SPRINT RESURRECTION

[Alfaoldgit]

Hi John, I have emailed you after spending most of the afternoon getting the offside insert out. The road spring makes an effective puller if you know what you're doing & are careful to mitigate the obvious danger............

AOG

[alfadave]

On my 1980 S2 Sud, I fitted complete later front struts, and converted to outboard vented discs. Also rear axle with drums, and rear acting handbrake.

All the bits came from a late Sprint via Justsuds. Fairly easy job, for an amateur spanner merchant like me.

Much better parts availability!

[Alfaoldgit]

Hi Alfadave, I take the point but I'm determined to try and keep this car as original as possible mechanically. It is an oddball with its S3 partial interior. It also has an S3 rear panel with the cut out for the S3 wash wipe contact plate but S1/2 boot internal strip which covers the cut out and an S1/2 tailgate with no wash wipe The old tailgate is meh, but I have a good S3 'gate with the wash wipe cutouts and washer nozzle and the replacement rear panel is also S3 - I am tempted to take advantage rather than have the body shop blank them. I know where I can get brand new parts to install
Thanks
AOG

[Alfaoldgit]

Hello folks (well, assuming anyone is reading this ) Here is a picture of the shell after its dunking at Envirostip. You'll notice the rear 3/4 panels are gone, they were so bad that it was decided to lop them off before it went. The shell is now in an alignment jig at the body shop; I'm going over to see it tomorrow & discuss what needs doing & likely cost.

Thanks to John @ Justsuds for supplying the missing roof bars & inner rear valance which delivered today.

[KevJTD]

Any more pix from the stripping process?

[Alfaoldgit]

First few pics, as it arrived from Envirostrip. You can see evidence of a repair to the top of the RH inner wing. The rear 3/4 panels were removed prior to stripping as they will be be replaced by new ones.

[Alfaoldgit]

The jig showed the LH front side was 3/4 inch higher than the left with local distortion. Not accident damage, suspected to be pothole impact to weakened shell. It will be corrected.

Where's my RH B post gone....and the sill, and the outer A post? Oh, there's the inner sill laid under the rear wheel arch (what's left of it)! All work will be photo'd or videoed, hence the tripod & phone. I tip my hat to those who do their own bodywork restoration, it's beyond my abilities. Yes, it's going to cost a bomb at this level of thoroughness but it gets done properly or not at all. This project is indeed a resurrection .

[Alfaoldgit]

After some (maybe all)of you have laughed at my insanity , I could do with the following please:

Rear window pockets both sides

LH outer A post (not the meaty bit the door hinges bolt to, the bit they pass through)

Closure plates at back of sills

I've already asked John at Justsuds, but I'm aware he's under the weather at present so not surprised he hasn't replied yet. If I can't get these then they'll have to be fabricated - do-able but expensive.

AOG

[Kegsti66]

Wow !! that is going to be a cracking motor when it is finished.
Looking forward to watching the progress.

[Gary Orchard]

Looks like you’re going to town with this project - looks great

Just a word of warning after the dipping - there are alloy spacers inside the from chassis rails where the subframe bolts to and also inside the bulkhead where the steering rack bolts in
Apparently the alloy can be dissolved by the acid !

Best to get these checked while the fabrication work is being done

[Alfaoldgit]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the tip, they are already on the check list. Should have more pictures for the interested next week. Expectation is that welding & fabrication won't be complete before the end of July.

Someone asked how the redundant glass sunroof hole was going to be filled. The answer I was given "English wheel contoured infill panel welded into existing roof panel" errm, what about distortion from welding? "Distortion will be minimal and easily corrected, we have done this several times before".

At the same facility are a DB7, a DB5, a Vantage & a Skyline GT-R, the Sprint is the street urchin

AOG

[KevJTD]

Looks in great hands
Is that an E coat after the dipping process rather than a wet prime?
Getting the replacement panels mentioned won't be that easy I'd think as most donor cars will be rusted out, B post aside ....
Yours looks remarkably good in the boot floor corners where the rear 1/4 meets, that vertical panel is often just mush.
Please keep the pix coming, an interesting one to follow

[Alfaoldgit]

Hi Kev,

Yes, the black finish is the E coating applied by Envirostrip. In an ideal world the shell would go back to them after repairs are complete and the whole process repeated. But at £4.5k a go, it's only really viable on a car that's going to be worth £100k plus. The shop are confident that they can apply suitable processes to repair panels/joints to stop corrosion forming. All the replacement panels to hand went to ES so they are all E coated too.

I have a complete NOS side frame for the offside (outer A post, B post, outer sill, inner sill B post to inner arch, arch half and roof frame. tailgate frame all the way to the rear panel) so that can be used as a mirror pattern to fabricate new for the nearside where needed. The stiffeners inside the sills have been nibbled by the tin worms along the bottom, most likely the shop will make new ones rather than repair them. I have a pair of pattern rear outer arches bought months ago, but as i now have NOS rear quarter panels these will get repurposed to repair the inner arches.

