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Fine Italian Oxidation - ELECTRIC CONVERSION

18K views 87 replies 28 participants last post by  joeording 
#1 ·
Hello, AlfaBB. I am a idiot and a few months ago I bought this:

1974 Alfa Romeo GTV Project on Bring A Trailer

Is it ugly? Yes. Did I overpay? Certainly. But restoring it should be....fun? That's the plan, anyway - make it look less ****. Join me in my suffering.

I am also posting this on fabulous internet forum somethingawful.com, so if this seems familiar that's why.

Pros are that it runs great and drives nicely and was well-maintained and good until the previous owner's reflexes deteriorated and he starting running into ****. PO owned the car since 1979 and I have a thick envelope of repair receipts. So mechanically the car is sorted, and the interior is in decent shape.

Cons are it's been hit on every panel except the driver's door and roof. And who knows how much structural Bondo and sadness are hiding underneath the shiny new paint job. Also, the PO changed the color (original color was poo to be fair) and they didn't do a full strip so you can see the old color everywhere. I'm going to probably change the color again because there are enough red Alfas in the world, but not going back to original Cava Beige or whatever it was. I'm leaning towards French Blue, I love bright blues.

Here's a big dumb idiot driving her home:



And here she is in the driveway before I started tearing her apart:



The next step in the project is to strip it to the shell so I can have the paint stripped and really see what I'm working with. I took the hood and trunk lid off and have removed most of the interior, I just need to get the dash out.

Here's what the floor looks like inside:

Passenger Side Front


Driver's Side Front


Both are a bit rusty, and the driver's side is smashed up from the bottom, and the front jack point is gone from that corner. Luckily, the inner sills look really good, although the outer sill on the passenger side has some suspicious filler smears:



So that could be hiding some ****.

I also pulled all the lights and started pulling things from the engine compartment. I need to empty the fuel tank and then I can remove the fuel system from the trunk. Then I'll pull the engine and trans. Then I need to build or buy a cart for the shell so I can pull the suspension. Then she goes off to the stripper to have the paint removed and an epoxy primer sprayed on.

Then I get to order several thousand dollars worth of sheet metal to weld on. :cry:
 
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#3 ·
I got a few more days of progress into dismantling the car. This is how it was when I started working yesterday:



I pulled the dash, which is going to need some work.



I'm going to try fixing it with bumper crack stuff and bed liner, other people have reported good results and I have nothing to lose with this piece of crap.

Pulled the wiper arms and took the cowl off:



I expected the wiper arms to put up a fight but they lifted right off. Under that cowl is often a rusty hellhole but not on this car:



The passenger-side cabin air intake hose was pinned in by the wiper mechanism, I had to unbolt it to remove that. There was a bunch of booger smeared around the grommet for the wiper motor wiring and washer hose, I'll have to make sure this isn't a leaker when it goes back together:



Most of the engine compartment wiring harness passes through this seal in the firewall:



To access some of the engine wiring, I needed to remove the airbox:




And the Oil Vapor Separator:



The last of the engine compartment wiring went down to the gearbox, so I jacked the car up so I could get at it easily. I discovered some things...



Ya that's not great. More fun next time!
 
#4 ·
Last time, we went under the car for a survey and found a crinkly chassis leg. Gross. The other side looked like poo too:



Harder to make out with the cool lighting, it's also not as obviously wavy.

The lower edge of the front passenger fender is also pretty mangy looking, luckily (?) that fender needs to be replaced anyway



The passenger rear trailing arm has a little joggle to it:



This part of the engine bay sheet metal looks a bit wavy:



And the front rollbar mounts are properly hosed:




The PO ran over something on the driver's side, the jack point is torn off and a MIG artisan welded the reinforcement back on.



Looks like the same artiste did some work patching up around the front subframe:



I can't wait to see that in more detail when I get the suspension bits off.

Of course the damned alternator bracket crumbled in half when removed:



Then I pulled the harness out:



Making a new one of those will be fun!

Then I started removing the trim around the doors. The C pillar seems pretty intact.



The paint was bubbling in a couple of spots on the roof so I poked at it:




No rust, just filler.

Took the rear quarter window latches off the glass. They are held together by a tiny circlip. Except the passenger side somebody must have lost the circlip and used this little beauty instead:



And that's as far as I've gotten so far. Next time, I bring a puller and remove the steering wheel, take apart the driver's door, and pull the headliner down.
 
