decided to disassemble '69 gtv myself

[roller]

i decided to disassemble a '69 gtv myself before turning it over
for body work and paint. i've never done this before. i'm going to have
to get a hydraulic jack, jack stands, box wrenches...
the plan is to pull the engine/xmission first (after removing hood and radiator),
then do bumpers, seats, console/dash.

anything else i need to pay attention to? i'm going to get lots of boxes and zip-lock bags for marking parts + digital photos. i'll probably need lots of
wd40 (anything work better?).

after it's a roller, i can put it on a truck for the body/paint folks. should i take the suspension off as well? i'd like to change the color, and have them paint the whole thing.

any wisdom needed and welcomed!

john

[ossodiseppia]

Boy, are you gonna have some fun. I took my car completely apart. I built a dolly out of wood. The wood and the castors cost me about $150. The dolly is quite stout. My garage floor is not perfectly flat. So, sometimes the dolly is on three wheels and ther is absolutely no flex.

[Mr. C.]

If I were to this again, I would take the suspension completely off the car! It seems impossible to get it clean after the tin knocker guy gets dust all over everything. Either way, make sure you stipulate that the body shop clean the entire car before giving it back to you.

[Emilio]

Indeed you will have a lot of fun. And pain.....

Don't get trapped in the typical beginners errors like:
1. I first take care of the mechanics (get the body first, thats the hardest and takes most of the time. (90%) of the project)

2. Thinking that you can outsource the welding (do it your self!, it is easy to learn, and it will save you a lot of money and it will make you proud of your car)

3. Think you can get the job done in 2 months, working in the evenings on it.

I am now in my third project, and my third year. one car a year. I must say that the cars I do are close to being lost...
And I hate it when my car is ready, so it think I like restauration better then driving.

Emile

[Bill77]

Hey, welcome to this crazy world of car restoration ! Try to learn as much as you can through friends, books, the internet, and even some TV shows. Then dig in. Take lots of jpegs, make notes, tag and bag everything, organize parts in boxes or plastic bins. If you get stuck, this BB can bail you out.

I read somewhere that a good mechanic can disassemble a car in about 40 hours, but it can take 500 to 1000 hours to restore everything and reassemble the car. I can't speak from experience yet, but it's taken me a lot more than 40 hours to disassemble my car so far. Hopefully, the extra care during disassembly will help make things easier down the road. We'll see...

Someone suggested that as you remove a part from the car, restore it and put it aside. That way you avoid getting too deep into a project before realizing the amount of work ahead. I'm not doing it that way. I decided to take everything off the body and restore the body first. To me, the body work is the most difficult, the most time consuming and I'd like to get it over with!!

[69Spider]

In addition to the digital photos a video camera can be a big help! Especially on the more complex jobs like pulling the engine. You'd be suprised what watching these old videos brings back to mind when reassembling 2 years later ;-).

J

[roller]

thanks everybody.
i get the feeling i'm going to need every bit of the above advice
and more! the dolly looks like a great idea.

i'm a little curious about the idea of doing the welding myself. is it really
pretty straightforward? should i buy/rent equipment? could i learn from
doing plus a good book? i'm not a mechanical klutz, but i've never done
any of this stuff before.

i do need to save money. one of the things i've learned since buying this car is
how much money it takes to bring one of these back if i don't do some of the work myself. i need to know from you guys what things i can try myself and what i'd be wise to leave to the pros.

what do you think?

john

[roller]

i'm picking up jack, jack stands, engine stand, wrenches, torque wrench,
etc. this weekend.

my plan:
- steam clean car
- remove engine/trans/engine bay stuff
- remove seats/headliner/dash (will be redone)
- remove trim

> someone warned me to be careful in removing the trim on my '69 gtv.
is anything tricky that i should know about in doing this? i hear it's hard
to find replacements.

> anything else i can do to prep for body work/repaint?
i'm thinking of leaving suspension on to assist in getting it to shop.
they will be doing welding of floor pans, however, and putting truck bed
liner on as undercoating.

any wisdom welcome...

john

[Bill77]

I wish I would have steamed cleaned my car before taking it apart. Good idea.

[GTD]

John, RE: WELDING I'd recommend you buy a 110 Volt MIG welder. Buy from a local welding shop that will answer your questions and be there to supply you with any needs after the initial sale. Get some body panels from a junk yard or where ever. Using a 4 to 4 1/2 inch grinder, strip some paint, then practice! Burn those junk panels to kingdom come! Once you have an ideal of how to operate the welder, try welding clean scraps of light steel and sheet metal- it will be easier than welding on the body panels. It won't be instant but with practice you'll weld as well as anyone.
ONLY after practicing, do your repairs to your Alfa. You may find it more economical to replace say an entire floor rather than do multiple patches to an existing section- this is where your practice pays off!

Best of Luck!

[Touringspider]

I agree that a 110v MIG is a good tool to have. A buddy and I split the cost of a Lincoln MIG unit, which we purchased at Lowes (shop around for the best deal). This unit cost about $450, and it will handle just about anything you wish to do on an Alfa. The upfront cost may seem high, but compare it to what it would cost to have someone do it for you. I am a total novice when it comes to welding, but so was my friend. He taught himself by reading up on some theory, having some experienced friends show him some basics, and just practicing on some scrap. He was doing acceptable welds after a couple of hours practice. Less than a year later, he is doing some really nice, complex work on his 69 GTV restoration and on my 61 102 restoration.

One tip we found is to pay a few extra bucks when you buy the shielding gas and get an Argon/CO2 mix instead of the straight CO2. The Argon really helps to give a cleaner bead.

Do a little research, and make sure you buy a quality unit. The few bucks you save on a no-name special will pale in comparison to the aggravation of poor performance. The new generation of hobbyist MIG units are actually very simple to use. Also, don't skimp on the welding helmet. You only have one set of eyes.

Good Luck!!
Arno Leskinen
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