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73 GTV Buildup

91K views 358 replies 40 participants last post by  GTV4EVR 
#1 ·
Afternoon,

I thought i'd start a thread about my GTV buildup. I took delivery of the car on saturday and everything arrived as planned, as promised! (thanks John!) It was a bit nerve racking taking the car off the top of the carrier with a forklift (props Rich). Sorry, no pics of that.

After getting everything home and unpacked the first thing i realized was that there are no directions! Must've gotten lost on the journey from the west coast. My basic plan is to build this car as era correct as possible so that eventually ('10?) i can take it vintage racing. This is my first time building a GTV but I think this car makes a good starting point due to the amount of knowledge and parts availability out there. I also considered 944's, MG's, or even another Austin Healey. My last race car (AH-100) was not the best starting pt, but that was more due to the particular car i chose as it had a 58 corvette drivetrain implanted into it!

I'm hoping to use BB to ask for advice/updates etc while i move forward. I've already been in touch with a few shops, racers and other alfista's while putting together my build plan, but i'm sure it will evolve with time. As with most, i'm on a limited budget and will be a bit constrained with my intent to keep this car street legal, but it's doable. Speaking of which, i know of a few good sites for race parts (new and used) but if anyone out in alfaland is looking to sell any 105 race parts..let me know! A basic list of what i'm gonna try to start accumulating is...wheels, susp parts, seats, cage, cell, header etc...

Here's the car as it arrived and now put away in my (far too little) garage.

First step, get it up off the suspension and finish stripping the car!.....
 

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#4 ·
I took delivery of the car on saturday and everything arrived as planned,..... My basic plan is to build this car as era correct as possible so that eventually ('10?) i can take it vintage racing.
Is that a twinspark engine I see in your photos? A twinspark in a GTV would make for a neat driver, but seems to contradict your plan to build the car "era correct" as well as to vintage race it.

I would recommend checking with your local vintage race organizers to see what modifications are allowed - I'm no expert, but would doubt that engine swaps are allowed.
 
#7 ·
I have just aquired a 2liter in very good condition, perfect for a good build. When and if you get to that point pm me if you want to work out some kind of trade.
 
#8 ·
I'm still planning to run the TS. I shold be able to race, it just may not be against vintage cars exclusively...may have to be more of a late model class. But that's alright, i'm gonna build the car i want! Or maybe the car alfa should've built!

Next steps are to get it off the wheels and strip it completely. Any lesson's learned on building a dolly? My plan is to use the 4 jacking points and get it up about 18 inches off the ground.
 
#9 ·
Weekend work

I didn't get too much done this weekend, however i did knock together a dolly and start pulling the wheels/susp off. The castors are a bit small but home depot didnt have that many choices. Also, It looks like i'm gonna have to do a little more bodywork then planned but i'd rather find that out sooner then later! Next weekend it's off to Omaha but i should be able to get back on things the following weekend. There's just not enough time in the day!
 

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#10 ·
Update

Morning,

After a long weekend of wrenching, the chassis is almost completely stripped. The suspension came off without too much hassle. I plan on reusing most of the suspension bits so it was important not to destroy anything. I got the engine yanked too and with everything out i finally got a really good look at the tub. Overall it appears pretty solid however i did find quite a bit of filler in the usual places. There must've been at least 4 different coats of paint on this car too! One of the previous owners made an attempt at fixing the DS floor and addressing the rust but it was more of a bandaid than a true repair. Time to get my welder fired up!

I was planning on stripping the entire tub myself but given the risk that i miss some repair i think i may take it somewhere to get it dipped or mediablasted. ..hmm...
 

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#12 · (Edited)
Mediablasting proved to be too expensive...so Aircraft remover it is (followed by select grinding/scraping)!

The more filler i grind off it's becoming clear that it's not there to cover up repairs necessarily but more for just smoothing lines. That's a nice surprise. The steel is revealing itself to be pretty straight..albeit under a hell of a lot of paint and filler! So far i've seen silver, blue, brown and of course red..and that doesnt include all the various layers of primer!

