Classic Alfa Forums

Hi all

I'm posting this up on behalf of PhilTheBrick, in the hope that he will take up the baton and carry on putting his great Sud build info up.

To start from the absolute beginning, i bumped into Phil at my local BP station a couple of years ago. I was gassing up my old gold Sprint, and he was working in the kiosk/shop area, and had seen me pull in.

As the fuel pump hit second mortgage for half a tank, i just caught some sort of abusive comment regarding Alfa's, probably something like don't put too much in, it will only make the flames higher! so i turned in the audible direction to see this fella coming across the forecourt, giggling and smiling, and soon to be reminiscing about all the old alfa's hed owned and still missed and loved today.

Suds were his thing, and like many his age (ahem!) marriage, family, children, work had become the norm, and although still a real big fan, had become a modern Fiat owner mostly.

Phil only lived a stones throw from the BP, and i was only 2 mile further, and as we parted, i handed him a card, and my parting shot was "when you're ready, i'll get you in another sud, and go fetch it for you" etc etc etc

A few weeks later, the phone rang, "its me, Phil, BP petrol Station"

"yes mate, how are you?"

"fab, how much to fetch a sud i just bought?"


So this we did, and once again he was knee deep in metalwork, Sud bits, and thoughts of "what have i done?"



2 years on, and whilst the juggle of family and work is tough for all of us, Phil has made good progress, with essentially a bare shell rebuild of a late 4 door.

A DIY kinda guy, he's put a lot of work into the floor, inner wings and engine bay, screen surround, sills, etc etc, and i was there to lend a hand myself the other day with piecing together the ns rear quarter and arch, and so this is what we have so far


and the crowning glory, well glories actually, will be a beautiful set of 14" Compomotive Pent Star alloys with very tasty Yoko A048 tyres (now i wonder where he got them!) and a very nicely prepared 1712cc 8v motor.


Phil is pretty much there with the main body and chassis work, and will be turning his attentions very soon to the doors, bonnet, and tailgate.

and apparently, i'm going to be painting it!

I just love cars which you strip down to find out that there's only 1 layer of paint on them and hardly any filler !!!

Makes you happy to work with them


Was a bit confused when I saw the 8v SC, as I thought it would be a SuperCharged 1.7 8v engine !

Car looks great by the way. Very nice and straight lines

Thanks Chris


this is the encouragement Phil needs to hear.

Ive told him he's doing a grand job of it, and that its going to be a lovely car when done.


The fact that you already think its a great solid and straight car is testament to that, as i've only been involved so far in a somewhat advisory capacity (shoulder to cry on!) and the latest nearside rear quarter which was a bit tricky because its actually formed from three pieces, including a 2 door repair arch, not a 4 door, which was a tad tricky to get right with the other bits.

Thats it, Phil has done the rest, and to a good standard.

The car will be going back to Rosso 130 red, Graphite Grey wheels, tastefully lowered on something like just suds springs, and i think a Petrol Head exhaust to compliment the 40's and filters.


Proper Sud!

Nice project and he seems to know what he's doing !
Nice of him let you put some runs in it for him too

yeah i thought that!



cheeky!

Good work on the Sud!

Looks like very solid work.
It's going to be a very nice sud in red!

Okay, so after being bullied, yes bullied into becoming a social networker by Shrew again today, I thought I would make a start.

My affair with the Alfa marque has been at times worryingly passionate! Remembering some of the Alfa clothing Ive worn to compliment my drive of that time now seems embarrassing!

My first Alfa was a 1.5 Ti Sud in a very strange metallic green, 3 engine changes (two at BLS) later, countless days of the road, my then girlfriend (now wife), bought me a lancia delta 1.6 turbo as she thought it would be more reliable and was tiresome of the running out of petrol on a country lane trick!

Another Sud, Sprint, 75, two 33's, 155 Silverstone, 146 Ti, countless Fiats, Im back to a Sud

So onto the project First impressions? well the colour is right!

Starting to take it apart, I realised what I thought was going to be a quick turn around was in fact going to be a long journey.



So there is some of the horror sights I started with.

Some time later Well that's a start more to follow....

Getting into the swing of it now Phil eh?

No stopping you now, keep it coming....

engine look s great mate! keep on posting ...

Thank the Lord for bullies......would never have got to see it otherwise.

Looks like you are doing sterling work there.

See Phil,

the bullying was all worth it!


now pull back your wedgy, wipe your nose, and show them all more of your prep work.


Its nearly ready for painting and they haven't seen half of the story yet

Nice looking engine, the car looks good on the trailer, reminds me of a 105 series GTV I had once, it just kept getting worse the more I took it apart, I was lucky to get my money back selling it for bits, and then got a Sud S2 Ti project instead - you could still lots of bits for them then and there were plenty in scrap yards to get difficult stuff like trim. Looking forward to tracking your progress, keep up the good work, cheers Ian

Thanks for all the complements, it will be nice when I've crossed off 1 main item on my list.

Having decided to complete most of the restoration myself, bodywork is definitely not my best skill, having to keep going over and over simple tasks to get the finish I want is extremely frustrating! Thank god shrew is only a stones throw away for a cuppa and to give me a nudge in the right direction. I could quite easily see how projects like this don't get finished!

There are many things to overcome, I have managed to get a set of momo red leather front and back seats and very soon will have to offer them in to weld the new runners and fixing points so will have to take a bit more notice of an earlier thread.

The fronts will be easy mate, trust me!


the backs will be a little trickier, but you know the plan, we'll take our time, and get it right

did that glass make it home safely?

A bit more progress

Wow! looking good!

Excellent work Phil, loving the carpet - looks well worth the money.

check you out getting all Foruminated! ( )

Looking very nice mate, i think you got yourself another one or two to do round at mine! ha ha!

That's not the finished carpet, that's just the underlay.

I've steam cleaned the original carpet and awaiting delivery of some carpet dye.

Underlay! Wish my carpet looked as good as that!

Your work looks great, looking forward to continued progress.

Ok, so here's leaping forward quite a bit.


Phil convinced me that seeing as i have a workshop, compressor, and a few spray guns, all of them paint virgins, i ought to at least have a go at painting his Sud.

after a fortnight of his barage, i conceded that if he was willing to potentially waste 300 quids worth of paint materials, i'll learn the dark art as fast as possible, and do the best i can given the environment and equipment.

after plenty of hoovering and housekeeping, sheeting down and worrying a bit, we're coming out of the other side now, so here are some in progress shots

and some from today now that its actually painted, cured, and getting flatted and compound polished



taking shape Phil, taking shape!


welcome all, to the PetrolHeads Paint Parlour!

Nice work Phil and Shrew! Keep the pics coming.....

Brave man Phil, for letting Shrew have a go at painting the car for you



Actually nice job mate It looks flawless
Although the engine bay does look a bit .... how should I put this.... A bit more like Shrew's favorite paint colour (pink)

Thats either your cataracts or the flourescent lighting Chris!

You took that rather well

Shrew, that's an amazing job!

Great work!

Thank you mate,

I only hope I can repeat thd miracle on my own cars! Lol!