Classic Alfa Forums

Well, after enjoying 3,500 trouble-free and smile-inducing miles since I bought her and with the tax due to run out at the end of the month, it's time to get my little beauty on SORN and to give her the TLC she deserves over the winter months.

Watch this space. During October, we'll be dropping the engine and inspecting all mechanical components with a view to renewing or replacing as necessary as we go along.

Let the fun begin. Stay tuned for more with occasional updates with pictures here...

Good luck, hope it doesn't get too costly.
Are you looking at just mechanical or bodywork?
Look forward to the updates.

Thanks Kegsti. Looking at the mechanicals firstly.

The miles I've done in her have allowed me to give her a thorough shake down and I now have a good idea of what's likely to be needed to bring her back to A1 condition.

This is after the car had been rescued from an open garage after being on display at a motor museum in Wales for a good many years. The car changed hands a couple of times without being touched before having a lot of recommissioning work done by an Alfa Romeo-trained technician by the name of Lez Youles of Kingham's in Croydon. (Gary Orchard may be able to fill in a few blanks here).

Lez got the car back on the road and used it until last year when I bought 'Alfie' (as Lez called her) last March.

A respray is on the cards too as long as my wallet can stand it! Look out for updates starting soon.

looking forward to following the progress over the coming winter mate, hope it doesn't reveal any serious issues

running it for a few miles as a shakedown was a good idea, gets you an idea of how things are

Hi Colin

Sorry that it took a while for me to reply - had quite a few things to sort out over the last 2 months

Les did not work for Kingham's - it was Spur Garage in Wimbledon where he worked with me and also Harry White & Gary Walker who now have their own Alfa specialist garage - Bianco Auto Developments and Ian Brookfield also worked there - it was called T & B Garage when we all started there and changed name to Spur in the mid 80's.

Your sprint is a very solid car - I think the time it spent in the museum saved it - also that it had the respray - the interior is one of the best around

From what I recall of the bit Les did it was brakes all round,new calipers at the front and rebuilt rears,new pads and flexi hoses - new fuel pipes - new driveshaft boots - new exhaust - new tyres - all new belts on the engine and a full engine service/carb tune. The original marelli distributor was changed to a bosch system as the advance mechanism was seized solid - after all of that it drove very well when I had a quick drive of it.

Les also did a few bits of bodywork on the car - the bonnet was painted properly and a few bits around the car were blown in aerosol with cans to tidy it up - I think the passenger front wing had a few holes in it that got filled and painted over

I remember Les saying about the respray job that it was good and bad - good that it had saved the car but bad the it was not a great job,lots of micro blisters and quite a few annoying bit like some of the glass had sanding marks from it not being removed and there were a few bits of trim not fitted back properly or lost

What are your plans with some of the unique bits like the side stripes and rear spoiler ?

Overall this has the makings of one of the best chrome bumpered sprints around with a quality paint job and careful reassembly - looking forward to seeing the progress

Hi Gary.

Thanks for filling in a few details for me.

Spur Garage: Respect!

All the car's invoices whilst Lez worked on it were included with the sale. Many were for parts delivered to Lez C/O Kinghams of Croydon hence my assumption that Lez worked there.

The work that Lez did on the brakes etc is top quality and allowed the car to go through the MOT without advisories. The tax has run out now so the car is on SORN ready for its bout of TLC.

Lez was right. The respray was one that I would call a good five metre job in that it looks great from that distance away but get closer and you begin to see the orange peel effect and the micro-blisters due to the primer not having had chance to dry out properly before the top coat was applied but nevertheless this probably saved the car during its stay in the museum. Luckily, the underside is corrosion-free.

Side stripes? I managed to pick up a set on my travels (I'm an Alfasud spare parts hoarder by nature) and have found a firm that have said that they can make a fair job of overhauling the rear rubber spoiler, which is just as well as I have been unable to source a NOS item.

The car plus an extensive number of spare parts collected by me over the last decade is due to be transported up to an Alfa Specialist in Scotland at the end of this month to undergo a mechanical overhaul and to have a proper respray.

Wish me luck and watch this space for regular updates.

Update! After a few false starts due to illness and holidays, my baby at last went away today for refurbishment to commence.
Watch this space for updates!

...and updates in the AROC mag please col, I've missed your column

OK Kev. You got it.

Looking forward to seeing the progress Colin.

Do you have a Sprint Speciale brochure?

If not I will scan mine and email it to you.

I'd appreciate that Dave. Thank you.

Making a start on removing the engine and gearbox. It's a long, long road...

Looking forward to the journey.
Thanks for sharing it.

glad to see you're starting with a car with 4 useable jacking points

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Progress.
Strip-down and cleaning, degreasing and repainting of parts commences:

More progress photos:

And the last for now:

Excellent progress!

Here are a few more photographs as the work of refitting the new and refurbished parts to the engine continues.

Stripped block and sump before...

...and after refurbishment with new water pump and repainted sump pan refitted with new gasket.

Coming along nicely.

Cleaned, degreased and repainted gearbox and diff' unit on the bench.

All core plugs replaced with new.

More...

New complete three-part clutch goes in.

Looking good as work progresses. The cambelts and tensioners have been replaced with new.

Excellent attention to detail.

Heads refitted with custom black crackle finish rocker covers.



Further updates soon as work progresses.

Looking good

loving the swift progress mate, guess that comes with getting the pros' on the job

crackle finish looks ace

Great work!

The rocker covers took a few attempts and a lot of patience to get right but I'm pleased with the end result.

The work's moving along nicely and Euan and the lads at CP Garage are doing a great job.

It's early days yet of course but so far so good.

I like the way the car is being rebuilt by Euan and the lads at CP Garage.

I didn't want to go down the 'over-restored' route and wanted to retain a bit of honest patina and this is exactly how the rebuild is being tackled.

Here's more progress photos:


Carbs being stripped down.


Rebuilt with Weber overhaul kits


Rebuilt carbs remounted to engine


Nearly there


New calipers mounted to gearbox unit on the bench


Not 'over-restored' but still with a patina

Very, very pleased with the way things are going. I just hope that there’ll be no nasty surprises further down the line...

Looking good chap ! Nasty surprises ? It's an alfa . Of course there won't be any

Looks very good, but one thing that came into my mind:
Aren't the calipers mounted the wrong way? I think the hoses should point forward. Mechanically it shouldn't make any difference.

looking great mate.
nice to see they've put coppergrease in with the new clutch slave, they are a bugger for seizing in the housing.

looks a perfect blend of restoration