Ongoing restoration of our 1967 Giulia GT Sprint Veloce

**alfa_corsa** · #1 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 11:07 PM

Quite frankly, I'm torn. I want very much to chronicle the restoration process of our little Alfa here as I've been so inspired by the great "French Blue Restoration" that is so well documented. Some of my desire is quite selfish, as I need the collective knowledge and advice of the forum desperately. I also want to share this journey though, hoping it will inspire others to preserve these beautiful little cars. The problem is that I'm also trying to document the process on our blog Chela's Alfa and it's hard enough to keep that updated. I don't know how to easily document the process in both places.

Having said that, I thought I'd post some updates as to the status of the project. The goal is to bring the car back to the state that it was when it rolled off the factory floor, although we will be changing the color and perhaps some of the interior trim. Here's the status on the major areas so far:

Engine-
The bottom end is assembled and the head is temporarily in place. All components have been renewed by a local Alfa friendly machinist and all major components have been replaced with new items (water pump, oil pump, etc). Right now I'm working on trying to find original Lobo fasteners, or at least appropriate black oxide or zinc plated fasteners. I'm also having a very hard time finding the right nuts that hold the cam cover on. The early ones are castellated and use a 14mm (I think) allen wrench for removal. The ones on the engine were removed by a barbarian or a monkey (or both) with a pair of vice grips, and apparently the originals are NLA.

Here's a picture of the engine being assembled. Yes that's my wife, and yes, she works on the car with me.

Body-
The stripping process continues and it seems never ending. I've used stripper, 3M Scotchbrite pads, and a heat gun and putty knife. I took at least a couple gallons of filler off of the exterior part of the shell.

I've begun using my plasma cutter to remove collision or rust damaged areas and my next step will be to remove the rust, prime with weld through primer (I use Wurth) and weld in the new pieces. I've sourced replacement panels from Alfaholics, Highwood, and Wolf Steel.

Here's a picture of the new replacement fender panel that Alfaholics sells.

Oddly enough, finding original 15 inch steel wheels was a challenge, but I did manage to find a set which are not too rusty and should clean up well. At the Concorso Italiano last weekend I found one single NOS front turnsignal light so I grabbed it. I may have to replate or purchase a repop for the other side.

I'll try to post more photos of the process, but if you're interested please stop by the blog for more.

Ciao!
-tj in Los Gatos

genius · #2 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 12:04 AM

Hi tj...

Brilliant timing... I've been thinking about one of these for a while now so I'll be following your progress with interest!

Alfajay · #3 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alfa_corsa

I'm also having a very hard time finding the right nuts that hold the cam cover on. The early ones are castellated and use a 14mm (I think) allen wrench for removal. The ones on the engine were removed by a barbarian or a monkey (or both) with a pair of vice grips, and apparently the originals are NLA.

Bialbero · #4 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 11:00 AM

Is a BMW 3.0 CSL on back of your wife?. It is a real CSL or a CSi converted to CSL?. I love this car almost like the Alfa's.

**alfa_corsa** · #5 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 11:23 AM

Jay-Ironically I just saw that Centerline now has the original fasteners for early 105s available. Sadly mine are beyond being dressed with a file. They're really AFUd.

Bialbero-the CSL behind my wife is indeed a real one. It's an aluminum door version. My vintage car is a CSL with the Stadpak (city package). I've owned it for four or five years and love the car.

The irony of the CS/CSi/CSL BMW is that they share some DNA with our beloved Alfas. The car on which the BMW was based, the 3200, was designed by Bertone. I see a lot of similarities in the body shape. Ferrari 330s also have a similar profile.

Ciao!
-tj in Los Gatos

**alfa_corsa** · #6 (**permalink**) 08-22-2009, 07:06 PM

Last night we went to see Julie and Julia, the very sweet and inspiring story of Julia Child, and a young woman who chronicled her attempt to cook every recipe from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year, in a blog. I mention this not because lovers of vintage Italian cars all love good food (although I suspect the majority do) but because cooking and restoring an old car are not terribly different. Both require technique, a basic skill set for task at hand, the right tool for the job, and of course plenty of patience. And so mastering the perfect beurre blanc is somewhat like drilling out the spot welds of a rusty body panel in order to remove it without ruining the underlying metal. Which is exactly what I spent an hour or so doing today.

The job requires a special sort of drill bit, which has flat blades and a nib in the center to keep it from wandering. The idea is to cut just through the top part of the metal, while not damaging the metal beneath the panel you're trying to remove. This was my first time using the tool and so far my results are mixed. It seems to require a lot of pressure to get the bit to bite in to the metal, and on one or two occasions it suddenly blew through both pieces of metal, leaving me with a perfect hole. Not the end of the world, but not ideal either. The area I'm working on is in the trunk, where the spare wheel well is, or was anyway. The original metal was so badly rusted that there was essentially no bottom. I have a replacement, but first the remnants of the old wheel well have to come out. The piece itself was assembled to the trunk floor with about 100 spot welds. An hour of drilling and chiseling and grinding and I'm almost half way done. Once the entire part is removed, I'll use my 3M Scotchbrite pad to remove all rust and paint, and then I'll apply some Wurth Weld-through Zinc primer to keep it from rusting. Then the new spare wheel well will get welded in.