It took 2 liberal applications of Aircraft remover to get it down to bare metal on the front fender, but that stuff works well. i highly recomend it.
 
#13 ·
Here's a few more pics. In addition to the aircraft remover, i got some "rapid strip" pads from home depot that work great. They go on an angle grinder and attack paint (and filler) but won't hurt the steel. I'm going to go ahead and order the floors from Wolf as he has the best prices, i'm not too concerned about originality. Any thoughts on floors out there? Are wolf's good?
 

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#15 ·
Great pics, thnaks for sharing! Looks like you have a 1750 front clip welded onto a 2000....I have it the other way around....wanna trade???:p:p
 
#24 ·
I've used a number of Wolf body panels and have been very happy with them. I have never used the floor panels and as Rossano mentioned some folks don't like them - they are different from stock. His website explains his approach so it might depend on how you are going about the build.

I've used Classic for floorpans on a Spider. The pans were really well made and for the most part fit well but I did have some areas that gave me trouble. That could have been the car though so I'm not knocking their product.

The bottom line is that we GTV/Spider guys are lucky - we have choices. I am also doing a Berlina and there is no choice. No one makes body panels for these cars. In this case, Allen at Wolf came through for me and is making a set of rockers using an old set from another BBer as a pattern. Otherwise...
 
#25 ·
The wolf outer rockers do NOT have the bow in them to match the bow of the door. The center of the outer rocker is about an inch out from the ends. Before you weld them in fit the doors to make sure you can bow out the rocker to fit the curve. Alan seems like a very nice guy to do business with. Although it did take a month of Sundays to finally get in touch with him. I documented all this in my 73 GTV resto thread if that helps. Good luck! I just finished my GTV a couple of months ago and it's now my daily driver. Now i've got a 77 spider that is straight and has essentially no rust at all. This one is going to be super easy compared to the rust that was on my GTV!
 
#26 ·
Thanks for all the great advice! i went ahead and ordered a few pieces from Wolf (sills, front valence and 1 fender repair panel) to see how they fit etc. I think for the DS floor i can work with what's there and the rest of the floors will only need some minor patches, if anything. I'm still stripping that undercoating (it's tough stuff).
 
#28 ·
Just a quick update,

I finished stripping all the panels and finally got all of the sound deadening off the floors. that's nasty stuff! After that i hit it with primer to keep things protected while i work. Unfortunately the rear end of this car is going to need a whole lot more work then i'd planned on. The search is on for a decent rear clip.

....still waiting on the panels from wolf.
 

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#29 ·
The wolf panels showed up. I think they should work good for the areas i'm currently working on. They'll be a bit of massaging required but i've got a big hammer.

I got the door skins off and the side impact beams cut out. Those sucker's are heavy! I haven't quite decided what i'm gonna do for replacement skins, i'm leaning towards fiberglass. Group buy?

The front radiator crossmember is gonna needs some TLC too. I started cutting out the lower front valence and about 10 lb's of rust and 20lbs of filler fell out! There were some patches over many of the holes in the body (side market lights, lower radiator vents etc.) that were simply welded from the back side and filled. I started cutting those out, some of which i'll replace and some of which i'll leave open.

Still on the lookout for a rear clip.

On the plus side, A project like this is a great excuse to buy more tools! I picked up a hammer/dolly set from Fournier last week. I'd highly recomend their books/tools for anyone wanting to learn how to hammer on a panel properly.
 

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#30 ·
I started getting into the body the last few weeks. I decided to start "small" and i'm tackling the base of the front left fender first along with the radiator cross member. Aside from the rear end issues, the rest of the car is in good shape but has a lot of small rust spots spread out over the car.

I've gotten some leads on a rear clip but i haven't written any checks yet, still debating on the best course of action. Any thoughts here? Given that it's a race car it doesn't have to look concourse perfect but i can't bring myself to bondo over the problems. I can try to work with an original rear clip (and the issues that come with that), buy new quarters (expensive!) or perhaps best yet, track down some fiberglass GTA fenders and cut most of the problem right off.

