Classic Alfa Forums

Another mammoth amount of work done there mate.
Looking good. Shame the secondhand wings were a disappointment.

Been a while since I bought the wings mate, can't recall if I knew one was bent!

To be honest I spent 2 days messing around at them mate, not full on days, easily distracted by stuff like Terry showing me his VW campervan but I didn't mind, he was asking why it kept bottoming out, assumed it was all original. Then I pointed out where the front beam had been cut to lower it! He's a good fella though, in his 70's and still going at it with his own unit despite having some serious illnesses in the last few years. Every day is a bonus he says, why not spend it under cars!

Sort of a wasted afternoon

Went up with the intentions of sorting out the little bit in one corner of the rear roof, once the hatch was off it became clear the rot had got in further than I thought, or more accurately I guess further than I hoped!


The section that led back under the roof had rust pretty much all along..



Bit of grinding back and the fresh air started to be let in

Before I chopped any more out I set about making a repair panel as it curves in 2 directions, not a straight edge to be seen. It needed to follow the downward curvature towards the roof sides but it also curves forward at each corner. Just to add complication the lower edge has to follow the hatch line. With the hatch on you can't get at it, with the hatch off you have to use your imagination!

Started off with a straight folded angled piece, the fold needed opening out as it wasn't a 90deg fold needed, more like 60 deg.
Then it's just shrinking and stretching to create the curves in both directions.


Once those 2 curves were right the lower fold was marked out and an age spent folding it in the jenny wheel, being a now curved piece itself you couldn't put it in a straight folder...


After spending a couple of hours making this piece it became apparent that it wasn't good enough to use, the lower fold where it will need to follow the hatch just wasn't correct, I'd not allowed for the hatch being straighter than the roof skin

Slightly cheesed off I took stock and stepped back before throwing a fit.
Time to start again and acces the situation.


The repair piece got set to one side, put on the naughty step.


I attacked the rest of the roof section where it folded back under the roof. Eventually I found solid material but some reconstruction will be needed. There is a flaw in the design as far as I'm concerened. The top edge of the hatch has a rubber strip attached to it fills in the gap between the roof and hatch. When the hatch is raised this strip rubs along the roof edge, and rubs all the way back down when closing the hatch. Over time this rubs the paint off! I guess it would have been put there to cut down wind noise as it's right above the rear seat passengers heads, it only goes to the hinges so not for water management, it also traps all the leaves and crud to add to the fun! It won't be going back in.



A plan of action was devised including finally getting my new spot welder out of the box, the one I bought about a year ago!

Rather than start working at gone 6 (not that unusual for me) I had some sense to call it a day and knock off early.
On the drive home I've got a good plan sorted in my head on how to tackle it so that will have to wait until next week.
Back to work next week but off to Cadwell tomorrow and Saturday for some BSB action, the integrale will have to wait a bit longer

I admire your perseverance Kev.
I know the more accurate the metalwork the better, but sometimes, you need to accept you can use a bit of filler and primer to shape things up if the steel work is a bit wonky.
Power on mate, you're un faze-able .

I hear you mate.
I am guilty of spending too long looking and worrying about stuff rather than getting on and doing it and adapting as I go along, there's always filler to get things straight!

Just about got the rear roof sorted this afternoon.

Was giving me some grief trying to get anywhere near the correct shape as it dives in certain ways but is straight in others, keeping the rear edge somewhere near the correct thickness too along with the curvature of the roof....royal PITA

A return section needed welding to the roof opening first, about time I got the spot welder out I bought ages ago!


Rear section then welded in, passenger side rust had crept along the roof skin so that needed a deeper patch.

Will need a bit more shaping but at least the rot is now out and a solid base to work from.

Rear hatch I've stripped down so of course there's more welding to be done...

Rear roof has come out great Kev.
Sound as a pound.

Good effort Kev.

Keep going. You will be driving it before toooooo long!

Plan is for it to be on the road next year so I can at least go to the LMC AGM in it...


Not a lot done this afternoon, but still ticking along.

The front edge of the roof where the windscreen seal goes had some pitting but nothing too bad.
Once the rusty bits were dug out the simplest way was to thicken the metal up by welding onto it rather than cut it out and let in new steel, the inside face was perfect so the rust was only on the outside.

