Classic Alfa Forums

Keep going !

Hi Kev. Found a handbrake cable in my Sud parts, good quality and brand new. Local parts shop reckon its an Imp one.

If you would like it, pm me your address and I will send it to you.

Finally the day has come, the Imp has made it back home!

Over 2 years ago it was sat here feeling like one step from the knackers yard, more like one foot in the knackers yard really!


The new radiator performed brilliantly. To avoid any town driving we went the long way home from the unit, via Cadwell and all over the shop, probably a good 45 to 50 miles so the car had a good workout in the high 20's heat of a Saturday afternoon.


His little Sis had to have a ride out in it once home, she reckons it's noisy!

Last time She sat in it it was more of a flintstones car...

Rob seems happy with it, I'm just glad it's finally off my "to do" list!

Same place, mostly the same car.....almost 2 1/2 years apart....

Wonder how long it'll keep clean?

Looks great mate, I look forward to seeing her in the future.

very nice, well done !

cheers guys, it's a relief to get it done!

That's a pretty cool first car - has to be a keeper - another one of your epics that's been great to follow, well done!

cheers


Ian

Of course he'll keep it clean - it's his "Baby" now.

he is so worried about dust, not to mention cat prints, that he's bought a nice cover for it....should help preserve the red paint too

Wow looking good Rob.
That rear drivers wing section looks amazing from when I saw it last March time.
A fantastic effort by you both.
Can't wait to see it some time.

Stunning!

Cheers guys, the Imp is now pretty much off my hands but the rust doesn't stop....

The GT is due an MoT at the month end, I knew the "sills" were a bit crusty...…

Seems Alfa still have work to do on rust prevention....rear end no better.....


Remember all the hassle with foam inside box sections? Seems like Alfa didn't get the memo......this foam is about 15" long, £2 x 4" diameter and stuffed inside the sill end, wrapped in a plastic bag just to ensure the moisture is trapped for as long as possible!!!!!


Hard to argue for how good the cars are when stupidity like this is being built in at the factory...

Those sill look a mess mate.
Do you recon it was prematurely started by damaged sills on a two post ramp in an earlier life?

Yes mate, they've either been trolley jacked or 2 post lifted on the wrong part. The wide section is purely cosmetic, the sill lip itself is the bit that should be used. All dented upwards and peeling sealant.

Oh, that's got me thinking as my partners Fiat 500 has damaged sills from being jacked upon the the wrong spot.

Best get some rust preventer in there. Keep going Kev.

The trouble is the seam sealant or stonechip gets split and lets water in, in this case though it had an inbuilt moisture retention devise!


Managed to get up to the unit this morning to paint the sills so when I go get it back tomorrow I'll fill the sills with protective rust preventative, should hold the rot at bay for a few years to come then....

GT finally home again, got up to the unit to inject the sills with tetroseal treatment, did the floors too as it looked a bit dry, prevention rather than cure? lol

Been a busy week off work but happy with the jobs done in varying places....

Rob had his first taste of concours competition at a local classic car club meet.
The young members part of the Boston classic club was his class, he didn't win but got 2nd. No trophy which disappointed him, but only lost out to 1st place by 4 points. He scored 87 out of 100 for the Imp.
He got loads of attention from the public and other car owners, old and young it seems to be a car they like.

Kept him busy amongst the showers!

Well done Robert, was really God to see catch up with you today and take a good look at your imp. It has really come out well, and I honestly think you and your car certainly had the most interest of all from all who braved the weather. You seemed busy all day. Well deserved 2nd for sure but in terms of overall interest, appreciation and hard work showing your car, you deserve 1st in show.

Rob dodged a bullet this weekend, or more likely he dodged a bullet that was aimed at me!



Just goes to show, no matter how freshly a car is built it's worth doing a thorough spanner check..


This was a new but most telling, a new old stock, driveshaft donut. The Imp isn't exactly a powerhouse yet it's lasted little more than 1,000miles. OK the car being lowered has probably put more strain on it than would normally be done yet it is ready to fail. As it's at the gearbox end then failure whilst driving would (and has for other Imp owners) result in a flailing driveshaft that has the potential to destroy the radiator, shock absorbers, brake pipes, floorpan, etc etc.


