Classic Alfa Forums

When the Sud was being restored I took quite a few pictures of the work in progress.

With the new forum starting up I thought people might like a look at what took place between September 2010 and the post resto debut in May 2012 that people might have seen on the 'other' forum.

I don't want to swamp the place with hundreds of photos but want people to see the efforts that people made to make the car as wonderful as it is now.

I also MUST stress that the need for the work was in no way an indicator to how Dave Thomas looked after the car whilst he owned it - it was a constantly used racer that he maintained fastidiously. Just look at the results he got with it!

So, to kick things off here it is when it was delivered to Jamie Porter's Alfa Workshop on a wet September afternoon......... And then the fun began......

Eagerly awaiting this thread Ted as you know.

I know the work that went into the Green Meanie, and hopefully having it all here for everyone to see will only serve to inspire a few more Classic Alfa rebuilds.


keep it coming mate, and i'll throw my tuppence in when appropriate too.

cheers

shrew

i'd love to get an insight of the work done, having seen it many time sduring the build process.

pics, and loads of them, are more than welcome ted

You got my attention ..

So the instructions I gave was I wanted a no-holes-barred restoration on the Sud. I wanted it able to race if I chose to but really I wanted a perfect track day car which was quick and had the history. Jamie Porter, being a very good mate of mine, and I agreed that the shell work would be done by his company - The Alfa Workshop in Royston and that the mechanical restoration could only be done by Tom Shrubb at BLS - at that stage Tom hadn't even been asked! Paintwork and final body prep was outsourced to GB Autospray in Royston who specialise in painting very high end exotica.

A week after delivery I went to see how things had progressed.......
The paint was starting to be stripped right off as we wanted to asses the shell not only for corrosion and knocks but also for any signs of stress cracks/welds seperating, etc.
All the anciliaries were being stripped out - the car was now getting to the 'it's going to look a lot worse before it gets better' stage.
And the final picture for today; This little knock in the sill caused more headaches than anything - we ended up having to split the sill, reshaping the metal and welding it back up. There is a lot of strength down there!
More to follow.

Ted

still here

What did you use to strip the paint mate ? I'm in that same process with a FIAT 127 I'm restoring...

Painful and long hours

No chemicals just hard work and an orbital sander and lots of pad. Unbelievable dust......!

We used a small media blaster to clean out all the weld/seam areas in the shell to ensure no corrosion was lurking.

ted

there's a much easier way to scrape paint away, no chemicals or sanding discs needed......
very keen on following this thread ted, great stuff

KevJTD wrote:there's a much easier way to scrape paint away, no chemicals or sanding discs needed......

.... which is ..... ?

I'm guessing this

That would be good for the underside, wouldnt try it on the top though....

...or would I ?

It would be ok as long as you let it do the work and don't lean on it

As we went along things got more and more involved. The door bottoms were rusted and the rivits no longer had any holes to clamp to. This meant replacing a lot of the bottom of the door with fresh metal and then re-shaping the lightening holes that had been there for racing. Another problem being the window frames cracking away from the main door structure. We then properly repaired some battle scars on the panel just behind the door that were put there in May 1989 at Donington..... And then started the Boring work of re-seam welding every seam in the entire shell! Tony, the welder was boss eyed by the time he had finished! More tomorrow......

Don't ask why, but I'd always assumed that the rear quarters would be fibreglass. Was it by choice to keep the steel ones originally? I assume they were good at the time it was first put together.

The whole of the shell was always steel for strength and rigidity and safety. There was a Sud in the early 90's built by Dave Litchfield that had a glass fibre rear end but I always thought it looked a bit flimsy.
Ted

nah, no fancy tools needed.
just a scraper with a very sharp, fresh blade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ApfwQLKejw

Oh my GOD Kev !!!!

EVERY SINGLE HAIR on my body just became as straight as a dancer's pole !!!

Kev, that vid was painful watching - surely there are better ways to strip paint?

Anyway, begining of November 2010 the shell was coming on nicely - the welds were all cleaned up and all the old paint had been taken off and I don't think by the method Kev was using!! Both rear arches were getting somewhere near where we wanted them. As was the rest of the main shell.
Still loads of work to do - clearing out the wiring and pipes, etc in the ancilliaries bay and stripping out the cage and fittings ready to clean out the inside.

thats a very interesting topic to follow!

Moving on to nearly getting the shell into primer. I think what was really surprising considering it's a 1982 Alfasud is the lack of corrosion that had to be dealt with. This picture here show the original top rail still in the green paint from the factory and the base of the a pillars ionly needed slight work due to being stone chiped over the years. Also, just a little work was needed around the base of the windscreen where there was some corrosion. But otherwise we were nearly ready to send the shell of for final prepping. The cage still had to come out and the final bits of brake pipes and electrics.

Great to see all this Ted


we missed all this previously and skipped right up to the glory bits eh!


lovin it.......

It was decided that the shell will be totally undercoated and only finished off in the top coat metalic green (Met Verde Aqua) on the inside and engine bay. Then the car would be fitted out with engine gearbox and running gear by Tom at BLS and then sent back for final external finishing.

So this is the day it went off to G&B Autospray for their first bit of attention... And this is what came back a couple of weeks later..... Starting to take shape.

Ted

Aahhh, the familiar Green Meanie appears at last!


Seeing the access allowed by your front end modifications, really make me wants to reach for the chop saw!


Ive been thinking about making a one piece front end, wings, bonnet, and grill in one big removable part, and this has done nothing but encourage that design for sure.

Looking at that last picture of rear, I assume the hatch is permenantly fastened shut onto the brackets around the aperture?

Also, the holes on the door frames, is there some sort of magic cutter for that, or just long hours with the drill ?

Thanks.

hi tim,

(sorry to barge in Ted!)

iirc, the hatch is on flush Dzus fasteners as i recall,

as for the door frames, i suspect the latter personally, lots of drill time!

but either a sharp new hole saw, or small holes taken out with a cone cutter, should make it pretty light work i reckon, although, i wonder if a tank cutter could work in thats situation?

Yes, Shrew, you are right. The whole rear screen and surround is perspex and is clipped to the fibreglass boot lid. This is then Zuess fastenered down to the brackets welded to the shell. It works really well and is very light but does allow quite a bit of rain in!

The holes in the door were cut in by Tom in 1992......when the doors were rebuilt this time quite a lot of the bottom had to be re-fabricated, welded on and re-drilled out but the result was worth it. The door skins were bonded and rivetted on and the perspex 'glass' was glued in with VW bonding glue so the whole doors are very rigid and very light.

Haven't had time recently to post any more pictures - I'll try later in the week......

Ted

Thanks both for the response, I may very well try and do the same with the doors.