Bodywork and Reassembly
It was announced in August 2023 that the renovation of the Spartan would take a new turn in September.
It started with his passage in the bodywork, you were able to follow the main steps on the Facebook page, the details are below.
As they leave the bodywork, the shiny parts leave for the new home port of the Spartan in order to be reassembled.
If it is necessary to reassemble everything, many parts of the car still need to be renovated, adapted, replaced or even manufactured.
It is now in a garage specialised in the renovation of vintage and vintage cars, English in particular, that all these operations will take place.
The objective is to get closer to this roadster presented in 1983 by Spartan Car Compagny :
The body of the Spartan
The body parts are cleaned before they leave for the bodywork.
However, the complete painting of the Spartan is not for now, there is still a lot of work before reaching this stage, but we are preparing it…
September 4, 2023, the wings and hood of the Spartan are being prepared at the bodybuilder.
The bodywork, naked on the chassis, will arrive on Saturday to be also dentled, adjusted, primed and painted.
The French Spartan has arrived at the bodywork where it took place, the renovation continues.
The 4 wings received an internal anti-gravel treatment :
The front wings were prepared, before being sanded again :
It's time for the rear wings to be sanded, puttyed, and sanded again :
Before also going into the cabin to receive a primer :
And they will be sanded again before painting...
The windshield has been removed, work on the car will begin.
The trunk will be prepared, the inside of the wings is protected to go into the cabin.
…Tadam !!! Here is the red :
The hood panels are dentled, sanded, they will be prepared, sanded again, and then painted :
Do..., and redo...
I thought this work was finished, but it was without counting on the requirement of the bodybuilder who noted imperfections in its realisation, and decided to redo these 3 parts :
The doors were removed, stripped, the aluminum sheets detached from their frames to be prepared.
The amounts will be pickled, then treated against rust, primed, sanded, and finally painted in red.
The sheets were stripped and straightened before receiving aluminum protection, primed, sanded and painted.
The doors will be sanded again before being put back on the car, and will receive a second coat of paint with the car.
Work on the car itself has begun.
Between the dashboard and the windshield was fixed a kind of unsightly empty pocket.
This one camouflaged a big hole that had been made wildly to probably create an air inlet from the heating.
Wrongly placed, and also badly done, it is necessary to close this hole by straightening the aluminum sheet that had been opened like a can.
Big work for this shaping of the aluminum sheet.
Pickling, straightening and sanding continue.
We discover that, when the Spartan had been repainted, some blows had been chewed rather than straightened sheets.
The mastic amalgams are removed, and the sheets are manually reformed according to the rules of the art.
They will receive a special treatment for aluminum, before being primed and then painted.
The rivets that fix the sheets to each other will be replaced :
The Spartan has received a special protective layer for the aluminum :
Then she receives a primer :
The Spartan will now be fully sanded before returning to the cabin.
The rivets have been replaced, she has been degreased again, here she is back in the cabin, wrapped, ready to receive her first coat of red paint !
!!! Red is back !!!
The door frames were reassembled on the car, their freshly painted sheets sanded again before being put back in place and riveted.
The rivets will receive a special primer before the whole is painted again.
The pickling of the a roll bar has begun.
The steel crossbeam will receive an anti-rust treatment and will be painted in black, the aluminum side uprights will be polished.
It was the last part to paint.
The protections are removed.
The bodywork works are finished.
The Spartan is ready to go... to the reassembly !
The Reassembly
Here we go, still with the 1983 sales brochure as a source of inspiration :
Under the hood
The engine, power steering tank, oil recuperator and windshield washer reservoir have been put in place.
The water pump has been replaced.
The exhaust collector was sandblasted, repainted with the product RESTOM Collector 4070, and reattached to the engine.
The aluminum radiator has been installed.
For technical reasons first, but also aesthetic, the radiator will be adjusted to be advanced and mounted on silenblocs.
The fan will be discreetly positioned at the rear, in suction mode.
The tank
The tank was treated with RESTOM products, repainted, then put back on the vehicle.
Braking
Discs are changed.
The drums were sandblasted and repainted, the master cylinders and fittings replaced.
The brake system is completely redone, according to the rules of the art.
Reassembly of the body
The rear wings are back in place.
The bumper was treated and straightened. The trunk has been reassembled. The chrome of one of its hinges is particularly stitched, new ones have been ordered and they will be replaced.
A chrome valve cap nicely closes the fuel tank.
The front wings have returned their place, the hood will follow :
The polished chopsticks surround the Spartan again.
Electricity
The electrical harness must be completely customised.
The first elements that will compose it have just been delivered to Boutier Retro Motors, it will be created and implemented soon.
The dashboard
A model of the dashboard is sketched…
The panels are cut, drilled and adjusted.
The dashboard itself will be trimmed to match the seats and door trims.
The central part will be made of black granite aluminum, to hightlight out the Smiths metre and rev counter with their white background.
Hubs and Rims
In February 2024, hubs and rims will be installed on the Spartan.
The tires have been mounted, the wheels balanced, and in mid-March 2024, the Spartan is again placed on its wheels !
The support for the spare wheel was manufactured and fixed to the trunk.
The wheel took place with its characteristic big central Spartan nut, a pretty piece
of aluminum foundry.
