A jr that will be very special!

[Ish-Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1166 I have a 1300 jr that I drove for a while (15K miles) with the 1300 and I LOVED it. I drove that car faster than any other car (all Alfas) I owned. It really liked to be around 4500 rpm on the highway (all the time). I busted some ring lands (probably from revving it to 8K all the time) and I installed a rebuilt 1750 with a 1300 flywheel. It SHOULD have been really nice but I could NEVER enjoy it the same. The power was nice but I always thought the cars was missing something. It seemed to buzzy on the highway (.85 fifth, good for racing or a 1300). The 1300 NEVER sounds strained in any way and it is a lot of fun because you have to plan your actions and execute passing maneuvers with great precision to overtake cars safely. You also get to rev the snot out of it to go 'fast' and even then you are not breaking the limit (as badly as a 2L would anyways). It occasionally is a bummer to NOT be able to pass thinking '... if I only had another 30hp I could easily do this...', but you get over it pretty quickly. Oh yeah, I sold the 1750 (I put on 6-8K miles) and put a 1300 back into my car.

[geofd]

As usual fantastic to see it come together.
I am so greatfull that you take so much time to show us your work, I am sure everyone appreciates it.

Looking forward to seeing the motor being built hope it is as well documented as the rest of the build

PS What is your usual source of replacement panels ?

[akitaman]

Hi Geofd! Thanks for the supportive words. I use folks here in the states for common items. But for panels and other parts I use Alfaholics.com and classicalfa.com in england. The panels they provide me are second to none.

BTW, we put the spare tire tub in this the other day.

[AndyW]

hi Daron, i can agree with you on the matter of parts from both Max and Richard Norris, both good companies with a passion for the cars, Also handy living so near i can pop round and pick the things up i need. When i'm next over on your side on the water i would like to pop in. Keep up the great photo stories

Andy

[PSk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akitaman BTW, we put the spare tire tub in this the other day.

[akitaman]

Hi Andy. Anytime your in the area, your more then welcome to come by. We are only 15 minutes from Seattle.

Hi Pete. Yes the drain holes AND the weep hole will be cut in. You can see that in the spider thread I have.

It had occurred to me this morning that if a monster motor is going to be stuffed in the car, then I should reinforce the tranny mounts. So I doubled up on the perimeter welds and plated behind them.



And we finished the floors too:






We'll clean the welds and texture the bottom shortly.

[akitaman]

I finished the repairs to the trunk today. With that said it was time to texture it. Were not going to cut the drain plug holes but the weep hole was made. Once the ATL fuel cell sits in here this will look great!

[tek]

Hey Ish-Man, glad to hear your good words about the 1300 engine. The one gleaming point about my junior appears to be the engine. According to the previous owner, it had a complete overhaul in 1985, by a German Tech-Alfa Specialist, just a few hundred miles before it went into storage. We took the time to flush and roll it over alot before firing the engine and it is smooth as silk and not a hint of smoke. So, I will really be looking forward to unwinding this thing on some mountain roads.

[akitaman]

Well we made some good progress on this over the last few weeks. The shock tower had damage that needed to be fixed. Because the towers are double plated steel, you have to return that to the same or better condition.



And here its cut out.


Once it was out, it was time to do what the factory didn't. Cavity wax!



We then welded in the first plate (16 gauge), applied weld through primer on both sides. After that, it was time to install the second plate (also 16 gauge).







We have a new reproduction front clip coming. But until it gets here, we are repairing the under damage.




And now that the new floors, rockers and lower quarters are repaired. We under coated the car. This way Group 2 can install the new suspension bits.

[akitaman]

As we are waiting for the replacement front clip to arrive, we started in on some of the repairs needed at the radiator support section. Heres a couple of replacement parts we will be installing. We made the sections from templates we keep on hand. As we find ourselves making part more then once we make a template to save the customers time and money.



Here Steven is cleaning the surface for weld through priming to be applied.


To make the install easier, we flipped the car over.


Steven is starting out by MIG welding the weep edge to the radiator cross member.


Once it was welded Steven used the resistance welder to seam it to the factory fold.

[akitaman]

Here's the up close photo's of the work that steven was doing.

[akitaman]

Well the new step nose front clip arrived today.


And here it is next to the heavy damaged old unit. As you can see the head light frames don't come with it the new unit.


If you elect to replace the front clip on your step nose make sure to leave the top sub frame in place. It's important for hood alignment reasons.


And a test fitted front clip.

[Insoc]

Is this a remanufactured aftermarket front clip?

If so that is crazy great news!

[akitaman]

Yes, it is a aftermarket front clip.

[akitaman]

Okay, this nose clip effort is not one I would suggest for the hobbyist. It takes time and lots of pre thought. As I said before, if you do try it, make sure to leave the hinge frame in place. The Hood could be way off alignment if the frame is not put back exactly where it was.

In this photo, I confirmed the hood location after the nose was installed.


The car is heading over to Group Two to have the suspension upgraded on Thursday. So we got the engine bay in color so they can do the install .

The photo is with my phone camera so the color is hard to see. It's Dutch blue.