Giulietta Sprint nose job

[cstlhn]

After a year of making excuses and playing with the motor I finally got back to the panel work on the Sprint race car. After the new/used fender arrived it went to be media blasted and primed.
Yesterday I spent some time grinding the main support for the right front suspension and motor mount. (First photo)
Today I began to perform major surgery (deviated septum). First picture shows all my markings for the cut lines. The second shows the right front completely removed.
Tomorrow I will be grinding and preparing the chassis for the new section to begin the fitting process.

[pathung]

Just don't lean on the side of the car, or you'll have lots more bodywork to deal with!!

[cstlhn]

If I left it as is it would have a much lower coefficent of drag? It could help me straight line speed?
Patrick, What is going on with your Sprint?

David

[pathung]

David,

My Sprint is just sittin' around, waiting for me to finish the Spider. The plan is to leave its body alone (fairly rust-free and decent 20-ft.-away paint) and build it into a vintage racer. I hope to start on it sometime next year.

By the way, anyone that has the slightest knack for bodywork commands the highest respects from me. Kudos for a front-side surgery well performed!

[cstlhn]

After many hours of grinding spot welds I started to fit the right front quarter.
I did discover several differences between 750 and 101 panels. The are two types of transmission tunnels (see photo) that will present a challenge to mate.
I am creeping up on trimming every thing about a quarter inch at a time and am slowly getting there. More updates next weekend.

David

[cstlhn]

Well this is getting real interesting. I can either make the replacement fender fit the car or the hood? The differences in these cars is slowly becoming very clear. Wiper boxes are not lining up quite right, the nose sits back a little further, and the transmission tunnels have different "slopes".
Does anyone have any advice?

David

[pathung]

It's gotta fit the hood, since I can't imagine enlarging/shrinking the hood to get the right panel gap! But this sure is a dilemma...

[AlfistiSA]

Hi David

Welcome to the world of Alfa Evolution, I suspect you might have been better off just trying to fit the new fender as a skin panel, but no matter now, you're committed now & your plan of fitting it 1/4" at a time is the right way to go - I would suggest you made some sort of jig to hold the headlight aperture at the same height as the LHS, you will also need to jig the suspension points to make sure that the fender goes on straight & level as your new piece includes the suspension mounting points. About this time you need to refit the bonnet to make sure that you get the aperture right - obviously front to back & also left & right gaps as well as left & right heights to ensure that the bonnet sides fit. Don’t try to fiddle with the bonnet, use it as a template to fit the fender to the car.

I'd suggest that you cut the vertical leg (in picture 3 above) off your original fender & then worked out where to cut & marry the 2 pieces together to get the best fit - I suspect this might be just below the radiator mounting & chassis rail. It's an easy bit to cut & shut to get the right shape.

At this point, don't worry about the transmission tunnel fit, that is completely secondary as no one sees this point, they will all see the bonnet / hood fit so get that right as well as the fit to the base of the windscreen.

The transmission tunnel portion can be shaped to fit - read beaten into place, you might even choose to cut away the firewall portion of your replacement fender & refit your original ??

Either way, suspension points aside (these MUST be right), the "fit" on the top is most critical & you need to make sure that you fit the bonnet & also the windscreen aperture. If the bonnet aperture on the new fender is too short, you will have to let-in a strip, if the headlight pod is 2" too far back, you might have to let-in a strip, or just accept that it is a hand built car & no two were ever the same, especially if you plan to race the car & not show it.

Don't weld ANYTHING until the suspension points are right.

You are not alone, I have to replace the entire nose, (skin panels) on my Dad's Spider - good panel & POS panel in hand thanks to GTD

When all else fails, GTD will keep you on the straight & narrow…

Post more pictures of your suffering
Ciao
Greig

[concept 101]

David,

You wrote;

"Yesterday I spent some time grinding the main support for the right front suspension and motor mount. (First photo)"

May I ask why or what repairs you have done to that spot? I´m actually having a rust issue in that very same area, exept being from the inside and behind the trumpet that was completely gone and that I cut off on my Sprint, a repair which I`m not sure yet how to tackle, as it seems impossible to get in there with any cutting or grinding tools. I´m now talking from the inside, but maybe its possible to do it from outside as your pic shows. Problem is, I still have the engine in the car and the space is scarce for experimenting, hence I´d like to know what I would be doing before I screw something up.

Thanks in advance,
Dennis

[cstlhn]

Dennis,
The best way I can explain what I cut off and was grinding on is with the illustration below. The vertical strut that the motor mounts attach to remained with the chassis but was removed from the replacement part.
The horizontal rail that the upper control attaches to is a double thickness and took considerable time and patience to remove from the strut while leaving the strut "untouched".
Do you have photos of your project?

David

[cstlhn]

Signore Greg,

GTD is a good friend but has the wisdom to stay away from crazy Italians that work on Italian Cars especially when they are working with sharp implements.
The first photo shows what I call the cowl. If I close the gap you see the wiper boxes line up. At the same time the hood opening narrows and the hood becomes too large for the opening?
The second shows the nose at the center grille opening. With the hood flush the replacement panels extends further forward than the existing panel?
Lining up the suspension pickup points is straight forward and not a concern at this point. The original right front section was badly damaged and very poorly repaired. The lower section were badly rusted, so I decided to replace it all.
I appreciate your comments, everyone!

David

[concept 101]

Hi David,

Thanks for your explanation. My problem is that the double thickness overlapping sheet metal plates inside the left horizontal rail and right behind the strut and the inner panel are more or less gone in that spot. I will have to cut up a piece of the inner panel anyway as its rusty as well, but still don´t know wheather there is going to be enough space to do something about the ovelapping lips in order to try to strenghten them. I´m also going to go through the same procedure you did with the strut, namely separate it together with the rests of the inner wall panel from the trumpet that I´m going to need. Got the whole spare piece from Greig in SA.

Dennis

[cstlhn]

Dennis,
It appears as though you are on the right track. I did mine in small sections and had to muster up all the patience I could. The double thickness metal seems to take forever to get through.
Please keep us posted of your progress,
David

[concept 101]

David,

Looking at my pics now, I just remembered, its the reinforcing silver shining beam gleaming through in the second picture that is actually the culprit and being in way for the repair of the double thickness overlaping. I have started on this spot just recently and hence didn´t have much time to study the problem, nor do I know whether its possible to temporary and in some way remove the reinforcing beam.

Dennis

[concept 101]

David,

BTW, do you know anyone that has 101 Sprint front left fender in good condition for sale? I would be interested.

Dennis