Classic Alfa Forums

This afternoon I broke my no going up to the unit on a Sunday rule...the draw of flatting and polishing the new paintwork was too much to resist, plus leaving it for another week would have made harder work of it!

Happy with the results, 5 or 6 hours on a Sunday afternoon well spent in my book.

Next time I'm up there now I can fit the suspension back on then move the car to the big unit out of the way so I can get on with repairing the rear hatch...

Very happy with the way the rear aches and door shuts have come out considering how far the repairs went in, not only the outer wheel arch extensions but the inner arch steps were recreated quite extensively.

Rear section of roof too, that had some sections let in and pretty much the whole width of the vertical return has been renewed along with the section going into the gulley.

Windscreen surround though I'm really chuffed with, welded across the outer A pillars both sides, that has come out really nice.

Looks stunning chap

Looks great, very shiny....well done.

wow looks great!

I am in the process of taking rust out of my HF turbo. Not wanting to hijack the thread but how do you remove those black roof side rail trim pieces? I found the three screws down the windscreen but the roof rail wont budge and I don't want to break it.

Hi mate, thanks!
From memory (which should be better, wasn't that long ago I took the rails off!) the side rails roll towards the roof, twist if you like, then go upwards.
I will check for you next time I'm up there which most likely won't be until the weekend.
Pretty sure there are just the screws on the A pillar which you've found, no more fasteneres hidden!

Incredible work as always Kev.

rsfruitbat

KevJTD wrote:Hi mate, thanks!
From memory (which should be better, wasn't that long ago I took the rails off!) the side rails roll towards the roof, twist if you like, then go upwards.
I will check for you next time I'm up there which most likely won't be until the weekend.
Pretty sure there are just the screws on the A pillar which you've found, no more fasteneres hidden!

Thanks Kev, that was all the info i needed. Put of pressure in the right direction and they came right off.

streamz wrote:

KevJTD wrote:Hi mate, thanks!
From memory (which should be better, wasn't that long ago I took the rails off!) the side rails roll towards the roof, twist if you like, then go upwards.
I will check for you next time I'm up there which most likely won't be until the weekend.
Pretty sure there are just the screws on the A pillar which you've found, no more fasteneres hidden!

Thanks Kev, that was all the info i needed. Put of pressure in the right direction and they came right off.

Brilliant, glad to help, and actually remember something useful!

Suspension refitted now, some of it will stay on, most will get the refurbished items fitted in time.
That meant that it could be taken out and stashed away in the big unit allowing the other panels to be tackled.

With that out of the way the hatchback could finally get some much needed attention.

Everything stripped off OK apart from the release handle, the tiny 5mm studs were spinning in the handle with absolutely no chance of getting a drill or grinder in to release the nuts

A quick search to see if any were available for sale in the usual places revealed nothing..

I have another complete hatch left over from the white HF I broke last year, 2 of the 3 retaining nuts came undone.

So choices were to search for the hens teeth, a useable and affordable replacement handle or sacrifice the spare hatch to get at the spinning nut. Unfortunately for the hatch it had to make the sacrifice. It was a pretty rusted hatch anyway but I still hate to condemn it, but it was the only choice.


So with the handle now released from the outer section of white hatch that I chopped out that was sorted..

Now to start assessing the repairs needed to my hatch...

The straight repairs will be easy enough, the curved ones need a little more thought to it.

To start with it's important to make a template of the curvature before you chop anything more out, the gulley here is where the window seal sits so needs to be reasonably like for like.

Once you have an idea of what's needed then the rot can be cut back as far as needs be

As there is few folds and turns to the corner section I have made it up in 2 sections, one to get the curvature right for the seal seat then another one to fill the rest in.

I will butt weld the flatter section then the curved one will be welded to it from inside the hatch so I can leave plenty of weld join on it. A new inner section will then be made up and spot welded to the outer.


All for next time...

Kev, you should publish an illustrated guide to restoration to help and inspire others. It might even make you some money or you could end up on the discovery channel !

+1. It really is inspirational stuff, I wish I had the skill...

Only way I'd get on the Discovery channel is the "where did you bury the Mrs" program
To be fair to her, she does leave me alone to get on with these things, or more to the point she's bored with moaning about the time spent...

Today the tailgate got the full attention...quite a few bits to do in the end.

First job was to weld in those patches I made up last time.



Inner face needed a bit of repairs too, at least I got to use my new spot welder again!

Various smaller sections needed doing, some inside some outside but all the same. Rust, cut it out, make a patch, weld it in, grind it smooth...repeat.

