Classic Alfa Forums

Great work Kev. Hope you've got the heater on in there, the wind-chill this afternoon meant I could only manage half and hour on the Nova before I lost all feeling in my fingers!

Top work Kev

the front doorshuts have a cover plate that goes over the hinges together with a seal for the edge of the door skin as well as the normal seal to the seam, bet it helps keep the weather and noise out.

I painted all parts so that they match, especially the inner door tops

nice clean line to the sill, as it still should be as it can't have moved much since I did the repairs!

drivers side door shut built up ready to accept that door. note the mess I've made inside the car....sorry rich hope I can remember where everything goes.....

Look great Kev . Shouldn't be to long now till it's finished be the look of it

Nice dashboard....!

Kev, are you some sort of time lord ?
You seem to get at least 48 hours in a day. It amazes me how much you get done. Are you sure you can't freeze time ?

don't know about freezing time, the temp up there the other day was freezing something else off

Keith, I'm with you on that one.. It appears there's about 10 extra hours in a day over Lincs way !

first job this afternoon was to fit the drivers door, bolted to the car is far safer than perched atop the workbenches

the rear doors and bonnet are the last panels that were painted so need flatting and polishing.

first step is to block sand them with 1500 wet&dry paper using a rubber block to smooth out any orange peel and dust.
seems counter-productive as you go from a nice shiny paint finish down to a very dull state!
after that I use the attachment to the DA sander that has the trizac disc which is about a 3000 grit pad which actually starts to bring a shine back, more so than i'd noticed before. simple enough to use, just wet the panel with water and go over in smooth lines.
next stage is the G3 liquid compound which gets you back almost to a finished stage, this I apply with a big machine polisher but it can be done by hand, just is a lot of hard work that way! a very messy job as you use water with the compound which gets stuff flicked all over the place, an old bin bag waistcoat keeps me semi clean
after that I use the G3 glaze which I got from the paint suppliers, a very fine polish which is almost the last stage. smells very nice which helps! this requires a soft pad attachment to the polisher but again it is ok to do by hand.
the last stage is the G3 wax which should hopefully seal the shine in. again it smells great and is pretty easy to use, just like a normal wax polish.

these are the products, all very good pro grade stuff. not cheap but effective

Bloomin good stuff the Farecla range, i use the G3 gear aswell


Looking very nice mate, but i bet your poor old compressor air filter is overdue a blow out!

compressor air cleaner did get a blow out the other week mate, was pretty clogged to say the least! really should get a fresh air feed pipe rigged up for it...

I brought the door handles and drivers door mirror home to give them a clean and polish as they were in quite a poor state, mainly from being with me for 6 months in the workshop!

here's a before & after shot....
I've now done them all and have come up pretty well, even the little screws that hold the door lock button in place came undone on them all to make the cleaning easier, lovely little car that it is

Smashin!

Looking good kev

Shows what high quality cars Lancia were in that era. On my Sud I have no keys, and tried to undo one door handle, but it does not want to come out

as the bolt or nut just keeps rotating to no effect. Have you any idea if a mobile locksmith could match a key up or does one need to get the handle

to them ?

had a couple of aborted attempts last time out to fit the rear window, the roof lining not wanting to stay in place though rendered it pointless.

armed with a pack of edge clips this afternoon I finally got the glass back in
getting the stainless trim back into the seal was a complete pain, too stiff to manoeuvre it about much and the fear of slipping and scratching the paint kept me on edge....but thankfully it all went back in with no damage done
the rear doors could then be hung back onto the car at last, i'd been avoiding doing them so I could easily get in and out of the back when fitting the rear glass

once hung I could give all 4 door bottoms a good dose of stoneguard to help protect them in the future. they'd all been previously primed and seam sealed. the stoneguard should have nicely gone off by next visit so it'll get a good dose of waxoyl before the door cards get re-fitted
the front doors got some of the furniture back on them, stainless door surrounds and handles etc
i'd painted the inner door tops as the door card finished a couple of inches short of the window, door frames too even though most of it is now covered over!
getting quite close now to it being near done so ready for the axles and suspension to go back on soon.

still got the under-bonnet furniture to put back in place so I can refit the dash pieces but until I get all the parts back and see what needs fitting first i'll leave it for now

Looking great Kev

Highly impressed. Unlike myself you appear to know exactly what your doing, and only do it once

junior wrote:Highly impressed. Unlike myself you appear to know exactly what your doing, and only do it once

just an illusion mate

been all over the place today, ended up at the unit. decided a much needed tidy up was in order, filled 2 bin bags with old making etc

did manage to do a little though...