For anyone looking to import anything larger than about 1.8m long from Europe, DHL etc won't ship so you'll need to organise your own shipper & a customs warehouse and a UK Customs broker. This will cost an eye watering amount; I found it was the same cost to hire a Transit van for a week, ferry from Newhaven & 5 nights hotac plus you get some time for sightseeing if you plan carefully and more importantly your parts won't get damaged. You can self declare import to HMRC online in advance, pay up your UK VAT and go through the Green channel.

The back end has had a whole rear panel at some time, but badly executed & full of rot. I have a NOS replacement & John supplied an inner valance as that has evaporated such that it's no good as a template (got lucky, there). There are small repairs dotted about the boot floor, all were hidden under thick black paint but not anymore. All will be redone & ground flat. On a positive note, the rear spring turrets are in good nick.

Looks like John at Justsuds is going to come to my rescue with a nearside wing attach section, again the shop can fabricate a mirror. Both of these have been bodged on the car so its good to have an unadulterated template. Fingers crossed he has a window pocket or two. I'm kicking myself because a couple of months ago some NOS pockets were available in Germany, but they have sold in the meantime

Enough already before I become a bore or sound like I'm bragging

AOG

AOG

[alfadave]

Bye bye pension fund!
The Street Urchin will take a lot of it.

[Kegsti66]

This is going to be a great build, and you will not become a bore to us all. You are far from bragging and a nice bit of advice about importing stuff from Europe.
Thanks, again, for sharing your journey with us all.

[Alfaoldgit]

Hello again

Alfadave, yes it will. But with inflation reducing pension purchasing value by 10% & rising, plus rock bottom interest rates and a flaky stock market making it impossible to claw the loss back.......it's better than spending every morning reading the doom & gloom in the Torygraph Business section & at least I'll have the asset to enjoy. My son, only 28, had a Stroke last Sunday - you never know what's around the corner. He's expected to make a full recovery

Kegsti66, thanks.

Open question; the car has standard springs and 13" wheels with standard profile tyres so by today's standards it looks jacked up on cotton reels. I have a set of 14" Cloverleaf wheels on which I'm, going to put 185/60 boots.........so should I stick to standard springs or put the shorter ones offered by Sudshop (35-40mm drop)? I seem to recall my Sud GC eating its front tyre inner shoulders on standard springs despite being tracked zero toe. Bear in mind the Sprint will only ever see a track day as a spectator & I'm not looking to turn it into a street racer either.

Opinions?
AOG

[KevJTD]

The 13's were 165/70s I think weren't they? In which case the 14's will only be around 1/2" bigger in diameter (so 1/4" closer to the arch) which won't "fill the gap" too much. If it's asthetic appeal that you're after then there'd be room for the drop, but maybe try it first on the original setup?

And yes, please do keep the pictures and details coming. It's nice to see what must be a fair amount of money being spent on a Sprint, this level of craftmanship doesn't come cheap so it's a labour of love over a profit search, so that's to be applauded.

Sorry to hear about your Son's Ill health, it brimgs home how fragile we really are and how we fuss about the silly stuff rather than enjoying life. Good luck to him with that.

[Alfaoldgit]

Kev that's sound advice. I can throw it back together with the old springs and see what it's like without financial outlay - there's enough of that already, just had the first invoice

A few more pictures later this evening.

AOG

[Alfaoldgit]

More pictures.
Here we see OS floor rot just fwd of the rear bulkhead adjacent to where the inner sill should be.

Repair section fabricated & welded in, the very first repair. It gets better from now on

OS rear floor repaired & cleaned up

OS front floor repaired, neat welding!

I think this is the OS inner sill, with a new bottom edge welded on. Note the shop clean floor apart from the tidy small pile of scrap on the floor. As an apprentice, everyday I saw on the hangar wall in 2ft high letters "cleanliness is essential for good maintenance" - it's stuck & is the first thing I look for.

[Alfaoldgit]

Today's update. Newly made sill inner webs.

[Alfaoldgit]

In order to save money on repairing the roof it has been decided to convert the car into a Superlegerra / Senza Tetto variant

[Alfaoldgit]

Elsewhere, the offside inner sill and web is now installed. Outer sill, outer A & B post pressing trial fit in last 3 pics. It can't go on yet as it has to be part used to produce a mirror image for the nearside. The missing arch inner edge has been rebuilt. The majority of the work has been done by the young guy in the pictures who joined as an apprentice; good to see a business training up skilled technicians.

[KevJTD]

Some great work and they're cracking on with it
Have you found a new roof skin then? Or a decent used, non sunroof replacement maybe?
Really nice project to follow, just glad to watch and not have the bills that come with it!
But you can be safe in the knowledge that it'll be the most solid and rust free Sprint around

[Alfaoldgit]

Hi Kev,

The "old" roof is holed in both top forward corners and rear offside corner; can be repaired plus of course filling the sunroof hole. A used roof panel is available but its condition is unknown at present. Of more concern is the rear reinforcement which also forms the lip the tailgate seal sits on. It was always iffy as to whether it would survive dipping - it hasn't. Again, the shop can fabricate a whole new lump. In both cases though, cost comes into the equation - it may be less expensive to use good used parts. Although I can generously fund this project, money is finite & I haven't touched the engine yet.

