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A French Blue '69 GTV Restoration

878K views 2K replies 203 participants last post by  1750GT 
#1 · (Edited)
I’ve been meaning to post this thread for the longest time…so here goes. Last year (while surfing the net) I came across the ALFABB and the fond memories that were resurrected of my previous GTVs, made me decide to get back into one again.. (after about an 18 year abscence). Initially I thought to limit my search to local cars only. A few GTVs were available and after checking them out and driving them I realized that I wasn’t going to be happy spending maybe $ 6-8 K on a rusty GTV with worn out interior, botched up wiring, unknown mechanical condition and…and…and…If I was going to spend over $10K on an +30year old car….I might as well look for a project car from southern (salt free) states which (hopefully) would be relatively rust free (in the key critical areas at least) and which I was going to restore in as pristine a condition as my abilities (and budget) would allow. In my younger days I had restored a ‘71 FIAT 124 Sports Coupe and then a ‘72 1300 GT Junior with very limited budget …this time around I feel will be much more enjoyable.

My search ended last February after negotiating for a 1969 US Series 1750 GTV in Alfa color AR342 (French Blue)…the PO had convinced me to buy this in lieu of his other ‘69 ocra yellow GTV..and since I was only looking at photos I figured he probably knew better. I had the car shipped from the southwest to Buffalo and then drove down and trailored it back home across the border, about an hour’s drive away. I will be posting photos of the work as it progresses. For starters….these are the first pictures……

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#1,551 ·
Yes, both chassis members will have to be replaced along with the floor pan under the rear seats. I was thinking of having the frame attached to the engine mtgs at the frone ang going upwards and the rear one coming out of the boot and upwards and the two linked by a bar going through the front and rear wingow aperture. Do you know if these parts are available as they are not listed anywhere I can find... excuse the spelling, Albanian keyboard..
 
#1,552 ·
I have never seen these parts available as NOS loose items. I have seen a NOS complete front clip for sale a few years ago....but that's about it. The boot floor and reinforcing bracket for the rear axle strap mounting point are available from Classic Alfa. Sounds to me that you need to source a good complete rear end sub chassis from a donor vehicle. I would contact Classic Alfa....they might be able to help you locate such parts....they've been breaking out cars for years for their own projects......worth a try.
 
#1,554 · (Edited)
Lower Timing Chain Slack

Finally....after a 2 week vacation break (comprising a 7 day Rhine river cruise..followed by a three day stay in Amsterdam)....then starting a new job....I was finally able to get back to business. New lower timing chain arrived today and after fitting it...I finally have an answer to the question..."how much slack is in a new chain?". The photos show the old ....with slack (or droop) of 0.231" (5.9 mm) from straight...versus the new with a slack of 0.105" (2.7mm). Is this that critical when all is said and done? maybe not so much on this completely mild engine rebuild.
 

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#1,556 · (Edited)
Getting back to the engine build....the best I could do w.r.t. to achieving the allowable pinch at the connecting rod big end bearing caps was around .002"-.00175". The factory specs recommend between .0009"-.0025" and although I'm at the upper end of the range....I don't think I need to go any tighter than this. To do so I would have to wet grind down the big end cap surfaces .....which is not something I really want to mess with at this stage. Plus the wear limit according to the factory specs is .005" ...which sure seemed high doesn't it?
 

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#1,557 ·
Today was a set aside so as to complete the assembly of the bottom end on the engine. I managed to install the main caps, lower timing chain and front cover...and a few of the ancillaries....

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When I got to the pistons and liners....I could not find the liner o rings and wrist pin clips..!!!!....arghhhh!!!!....:cursing:....I always left these in the box that the pistons came in....but they weren't there. I spent over an hour scouring every inch of my garage...:cursing:.....and all the boxes...but to no avail!....:cursing: Then it dawned on me.....I brought that box with the pistons to the balancing shop didn't I?....yes I did, and this was the first time I opened the box up. So what's the likely hood that the shop didn't just toss them out?

Monday first thing I'm going to give them a call ....I hope lady luck is on my side. Should that not be the case....I see that the o rings are available from most of the suppliers....but no one lists wrist pin circlips. I suppose I could use the original ones.....but I already reassembled all the spare parts into an engine and I'd rather not have to dig that out and take it apart again.

Does anyone know where I can get these? Pistons are Borgos.
 
#1,559 ·
Well as it turned out...the balancing shop did not have the circlips in their possession....and as so often happens with misplaced items....sometimes you just need to take a break and resume the search...and sure enough a few days later....I find the dang things right there in the corner of my work bench!

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The liner o-rings however were nowhere to be found....so a quick call to Classic Alfa...was needed to order a new set (with a spare for good measure). I believe this time they came in record time..4 days amazingly. That allowed me to finally complete the installation of the liners, pistons, connecting rods and oil pump.

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..and for good measure I threw on the alternator.....I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on this engine build...especially since the cylinder head is all ready to be re-assembled....(pics to follow)...:grin2:

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#1,571 ·
I feel I reached a mini milestone on the engine build. About 10 years ago I was disassembling the bottom end of the engine....


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..after today's activities.....good thorough cleaning....and yet more hardware plating....