Rob has ordered a pair of competition spec ones....

Belated congratulations on your show last weekend, sorry I missed your post, not sure how that happened.
Luck escape on the donuts, I suppose rubber will deteriorate even if stored.
Been doing a few jobs on the Sud today and noticed my anti roll bar bushes are perished. They were nos.
Also noticed after 10,000 miles, the steering rack bolts were loose !! So now thread locked back in place.
Don't tell me off Kev, but I have finally fitted my refurbished wheel bearing hubs.

Amazing how things can work loose after such a long time, it'll convince me now that a regular checkover will be needed once the integrale is back together.

Glad you've finally got the Sud bearings on

Good idea to check the Sud front strut top nuts, we had one work loose on our mk3 QV when the Mrs was driving it, fortunately she was only doing 20 when it finally came off, but I'd been motorway driving in it the day before.......

Someone cancelled MoT's for cars over 40 years of age!

alfadave wrote:Someone cancelled MoT's for cars over 40 years of age!

Exactly Dave, makes no sense to have an exempt MoT when even we miss things like this....

The little Imp will very soon be back up at the unit for the Winter, Rob has quite a few jobs lined up to keep him busy, not so much me hopefully!
The gearbox needs a breather making for it, the early cars didn't have a breather so as it's driven then the pressure builds and it bleeds a little out through the driveshaft seals, not a lot but enough to drip now and again. Later cars (like Robs') had a breather in the top of the gearchange end plate, very similar to the Sud 'box. The fact that there isn't one in Robs' car means it's probably not the original gearbox. No big deal. The end plate will come off to tap a hole for a little breather pipe.
He's also been busy buying a few upgrades..
Shrew will be pleased to see this rather than the restrictive cast iron standard item, he's also got a sports back box to go with it, all in stainless.

He's also got his eyes on a pair of SU carbs so the Imp may be getting a few more ponies for next year, it really needs more gears!

He's also got a "Sport" bootlid Think that's one with more louvres cut in the vertical section, of course that means it'll need painting
He's also got a starter motor change to do. It's still on the original style inertia starter which were never the most reliable, there's an upgrade to a modern pre-engaged type of starter than will do away with the separate solenoid and will be much more reliable.

One job I hope he tackles is the dash top which is cracked, not sure how easy it would be to do much with it but it'd tidy up the interior no end.

Different job to do this week, had a couple of days off work to use up and Terry who has the unit next to mine asked me some time ago if I'd paint his Moggy for him. He's been busy prepping it all Summer, stripped it right back and painted it inside and out. Trouble is for him he's now in his 70's and doesn't like doing a lot of spraying now having had Lung surgery a few years back...how can you say no!?


So Monday I had the doors, bonnet and boot in the little unit which he'd prepped and primed, even masked up for me. That's the kind of spray job I like

Terry has been doing cars for years, had his own restoration and sales for decades up at the unit. He'd warned me that these old cars with their curves were more tricky to paint, he wasn't wrong! The doors with the bulging wheel arch flares against the flat face creates a recipe for runs, managed to get away with it but so easy to overlap and build up too much paint.

Bonnet equally so, hard to get a decent finish all over, tried my best!


Bootlid went ok apart from when a big lump of fluff landed on it No option but to pick it out and load up the area..

This afternoon the panels went back into Terrys' unit for him to flat and polish them, again that's the type of paint job I like


Bodyshell got pushed into the unit then we cleaned and finished the masking. He'd already painted the panel gaps before fitting the wings back on. Door shuts too, so he decided where things got masked off, suited me just fine
Shell went pretty well, one fly in the middle of the roof as usual, a little run on a front wing but overall with all the shapes to cover I'm happy with the results.


It will be vacating the unit tomorrow afternoon so stuff can be packed away for the Winter, we've been lucky this year with good weather when we needed to paint.

With the job finishing the bumpers on the integrale this morning it's been a busy couple of painting days