#5 ·
WOW! All that form Bring a Trailer....... well all I can say is welcome to the club! A 50 year old car with multiple PO will be a cornucopia of fun!! Enjoy, stay the course, rebuild fully, TKE YOUR TIME and you'll have a wonderful car at the end of the day that yo can be proud of that others will admire!

S
 
#7 ·
You are a brave man, especially for telling the rest of the story which would probably never be posted at BaT as a "Success Story".. The underbidders should send you a check just as a thank you. It is worth noting the seller posted even when the car was bid at $6500 , the following....." Anyone considering getting this car and doing a checkbook restoration, you are far better off buying a car that has been completely done. " ...so I suppose he considered that full disclosure and could sleep at night. For the lurkers who want to dip their toes into BaT... there is no implied contract or otherwise to actually BUY the car if you are high bidder. READ THE FINE PRINT. You lose your 5% buyers commission before the sound of the gavel echoes off the walls but there is nothing else that ties you to the seller other than an introduction. FWIW.. Moving along, If I had a donor shell it would be yours. I have the window latches free that are better than those..It sounds like crumbs but perhaps will get the ball rolling for other generosity as I feel the financial pain. Send me a PM with your address. Sorry i don't have anything else you can use
 
#8 ·
Welcome to the fold and good luck with your project. The poo color you refer to could be the color of my GTV, Giallo Piper (AR116). Though I receive compliments about the color, I would change it to whatever Alfa period correct color that makes you smile since you’re going down to a bare metal shell.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I think the color of mine was "Cava Beige"? Too many crappy jobs in college have left me with uniform khaki pants-related PTSD so I just can't paint a car that. No offense intended, there isn't really a color that these cars can't make look good.

Thanks for the well-wishes and commiseration, I knew what I was getting into and so far I'm not sitting in the shower and crying so all is good. I will continue publicly flagellating myself here for your amusement.
 
#9 ·
As others have said, welcome to the madness. As you likely know, you have a boat load of work ahead of you, not to mention some large checks to write to parts vendors and/or restorers. If you've got the patience and tenacity though, take it one step at a time and it's all doable. Make sure to take what seems to be an absurd amount of photos, and label every single part that comes off the car; it will likely be years before many of those bits go back on and you will be thankful when the time comes if you documented the disassembly well. Ask me how I know... Again, welcome and good luck.
 
#11 ·
Hi Ken. Haha, yes, I try not to think too much about how long it has been. The reality though is that re-doing these cars just takes a mammoth amount of hours, and being a weekend warrior I can only get through it so fast. I'm just now starting assembly on the engine and been hoping to have that done before year-end. I'd say 50-50 at best. After that I'll turn my attention to upholstering the interior. Still quite a ways to go but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and upholstery is something I really enjoy, so looking forward to that. Hope all's good with you Ken. Apologies to Joeording for interjecting into your post. Tom
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Classic car Alfa romeo 105 series coupes
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Asphalt Parking
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Asphalt Parking
 
#12 ·
I'm with Gubi on this,.
Sort it out, drive it and enjoy it!
There are far worse things you could be doing with your time and money!
I paid too much for a GTV a few years back, made some improvements, but I LOVE it!
 
#14 ·
Marvelous attitude. I post my success as well as my many failures. It's part of the process and tends to help others with the same issues.

My GTV build has stopped and started numerous times. It keeps me from finishing the project with a 5 gallon gas can and a match.
 
#16 ·
Hello, AlfaBB. I am a idiot and a few months ago I bought this:

1974 Alfa Romeo GTV Project on Bring A Trailer

Is it ugly? Yes. Did I overpay? Certainly. But restoring it should be....fun? That's the plan, anyway - make it look less ****. Join me in my suffering.

I am also posting this on fabulous internet forum somethingawful.com, so if this seems familiar that's why.

Pros are that it runs great and drives nicely and was well-maintained and good until the previous owner's reflexes deteriorated and he starting running into ****. PO owned the car since 1979 and I have a thick envelope of repair receipts. So mechanically the car is sorted, and the interior is in decent shape.

Cons are it's been hit on every panel except the driver's door and roof. And who knows how much structural Bondo and sadness are hiding underneath the shiny new paint job. Also, the PO changed the color (original color was poo to be fair) and they didn't do a full strip so you can see the old color everywhere. I'm going to probably change the color again because there are enough red Alfas in the world, but not going back to original Cava Beige or whatever it was. I'm leaning towards French Blue, I love bright blues.