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.....I am declaring the bottom end as completed!....:smile2: But I do need to install the rear main seal and flywheel and complete the torquing of that large pulley nut....(this is where I wish I had build a proper ALFA engine stand that allows full access to the back of the engine)....Instead of going with this cheapo generic one.
 

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#1,572 ·
Cylinder Head Rebuild

I started the cylinder head rebuild a few months ago while multi tasking on the engine block and crankshaft work. Cleaning was the first obvious chore at hand......commencing with degrease and wash.

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What was left was the usual carbon build-up around the valve seats and inside the ports.

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The valve deposits were unreal....probably about 1/8" thick of caked on carbon on both sides......

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After thoroughly sealing & duct taping out all the water passage openings and all oil passage openings...off to the blast cabinet went the head for some bead blasting. That was the only way to get that carbon completely off.

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Next...careful measurements of the valves & valve guide bores were taken. Amazingly the exhaust valves were within spec, but the exhaust guides were totally way out of spec by at least .010" over .....probably explains why so much oil was being deposited on the exhaust valve heads.

On the intake valve side...all the guides were within spec....but the intake valves were badly pitted at the seat contact areas. So an order for 4 new intake valves and 4 new exhaust valve guides was placed...along with a full complement of gaskets and seals all around.
 
#1,573 ·
After removing the bad exhaust valve guides....the new ones were ready to go in. I will be installing oil seals on the exhaust guides as well hence the difference with the original non-seal ones. Getting the guides out was a bit of a task...but it just took many repeated small amplitude blows with a 3 lb hammer (I was afraid of mushrooming the guide if a heavy blow was applied to them)....it was good work-out I'll tell you.

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The exhaust valves I bed blasted then polished them out a little bit by chucking them in the lathe and using wet sand paper.

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The head was sent out to have .006" machined off since the surface was lightly pitted and corroded. The valve seats were also re-faced and lapped.

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Which brings me to this week's work....re-installing all the valves, springs and oil seals then using the recommended factory method for checking the sealing at the valve faces. Which entails filling the chambers with white spirits or varsol and blowing compressed air from the port side and on the back of the valve heads....then looking for air bubbles.

Sure enough, only 2 valves were not leaking.....the other 6 were leaking ...so I will have to lap some more...:frown2:

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#1,574 ·
With cylinder head finally completed (had to perform a few more lapping operations to get the valves to seat and seal once and for all).....the time has come to finally install it on the the engine.

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I ordered a set (or two) of Jon Norman's brass connectors for the oil passages to the head....

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Thankfully they fit perfectly without needing to open up any of the holes. Moreover, the o-rings that came with his kit fit perfectly with the Reinz head gasket as well. I did not apply any additional sealant anywhere as it seems that the head gasket already has some form of adhesive applied all around which I assume will adhere and seal fully once the head gets up to operating temperature....at least I hope this is how it works.

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One thing that is of concern (not sure if it is warranted or not)...is that the water passages on the intake side seem to be partially blocked by the head gasket. Is this going to create any cooling issues with the head I wonder?

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#1,575 ·
With the head ready to be installed. Other work completed was the full rebuild of the intake system. As it came off the engine this thing was in a totally unusable state.

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After stripping the manifold bare....I had the casting water jet blasted. These castings for some reason are always rough and darkened from oil and oxidation but after blasing....I was amazed at how well it came out. Even though that was done months ago...the aluminum still looks the same today....now if only it would last like this forever.

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The throttle bodies I first supported by McGivering up a support system to keep them nice and solid.

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I was then able to disassembled them by carefully knocking out the spring pins on the ends of the shafts with a small diameter drift. The opposite side was supported against a slotted backing plate.

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#1,576 · (Edited)
With bodies all apart...I zinc plated all the tubes, screws and springs ...bead blasted the bodies and buffed them out with 000 steel wool...and powder coated the levers.

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The only thing left is to replace the screws holding the butterflies to the shafts.

I ordered the 4mm screws from McM Carr...but am not totally happy with them. The heads are not just too big at 7,5 mm but the head angle is wrong at 90 degrees. When compared to the originals....the angle should be more like 55-60 degrees....I'll mull over these for a bit to see if a better option is available.
 
#1,578 ·
Here's the McMCarr screw on the right w/90 degree x 7.5mm wide head...compare to the OE screw on the left w/55-60 degree x 6mm wide head. Does anyone know the closest DIN spec for the OE screw? It might be 964 but I'd like to pin it down exactly.....with the hope of sourcing the correct one.
 

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#1,582 · (Edited)
The OE ones are also very easy to break off the edges since those not being very deep ...there is less material engaged with the tip of the screw driver....happened to me on a couple of the screws. To remove the screws I had to drill out the end of the screw that was flared out making them all shorter than what I'd like to see. With new screws I was going to flare out the ends....I know some folks are going with Loctite only....so I might have to do the same...unless by some luck I can find the correct ones.
 
#1,585 ·
#1,588 ·
I can tell you really like that!....well me too. Now back to completing the engine.....I finished installation of the cylinder head and a new timing chain. I removed that water pump fan spacer that came with the car after some of you pointed out that it was required only with the aircon installation and sure enough, after I checked some photos of the engine during the teardown phase....I noted that the crankshaft had a double pulley (also the aircon version). I installed the correct single style pulley from a spare engine.


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