[FlyGirl]

So with the craziness that is 2020, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands (airline pilot who hasn't flown since the end of March). I figure I might as well get around to a long awaited project and make something of this year worthwhile. After years... and years... and yes more years, I have tracked down everything to revamp the exterior of my '87 Milano Silver. Among my pride and joy is a euro bumper set from France, euro grill from England and other various exterior pieces from Germany, Greece and the US.

I figured I'd start this tread so I can show y'all the progress and I can't wait to see the finished product! But don't hate me... the new color is not going to be an original Alfa color 🙈.

First couple pictures were taken at my shop in Chandler, AZ. She's now in Albuquerque, NM at my parents' house (dad has a paint booth at the house) where she's been blasted and I'm in the process of prepping the exterior trim and taking apart the doors.

 

[stuntmachine]

The question is why did you blast good looking car with no rust? I don't think it's a good idea

Wysłane z mojego RNE-L21 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[ossodiseppia]

I'll be watching this with great interest.

 

[kredden]

Me too, looks like it will be fun!

Kevin

 

[FlyGirl]

The question is why did you blast good looking car with no rust? I don't think it's a good idea

Wysłane z mojego RNE-L21 przy użyciu Tapatalka

While the car may appear good looking, I assure you the camera put on a nice pair of beer glasses There are so many parking lot dings on the doors, it’s starting to look like a golf ball and the clear coat is starting to fail in multiple places. Believe me, she needs it.

We made the decision to blast because there was 3 coats of paint on the car, multiple areas of body filler and some corrosion (mostly under the various trim pieces). What would have been multiple days, maybe even a week plus of nasty, smelly work with aircraft paint stripper (which is $$$ and becoming harder to find), we cut down to a day at the blaster. My dad and I had gone to this company to look at other cars they had worked on and were vary impressed with the job they had done. I’ve seen plenty of cars pitted to high heaven by a bad blast job, but these guys did a great job. When comparing time, money and labor...blasting won out.

 

[vintagemilano]

Cool! Hope it progresses smoothly for you.

 

[jshinbot]

This is on my "someday" list as well with a large collection of parts currently being acquired. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

How did the trim removal go? I'm especially curious about the body-length "belt" around the car, as that's probably the first thing I need to do.

 

[FlyGirl]

How did the trim removal go? I'm especially curious about the body-length "belt" around the car, as that's probably the first thing I need to do.

The fortunate part about the trim removal is I didn’t have to worry about the paint! Otherwise it would have been a nail bitter. They used two different method to secure them on my car, the 3M type emblem tape and a black silicon adhesive from hell at each end and occasionally in the middle. Each each piece (accept for the rear doors) has an alignment pin with a plastic grommet in the panel. Start at the end opposite the pin and work you way towards it. From the B pillar forward, start at the back and work your way forward. B pillar back, start at the front and work your way back. The truck trim is in the center, so start at either end. On the door trim, loosen the bottom and pull straight out of the top retaining clips. The front fenders may have a nut on them (only one of mine did) and I think you have to remove the headlight to get at it.

 

[jshinbot]

Much appreciated! I have a fair amount of patch panel welding to do, so paint is also not a concern of mine. Did you use heat to help at all?

 

[FlyGirl]

jshinbot Didn’t use any heat. I had to reuse two of the pieces because I didn’t have backups and I didn’t want to risk damage.
I think I’ll have to use heat to get the metal piece separated from the C pillar. Haven’t figured that one out yet.

Also looking for this hood bumper if anyone has one lying around...I seem to have lost one.

 

[Mark_toro]

C pillar vent is bolted from the inside if I recall correctly. removal of the "drip rail" is pretty straight forward - pull the rubber out of the channel above the door openings and drill out the pop rivets. There are a few rivets at the A pillar that can require some inspiration to reinstall with the pop rivet gun. You can remove the drip rails w/o removing fenders or the C-pillar trim. They flex enough. Learned all this through windshield replacement / rust removal last summer.

 

[FlyGirl]

C pillar vent is bolted from the inside if I recall correctly.

Thank you! Got the drip rails off without too much fuss, but was starting to scratch my head on the wing vents. Books make it seem like it just pops off 🤨😕. I'll be pulling the interior tomorrow, so hopefully that'll make it more apparent.

The fun one was getting the glass out of the rear doors. Big rivet holding the bracket in. All I can think is that this is going to be "fun" trying to get this all put back together without scratching the new paint!

 

[ossodiseppia]

This is starting to sound like a restoration! Take lots of pictures, they are cheap!

 

[FlyGirl]

It's coming apart more than originally planned (much to my dad's dismay 😜) but I want to do this once, and do it right! This was the progress as of yesterday, tomorrow the rest of the interior and doors will come off.

Would have got after it today, but this is the other restoration project I'm taking part of...AT-11 WWII bomber trainer with the CAF Lobo Wing 😁

Once I get back to Phoenix, I'll have the interior redone... and the next time I pull the engine, I'll refresh the engine compartment.

 

[ossodiseppia]

WOW, this is much more interesting. Is that an AT-11? Are they a multi engine trainer? I'll bet you end up being a volunteer pilot for them!

 

[vintagemilano]

Kinda looks like a beech 18. The old beech 18 is a cool machine.

 

[FlyGirl]

Brian you got it! We are hoping to start engine run ups next spring. I’m getting my tail wheel rating in the near future and will be getting rated to fly her with the Phoenix wing in their C-45. I’ll be one of the few pilots in the wing qualified to fly it. If there is a cool restoration project, I’m all over it 😃

vintagemilano...that it is! It’s known as the Beech 18, Twin Beech, C-45 and AT-11. Ours will have the glass nose with bomb sight, bomb racks and upper turret. This particular aircraft was the 15th aircraft off the assembly line in 1941 and will be the oldest flying AT-11 worldwide.

 

[Mark_toro]

Aircraft restos are amazing. If nothing else than for the people you meet. If you want to cry watch "B29 frozen in time"

 

[FlyGirl]

Progress is coming along. Car is finally apart as its going to get. Work is being done to get the euro bumpers fitted. Back bumper is ready for a test fit...removing the US brackets revealed the holes to mount the bracket and we just needed to cut access holes in the trunk to get to the bolts. We'll make those look nicer later. 😜

The front bumper is being a little more difficult. We decided to remove the US bumper shock mounts because I tracked down euro front brackets. After removing the mounts we found corrosion and needed to weld in new plates. Going to need to move the horns and the fuel vapor canister because the fog lights are going to interfere. The AC dryer is also in a bad location because it blocks access to the back side for the bracket nuts and bolts. We paused that project until the brackets come in from Greece.

Everything on the exterior of the car has been removed. Drip rails were secured with rivets and the C pillar panels were held on with clips and the black silicon glue from hell...no nuts on the inside.

Interior has been striped as far as I'm comfortable. I was going to remove the dash so send off and have refinished, but once I got in there I lost my nerve 🤣 just way too many wires and plugs that I figured I'd never get everything working right again. I'm going to send in the instrument cluster dash piece and have them do that one and call it good. I've cleaned everything up and pulled a few pieces aside to have recovered as I'll be redoing the interior in leather and Alcantara once the paint is done.

Dad got started on the body work today... those center sections of the doors take a beating!

 

[PSk]

Are you going to Zender it?

Pete