AFrench Blue '69 GTV Restoration

[1750GT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by velocedoc Excellent choice! The car looks very solid and will make a great restoration project. Best of all it is that real pretty blue that we don't see to many of.

[1750GT]

..like the hood, the trunk lid forward edge fell victim to the effects of trapped debris. Up in the North here we usually see the aft edge of trunks rusted out, this trunk's aft edge is clean and rust free...


..but the entire forward edge is rusted right through on the inside structure......



...I wonder if this engine lived a hard life....the heavy oil on the outside does seem to indicate that. I hope I won't find any bad surprises in there.

[1750GT]

...the brown stuff was some kind of termite tunnel. That and all the black crud was sickening to look at.



...so I took a hand wire brush and cleaned it all up nice and made it look real respectable like.

[velocedoc]

This blue is as you say very pretty to look at. Your progress on this car is amazing. When you pull that windsheild you will find rust in the right corner where the water would puddle under the trim/glass and you most likely will find rust along the center where the two firewalls come together. Easy enough to repair with new metal. Some of the metal work that Akitaman is doing at his shop as evidenced in the threads on here is what you will have to fabricate.
Check out the rust under the chrome trim by the rear side windows, this is another place where the tin worm would give you a surprise. Best part is that alot of the parts you need are not all that bad, and readily available from donor cars.
There are only a handful of French blue cars that made it to these shores. I knew of 3 of them, and 3 more have surfaced here on the BB. Yours being one of them. Put the right wheels with the car and you have a real looker.

The grease on the engine looks typical for road grime. Should clean up well. The 1750 engine if you haven't driven a car with one, is a real delight for pick up and returns a good gasmileage. The 1971 injection pump was the richest of the pumps Alfa imported for fuel delivery. The car would still return a respectable 27 mpg highway.

I will be watching your restoration with interest.

[papajam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1750GT ..and more...original engine maybe?...what do you think PAPAJAM?... Attachment 56853

[1750GT]

Christopher, I did own a 1750 GTV with carbs 18 years back.. and it is as you say a real delight to drive....expecially on the track.

Papajam, it'll be because of guys like you who've been willing to save some of these out of production parts for all these years that'll make the restoration a lot easier than it would otherwise have been....so thanks to you again.

[1750GT]

The last couple of cars I restored I had to do all the repair welding with an oxy/acetylyne torch. The setup allowed for perfectly acceptable welds except that on the heavy gauge metal, a lot of heat was required and more time is required to apply as well. After reading some of restoration threads on this BB, I was convinced that a MIG welder with an Argon/Co2 gas would be the best all around set-up to use. I picked up this used Lincoln SP135( it was repainted and tuned up) from a welding Rental outfit that at times sells some of their surplus machines. I also bought a self darkening Helmet as recommended by a few on this BB.



Not having used one of these before I practiced on numerous small pieces of clean sheet metal first so as to get a feel for the wire speed and voltage settings. The first repair I thought to tackle was that of the valence panel tabs which were badly rusted ....



as were some of the areas were the mounting screws are attached. I cut out the small areas with a dremmel tool using the small oxide cut-off wheels (it cut through this very thin material very easily...to my surprise)..



...I used short bursts of tack welds (letting each cool down in between) and welded on both sides of the repair pieces. If I had to do this with the oxy/acetylene I dare say that it would have been much harder for me to do...with the MIG, there was very little heat build-up on the part...

[1750GT]

..cleaned up with 4 1/2 inch disc grinder using the multi flap emery cloth stylen abrasive disc..





...first panel repair completed.

[BlpltGTV]

Nice work, looks good. A MIG is the way to go. I can do some clean Oxy/Acl welding, but it takes for ever and the amount of heat required can make life hard. When you use the MIG, becareful not to let the weld completly cool before starting the next burst. If it does, you could end up with slag in the weld causing a weak spot. That will be a sweet car when you are done. I like my 69 1750, but I'm having a hard time keeping it close to stock (the more power bug is running rampant.) The US spec cars are rare, only 640 made.
Good luck with your project, if you need some year specific pictures, let me know and I will try and help you out.

Will

[1750GT]

Will, my MIG has Argon/Co2 and hence does not produce any slag at all...and so the welds end up very clean. Are you using a flux-core MIG machine? I wouldn't want to be cleaning the flux off of metal this thin....would be a real chore. As for the power situation, I was wanting to keep this car all original with the Spica FI, my previous GTVs were carburetted so I don't know how it'll compare till I drive it....but I'm not really looking to rebuild this into an all out street machine anyway. As for photos, I'll probably be asking for some for sure so thanks for the offer.

[1750GT]

Update time...the inner front panel needed straightening and the only way to do this properly was to remove everything that would be in the way. I ground away the bondo and cut with a 4.5 inch cut-off wheel along the previous repair weld line.


..front panel removed..and inner diapragham pieces being dissambled...

..front will get acid dipped.....

...example of how not to weld the front panel on. This one was lap welded and the excess left on so as to be a good moisture trap...resulting in some bad rusting.

[1750GT]

I brought the front panel out to get acid cleaned at TECHNOSTRIP While I was there I saw a LANCIA FULVIA chassis that had been dipped and it looked great....so nice to work with clean rust free metal. They quoted me a cost of $2,000 to do a whole car, doors and all. In my case I don't believe it needs this radical a cleaning. The front panel is a thin piece and I didn't want to wirewheel it clean so I thought I'd try it to see if the results merit the expense...didn't realize they had a minimum cost of $100...but the end result looked great..





...almost looks new...

[karmat]

Nice work! Wow, that panel looks new. Looks like when it was replaced they really used the correct front panel, as well (however badly attached), since there are no welded-up lower holes.

Karl

[baka4alfa]

Rossano,

Very nice car to start with. I am hooked to this thread. Looks like you are having a fun time with the car. Best of luck with the restoration.