At least the weather is beautiful here in Michigan for spending time in the garage!

Tough decision.....

Here's a few pics..
 

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#31 · (Edited)
Kevin:

If you haven't done so, you might want to weld some cross-braces in the door jambs and cross-car. Once you start cutting into those inner rockers you just don't know what residual stresses might want to be released. Also, take a good look down those rockers before you go too far - I had an animal nest that made for perfect tinder in my Berlina. That was a fun few moments...

Tough call on the rear end but I'm betting that you won't be satisfied with anything less than factory. Just be patient and wait for a clip. I think the GTAm fenders are a bit of a red herring as you would still need to do a ton of work to get them on and they'll cost as much or more then a solid clip.

You sure are right about the weather here! Let it be our little secret - I wouldn't want all those West coaster moving here, running up the property values. Come to think of it... yes I would!!
 
#32 ·
Ah yes indeed, beautiful weather... not too hot, but still warm enough that you don't freeze your cohones off. That's the way I like it as well. I hate to sweat from the heat while I'm welding. I find I sweat enough just doing the welding, the heat just adds to the tension:eek:.
I've found on my car at least that it's way better to start on the small problems and gain experience and then work your way up to the tougher problems. Remember, anything can be overcome if you keep throwing time and money at it:).



Oh yeah, and drinks lots of coffee.

Vehicle Trunk Car Automotive exterior Auto part
 
#34 ·
Evening,

I got the front left sill repairs done and i've fitted the quarter panel patch piece. The fit was ok, but it needed some massaging. I plan to replace the door skins..so the gap can be adjusted on the door side if anything is off.

on to the rear of the sill!

for floors, i plan to make my own. afterall, it's a race car. Anyone who's done that care to post some pics? any advice?

Kevin
 

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#38 ·
for floors, i plan to make my own. afterall, it's a race car. Anyone who's done that care to post some pics? any advice?
Get a bead roller and a sheet-metal brake(cheap ones available from Eastwood, Harbor Freight, etc.)!
You won't be able to make a nice floor with a flat panel; it'll buckle back and forth or warp while welding, or it'll have to be made out of thick metal, which is much too heavy.

Add some x-patterns or 3-D shapes similar to the stock floors, and you can make it out of thin gauge stuff.

And don't be tempted to seam-weld around the whole panel... it'll warp and buckle at some point. Design in an overlapping flange all around, drill (or punch) some holes in the flange, and plug weld it in place, similar to spot welding. Or stitch weld it every few inches.

I've seen .065" flat aluminum panels riveted in place as floors on tube-frame cars, but I don't think you could do this sucessfully in a unibody car without some tubular structure welded in place first.

George

'74 GTV with many, many patches
 
#35 ·
Before you cut that panel, look at alfarestore.com

He repaired these panels but did not cut across the panel all the way. I just finished replacing both rockers panels completely and wished I had not cut the edge that faces the door. It is very dificult to match the curvature of the door opening when welding the new panel. It is better to leave 1 to 2 inches of the edge and butt weld the new panel there. easier to hide the repair later.

Study the pics at alfarestore.com and you will see what i mean.
 
#40 · (Edited)
So after much thought..i decided the best way to deal with the bad sheetmetal in the back of this car was to find a rear clip (rather than new steel, fiberglass, etc.). I found a rear clip for a steal and it showed up last week. On saturday i started cutting off the rear steel. HEre's a few pics. It went pretty fast and was pretty easy. The rear of the sills are in worse shape then i though (hoped?) but so be it.

I also got the patch panel finished and welded it. I wound up with a bit of a ridge along the weld...that's gonna take a little hammering.

I found a lot of "great stuff" foam behind the fenders! rather than protecting the steel..it seems to have just trapped moisture.

As for the trunk..i thought about bracing it but since my plan is to cut out the entire trunk floor and re-build it for a cell..i'm not to concerned about that. Speaking of which, if anyone needs steel (from the car or the rear clip) let me know. I'm only using the skins.
 

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