Top job Kev.
Have to ask, do you have a hand fitting the doors back on ?
There is no end to your talents.
Superb .

no, all by my lonesome mate.
front doors weren't too bad, the hinge slid into a slot in the door so not much could go wrong with that....apart from dropping the door I guess! which I didn't I hasten to add!

rear doors were a bit different. the hinges were held to the B pillar with cross head screws which were too tight to undo with a screwdriver, an impact driver would have shifted them but you couldn't get at the 2 outer ones for the door in the way.
couldn't see any option but to take the hinge pins out which thankfully they came out quite easily as far as hinge pins go.
was a bit nervy though trying to balance the door on my knees while trying to line up both hinges and putting a pin in.


the rear one isn't closed properly in that pic, hence the big gap. hadn't fitted the catch at that stage....then didn't take another pic, doh!

went up to the unit this afternoon mainly to collect some bits and bobs to tackle the delta tomorrow but whilst there I put a few more bits on

also took the opportunity to put the tetrosyl waxoyl into the door repairs and in the sill cavities

the doors had already been done with a stoneguard product a week or so ago so that had had time to go off proiperly

with the waxoyl heated up and sprayed in with an old underseal gun I keep just for that job it flowed in quite nicely.

hope it doesn't flow out too much on a summers day

It won't do any harm Kev if some seeps out the joints

had a few hours up at the fulvia this afternoon, not seen much of it lately so went to check all was well and tidy a few things up.

gave the rest of the car a going over with the G3 glaze & wax so think that's about the whole car done polished now

almost a mini forum meet today, as shrew said

had Richard, tim & shrew as visitors in one capacity or another not forgetting jixer who took great delight in clearing the snow from outside on the walls

rich brought down many newly refurbished parts which look great mate, nice job done

everyone gone by 5-30 so couldn't resist offering up the rear axle which looks great with a fresh coat of chassis black, refurbished calipers, new bearings, refaced discs etc.

a bit of a struggle to get the hangers refitted up as being leaf springs they've relaxed back and needed stretching out a little to make the mounting holes but happy to see it hanging back on the car again.
temp down to zero again when I left the unit about half 7 but i'd worked up a sweat by then so didn't seem a hardship

will have a trip up again tomorrow to do some more

Well done Kev a thoroughly enjoyed afternoon seeing the car in all it's freshly painted glory, starting to take shape with a few bits of chrome work back on now. The car looks spot on great colour, great 70's looks.. Can't wait to see it ready for the road. I'll press on with cleaning and painting some more parts up and get them across ASAP..

had a sort through a few bits today to see what's next to go back on, under-bonnet stuff needs to go back in place in a certain order or access will be impossible for certain stuff.
unfortunately i'd overlooked this little fact and not told rich about which parts I needed back......the heater pipes being one of the first things needing to go back in....which of course he has my bad

still, I did get the refurbished heater box fitted back in that he'd made a nice job of....just a shame it is all hidden inside the car and not in the engine bay like I think I told him, sorry mate
poked most of the wires back through which need a little tidying, all cables back through for the heater controls and bonnet release, once i'd remembered what went where. helped that I took a print of the pics I took before it all came out.

the heater blower and housing along with the wiper motor linkages have all been cleaned up very nicely by rich but they'll have to wait a little while before going in because of the lack of heater pipes.

i'll get down again weds afternoon to do a bit more, still got the rear axle to finish off installing plus a few more little jobs like fitting the door cards and the remaining door seals, but it's starting to look a lot better now with bits going back on

bit more done, late start and earlyish finish so another slacker afternoon

started to put things back in place under the bonnet this afternoon.

first off the wiring loom sections were wrapped in the same cloth tape as I used on the S1 sud, really nice period stuff rather than the shiny electrical type stuff. shame it's all tucked away out of sight once in place though! still got some to do to the engine loom but need to figure out where bits poke out from it as it's all a bit loose now and I've not had one of these in so don't know where all connections are, may have to hang on until the engine is back in place

dropped a clanger by fitting the heater motor, centre of car under scuttle panel as it needs to be out of the way for the heater pipes, knew there was a reason why I didn't fit it last sunday! only 2 screws though so no big deal. tested it first off before fitting to ensure it works on both speeds

the motor and trunking have been cleaned up really nice by Rich and look great under there, air scoop is very elaborate really but very much in keeping with the over-engineered feel of the car
front doors have a little red warning light in them as a lot of new stuff, tested the holder and wiring before fitting. everything in place for the door cards to go on but then realised i'd not got a key that fits the door lock so will hang on with the front ones until I know we're safe
rear door cards though were fitted once all parts were cleaned and the plastic liners refitted to stop any water from the window getting onto the door cards

Smart !!