Why? = For The Wife

Tell us about your Beretta and Post an Image
s4of12
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Why? = For The Wife

Post by s4of12 »

Where I started

This all started in 1995. My future Father-In-Law buys my 16 year old future wife a new Cayenne Red Base 3.1 Beretta. She loves it from day 1 (more than she'll ever love me). Fast forward 20 years and you have a middle aged woman driving a 20 year old Beretta with 271,000 miles. 1997 it was put in a ditch requiring a new passenger fender, door and respray of that side. 2008 a truck backed into her taking out the hood and driver's fender, insurance called it a loss and gave us $1400. Numerous alternators and a few heater cores, but original engine and trans.

The bottom of the rockers were rusting along with the rear spring mounts, the engine had lost a few horses, the interior was showing its age, and it was getting the wet carpet syndrome. Putting the old girl down was not an option for my wife so she demanded I "fix it".
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The Plan

Pull the engine and trans - Rebuild. Fix all the bodywork and paint back to original. Interior recover. Estimate $10,000 and 1 year. Yeah I was optimistic in October 2015.

The Reality

I had a body shop do the rockers because they were the part I was most afraid of at the start. $1700 and some less than perfect work and I had something that looks acceptable. As I pulled the interior and engine I discovered the cause of the wet carpets. The lack of cowl sealing led to extensive rust and leaks in the cowl and firewall. The passenger side behind the steering rack mount and reinforcement was the worst, but the lower driver's side was bad too. At this point I was in over my head and "The Plan" was out the window, but I just figured the only way out was forward. I cut as much as I dared out, and started welding. I should mention I am not a welder, but I just dove in.
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With new metal in I sealed everything with SEM 2 part seam sealer and moved to the rear. The car was now on a makeshift cart with casters and I started looking into the rear spring perches.
HPIM1485.JPG
Yeah they were bad. I thought about starting the fabrication, then I got nauseous. Changed course and bought a $300 95 Z26 with 56,000 miles and a blown engine from Vegas. $800 for shipping and I had a parts car. I needed the doors, fender, and parts to repair the rear. The donor car was very clean, and I considered just building on it since it was so clean. The Wife beat me for my insolence and I fell back in line.

I started cutting spot welds and got the entire rear frame assembly out of the donor and had it blasted and powder coated. From rockers to to the rear, both sides. I also took the doors, fender, driver's rear inner wheel well, shock reinforcement, and back panel of the trunk out of the donor due to rust on my car. It was a terrible thing to do to such a nice car, I will spend an eternity in Beretta hell for what I did to that Z, but these are the things we do for love.

Lots of welding, seam sealer, and primer. Doors off the donor, hood from a junkyard I had laying around and other stuff and I was ready to have this thing painted.
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mike88gt
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by mike88gt »

Thats alot of work but a happy wife equals a happy life. Keep the pics coming.


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ifixalot
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by ifixalot »

I can appreciate the work you've done on this car for your wife.
More pics of the finished areas would be great to see.
It seems a shame to have cut up a nice Z to save the base but
a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.
Just to poke a little fun at you here is a song I think fits the situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQcfOHFr-Lo
No offense.


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weba
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by weba »

I'm glad your wife still loves the car after 20 years. Maybe with all that work you can squeeze another 20 out of it :)


heavywoody
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by heavywoody »

Awesome work, and awesome words... I literally LOL'd at the "beat me for my insolence" line.

Thank you for saving another Cayenne Red Metallic car! Not many of us left!


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95 Z26 Turbo 3400 5spd - R&D Project
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woody90gtz
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by woody90gtz »

Very cool, man. I respect the dedication.

Beretta was my first car, too. But my wife is the one who doesn't like it. Haha


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
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themixer
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by themixer »

nice work !


s4of12
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by s4of12 »

Thanks for the kind words guys, and the insulting song. No offense taken, I know what I am.

And sorry about the intermission, new user issues...

Back From Paint (Nov 2016)
20161026_142301.jpg
The paint shop did an amazing job. Only one decision I slightly regret. I had them patch the passenger side fender antenna hole. I replaced it with a hidden antenna under the dash, the reception is ok, I just miss the old school look of the whip antenna.

Getting the car back together started with plumbing the fuel system, wiring and finishing out the engine bay. Dash install and drop in the rebuilt original 3100. I had a little issue getting it to fire, that was all my fault, but the factory service manual and Scan9495 software got me out of a jam. She ran sweet at that point and all I had left I thought to myself is" suspension, brakes, steering, glass, interior. This will take no time"

I used the wheels off the Z26 because they are in great shape and I couldn't bring myself to put plastic hubcaps on a car I just dropped so much cash on paint.

I bought all new AC Delco parts when I could, fell in love with Rock Auto for a while. Tracked down NOS weatherstrip. Painted the trim around the side windows with SEM Trim Black which looks great and I just hope stands up. It was a lot of spending money and bolting stuff together at this point.

Interior I took to a place for the whole treatment. Recovered all the seats, kick panels, visors, headliner. Had them add seat heater pads while the front seats were apart. The results by them are fantastic, match the factory look really well. New carpet I did myself from stockinteriors.com. Turned out good. A bit of a pain to fit though.

The Finished Product

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DSC_2539.JPG
DSC_2530.JPG
And 1 happy wife on Mother's Day when I presented it to her. Hopefully the daughter will drive it in 11 years when she turns 16.


s4of12
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Post by s4of12 »

A moment of silence please for the departed...
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MY91GT(Z)
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by MY91GT(Z) »

Very cool story and nice to see some one love a base that much to keep it stock


93 GT cammed 3500 TORSEN, headers,intake,wilwood,poly/delrin mounts, 2.5 S.S,Exhaust,dickman kits,GTUspoiler,Euro headlights-tails-mirrors-fender flares-spoiler,Intrax/Koni,91+blk interior,rr disk swap,s.s.clutch line
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3X00-Modified
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by 3X00-Modified »

heavywoody wrote:Awesome work, and awesome words... I literally LOL'd at the "beat me for my insolence" line.

Thank you for saving another Cayenne Red Metallic car! Not many of us left!
Not many Raspberry Z's left either... depending on year only 1300 Z's and Bases were panted raspberry in 96 :(


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s4of12
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by s4of12 »

3X00-Modified wrote: Not many Raspberry Z's left either... depending on year only 1300 Z's and Bases were panted raspberry in 96 :(
I'm not proud of what I did to the Z26. It had a trashed 3100, cooked interior, and absolutely fried exterior from the NV sun. I couldn't believe how much the sun warped the rear valence panels.

But it certainly would have made a good project car if someone had gotten to it before me and my sawzall.


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woody90gtz
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by woody90gtz »

That's ok, not many raspberry Berettas because it's an ugly color! Haha


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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3X00-Modified
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by 3X00-Modified »

woody90gtz wrote:That's ok, not many raspberry Berettas because it's an ugly color! Haha
Yup... A "man" afraid of the color pink... Not surprising. :burn:


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themixer
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Re: Why? = For The Wife

Post by themixer »

i like the pink car


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