Ground back it all came out OK.

Still gave it all a coat of rust treatment to be sure then primed it.

The inner faces of the wings were then cleaned up, a few small dents dollied out and then a decent layer of stoneguard applied.



Next time I'll start prepping the underbonnet bits then finally the bodywork proper can start. Aim is to have the bodyshell painted fairly soon then the doors, bonnet etc done so it's all in red before too long...

Are you tempted to go the whole hog and do it in the martini colour scheme ? I would be.

Not tempted enough to do anything other than paint it the red, as that's been my dream car for so many years.

I do like the other colours, even like the subtle Martini stripes that were on the Martini6 Evo cars. But red it will be

red with the blue martini stripes

and graphite wheels

Getting to do some nice bits now, refurbishing some parts so they are ready to fit when the time comes rather than just seeming to go backwards.

I'd gathered up a few cast parts like the hubs ready to take to the shot blasters but then I thought about a technique that Terry down the units sometimes uses to get rid of rust, heat! First saw him doing it on a Morris Minor floorpan...seems logical when you think about it, when we use the Oxy/Acet to chop off exhausts the rust flakes off...

So with gentle heat (I mean a gentle heat, nowhere near getting anything red hot or such like) from the Oxy bottles the rust shits and flakes off which leaves a quick wire brush to clean any loose bits and it's ready for paint. I'd imagine a little gas blowlamp would easily do the job.


This is the front calipers which were both equally flaky.

Hubs were particularly corroded, much like something left in the sea!

When all the heating and cleaning had been done I fitted new wheel bearings into all 4 hubs so they shouldn't have to come out again..

Couple of coats of Hammerite this afternoon and they should be good for a few years.


It's tidying these bits up that encourages you to keep pressing on.

Back to the car soon to start the paint prep, a bit of straightening and filling to do but at least it will be in red this year.

Plan is to paint the parts in stages now I'm back in the original little unit.

Shell will be done first with 2 of the doors and the sunroof panel.

They will then vacate for the bonnet, hatch, front wings and other 2 doors to be done.

Plastics will be last, bumpers, various vents and mirrors etc.

This will allow me to have the space to get around everything with minimal risk of disaster!

With a bit of luck it'll all be in paint before too long, certainly before the year is out....

Did you prime the parts first or not bother? Thinking about doing my Mito calipers.

KevJTD wrote: Couple of coats of Hammerite this afternoon and they should be good for a few years.


It's tidying these bits up that encourages you to keep pressing on.

Too right mate.
Cracking on well and getting the "bits" moved along is a positive boost.
Good stuff.

Fascinating seeing this slowly come together. Great skill.

Sud 145 wrote:Did you prime the parts first or not bother? Thinking about doing my Mito calipers.

The Hammerite is direct to metal on cast/mild etc, only needs a primer on aluminium.
Guy Croft uses it on his race engine blocks so that's good enough for me

Wow your getting on with it. paint soon. Brilliant progress kev

KevJTD wrote:

Sud 145 wrote:Did you prime the parts first or not bother? Thinking about doing my Mito calipers.

The Hammerite is direct to metal on cast/mild etc, only needs a primer on aluminium.
Guy Croft uses it on his race engine blocks so that's good enough for me

Cheers Kev nice little job for me - 2 weeks hols.

Yes mate, hopefully it'll start to come together soon. Day off work tomorrow so got to get my arse in gear, be nice to get the body straight enough to put some primer on bits soon...


I'd have thought the Hammerite should be fine on your calipers Tony, it withstands the heat on engine blocks just fine as Guy testifies, I've never had any issue with any blocks I've painted having any peeling.
If you plan on de-rusting it with a blowlamp though I'd advise against it, I did mine but then I'm fitting new seals so didn't mind them melting a little!

A change of work opening times has curtailed my Saturdays for a while

But I did get a bit done to the shells' paint prep last Wednesday but it's all nothing exciting to look at, maybe I'll do some pics next time.


I have been trying to get on top of all the little details that often slow down progress though, hence the hubs etc being prepped ready to fit.



