25 year old Alfa 75 back from the brink (hopefully)

[Exuptoy]

My mate made about 5 or 6 small different radius wheels for my dad for about 20-30 quid each. I think he has the dimensions and radius's to hand. He did have to fit bearings in them in the end though as they wouldn't turn when under tension. You'd still need the big flat wheel but I don't see why that'd be much more.

 

[Exuptoy]

Someone on here made a scottish ( ) wheel IIRC.

Here it is.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/scottishish-wheel-build.39166/

 

[Dcal]

Thanks for the heads up Exuptoy.
That's a fantastic wheel build by Burdekin.
Mind you the wheels and anvils he used seem a rich for me, especially with the postage from America.
I will probably end up making one but might take a course first to see how they work and what features are important. With my luck quality wheels and anvils will be high up the list.

Few photos to finish up the front of the Alfa
Under side of the front LH chassis

Patch made and welded in

Rusty bits spot blasted

Flatted back and masked up.
Ive started using old panels (from fiats) for patches as they are the "right" thickness and have a galv coating.

Couple of coats of epoxy primer

Then seam sealed

More primer, top coat and stone chip

I didn't take any photos of the front after I top coated the front panel and engine bay but will get some later. (I've turned the car in the garage so not so easy to get a good shot now)
I just used 2K black as at some point I will end up pulling the engine and painting the engine bay properly.

The repairs needed to the top of the inner guard I'll do when I pull the dash and take out the front screen.

Looking forward to that.

 

[Rob85]

I'm sure you're definitely not looking forward to that, I had to pull the dash and everything behind it to replace the heater matrix in my alfa 156, by the time I had done the strip back it looked like someone had chucked a grenade into the car! And working face to face with a passenger airbag unit even with the battery removed is enough to cure constipation!

 

[Dcal]

Rob,
Know what you mean.
I once change an actuator for the air con on a Bravo.
Pig of a job. Seemed like the whole car was built around it, with absolutely no thought to maintiance.
Even getting the steering wheel off was a job.
Thank job for the Internet or I would have need beaten.

 

[Dcal]

Finishing off the PS front jacking point

Jacking point after cleaning

Cut out the rot

Start to make a new jacking point

Its reinforced with 20 x 25 box. I don't have 20 x 25 box so make some out of 20 x 20

Cut to shape

welded up

welded into place

 

[Dcal]

Need to get going on this again, but there are always other things to do - including making a living.

Simple job to tick off the list.

The front bumper "speed nuts" where the bumper corners bolt to the wings, have seized solid and when trying to screw them off the connections to bumper let go.



So made new speed nuts out of 316 stainless



And went looking for some plastic filler rod to weld the bits back onto the bumper.
Couldn't find anything suitable so I cut a couple of bits off the brackets with the guillotine



Then its just a simple matter of cleaning off the oxidised plastic with a wire brush



Clamp them in place and welded them back on with a Leister plastic welding gun.



Then just repeat on the other side and job done.
Certainly more secure than the way they left the Alfa factory.

 

[Exuptoy]

Coming on nicely fella.

 

[fizzy]

Just found this thread. I still have my old Alfa 75 twin spark Veloce on a H plate tucked away in my garage! I can feel another restoration coming on. Lucklily very little rust on mine but she is on 175,000 miles so needs a good going over!

 

[Dcal]

Look at the first pictures in the first post, didn't look too bad.

I didn't think it was rust free but was surprised how bad it was in places.

These alfas can rust in the most unexpected places.
Hope yours is a good un, they deserve to be on the road

 

[fizzy]

Look at the first pictures in the first post, didn't look too bad.

I didn't think it was rust free but was surprised how bad it was in places.

These alfas can rust in the most unexpected places.
Hope yours is a good un, they deserve to be on the road

I loved it - was 3 years old when I bought it with 35,000 miles on the clock. I didn't know much about them. Was amazed to find out it was a true sports car underneath the ugly duckling body! A real drivers car - awesome for drifting. Every roundabout was fun! It did me 175,000 miles and never broke down once!

I did have a weird problem 2 days after I bought it - nearly lost the car!
I was driving on a tiny country road - was parking by a small reservoir to go for a walk. Stopped - then moved forward again to tuck in tighter. Suddenly clouds of smoke from under the bonnet - then flames! I almost let it burn - but was worried the insurance would frown on it as I had only had the car 2 days!. Opened the bonnet and saw flames around the back of the engine. Luckily I always carry a few 2L bottles of mineral water with me. Chucked those over it - stopped the main fire but there were flames coming out between the felt and the bonnet. My mate ran to the reservoir a few times to get refills.

Eventually the fire was out. The paint on the bonnet didn't even blister! The only damage was a wire partly burnt through - fixed with a bit of tape.

The cause was very odd - the brake fluid reservoir had blown off the brake master cylinder - the whole plastic tank came off. Brake fluid straight onto the manifold! The breather hole was clear. I push it back into place - refilled with fluid and had 6 years of very happy motoring with no more problems!

 

[jpmillermatic]

that is a strange story....with a happy ending....I have never heard of that one before!

JP

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I loved it - was 3 years old when I bought it with 35,000 miles on the clock. I didn't know much about them. Was amazed to find out it was a true sports car underneath the ugly duckling body! A real drivers car - awesome for drifting. Every roundabout was fun! It did me 175,000 miles and never broke down once!

