Lancia Fulvia long-term project..

Well, here we are a mere 2-years-plus down the road from the above optimistic post!
But finally, I have managed to gather together the parts I need to begin the project. Logistics dictate that I am restricted to working on parts at the present time, rather than the shell which is stored elsewhere, but any progress is positive at this rate..!

So, this week I 'ave mostly been stripping - PANELS

The panels on my S2 are comically rusty, and the panels which came with my S2 shell are a mixture of lightweight S1 aluminium doors (rare, valuable, good condition yet incorrect fitment for a Fulvia S2, and often will not physically fit one), and aftermarket fibreglass bonnet and bootlid (Great as a last resort but very prone to cracking, and generally not ideal IMHO)

So, being reluctant to use any of my own panels, I have managed to source, among other things, a set of steel panels. These are in iffy condition as usual, but I'm hoping will turn out to be repairable.

First, I tackled the bootlid;

I forgot to take any pics at first; It was in a nasty faded darkish red cellulose, as are the other panels, with a nice coating of sticky cheap underbody shutz over the inside. You certainly would not have wanted to put anything clean in the boot of that car!
Still, a clean-up of the inside with panel-wipe on a 2-inch brush revealed the original colour to be, I believe, Maya Yellow, or Giallo Maia to give it, I think anyway, its proper title.
While it will not be to everybody's taste, I happen to rather like this colour, having admired an early Beta coupe so finished, and could see myself using it later on.
There was obviously filled rust damage to the rear corners, which I dug out but the lid seemed in reasonable condition;



The lid had been resprayed yellow over the original, and then a futher repaint in red. This left me with a lot of paint to shift, including a very thick coat of primer-filler, presumably cellulose. Trial and error indicated that a blade in a scraper holder was best for the top coat of red, and the underlying later yellow, which noisily 'shattered' off like glass fragments ( Goggles...!) as the blade was forced under it and collected as colourful shavings on the floor, in my hair, down my neck etc..
The primer filler and original yellow, factory primer and black cathodic groundcoat was best shifted by laying a piece of mutton cloth over an area, brushing standard cellulose thinner onto it until wet through but not saturated (breathing mask, LOTS of forced ventilation, ideally outside...!!), and placing an impermeable layer on top (I used an alu offcut) over the top to discourage evaporation. The filler primer would separate quickly, and scrap away easily, then I'd replace the wet cloth back over. After a cup of tea, the apparatus could be moved across to the next patch, and a light pass with the scraper blade would lift the whole factory paintjob off in one go. Quite satisfying actually...