The hatchback hinges had quite a lot of play in them so that was a little job that needed doing, put to the back of your mind as these things often do.
I did think about them again last week though so brought them home to see what I could do.
Out of curiosity rather than any real hope I checked the usual places to see if there was any new ones knocking about, I didn't fancy paying £100+ each side though!
As luck would have it (sometimes luck is on my side) there was a new old stock passenger side one listed on ebay, £20 or best offer. Not wanting to resist a bargain I sent my offer in and luckily enough £10 inc postage got it!
That meant I had the choice of shelling out for a drivers side one or making one good from the two old ones.
When I strip some parts down like this I can see where Lancia lost so much money. Where other people just use stainless pins in steel brackets and expect you to put up with them wearing Lancia saw fit to use brass bushes in the brackets!
This mean that with only 2 of the 4 pivot points worn I could salvage the good bushes from the redundant hinge and press them into the hinge. There is now only a tiny amount of play which is a huge improvement over the 3mm or more movement they had.

One job I have been meaning to get around to for some time is to finish off the gearbox end casing so I can finally get it on the gearbox to seal it up.

I managed to break most of the mounting lug off when I took it all apart, now a few years ago..

I had it welded back over at a local engineers who said they'd have a go despite the big gap to bridge. It has come out pretty well considering.
I had to ream out the inner weld to make the hole good again but no big drama.
It looks to be strong enough but instead of taking a chance I have decided to make a bracing bracket that will use two of the mounting holes to spread the load a little, this should more than take away any risk of the lug breaking away again.

As usual, a cardboard template was made up then transferred to some 2.5mm steel.


It needed a little step in it as the two bolts holding it to the gearbox are slightly lower than the mounting lug, but being in 2.5mm steel it will give good strength while allowing a little deflection should it be needed when things get tightened up.

A coat of aluminium aerosol paint will help in blend in without giving a thick coat that may hinder bolt tightness.

I've got quite a few smaller jobs lined up in the coming weeks so a few evenings down the shed should help things tick along.

Good progress mate. Good idea making the support.
Lost the use of the lap top so using my photo...yuk!!

Yes mate, the gearbox end isn't supported solely by that lug as there is another bracket on the opposite side of the end casing that uses 2 other bolts through a separate bracket so it's at least not fully reliant on this damaged lug, but easier now to try and help it than try and repair it once all in!
I think it will clear everything....

Did a few jobs down the shed tonight, just to keep things ticking along.
Painted a few items, everything seems to be getting painted Hammerite black at the moment

Fitted the new bushes to the gearstick bottom pivot points, lucky to fit new bushes to take out a fair amount of play at the gear lever itself, all built up with rubber grease so should last a few years to come.

The gear change mechanism on top of the gearbox went back together all greased up with a new rubber gaiter which again I was fortunate to fall on some being back in stock.

There should have been a plastic cover over the top of the mechanism, mine was missing, didn't even know it should have one until I saw one for sale....should also have had a rubber gasket so I made one out of some neoprene sheet I had to hand.


As you will notice, the gearbox end casing is finally back on the gearbox.

The little bracket I made up to help support the damaged lug lines up nicely.


Not too much more to put back on the gearbox before the transfer case can go back on it then it can be put out of the way somewhere so I can get on with the engine.

This week will be a busy but hopefully fruitful week up at the unit.

The integrale will hopefully have a nice red bodyshell come the weekend...

The roof repairs are now all straightened out, the underbonnet and front panel have now had the underseal cleaned off, something that had been on my "jobs to avoid until I just have to" list.
A literal pain of a job, my fingers don't like rubbing in thinners into all the small crevises and creases with a rag, not my precious fingers

The plan this week is to paint the bodyshell, 2 doors and the sunroof panel then the rest when I can clear everything out, no room to paint everything in one hit..



The sunroof panel thankfully wasn't too bad once the seals etc were removed, just some corrosion on the seal seam that just needed treating, no need to trouble the welder.

The rear door was full of dents!
Mostly from being passed around all over the place, in the back of cars, lobbed against walls etc...sure it didn't have that many dings when I got them!

Not to worry I thought, knock them straight. Most were out of reach behind ribs though

Skim or two of filler and it'll be alright.

Things going well, soon be ready for primer, or so I thought..

The passenger front door I knew had some scabs on the outside but nothing serious, I thought..until I had a look at the underside where the seal was drooping...

Oh well, been here before. Usual process, cut out the door bottom then make a new panel.