The bean town bullet!

**akitaman** · #1 (**permalink**) 07-11-2007, 07:50 PM

I thought it would be best to start a thread about one of the cars that is almost done. You may have see it on the other thread. When we complete our efforts the car will go back to the east coast to be finished. With this thread, the owner can continue the thread (if he elects to) to the cars completion and maybe some of the track days it will have too.

Here it is the day before Christmas.

Soon it was on its way to the the blasters

Once it was back, the damage was more appereant then ever.

And then it was time to get to work.

And this week we will be appling color. Due to the complex paint scheme it will take a few days to complete.

Today the color process starts.

**akitaman** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-12-2007, 07:16 PM

Well we finished the color application of the car. We still have a fair amount of finish work to do, but for now were happy with the current progress.

Heres a trick, if you plan on painting your race car. And you want "gum balls" on the doors and hood, then don't tape them out and paint a circle. This builds a hard line. It's better to mark the perimeter (very lightly) with a pencil. Next fog out the area and allow the paint to dry. At this point, tape and paper the gum ball.

Once done, apply the area color.

Once fairly dry (but not completely) remove the tape and paper. This allows the edge to melt into the panel.

And as for the body....

Over the coming week or so this going to look great!

Oelholm · #3 (**permalink**) 07-13-2007, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Over the coming week or so this going to look great!

**akitaman** · #4 (**permalink**) 07-13-2007, 07:15 AM

Hi Oelholm, the red is A.R.501 (bad lighting) and the yellow is 2005 Mercedes SLK yellow. I'll be sure to take a picture in the daylight today.

alfarestore · #5 (**permalink**) 07-13-2007, 07:33 AM

Daron,

I can't even imagine the amount time you guys must have in that car, it's beautiful. I hope the owner keeps us up to date on the cars progress.

Great job.

Jeff

**akitaman** · #6 (**permalink**) 07-13-2007, 07:31 PM

Hey Jeff! Long time no hear! As for the hours on this one. Ya, we do have a bit of time in it. The owner (fellow BBer) has been amazing. He really wanted to see this thing get done. I hope he chimes in and tells us the history. As for the car itself, we applied a product called flex-add to the paint. This makes the paint more durable against chipping and cracking. Because the of the fiber glass parts always wanting to expand and contract, this is an important step. The down side is it takes a few days for the paint to completely cure.

**akitaman** · #7 (**permalink**) 07-18-2007, 08:10 PM

The car was block sanded in preparation of clear coating tomorrow. This is not a normal process. But we wanted make this thing look like a million bucks!

Oelholm · #8 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 12:22 AM

It WAS Alfa Rosso..! Wow, the things bad lighting will do. I recognise the MB Yellow now, horrible colour. Well, I have only seen it on German cars yet, so this project might change my mind

A shame you didn't go with the original Alfa colour, Giallo Pompei...

Vytas · #9 (**permalink**) 07-19-2007, 05:25 PM

I hope they don't race that, it is far too beautiful..well done!

**akitaman** · #10 (**permalink**) 07-20-2007, 08:21 PM

Thanks Vytas. We try hard.

Well we brought the car back today from the booth today. Next week we will start assembling the car and decaling it too.

GTD · #11 (**permalink**) 07-20-2007, 08:28 PM

Daron
Is it me or is that toe-in a little excessive?

**akitaman** · #12 (**permalink**) 07-20-2007, 08:40 PM

Good one!

**akitaman** · #13 (**permalink**) 07-21-2007, 02:58 PM

The wife is teaching a class today so I went down to the shop (at 6:30) and did a little work on the GTAM. Applying some of the decals for example.

alfarestore · #14 (**permalink**) 07-21-2007, 04:25 PM

Daron,

Looks really nice....thanks for the photos.

Jeff

JohnT · #15 (**permalink**) 07-22-2007, 06:01 AM

Hey all-
I was going to wait to add to this post when I got the car back and had something valuable to add, but I can't help but say how I am blown away at the latest photos of the car. If you saw the car in it's original sad state, you can understand what a milestone the latest progress represents. It's almost surreal to me (especially the first of the 2 pics, where the car almost looks like a 1:43 scale model!!) Being on the opposite side of the US doesn't make it easy either!
Anyway, I will add more as progress continues. For now I can tell you that the car WILL be a race car. I'm looking at a couple of vintage series including SVRA (gr 8), HRG and VRG here on the east coast.
The intent of the car is to replicate GTAj Gr. 2 car, and this car is actually based off of a GTAj I saw in Tipler's book. I have/will try to be true to the original car(s) in terms of looks, setup, etc. The engine will be a 2 liter rather than a 1300. I want to have reasonable, reliable (ha, ha, ha) horsepower that is similar in performance to the original cars.
When the project is completed, I will share my parts /supplier list with everyone. I have purchased a lot of neat stuff for this project over the last few years and I think it's important to give credit to the Alfa suppliers that make all of this possible. I've also been keeping a diary of sorts for a possible article on the whole roller coaster ride of restoring (or more correctly, having restored) a basket case project. It's been a long road and I haven't reached the end yet, but it's an appropriate time to tip my hat to Daron and team at Vintage customs.
More to follow......

-JT