How far to take a restore

[waltong]

I have been away from the BB for awhile, but and happy to be back with a new car. I used to have an 85 Spider Veloce, sadly she lost a fight with an 87 Oldsmobile a couple years ago which driver had allowed to run out of break fluid.

I always knew I would want another Spider. Finally I found a restorable one and would like to get the project started. While I have done a little disassembly work just to get a better idea of what I was working with, I am still in the planning stages. Step one will be figure out where to put all these little bags of labeled parts.

I would like this to end up being a "good" car. Perfect is probably outside my price range; that being said I know I am in for 10K or so. I also have just about everything but sheet metal from my wrecked 85, which I had some nice suspension and exhaust upgrades on as well. Time is not a huge factor, this is a labor of love but I don't want it lasting a decade either. I would like to do as much as possible with my own labor. Having never done a full restore project I need some advice from experienced board members. As to my personal abilities I am pretty familiar with S3 Spiders from my previous car, and always found I could solve most problems so long as I asked questions and took the time to read. I have shop manuals and normal set of Alfa books. I guess what I am trying to get across is I am not a total noob, but I am green.

I expect to pull the engine and transmission. I think I can get through the mechanicals there between Brandon's books and some friends. I have never been into the bottom end of the engine before or the transmission however. I have done valves and timing and stuff on my own though. I don't think there is really any work beyond cleaning up the exterior and replacing the fluids in the rear; I have driven this car. I also know from what others have told me to stay the heck out of the diff unless you actually are an expert, which I am not.

My First question is sheet metal: It looks to me like the lower rear valance is needs to go as well as the front air damn. The spare tire well, needs to be replaced as also. I think everything else looks fix-able. What do I need to know before ordering replacements? Once I have the replacements can I just cut the old ones out clean everything up and around them and just put the new ones in place with rivets or my ark welder as appropriate?

My Next question is paint: I want to have it painted while the engine is out so everything can be one color inside an out. I will have this done professionally as I can't control the environment well enough to do more then spot work. Its again not bad rust wise except in the usual S3 spots. Should I strip all the original paint or just fix the spots and over coat it? As to disassembly, I would like to keep the car rolling, does that strike anyone as a problem for painting?

Any help general comments to help me get started will be much appreciated guys. Thanks in advance!

[ghnl]

Welcome back!

That is a nice color. The floors look solid - a plus. Hopefully the rockers & sills are too.

The spare tire well looks like it has already been replaced. Looks like seam seal has been gooped around the joint. If it is otherwise solid then cleaning off the surface rust may be all it needs. The rear valance does look odd. If you are planning to do any welding yourself then a MIG welder is easier than an arc welder. It is very difficult to arc weld the thin sheet metal. Even using a MIG welder (get one with a proper gas attachment - don't bother with the cheap 'flux cored' units) you need to be careful to avoid blowing holes & warping the metal.

As far as painting the engine bay, it wouldn't need the perfection that the outer body would require, a good cleaning, touch up priming & re-spray would have it looking 99.9%. For sure doing it while the engine is out is the ideal time. Then you'll want to get in line for some of the reproduction underhood decals that fellow BB member John M is making.