. With some nose damage, we replaced all the front end metal around the radiator area and cleaned everything up very nicely. I can't be more happy with the progress and the work.....
William - yes SK is a massive help - - great discussions and he and i are on the same page as to the approach and quality I'm pursuing. thanks for the pics on the burgundy car......im having issue figuring out the correct door weatherstrip for my car....any thoughts on this as it relates to the picture you posted??
Ed, pictures like these are rare on this forum and are much welcome and appreciated. So, let it rip. john