It’s been a month since I worked on the Lancia because several other issues took priority but I accomplished a few things this week.

I cut sheet metal pieces to fill in the body behind the driver’s head and the same on the passenger side. I removed the windshield to allow access to chassis bracing in the lower dashboard area and then fully welded some of the tubes that were only tack welded. I cracked the windshield slightly in the process but I decided earlier this year that I will be replacing the windshield at some point due to wear and tear.

I sealed up seams in the newly welded areas and painted the remaining parts of the interior and roll cage with a satin black epoxy paint. Once the paint cures I will apply sound deadening to close up the webbing in the lower parts of the A and B pillars and kick-panel areas and then apply sound deadening on the floors and rear firewall. I have a multilayer foam sound absorber for the floor and rear firewall.

It will take a least a week for the paint solvents to fully evaporate in the cold northwest temperatures so meanwhile I will start working on the dashboard—mounting gauges, switch panels and then applying a crinkle paint finish to the dashboard. I want to have the dashboard back in the car by the end of March.