This car has been seriously bodged at some time . The left hand rear window pocket has had its outer top three inches chopped off along its entire length - not apparent until the 3/4 panel was taken off because the top flange remnant was still welded to it! The left inner sill reinforcement (web) has had a plain length of metal welded onto it at about dimple hole mid height to replace what's rotted off. The fun continues on the A post behind the outer wing where a collection of steel confetti has been welded on to fill holes, likewise the inner wing near & behind the turret (the latter being the exception and neatly done). All well hidden by underseal, but not now the dipping has stripped it off.

I get the impression this car has been passed around (10 recorded owners) and either bodged or abandoned and sold on. Cinderella? Prince Charming recently gave Cinders new Toyo Proxies on refurbished Campagnalo 13" alloys but then ran away, so I guess I'm the fairy Godmother . But then how many repairable tin bumper Sprints come on the market?

[KevJTD]

It's a similar story for the vast majority of classics really, the values dip down to virtually nothing at some point in their lives (usually before they even reached 10 years old in most cases) and they continued to be tacked together just enough to pass the MoT back in the day. When the car was only worth a couple of hundered pounds then people weren't going to spedn big money keeping them perfect, one way to look at it is that the "bodged" ones were the lucky ones! All too often back in the day the quote of say £300 to replace sills and some other work to get a car through another years test when it was only worth £200 meant people just scrapped them, the ones that survive now are ones that were lucky enough to get another few years of being held together with gum and good will and then someone with the foresight to stash them away until they became desirable again.
So don't fall into the trap of thinking you've got a dog that shoukld have been put down years ago (common sense back then meant it should have been...) but carry on the love for it that others have previosuly done in saving it from becoming bean cans many years ago.
The lengths you are prepared to go to is commendable. The financial outlay many won't realise how much this project will swallow, but this level of craftmanship won't come cheap. But by going into it at such a level at least you can be assured it won't give out a surprise in 5 years time in an area you hadn't thought to look at.

This car is one of the lucky ones, it had enough people to care about it in the past and now its' found you, well done indeed.
And for what it's worth I think you still have one of the more solid cars, areas on that shell still look good where I've seen them just be crumbled rust, OK the usual places are rotten and have been repaired, but then they all have! The cars that are advertised as "never been welded"....

It's not just an Alfa or indeed Italian thing either, as an apprentice I learnt to weld on Austin Maxis' and Ford Cortinas etc which all rotted out within their first 5 years of life as everythiong did. The difference was that customers wanted "British" cars so they got repaired at the used car dealers and a fresh coat of paint before being sold on to a new owners who proclaimed how good condition it is in compared to the foreign cars, which gave the Italian stuff the bad reputation as they weren't worth the investment by the garage to make tidy, so the cycle continued.

But your car has come out the other side and has been assured a future, be proud of what you're doing.

[StescoG66]

Great post Kev

[Alfaoldgit]

Kev, thank you for your kind words of encouragement. You're right to say that the "bodgers" have to an extent, saved the car. But I reserve the right to moan about them now & again - particularly when I have spent ages scraping red paint off various plastic & rubber parts because they weren't masked off or removed

Next week the trimmer is going to present his estimate to make & fit a new headlining...................I think I'll have plenty of time to save up!

AOG

[Alfaoldgit]

After a break for the Jubilee last week, work is progressing. The offside rear quarter is on, the A post & outer sill installed & the door rehung. Unfortunately the door didn't survive Envirostrip as well as hoped and the bottom two inches have had to be reskinned.

The inner wing shows scars from previous repairs! Progress on the offside is now on hold awaiting a replacement rear window pocket and fabrication of a new wing attachement rail/flitch panel.

[Alfaoldgit]

The nearside is a different story. The sills haven't been touched yet with work limited to repairing the B post, clean up and the removal of the old rear window pocket. I don't know why the pics are on their side, but if you click on them they should open the right way up.

The focus of attention is the A post which as you can see has seen better days. A new NOS one is to hand.

The top of the inner wing has been subject to investigation................

[Alfaoldgit]

The outer A post is being fabricated from scratch, note the welding. This item is eating up man hours & it's a pain that I couldn't find a replacement anywhere (someone will say "I've got one!" now).

There's been a bit of a rethink on the roof as an unadulterated second hand roof panel has become available which is more cost effective than filling the sunroof aperture in the original roof although there is the challenge of shipping it. Also waiting on the window pockets and wing rail, but there's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime. I dragged my long suffering wife to Folkestone on Tuesday to CE Design to get the dip beam lamps resilvered & various bits yellow zinc plated then over to Bognor Regis on Wednesday to pick up two used front legs, primarily for the spring pans. May have hit gold though as the shox are the original upside down ones. Fingers crossed they are Konis; for now I'll make do with new conventional inserts in the leg casings I've had refurbed.

Finally (yes, I'm nearly done) the new rear panel and inner valance are installed and the two small holes in the boot floor patched.