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Giving my 10 year old Linea a makeover: Repaint, audio upgrade & more

2nd July 2023, 14:05 by Ananth Iyer

I was very clear from the beginning that the color will remain the stock factory colour that is Bossa Nova White and we would paint it with a Glasurit Paint.

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My Linea turned 10 years this September 2022. The ownership thread is here (Petrol Hatch to Diesel Sedan - Fiat Linea - Now Wolfed)

Well the car was running perfectly with just a few things to be sorted out on the car. They were

Suspension Strut and Related replacements
A thorough flush and replacement of all the fluids
A few broken cosmetic parts replacement
A couple of panels required minor tinkering and paint work.
Clutch Replacement

However, since it was 10 years and with no plans of selling this car, I went about doing a thorough overhaul. Stripped the entire car down to bare bones and went about finding issues and fixing them.

This is how it all started

I was very clear from the beginning that the color will remain the stock factory colour that is Bossa Nova White (Paint code 268/A) and we would do paint it with a Glasurit Paint. Though Bossa Nova White is a paint which is painted as a solid color which has a mixing clear, I opted for the base coat plus clear coat as this method will give more durability and also provides flexibility of having more number of clear coats.

Now the color out of the way, what kind of painting should be done? Overcoat or a full repaint? Decided to go for a full repaint and did not want to redo any of these work for the next few years. This also helps in identifying any rusting issues and address them as the plan is to retain this car for a lot more years. As for a full repaint process, a complete strip down of the car would do justice for such kind of a paint job. The process of getting the car down to bare bones began.

Step 1 - Removal of Body Panels

The work finally began with a target of completing the work before the 10th anniversary of the ownership of the car. The below body panels were removed.