I did have a weird problem 2 days after I bought it - nearly lost the car!
I was driving on a tiny country road - was parking by a small reservoir to go for a walk. Stopped - then moved forward again to tuck in tighter. Suddenly clouds of smoke from under the bonnet - then flames! I almost let it burn - but was worried the insurance would frown on it as I had only had the car 2 days!. Opened the bonnet and saw flames around the back of the engine. Luckily I always carry a few 2L bottles of mineral water with me. Chucked those over it - stopped the main fire but there were flames coming out between the felt and the bonnet. My mate ran to the reservoir a few times to get refills.

Eventually the fire was out. The paint on the bonnet didn't even blister! The only damage was a wire partly burnt through - fixed with a bit of tape.

The cause was very odd - the brake fluid reservoir had blown off the brake master cylinder - the whole plastic tank came off. Brake fluid straight onto the manifold! The breather hole was clear. I push it back into place - refilled with fluid and had 6 years of very happy motoring with no more problems!

That was the car reminding you who was going to be Boss in your relationship.....

 

[Dcal]

As I have my Chinese bead roller modified and working I thought I'd tackle one of the jobs I got it for, i.e. repairing the bottom of the front wings where the bumpers wrap around and bolt on.

Tricky wee patch (I think)

This is the left hand wing, the brown isn't rust, its Rust-buster FE-123 rust converter that I put over the bits I blasted a while ago.

The rest of the photos are of the RH wing repair (I forgot to take a photo of the wing before I started)

Close up of the repair area

Started off with a cardboard template and cut a line on the center line of the bead so I can transfer it to the repair piece.

I traced the bead position onto the patch and ran a bead.
I was expecting to need to take a few goes just used a bit of steel I had to hand which was slightly small

Kept the repair piece big to give it a bit of strength while I was forming the bead and it worked fine.
Changed the rollers to give a joggle and made the other features then cut it to size and used the same joggle rollers to start the turned edge.

After a bit of fetteling with the hammer and dolly it looks OK.
Ive started using scrap panels for all my repairs as its a cheap way to get zinc coated steel.

Drilled a couple of holes for the bumper, gave it a sweep blast and welded it on.

I'm struggling with the new (to me) welder, a R-tech mts255s
I can't get a setting where it will bite in properly when you are trying to get a tack, but I haven't really spent much time with it on light stuff, so that's my excuse as to why the welding is a bit of a hash.

Fixed the other holes while I was at it.
You can also see where I extended the patch as it turned out well enough and I didn't see the need to start from scratch.

Just need to wait for a dry day to get the repairs blasted and epoxied before I fill them out.

Picture of my modified bead roller if anyone's interested.

Even though it's now variable speed I think I need to reduce the gearing further, apart from that it works great.

 

[Dcal]

PS rear jacking point next area for attention

Area from the inside

And from the outside after I opened it up a bit and patched the inner sill

Cut out the rest of the rot to the rear of the sill / wheel arch

Start to fabricate the jacking point out of 3/4" box and 16 gauge

the finished jacking point. It needs to be installed in 3 bits

Install one side and weld in place

And the finished jacking point

From the inside

Jacking point and outer sill repaired

 

[Dcal]

A bit more done to finally finish off the welding to the PS rear jacking point area.

The rear chassis leg needed repair, but on the plus side it's only a small repair and the steel is a decent thickness (1.2mm) on the down side I need to make more dies that will only get one use.

Of course once you cut a bit out, more work gets uncovered.
So made yet another small patch for the floor

Then made the dies for the chassis leg by cutting the male and female dies out of the one piece of flat bar with the plasma

I put a couple of lines of center punch marks to help line up the top and bottom dies with the patch.
Then just tidied it up with a flap disc and the die grinder
Tried it out and it worked well

Then it's a simple matter to shape and fold the patch and weld it in place

While I was at it I built up the edge of the floor panel after clamping a piece of copper to the top.
I just hadn't the heart to cut out and replace a strip less than 1/2" wide with all the spot welds, (I must be getting soft)

Bit of a going over with the angle grinder and move on to the next bit.

 

[jpmillermatic]

more great work! gotta try that template die template technique one day....looks great

Jp

 

[Dcal]

Thanks JP,
The home made dies work surprising well.
just leave enough clearance and taper / break the edges of the stamping sides slightly or they can shear like a guillotine.
Also use plenty of thick packers so the dies are well supported and don't bend.
Biggest problem is centering everything up and if doing multiple stamps it's worth making guides but for a one off a few guides lines is good enough.

This one probably only took half a hour to make. (though probably the same time thinking about it)

 

[maxiboy]

Just read the whole thing.. amazing

 

[Dcal]

Thank maxiboy, its slow going but I'm in no rush and I am learning lots and improving as I go.

Next section was not something I was looking forward to and have been putting it off

PS rear wheel arch

Didn't look too bad but the previous repair was pretty poor.
I could have left it as it's covered with plastic wheel arches but that wouldn't seem right.



First repaired the rot at the bottom of the arch and the rear of the sill to give me a shape to work to.



Then cut the first repair out and shaped and welded in the inner section



I found them really awkward shapes to form as they curve in all directions but at least I had the arch covers as a guide



I really struggled ti get the inner and outer skins to match up with the arch and each other.



But eventually got it into some shape and tacked it in place



Then welded the remaining patches at the rear of the sill, working from the inside out.





The other parches were not as long so a bit easier to form using the same process







The nice bit of missing paint was because some foam Alfa used for sealing the inner arch, caught fire and by the time I noticed the paint had blistered.
It will mean I'll have to strip the quarter panel, (I don't intend to take this back to bare metal as it has mostly just the original paint but you never know) but on the plus side it didn't warp the panel or burn any of the trim.