AC Frua repaired floors, sills and inner wings

[Emmanueld]

I wanted to end this thread in saying that the car drives solid as a brick! no coil shake, no vibration, and the heat problem inside the cabin seems to have been solved! It now stays cool inside! Awesome.

[Emmanueld]

Sorry to bring back this thread, but Peter, here is a good view of the Dynamat Extreme Above! The inside of the fiberglass trans. tunnel was coated as well!
   
   Emmanuel

[runt]

That is a stunning car Emanuel, beautiful metal work and nice to know there is another gorgeous car that should last forever!
   The interior is so clean too, was it a very low mileage car?
   Glad to hear that your car is running nice and cool now.
   
   Paul/runt.[:)]

[Emmanueld]

Yes the car supposedly had 44,000km, it came from Bruxelles originally. It looked clean when I bought it but I knew it had a lot of bondo as well. (Magnet did not stick in many places)  However, I fell in love with the car, it was absolutely stunning in BRG with it's brand new Connelly beige interior. I figured if I want a 428 roadster in this color, this is my chance. I bought it, my friend the dealer said my name was written on it. The lower radiator hose blew when I took the car home to show my wife a bad start. The car was so "Mickey moused" that just about every component had to be repaired or replaced. Any other car would have been junked for a lot less. The dirty work has now been done, rust repair is over and has been done right. Suspension tuning is about done as well. By the end of the year, the car will have it's final engine and will be ready for a concourse paint job early next year.
   
   Emmanuel

[runt]

Wonderful stuff; just read your other post re; the stroked 427.. Daytona eater..?[;)]
   As said, thanks for posting; its so heartening to see a 428 brought back to pristine condition, years ago people advised me that these cars had serious trouble with body rust; no worse than many others of that era I'll bet?
   Paul.[:)]

[Emmanueld]

It was amazing to see that the English (Steel) chassis had no rust whatsoever. The Italian outriggers and body next to it were completely rotten! I rest my case.
   
   Emmanuel

[Emmanueld]

I decided to add pictures of the car's repairs:
   When it first came to my house (a friend of mine is driving), the main water hose burst, a bad omen. The car looked great, I knew there was a lot of Bondo since the magnet did not stick many places around the sills. However, I was not prepared for this. Amazingly, according to Bonhams, this is the highest selling price Frua ever. Luckily, I did not pay near that price!
   
   

[Emmanueld]

One day, I opened the left inner fender aluminum panel, horror! rust everywhere! some aluminum plates riveted to cover the holes. Furthermore, The Frua has aluminum panels riveted under the floors which make it difficult to evaluate the condition underneath.No photo.
   
   A year later I decided that it would be a good idea to repair the car properly! Since I had found the proper person to do it and he was not very busy at the time. So we peeled off the undercoating and we started digging with this nifty rust remover tool, where ever there is rust, it goes right through!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Repairs were done in steps so as not to deform the car!

[Emmanueld]

In the rear!
   
   
   
   
   Both sides were equally as bad! I am amazed the seats did not fall off. Also the car drove amazingly well, not much rattle, this is a testimony for how good the chassis is! You can see some new inner sills already installed as well as some fresh panels on top of the floors![:)]

[Emmanueld]

Ok! Rebuilding the inner tubing! We found all the correct square tubing and sheet metal locally. Roadster sills are not exactly the same with the coupe! The convertible version are beefier for obvious reason.
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Emmanueld]

Floors and outriggers! The whole bottom of the car was stripped, coated with metal prep primed and painted with the exception of the area above the differential which was not corroded.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Emmanueld]

Inner fenders:
   
   
   
   New
   

[Emmanueld]

Sills:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   As you can see, sills are quite intricate, everything was filled with waxoyle afterward!

[Emmanueld]

Rear fender bottoms:
   
   
   
   
   I have many more photos, you guys can get an idea of what is involved here. The inner structure down below is quite complicated, lots of little pieces welded together, this makes for a very rigid structure but very prone to rust. If it was a lesser car, I would have sold it for parts. But I think it's worth preserving and it should be done properly. We stayed faithful to the original design (we had my friend Jeffrey's car as a pattern). In a few areas, we added extra gussets and re-enforcements. Amazingly, the upper body is in great shape and there is no rust anywhere. Once it's perfect mechanically, It will be stripped to bare metal and given a show quality paint job like Peter Davis' wonderful restoration down under! You can see from the photos how much Bondo is under the paint. For the finish to be really nice, we have to go to bare metal and start over. I think this car must have been sitting out in the rain with a leaky top for a long time. The carpets got wet and rust took over.
   
   I am looking forward to have what will probably be one of the best Frua out there. Not too many shops would be willing or would have the know how to tackle such an enterprise, this is why people have converted some of these cars to Cobra replicas. If the car is worth 50Gs is does not make sense to do it. The man worked  for 3 months, 8 hours a day, non-stop to do this! It is so solid now, like a rock, no rattle at all, no coil shake. Coil springs and shocks are 400lbs up front and 600lbs rear, just like a MKIII SC cobra (originals were 325lbs all around, way too soft). Also, I now have a 3/4" front anti-sway bar as well.
   
   Make sure you look at the first page as I have added quite a few pictures!
   
   Emmanuel [:)]

[Robin A Woolmer]

You Are a dedicated & brave Guy, well done & i hope you enjoy the car when it is completed.
   
   Robin