Here's a big dumb idiot driving her home:



And here she is in the driveway before I started tearing her apart:



The next step in the project is to strip it to the shell so I can have the paint stripped and really see what I'm working with. I took the hood and trunk lid off and have removed most of the interior, I just need to get the dash out.

Here's what the floor looks like inside:

Passenger Side Front


Driver's Side Front


Both are a bit rusty, and the driver's side is smashed up from the bottom, and the front jack point is gone from that corner. Luckily, the inner sills look really good, although the outer sill on the passenger side has some suspicious filler smears:



So that could be hiding some ****.

I also pulled all the lights and started pulling things from the engine compartment. I need to empty the fuel tank and then I can remove the fuel system from the trunk. Then I'll pull the engine and trans. Then I need to build or buy a cart for the shell so I can pull the suspension. Then she goes off to the stripper to have the paint removed and an epoxy primer sprayed on.

Then I get to order several thousand dollars worth of sheet metal to weld on. :cry:
Welcome ! Don’t worry we all have the BDI syndrome here. Some have more serious affliction than others. After it’s all back together and you take that first drive, no matter what you say the the wife /girl friend/confessor and friend that you coulda shoulda put your energy and money elsewhere..... you will feel no greater satisfaction that zipping through some corners, hearing that music of an engine, rowing through the gears and know that no other car could give you that same feeling for double or triple the cost.
Lots of us have been down that road and only we will know....
Press-on regardless Bro!
 
#17 · (Edited)
Pretty much all used Alfas have damage shown in this picture. Classic Alfa sells a channel section that replaces the lower part of the box section. Their p/n ST118 is the left, ST120 the right. You have your shop air chisel out the old, lower section, hammer the upper channel square, and weld in the new piece. Not a big deal.




But I find the following photo scary. What sort of damage was the PO trying to repair (or hide) with that angle iron?



It looks like some genius bent this sheetmetal to access the oil filter cartridge. It's easy enough to remove from above, but .... Your bodyman should be able to bend it back to its original configuration.


The circlips that hold in the rear window latches are a stock item at TruValue hardware stores, where they sell for about 20 cents each. Buy a few - they have a way of flying off into the 8th dimension while you're installing them. The alternator bracket and rear trailing arm are common to all Alfa coupes and spiders from the 70's and 80's - good, used parts should be readily available.

Here's a shot of my GT at the low point in its restoration. We've all been there.

1605937
 
#18 ·
Haha yeah, that angle doesn't give me warm fuzzies. I found a good used front crossmember on eBay, hopefully I can un**** whatever is happening there. I'm very curious to see what this thing looks like with the suspension out of the way and the grime cleaned off. And yes, the wavy frames aren't too scary because they are avail repro, which is nice. I'll have great access to try beating those into shape when the rusty floors are cut out.

Going to do some more work this rainy weekend, maybe I will get the engine/trans out?
 
#52 ·
things looks better/simpler with everything stripped and blasted.
You have angle iron in parts I had fresh air 😀
It’s a long enjoyable journey - I’m half way through my estimated 10years of sporadic weekend working.
I’ve had spells of activity and other times I did nothing for a couple of months. Just stay positive and don’t dream of it being finished, just finishing the job that you are on...and it will slowly come together.
 
#20 ·
The journey can be fun, but amazed how long everything takes. I have a busy job, wife, 10yr old, 4 yr old, and 4 acres that I keep landscaped. My project has been in 5 garages over the last 7 years.

One important thing I would do over. I would have driven the car more before I tore it apart. I drove it 2 times. Once around the block, and to get the Kansas VIN inspected. As I’m putting things back together I have no idea if the gearbox was good for example. What worked/what didn’t work type of information.

Also I could have enjoyed the car a bit instead of looking at a pile of parts. I ended up buying a 71 GTV and a 67 Super so I could drive an Alfa around.

Boxes of ziplocks, shop rags, get good tools, pictures, are all important.

My car isn’t perfect, it was hit in the front at some point and had some shotty repairs I had to work through. And a bad body shop made big mistakes... the journey.... I have learned a lot. I’d say most of these cars look great in pictures but most have had some shady things done in the past.