Piece of card I originally cut for the shape reference just for one last check.





Eventually though it is now all solid again so it got hung upside down on the paint stand and some etch put on, loads actually on the inside so it ran down between the new welds...




The drivers door....surely just a clean up needed......


Not as bad as the passenger one though, but it'll have to wait until next time, that will be something to look forward to!

Had to work all day today so no chance to get anything much done for the car, but did manage to do a job I'd been thinking of for a few weeks whilst quiet this afternoon

Front wings I like to paint the shut lines, arch lip etc all in one go so laying down on a trestle causes problems.

You can buy proper stands for them but I thought something could be knocked up for a fraction of the price

The base for the stand is a brake disc, brilliant for the task as it's very stable, takes a lot to unbalance it.

The rest is just made up of pieces of angle etc that I had knocking about.

The little arms where the wing mounting holes sit on the frame can be rotated through almost 180 deg so that they each have about 8" of adjustability, so about 16" variation to suit just about any bolt spread on differing wings!

I made an arm that can be adjusted to rest against the back of the wing to hold it forward a little plus gain a bit more stability but I may alter that bit to rest against the long section of the wing.

Overall though for not a penny spent I'm happy to have a pair of wing spraying mounts which will aslo unbolt for easy stowage...

That's brilliant kev .love the adjustability of it too.that will get some use I'm sure

If you could have a rear disc with bearing in it as in a C3 would it be better still ?

Mind you it would have to wait till a restoration show or similar rather than post it.

Johnboy wrote:That's brilliant kev .love the adjustability of it too.that will get some use I'm sure

As said mate, simple but so effective.
Top work on the 'grale really making good progress.

Amongst the excitement of the Y10 arriving I did actually manage to get some work done!


The drivers door looked a bit crusty near the bottom hinge and I'd also seen the bottom plate around the seal mount was needing some mending.

All the old oil and underseal got washed off with some thinners then things got assessed.

Luckily the corrosion was limited to the inner edge of the door skin and a small section of the door frame, only about an inch or so, which meant a pretty easy repair without having to go into the front face.

Next job, the bottom plate under the door..

Again luck was on my side, the outer skin wasn't at all bad with the rust contained just in the edge of the folded over door skin and the sandwiched door frame.


Rot cut out and new patch made up ready for fitting..



Welded in..


And ground down after a new section of door skin fitted in

A couple of holes further along where the seal had been attached, the front hole was simple enough but the rear one needed the remaining section of seal retaining strip removing to gain access.


The retaining strip then went back on as it was in good condition but the section in-between needed a new one making.

The door is ready now to start on the sanding and paint prep, pretty confident there's no more rust on it that will need the welder....


Hopefully on Wednesday I can have a look at the rear door and fingers crossed no surprises....

This afternoon I got that chance to look at the rear door, planned on just sanding it down to bare to rid all the black and be sure.
Glad I did, although it didn't look at all bad there was a few areas loaded with filler. Quite a neat job in itself, no visible signs before but the decision to take it all off despite the hours of work I'm creating was justified by this little patch

Surface rust under the filler, panel probably wasn't dry when it went on? Anyway, glad I took it all off despite me now facing more work to straighten it all out again!
Sanded back to bare but when I went to spot blast it the grit in the bag was slightly damp so it wouldn't fire so have left it for now until next time when I'll have some dry grit!

Bonnet to strip apart next, sure it won't need anything, fingers crossed the vents come out OK...

Amazingly the vents that I thought were plastic are actually alloy, bugger was my first thought, the little 6mm bolts holding it on will surely not come undone....but they all did!

There was a nice pile of pine needles trapped under the water diverter which had allowed moss to grow in a big clump!

Everything came off OK, even the sound deadening in one piece, but then the rust curse returned....a naughty scab near the hinge.
With the hinge off and a quick dig with the knotted wheel it soon dug a nice hole!

Time to get cutting.

Outer skin cut away to the reinforcer then a new plate made up with the aid of the remaining section to get the mounting holes located.

Tacked in place using the mounting bolts to hold it in place.

Seam welded all round then ground back.

The eagle eyed may think I've missed a plug weld...that was left open so once ground back I could pour in some rust treatment between the layers, once that's dried I'll do the same with some thinned etch.

Great work as usual Kev, now racing’s over I’ll have a ride over and have a look at the integrale. I bet you can’t wait to get it built up and running. Last bit of mild weather to paint it and winter to build it up ?

Great stuff Kev, that little minx is fighting you all the way with her rust spots, and as always, you step up and deal with it.