GTV-GR · #7 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 04:11 AM

u r in for a lot of work, great cars and wife

**brownie93** · #8 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 09:07 AM

Facinating blog, good luck on the resto

**1750GT** · #9 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 10:04 AM

Thanks for the nice words about my FB-GTV restoration. It does take some time to post and document the work...and lately I've been documenting less and working more....probably due to restoration fatigue. One product I highly recommend is "Metal Ready" ...

METAL READY-POR-15 Inc.

it coats the bare metal with a thin layer of zinc phosphate thereby keeping flash rust away. I apply two coats (at 10 min intervals) on all the areas I've been working on for that day....makes the repair look real pro like. I've used the weld thru primer as well but have mixed feelings about it. I (like others who've tried it) don't like to weld directly onto it as I found it affects the weld too much...I usually scrape to bare metal in the area where I'm going to weld. It definitely is useful to have on the mating surfaces of the parts however.

Good luck with the restoration....and you're one lucky fellow to have the missus be so active on it as well.

**alfa_corsa** · #10 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 10:24 AM

Hi Rossano,

Thanks for the advice and wisdom regarding the Metal Ready and the Weld-through primer. I definitely sympathize with the "working vs. documenting" conundrum. If you've every seen Tom Yang's excellent Ferrari restoration website you've seen one of the best. One problem I have is that once I start working I don't want to stop every 5 minutes to make a picture. The other is that I don't really have a "point and shoot" camera. I have an iPhone, which is easy to use and convenient since it's always with me, but the images (even at 3MP) aren't perfect. My other camera is a D70, which I'd really rather not get grease and paint dust on. So it's always a challenge photographing the process. Finally, as I've said, I want to document this on the blog, but this forum gets far more eyeballs and is much more helpful as far as feedback is concerned.

Ciao!
-tj in Los Gatos

JoeCab · #11 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alfa_corsa

I'm also having a very hard time finding the right nuts that hold the cam cover on. The early ones are castellated and use a 14mm (I think) allen wrench for removal. The ones on the engine were removed by a barbarian or a monkey (or both) with a pair of vice grips, and apparently the originals are NLA.

**red69** · #12 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 10:41 AM

I tried the spot weld cutter method also. Used the one with the flat blade, with the same problems, it is even worse if the location of the weld has any gradient. I then switched to the type that has the teeth around the circumference. This is a little easier to control in terms of drill through, but the teeth break very easily, and you are left with a little round "nub" that you have to go back and grind down.

In the end I found the quickest and most effective method is to carefully grind down the top layer with an angle grinder with aggressive flapper disk and use a spot weld chisel to peel away the thinned metal. YMMV.

Marc

BTW, one of the reasons I bought a cheap compact camera was to take shots of the restoration. Wife wouldn't let the D70 into the garage.

**Cintos** · #13 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alfa_corsa

Quite frankly, I'm torn. I want very much to chronicle the restoration process of our little Alfa here as I've been so inspired by the great "French Blue Restoration" that is so well documented. Some of my desire is quite selfish, as I need the collective knowledge and advice of the forum desperately. I also want to share this journey though, hoping it will inspire others to preserve these beautiful little cars. The problem is that I'm also trying to document the process on our blog Chela's Alfa and it's hard enough to keep that updated. I don't know how to easily document the process in both places....Ciao! -tj in Los Gatos

twincam4 · #14 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 11:00 AM

I to will be following thread religiously.I plan on starting my 67 gtv resto as soon as things get better with my finances. It has been tuff lately but it looks like I will be able to keep my alfa. What color are you going with? Good luck

mike

**alfa_corsa** · #15 (**permalink**) 08-23-2009, 05:30 PM

Michael-agreed, the audience here is wider, brighter and friendlier as well.

Mike-we're not 100% decided on the color, but this car is for my wife and as she's an active and interested party I am giving her executive decision making authority on nearly all options. We've agreed that we want an original, restoration with nothing that was not available when it rolled off the factory floor. We're leaning toward Cobalt Blue for the exterior, but are undecided on the interior color. We may go with red seats and tan door panels but we want to do something that would have been available in 1967 so we have more homework to do. It appears that door panels are only available in black or tan for our year. As for seat upholstery, we like the idea of the herringbone fabric centers and vinyl bolsters over all vinyl as they'd be much cooler. We'd even consider leather, which was apparently an option, but again, we're still researching this. Ultimately our goal is originality, so if leather was not an option, it will be out.

Ciao!
-tj in Los Gatos