I also went a bit crazy buying things. Then when I was installing things I ordered something again forgetting I already had a new part. I have quite a few things extra now, hundreds of $ kinda waisted. Buy things as you need them.

My thread on the 74....


This website has been a great resource.

1606672
 
#21 · (Edited)
Another thing, don’t add up how much you have spent on your project. I have kept a file on everything I purchased or spent but I will NEVER add it up.

Regarding the wire harness. I bought a aftermarket “Painless” harness. I wouldn’t do that again. It was not painless. Not a plug and play option like I thought it would be. If you need to sort yours I’d just buy a pre made one for you car from a UK vendor.
 
#22 ·
RE: the wiring harness, I originally saw one priced at $2200 which is insane, but CA and others sell them for $600 or so which is totally reasonable, and I don't think I could make my own for less if I value my time at all, so I'll probably buy one. I will likely replace the factory fuse block with something that takes blade fuses, though.

Did some more work on the car lately, and discovered some annoying things. I took the front sway bar off, and the front brackets for that are tweaked pretty badly so new ones got added to the CA order:



Once I got it out, I noticed that the end links have been welded on:


Both sides are like that. The rubber and outer parts of the end links came off, but the inner sleeve is welded on, and it prevents the inner rubber mounts from coming off. I didn't feel like grinding so I left that for another day.

This is the inside of the driver's fender looking forward, definitely going to need a new outer headlight panel:



The inner one might be salvageable, and the passenger side seems ok. When the new front valence comes I'll see how they fit.

I did some exploratory paint removal, and found some things.




Bottom of the front passenger fender is rusty. I didn't strip the other side, both fenders are getting replaced so I don't care.



Passenger rear, doesn't look too bad.



Top of passenger front fender. Looks like this was trashed long ago and slathered with filler. Note that you can see my oil pan through a big hole.





B pillars are both cracked but the area isn't real rusty, which is good news.





Both rear fenders are buckled from a rear hit, and this one has obviously been badly repaired previously. Going to try to hammer these back into shape. The base of the rear windshield is also bent, I'm hoping I can get that back into shape with some pulling and hammering too. The rear valence is getting replaced, though.





The filler on the passenger sill was in fact covering a wavy gravy panel. No rust that I have uncovered, though, just looks like it got hit and they just covered it in filler. New outer sill ordered.



Passenger door has a convex crease here, looks like something rubbed against it and the crash bar inside the door made the crease. Will have to see what it looks like with the paint and filler stripped, I bought some door skin tools hoping I can save the hood and trunk and this door skin.



The back edge of the pass. door is bent back, too.



This is annoying, though. When the front passenger side got hit back in the day, the jabronies covered the inner fender skirt with filler and painted it the original color to try to hide it. Lame. These inner skirts aren't available repro that I have seen, so I'm going to have to try to fix it better once I get the outer sheet metal off.

Here's my toolbox:



I do boat repair, so I have to be mobile. I also have my crap spread around a couple different counties, storage is an issue when you live on a boat.

I got a package the other day. Christmas came early!



The people at the post office thought it was a dinosaur bone. I told them that was accurate.



Came all the way from Greece. Looks better than the one in my car.

It's a rainy day today, I think I might lock myself in the garage and strip the paint off the hood skin and see if I can't make it look presentable.
 
#24 ·
I had my car detailed a couple of months back after I bought it and the guy there who measured my paint thickness before polishing told me I have fillers incredibly thick in some areas, more than he's ever seen on any car. So planning to have the car paint stripped off this summer and repainted and this thread isn't helping with my anxiety of what I am going to eventually find under my shiny red paint :oops:
 
#25 ·
Amazing how much filler some people use. Here was the thickest part of my car. You couldn’t even tell at all before I started to strip the paint. Front corner.

1608571
 
#29 ·
The OP is one brave man.

This Bertone has clearly had a seriously hard life and to add insult to injury has been at the hands of some very nasty "repairers". They are animals!

The workmanship is shocking. Horrific lash ups.

The good thing is today you can get so many remade parts that weren't around in the 80's/90's

Good luck OP and I salute your tenacity and drive to get this Giulia in fine fettle!
 
#30 ·
When my car went to the bead blaster to get the whole thing back to bare metal, the guys who did the job said that they had never seen so much filler on such a small car! In some places it was over an inch thick! When we put the car back on the trailer it was markedly lighter!!! You can see here the the horrors that where hiding underneath!
 

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